The Church Jesus Cherishes: Part 2 - Revelation 3: 8b-11

2:08Well, here we are looking at the church at Philadelphia. What a refreshing church to look at, that they are able to endure their times, they are able to deal with all the temptations without compromise, without going apostate like some of the other churches. They have remained faithful and they are able to enjoy a level of shalom, peace, in the midst of all the tribulation and trials that are going on around them. They are able to rise above and stand as those complete in Him. This is a great church. Just to look back at where we've been in verse 7, Jesus describes Himself there in verse 7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, he who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this. In this verse 7, Jesus describes himself as the holy one, the true one, and the authoritative one. He has the key to everything that has been promised to David and his kingdom and the eternal kingdom. He has the authority, who's in, who's out, and the places that people will be given. He has all that authority. It's not the Jews there in their city that has this kind of authority. It is he who has this authority. He has authority over the house of David as the son of David, but he also has the authority over the house of David as God. He is the authoritative one. What he says is right, because he is the holy one. What he says is reliable, because he is the true one. And because he is the one who opens and no one can shut, what he says is irreversible. So he is right, reliable, and irreversible. And he is speaking to this congregation, and this is how he describes himself in relation to this church. And then in verse 8, last time we looked at three characteristics of a church that Jesus cherishes. There is no criticism of this church, only praise. He loves this church. He cherishes this church. And last week we looked at three characteristics coming out of verse 8. We noticed that the church that Jesus cherishes is, first of all, independent of its size. Look at verse 8. He says, I know your deeds. I know you.

4:51And he also knows that you have a little power. You have a little strength. This is not a big, influential church. They have a little strength, little capabilities, little abilities in terms of being a pillar of influence in their culture and society. And yet, this is a church that he cherishes. So it's independent of size. Second characteristic we looked at last week is that though they were small, they cherished his words. Look at verse 8, and have kept my word. They had kept the teaching of Christ, whole parts, they loved, they cherished his word. Third characteristic, they had also cherished his name. Notice that they had not denied his name. So when we look at the characteristics of a church that Jesus cherishes, it's independent of their size. But it's very clear that the church that Jesus cherishes is a church that cherishes his word. And the church that Jesus cherishes also. Also cherishes his name.

6:05So he cherishes this kind of people, this church. This week, we'll begin looking at the expressions of love that Jesus bestows upon the church he cherishes. If he cherishes a church, what does that look like? Well, that's what we're about to study. The expressions of love. When you cherish somebody, you love somebody, and when you love somebody, there are expressions of that love. And that's what we're going to look at. These expressions, we're going to begin looking at them this week.

6:40We're going to be looking at these expressions of love. And we want to look at these so that we will be encouraged to cherish his word, to cherish his name. We want to see these expressions of love so that we will be motivated to be more and more a people who cherish his word and cherish his name. So let's move forward. For the church that Jesus cherishes, he opens the door to eternal honor. He opens the door to eternal honor. Let's just look at verse 8.

7:25I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door. Which no one can shut. He's saying this, Behold, see. He's talking to a church he cherishes. He says, Behold, I want you to get notice of this. I have put before you, I have caused, I have appointed, I have given, I have granted an open door. We looked at the great arch to the west in St. Louis last week. The arch, an open door, an open gate, an open entrance. I have put it right in front of you.

8:08And what I have opened, no one can shut. I have put before you an open door which no one can shut. You think about this. This is what he does. If you Christ, the church that he cherishes, he puts before them an open door. An open door. Think about this as a parent. This isn't hard to get your mind around. If you love somebody, you love your children. What do you want to do? You want to give them opportunity. You want to open doors to them. You want to give them a great future. You want to do all of that. We understand that. It's easy to relate to. Well, think about how much more Christ is like this. He loves his people. He cherishes his people. And so what he wants to put before them is an open door to great opportunity, to great things.

9:01He doesn't withhold. He is gracious in opening these things so that we will walk through them. He wants his people to know and experience great things. We do the same with our children. He wants to give them a glorious future. We want to give our kids a glorious future, a good future, and he does the same on a much higher level. Well, what is this door? I have put before you an open door, singular, which no one can shut. It would be good to know what this door is a door is a gateway into something else. What is it? Well, we can think of this as either generally or a specific door. Is it a general door that he opens or is it a specific door? Well, certainly there are many kinds of doors he opens, and he had opened for this church.

10:04What kind of doors does he open for his people? Well, many. He opens the door of forgiveness. Forgiveness. That door is wide open for all who will come and go to the cross. That's the doorway. You want forgiveness of your sin. You go through the cross. You meet Jesus Christ at the cross. And you walk through him. You walk to him. And through the cross with him. Forgiveness. The doorway is open. It's also a doorway into new life. That doorway that leads to the cross, also leads to the grave, also leads to Christ's resurrection. New life in him. The door is open. The door is open to you today for the forgiveness of your sins and for the new life in Jesus Christ. That is open. And he opens that so that you may walk through that. And if you don't know him today, I implore you, I communicate to you that he wants you to walk through those doors, so walk through them. Come to him today.

