Text, we're going to be reminded of this. If you like certainty, you like security, you like assurance, then you will love Jesus because in this life, the only one who can offer us such things is our lord.

So, the sermon in a sentence this morning is this, Christians can rest in Jesus because all he desires, he does and I love that point.

So, we're really just looking at two things here in that reversal. We're going to see the first thing we'll see today is that like it says, Jesus does all that he desires. No one can stop him. Whatever he decides to do, he will do and then, kind of an implication of that, an application in our life is that because our lord, those of us who have faith in Jesus because our lord does everything that he wants to do, that offers us certainty and security and rest.

So, let's look at the first two verses of the text here verses seven and eight. I want to read those again for us as we consider just those for a few moments. Wanna read them and I'm to pray and then we're going to jump into this text together.

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, but what I've 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. Alright, let's pray before we consider this together.

Lord, we recognize that we are finite beings.

Lord, that we have limits upon limits.

There are so many things that we wish we could do that we are incapable of doing.

Lord, there are things that we want to control that are outside of our control.

But lord, as we have already sung and as we see here in these words, we recognize that these things are not true of you.

Lord, that you are sovereign, that you are holy and completely different than us, that that the doors that you open, no one can shut and the doors that you shut, no one can open.

So, lord, today, I pray that brothers and sisters that are gathered here who have found life difficult or scary.

Father, who have lived with stress or anxiety that they that those things would melt away.

As you display to us, how amazing and majestic and powerful you are.

So, lord, help our hearts and minds to be fixed on your word this morning, not distracted by things inside or outside of this room. Lord, help my words to be clear and concise that there will be no muddling of the truth but that we would leave here understanding you and your word more clearly than we did when we came in.

I pray and I ask these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Alright. So, I love this description of Jesus here, right? We we know that as brother Adam Ward point out, we see these descriptions of Jesus at the beginning of these letters, these individual letters to these churches that he's written but here he refers to himself as the holy one, the true one.

Right? So, what does that mean? Well, holy is a term that I think most of us are probably familiar with but just to be clear, it's the idea of being set apart.

Something that is holy is special. It is different in the instance of Jesus or anytime that's used to refer to god, not only different but greater than anyone or anything else, right? So, some of you have things that that you might not would use this term for but they are holy to you, right? You have a pair of shoes that are your yard cutting shoes, right? You only use them when you're working outside. Those shoes are holy. They are set apart for that particular purpose. They're not like all your common shoes. They're not like the shoes that you'd wear to church. They are set apart for one specific thing. Well, Jesus tells us that he is set apart and completely different than anyone or anything else, right? He is the holy one, the one apart from all other people and all other things. There is no one like him.

You may have heard that recently, right? There's no one like him.

What does it mean to be true though? It's not a term that comes across in this way in scripture. We understand what it means for something to be true.

John who is writing this letter, dictating it for Jesus is referred to Jesus as being the true light, the true bread from heaven, the true vine. We understand that.

It it means to be genuine, to be authentic, and not the way that we always see it but it really the word is used here is something that is reliable.

It it is sincerely the the real thing and this is I think probably in modern terms if we're trying to if I were trying to explain this, I would say this, Jesus is the real deal.

What you see is what you get, right? There's nothing hidden with him. He shows, he reveals himself to us, and what he reveals is who he is and he says he's going to do things and what he says he's going to do, he does but and I love this. We're gonna talk about this on a Wednesday soon. I don't wanna spend much time here. I do actually. I won't spend a whole lot of time here but I'm not going to because I know it's a holiday weekend and y'all got plans and things but listen, these adjectives, right? I'm not great at grammar but I've done some studying this week and these adjectives, holy and true are generally used in that way. There is a holy vessel in the temple that refers to things in the Old Testament, right? Jesus is the true bread. It's saying that he's bread but he's the genuine bread.

Different than all the other breads but here in this verse, these descriptive adjectives are so applicable to Jesus that they change from just being adjectives to being titles and some of you are saying, you lost me. I don't know what you're That's, let me give you an example of this.

Some of you have heard of a man named Alexander who was a great general. He lived a a really really long time ago. Well, Alexander changed from just being a great general to eventually being known as Alexander the great.

And this is what Jesus is saying here, I am Jesus the holy.

I am Jesus the true. I am so genuine and I am so set apart that these are titles that describe who I am. There's truly no one like Jesus.