11:12There's also the door of cherishing his word. I don't care what goes on in the world around us. I don't care what was going on in the world in Philadelphia at 90 AD or towards the end of the first century. They had the open door of cherishing his word. And this involves a lot. Think about all the implications of this. If you're going to cherish his words, it includes the idea of understanding his words. You can't cherish what you don't understand. You can't obey what you don't understand. You cannot.

11:55Oh, there's just so much there. You think about it. He's opened the door for you to cherish his word. This implies understanding his word. This implies being given the power to obey his word and to refuse every temptation, a way of escape for every temptation that would cause you to disobey his word. Yeah, he's opened that door for you to cherish his word. Walk through it. He's also opened the door to cherishing his name. Is the name of Jesus Christ offensive to you? Are you ashamed of his name? Let me tell you something. If so, you're not walking through the door that he's opened for you. He has given you an open door to cherish his name. And you know what that implies? That implies whatever help you need in overcoming all the fallout that comes from identifying with Jesus' name. No one closes this door.

13:01No one can close this door. It's open to you to cherish his word, to cherish his name, and he'll deal with whatever is necessary that goes along with all of that, so that you will walk through those doors. Well, certainly he opens all of those doors. And that's implied in what he's opened here for this church in Philadelphia. But the language still is very specific. Specific here. It's singular. The language speaks of one door. One door. Yes, it has implications for all these others, but what is the privilege that's being opened? Well, many would say, due to Philadelphia's location, that this has to do with missionary service. As we showed, it was the gateway to the East, and so because of its geographic location, what he's opening up here is the door to missionary service. Well, certainly he's given the church that, but we don't see any remark about great missionary service here, although certainly there being a testimony. So I don't think the emphasis here is based on geography, and others would say that it's the right to exist as a church, a testimonial existence. They have the right to exist and testify to God. Certainly that door is wide open for them.

14:29That God has opened the door for them to given them the freedom to go about Christ's business. Yes. Certainly that's involved and implied. But there's one door that I think is specifically in view here, and that is messianic glory. Glory in his kingdom. Honor. To be honored in his eternal kingdom. See, we think of glory as something that. We so get glory wrong. Glory in the Bible isn't about how swell we are. Glory is the ability to reflect how wonderful our God is. And glorifying God is of not, if we are, if God glorifies his people, what he's doing is he's showing, he's reflecting himself in these people.

15:24And so, what he's, the door that he's opened, he's got the key to David. And that's one reason here. Think about the context indicates a specific door in relation to David. He's just talked about, I have the key of David. And then he talks about opening and shutting. So, in the context here, what's written, he's talking about something that deals with the house of David, with the glory given to David and the promised eternal kingdom of his. He has the key, he opens, he shuts. And so, in context, we need to understand this is something about the messianic privileges, the eternal kingdom, all that was promised to David. He has the key. And in context, you've got these Jews, the synagogue of Satan, and they're going to claim that they're the ones with the key to David. They're the recipients of the Messianic age and the messianic promises and the eternal kingdom. And Jesus is saying, no, contrary. I have the key. I know what's going on in that synagogue. And it's a synagogue of Satan. I have the keys. And what has he set before them? Well, he opens the door to the eternal kingdom promised to David. He's the one who lets in, who goes in. And he is also the one who has authority over the positions, places, whatever that looks like in that eternal kingdom.

16:59And what he is saying is, I have opened the door for you to have eternal honor, for you to hold fast, for you to cherish my name, for you to cherish my word. And I have set before you an open door that no one can close. A door that forever will honor you in the heavenlies. And this is going to be, look at some of these things. I can't wait till we get there, but look at this. He who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore. I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God. Just the whole, think about the whole idea of a pillar. To be a pillar. He has opened the door to be honored in the presence. Of God and his holy angels. Walk through it.

18:06You talk about a privilege over the top. This is what he does for the church he cherishes: he opens a door to great, great privilege. Inevitably, and I realize there are several schools of thought that look as you're walking through the book of Revelation, you're going to be trying to figure out, okay, what system am I in? Where am I? Well, don't really worry about what system you're in. Just worry about what the Word of God says and let your system figure itself out. But I can explain there are several different millennial views. There is the pre-millennial view, which sees that Christ would return before the millennium in Revelation 20, and that there will be a thousand years. Some see that as symbolic, some see it as literal, as I take it. And then there's this blip, where Satan is released for a short time, and then you have the eternal state. So Christ returns, and you have this kingdom, and you have a blip, and then you have the eternal state. If you come from a post-millennial, you might say, well, the blip is here, millennium here, and eternal state. Christ returns, and eternal state. If you're an all-millennial, say, well, maybe there is no blip in the whole thing. He's just, there's no millennium. It's just, he's going to come, and then we're all just in this eternal state. So, let me say it like this: blip or no blip, he holds the key. Can you say that with me? Blip or no blip, he holds the key.