He's unmatched in wisdom and in his ways and he is the only one who is eternal.

He's the only one who's able to do everything he says he's going to do without fail. He's the only one that is perfectly genuine. Jesus is truly one of one.

There's no one else like him.

But in these verses, he doesn't just describe himself as being holy and true. He goes on in verse seven to say that he has the key of David and then he spends some time talking about doors.

Verse seven, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts, and no one opens, and then he goes into it again in verse eight, I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut and you might say, well, what is all of this deal about doors and opening and shutting and keys? What is this all about?

Well, I'll tell you this and you can make note of this for those of you that take note, take notes. When you in scripture see keys, when you see the term key or keys, you should immediately think authority.

Right? To say that you have the keys to something means that you have the authority over that thing and so, whenever Jesus tells us that he has a key, He's telling us that he has the authority to limit or grant access to a particular place or thing.

Again, I'll try to illustrate this idea.

I used to be a high school teacher. Many of you know that. Whenever I was a high school teacher, I taught science classes and so my classroom was actually the science lab.

And I had the key to the science lab.

If any of the other science teachers wanted to do an experiment on a particular day or something and they wanted access to the science lab, you know who they had to go through?

They had to go through me because I had the key. I was the one that was able to grant or restrict access to the science lab and so when Jesus in Revelation 118 tells us that he has the keys to death in Hades.

This is what he's telling us. I have authority over life and death and eternal life or eternal punishment.

He's saying, I have the authority and the ability to grant you access to these things or to restrict your access to heaven and the kingdom of god and that's the same point that I believe he's making here when he says he has the key of David For those of you that really like to study scripture, you can go and look in Isaiah 22.

If you look at verses 20 through 22, you see a reference to the the key of David. That's the first time we see it and how it allows this granting of access but for for our purposes this morning, we see this as being the same as the keys to death in Hades. Jesus has authority over the kingdom of god.

And anyone who wants to be part of the kingdom of god, anyone who wants to have an eternal home in heaven must go through Jesus.

Now, he also tells us that not only does he have that authority but that he has that authority and no one else has that authority and no one can take that authority from him. That's what he means whenever he says, who opens and no one will shut.

Who shuts and no one opens and then when he tells the church in Philadelphia, I've set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Now, he's not just saying here that he can see the future and nobody's going to shut it. He's saying, they couldn't shut it if they wanted to. Why? Because Jesus is unmatched in power and ability. What he does, no one can undo. As I've said in the introduction, everything that Jesus desires, he does.

And through his life and death and resurrection, He has granted access to eternal life and to forgiveness and to hope and to heaven and to himself, to everyone who respond in faith.

And here's the good news.

Nobody can take that away from us.

If we have faith in Jesus, no one can take away our forgiveness.

No one can take away our heavenly home. No one can take away our access because our lord is stronger than anyone and everyone else.

Point one this morning, this is actually, some of you will like this, someone not. This is actually the only point in the sermon.

Jesus is the sovereign victor.

He is one of one.

So, what I want us to begin by seeing here today is that that he is the sovereign victor. He has the key to eternal life because he left heaven and came to Earth and lived a perfect life and died an atoning death and then came back to life. Because of that, he has the keys to death in Hades. He has authority and the ability to grant access to forgiveness and eternal life. He has that. Why? Because he is the victor.

He has won that victory and he has offered it to us.

Now, I want us to understand this. When I say he is one of one, I'm saying, there's no one else like him. There's nobody else that can give these things to you. There's nobody else who has defeated sin. There's nobody else who's defeated death. There's nobody else who can grant access to heaven to those who respond to him in faith. Jesus is the only one and what he desires, he does.

Sometimes, we sing the song that song called What a Beautiful Name It Is.

There's a particular line in that song that really gets me excited.

It says, as we're singing this to Jesus, you have no rival.

You have no equal.

Now and forever.

God, you reign, right? I I think that helps sum up the point that I'm trying to make here. There is no one else like him. Nobody else rivals him in power or ability.

No one is equal to him. He is reigning now and he will be reigning forever and so, let me say this, if you've if you've been daydreaming the whole time or if you've been checking your phone, you that have to be sitting by the windows because most of us in the middle don't get service in here but if you're doing something of that nature, come back and listen for just a moment.

I want to sum up this first part of the sermon in this way. I want us to understand this, Jesus is sovereign.

He does everything he wants to do. No one can stop him.

And the good news is he desires to give eternal life to everyone who responds to him in faith. That's his desire and you know who can stop him from carrying that out?

Nobody and so brothers and sisters, if you have faith in Jesus, you are guaranteed access into the kingdom of god. That's what he says to the church at Philadelphia.

I've opened the door.

It is open to you and no one can close it. So, we know it will remain open.

So, if you have responded to him in faith though, it gets even better as we continue to go through this text. You have eternal life that is guaranteed to you but not only eternal life, there are three other benefits that he gives to us and some of you are saying, now, I see what you did. You're not calling em points but you really just cheated, brother Zach.

No, these are not points. These are benefits.

Benefits of belonging to the king. The first benefit and I will be brief with this, ish, brief ish.

The first one is vindication.

If you belong to the king, the king over all kings, the lord over all lords, the sovereign one, then you will can know for sure certain that one day you will be vindicated. Look at verse nine of the text.

He tells the church at Philadelphia, 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, right? I see in this text vindication.

Now, we've already heard about this these Jews that he's talking about here, this synagogue of Satan back in chapter two verse nine in the the letter to the church at Smyrna. He talked about the same ones. So, this is what scholars believe. We don't have all the details but scholars believe that the Jews during this day and time persecuted the Christians.

They turned them into the Roman government in order to have some of them killed.

They refused to break bread or to spend any time with these Christians and they also belittled the faith of the Christians.

They told them things like, you're not worshiping the true god and and you're not really god's people.

That's what these Christians were told but this is what Jesus, the true god, this is what he says to these Christians who have been told, you're not worshiping the true god. You don't have real faith. You're not really god's people. This is what Jesus says. In essence, he says, one day, they will see the truth.

All of these Jews who call you liars, all of these Jews who say that you don't know god and don't have a relationship with god. One day, they will bow at your feet and they will see see that I love you.

That's vindication.

They will all know that you were right and they were wrong.

Now, this one gets me really excited because now, not necessarily in a very godly way, probably in a more prideful way. I really like being right.

Anybody else like that here?

Sometimes it causes friction in our house, right? You don't have to Google that to prove that you're right. We believe you, right? That happens at times.

But Jesus says here that one day, there will be a godly form of being proven right.

That everyone who persecuted you, everyone who made fun of you, everyone who said that your style of living was ridiculous.

They will know the truth.

Years ago, in seminary, I had to write a paper on the book of Job and as I studied it as I studied Job, one of the most striking things to me was what happened at the end of the book.

At the end of the book of Job, now there's the part that most of us are familiar with when god restores all of Job's fortunes, right? He has new family, has new house, he has new livestock, and it's greater than it was before but what stood out to me was not that god restored Job's fortunes but it was what god said in front of Job's friends, right? There there were three men that had repeatedly accused Job of being a sinner and of being a liar and of being wrong and he had heard this over and over and You know, Job, you are a sinner. Job, you are a liar. Job, you have done something to anger god and and Job forty two seven, god comes down and god speaks to these men and this is what he says. Says, after the lord had spoken these words to Job, the lord said to Eliphaz, the Timanite and these are the words of god. My anger burns against you and against your two friends for you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.

Right? God comes down and not only does he give Job livestock and does he give Job family and does he give Job a house? He does all these things but he also does this. He goes to Job's accusers and he says, listen up, boys.

Y'all have been wrong the whole time and Job has been right.

You have been lying and he's been telling the truth all along and this is what god promises to the church at Philadelphia.

He says, one day, all of your accusers and all of your persecutors will bow before you and they will see my love for you.

Friends, I long for that day.

I long for the day when men like William Tyndall, some of you have heard of this Christian brother. He was strangled to death and his body was burned at the stake in a public display.

Why? What was his sin? What had he done that was so terrible? He translated the Bible into English so that everyone would have access to read the word of god and the church said that this was a corrupt and terrible sin and they had him executed for it but one day, one day, everyone that wasn't a true believer will stand and they will see the lord say to William Tyndale, you are my beloved son.

And what you did was right. I can't wait for the day when all wrongs will be made right and vindication comes for all of god's people and this text tells us that day is coming.

It is coming. How do we know it's coming? Because god desires for it to come and he does all he desires.

The second benefit is protection. Look at verses ten and eleven.

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.

Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown.

God promises protection to his people. Now, there's a rabbit here that wants to be chased and some of you want me to chase it and I will but not today. We're going to do that on Wednesday week, not this Wednesday but next Wednesday, we'll look at this because here, god says, Jesus says to the church at Philadelphia because you've kept my word about patient endurance. I will keep you from the hour of trial and some of you want me to talk about. Is that Jesus saying that that there will be a rapture and the church is going to be removed and that's how they're going to be kept from the trial or is he saying that he is going to be with them and though they go through the difficulty of this life that he's going to protect them and if you want to know what I believe about that, then come on Wednesday, June 3 and we'll talk about it but this morning, I just want to acknowledge what is very very clear in the text and that's this, one way or the other.

God promises to protect his people.

Brothers and sisters, we live in a hostile world that is difficult for Christians and the promise of scripture is it's only going to get worse.

But the other promise is that for Jesus's faithful followers.

They will endure by his sustaining grace.

So, he offers vindication and protection and eternal life that's reiterated here with the crown in verse 11.

There's one more thing.

Third benefit is assurance.

And this is what we've been working towards the whole time. Verse 12, 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.

Now, whenever he says, I'll make him a pillar, some of us think, well, that sounds kind of strange. Not really looking to be a pillar but we understand, I think the idea of a pillar. The Mount Zion community and our church has had many pillars throughout the years.

I'm not going to try and start naming them because well, they go back over two hundred years and some of them or some of your family members and I would forget somebody and I would be in trouble but but we understand the idea, right? Men and women who've been stalwarts of the community. They were known because they were here and they were always here and because they served and because they were active and because they cared about this community, They were fixtures.

Men and women that when you think of Mount Zion, you think of them and this is the promise of Jesus.

To those who remain faithful to him.

We will be pillars.

We will be fixtures. We will be stalwarts in the temple of god in heaven, in god's presence forever and ever.

Friends, I want to be a pillar of this community but more than that, I want to be a pillar in god's house. Amen?

Also, as we come to close, I have a a picture for you that I would like for you to look at here. Some of you may recognize this picture.

Y'all know whose boot that is? That's Woody's boot.

Now, who did Woody belong to?

How do you know that?

He wrote his name on there, right?

Woody belongs to Andy and we know it because Andy wrote his name on that toy cowboy's boot.

Well, this is what I want you to understand that when when Jesus tells us that for those who remain faithful to god, they will have god's name written on them.

They will have Jesus's name written on them. They will have the name of god's city written on them. This is what Jesus is saying.

I will write these things on them to signify that they that we belong to him and that we belong in that city where he's going to be.

God promises vindication and protection and eternal life to all who remain faithful to him and he offers them in a certain and secure way because he says, I desire to give these things to the people who love me and if you never heard it, it's good news that he desires to do it because all that he desires, he would.

Man, I thought y'all knew it by now. I'm try it again. Y'all weren't ready for that prompt, okay?

He desires to give these things to those who love him and that's good because all he desires, he.

That's right. He does. Nobody can stop him brothers and sisters and I pray, I pray that this is what this offers to you today.

Assurance and hope and rest.

That though life is hard, you will be protected.

That though some people will say you're crazy and your faith is worthless, Jesus says, one day they'll see the truth.

And we will have his name written on us because we belong to him and we'll have the name of that city because we'll belong there.

As pillars in the temple of god forever and ever. This is what we have to look forward to brothers and sisters. I want to invite you to stand this morning.

I do want to be very very clear with any unbelievers that are here.

You don't have any of these guarantees.

The certainty of these things I'm talking about, they don't belong to you.

They only belong to those who have come in faith to Jesus Christ. If you've never come to see how gracious he is, I invite you to do that today.

He has made it available. He has opened that door.

And if you'll come to him in faith, no one will ever be able to shut you out.

I also wanna say this to any Christians who are here that are struggling with anxiety and fear.

Stop looking to yourself or to the things of this life, to the uncertain things around us. Quit looking to those to try and find security and rest, and look to the one who never changes, the one who is holy and true.

Look to Jesus and be reminded that we can rest in his sovereignty.

I also say this, brothers and sisters, I'm looking forward to that day when all of the wrongs are made right and they're done public. This morning, we're going to have a time of response and maybe maybe you need to pray and ask god to help you to focus more on him and less on the things of this world.

To rest in him.

Maybe you need to come and have a start a conversation with me or go see brother Don. He'll be standing at the back.

He's another one of our pastor. Maybe you need to talk to one of us about what's it mean to give my life to Jesus in faith. We'd love to talk to you about that.

But brother Adam's also going to introduce a new song to us this morning.

And he's going to play and sing this song and maybe you just listen to these words. If you know it and you want to sing, we always encourage singing to the lord.

But either way, unless you're praying, I'd invite you and encourage you to listen to these words and to think about that day when all wrongs will be made right.

Assured to us by our savior. Y'all listen as he sings.

Come Jesus

Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you very much for that.

Brother Adam, y'all know I usually at the beginning of the sermons do the sermon in a sentence to say, today, I decided at the end to do sermon and a poem.

Yeah, I wrote a poem. I don't do that a whole lot but I like the sound of this.

One day, all will see from bended knee that I belong to him and he belongs to me. Amen?

I don't have any announcements today except look in the bulletin at the announcement sheet and you'll find the announcements that we have there but I do have some exciting news to share with you. I want to invite Jet to come down here.

This is Jet Kilpatrick.

He's a good looking guy, isn't he? I tell you.

Takes after his mama. Praise the lord.

But Jet recently has spent some time asking some questions and telling me some things and we've had some discussions and he has shared with me that that he knows for sure that he is a sinner who needs to be saved by the grace of Jesus and and so he has called on Jesus as his lord and savior and so he comes today to make that public to you as a church and and his desire is to follow in believers baptism and so he'll be doing that one day soon but we want to share that exciting news with you and to give you the opportunity to celebrate that with him but before you do, celebrate that too much. I want to invite Reagan to come down here as well.

Reagan has been having similar conversations with her parents about what it means to be a Christian, what it means to give your life to Jesus and what we need to be saved from and she understands these things. I had the opportunity to sit down with her and and to hear her share those truths with me this morning and to share for sure that she has called on Jesus and given control of her life over to him. He is now lord of her life and that she believes the gospel and that she's trusting in him and so she comes today sharing with you the same news and she also desires to follow in believers baptism and so we celebrate with Reagan and with Jet and we celebrate the work that the lord continues to do. Amen? And the lord is continuing to save people.

Friends, he has opened the door to make this available to Jet and to Reagan and to me and to you by his own blood. He won that victory and he has given it to us and so we celebrate today, a brother and a sister in Christ and so we celebrate with them. If you would, let's celebrate. Thank the lord. I want to invite their families to come down here with them as well and we're going to let you come by and and see them and and celebrate with them and and soon we will we will bring them before you that they will be baptized and become members of the church but that's one day soon. For today, we celebrate the decision that they've made to accept Jesus as their lord and savior. To go from death to life because god is good.

I want to invite you to stand with me this morning. I pray that you have a great day. I know it is a Memorial Day weekend and we are mindful of all those who have given their lives and serviced our country and we're thankful for that. So, as we pray, we're going to pray particularly for the families of those who have lost loved ones and serviced our country and we're also going to pray and and thank the lord for Jet and Reagan's exciting news and then if you would on your way out, come by and see them and celebrate with us and and then you can be dismissed but let's pray together.

Lord, we are thankful as we think about the beautiful picture of the sacrifice of Jesus that has opened to us the door of eternal life.

Lord, we're reminded of the the beauty of that picture of someone who loves others so much that they're willing to lay down their life for them.

And so father, we're chiefly thankful for Jesus as the perfect example of that but lord, we know that there are men and women lord, recently and throughout our nation's history, who have who have given their lives in service to to protect the freedoms that we celebrate and enjoy here and so father, we are mindful of them today.

We thank you for giving men and women hearts and minds of dedication and courage.

But lord, we pray also for the families of those who have lost loved ones.

Lord, who are who are living a very, very different life because of their sacrifice and we pray lord that you would give them grace and that they would recognize your presence on every day and particularly for those days that are most difficult.

So, father, we thank you for these things. We also thank you that today as we celebrate all of this that we get to celebrate new life in Jet and in Reagan. Father, that they have come and through faith in Jesus because of his word, because of the victory that that he has secured, they now have access to that victory. They have had their sins forgiven and they are promised eternal life and lord, we know that that's only because of what Jesus has done. So, we thank you for this and we celebrate it together.

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.