19:50One more time: blip or no blip, he holds the key. So, as you're sorting all this stuff out, remember there is much to celebrate here: that he holds the key to all that is promised to David. And when you're some of you young ones, you're probably not even asking that question sometime later in life. You're going to go, oh, now I know what he was talking about. But the point here is he opens up great things, great blessing, great honor to those who honor him, no matter how that plays out.

20:261 Samuel 2:30, God says this, speaking the context of Saul, for those who honor me, I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. Those who honor me, I will honor. Jesus, in Matthew 8, speaking of the centurion's faith, he says this: he marveled and said to those who are following, Truly, truly, I say to you, I have not found such a great faith with anyone in Israel. I say, To you, that many will come from the east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

21:21You see, the way to blessing and honor in Christ's kingdom is through simply keeping his word. That's the open door. Keep his word and identifying with his name. Keep his word and identify with his name in this fallen and perverse world. That is the open door. And the one who honors him, I assure you, he's going to far more honor on a level that we can't even begin to get our minds around. That's because of who he is.

22:04So, what is the open door? What is the open door? Eternal honor. Christ wants his people to enjoy the heights of heaven, the very best of heaven, just like parents want their children to experience the best that this world can give them. And they will sacrifice themselves in that effort to give good things to their children. How much more does Christ do the same? The difference between earthly parents and Christ is that Christ holds the key and can do it.

22:40He has the power to grant it. And he has walk through the door. Walk through the door of keeping his word and identifying with his name. Think about this church. Although they have little power, little strength, they have massive opportunity. Think about you and me. If there's ever a verse that describes this, you ever feel like you just have little strength, little power, little ability to influence? Doesn't really matter what you do, where you do, you're just not really going to be an earth-shattering, earth-moving force to be reckoned with. That's all of us.

23:32But just because you're in a situation where you feel like you have a little strength, little ability, don't miss the massive opportunity that's right before you. You can honor Christ in your place, in your station. You can honor his word. You can honor his name. Little strength, massive opportunity. And that's for all of us. Walk through the door that he has opened, that no one else can shut. So for the church Jesus cherishes, he opens the door to eternal honor. Second, get to verse 9. For the church Jesus cherishes, he vindicates before their enemies. He vindicates before their enemies. Look at verse 9. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but lie, I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you.

24:46Well, you see, the church that Jesus cherishes, he's going to make sure that everybody knows this. If Christ has loved you, I guarantee you there is a time and a place where all are going to know that. He's going to vindicate, and especially before the church's enemies. Now, who is this? Behold, again, he says, Behold, look at this. I am causing out of the synagogue of Satan those, the ones who are saying they are Jews and they are not, but are lying.

25:27I will make them come and bow down at your feet. And make them know that I have loved you. So, who in the world is a synagogue of Satan? We've already looked at, seen a little bit of them in Smyrna. They get the same call there, synagogue of Satan. It's clear that they are ethnic Jews, but the text says they say they are Jews and they are not. So, I don't think you have, he's not speaking just physically here, speaking spiritually. There's a spiritual aspect to what he's saying. In other words, I don't think this is a bunch of Hittites that are pretending that they're Jews. I don't think this is a synagogue of Hittites that really are calling themselves Jews. Listen, at this time, there's no real benefit to calling yourself Jews at this point in time. They're ethnic Jews. This isn't Gentiles pretending to be Jews. These are real ethnic Jews, but they are spiritually void of the faith of Abraham. Spiritually void. Their heart is unchanged. It is uncircumcised.

26:37There's a spiritual aspect. The New Testament, those who are truly of the Jewish faith, the historic faith as revealed in the Old Testament, they follow God, they keep his word, they love him, and they are heirs of the coming kingdom. They are in Christ. They recognize Christ. They embrace Christ. These people didn't do any of this. The true Jew accepts Jesus. It's what he says. They lie. These have an unchanged heart, uncircumcised. So it's clear that they're ethnic Jews. The word synagogue gives that away. And it's also clear that they're opposed to God. Satan, synagogue of Satan. It's clear they're opposed to God. I want to give you a little bit of how did this group get here? It's a matter of a lot of conversation, but what is their theological trajectory? And you can see how this congregation, synagogue of Satan, comes about. I just want to walk you through a couple brief history moments, periods of time, starting with Jesus' time, the time in between Jesus and the destruction of the temple and the post-temple destruction years. And you'll get an idea of this theological trajectory of this synagogue of Satan, where they started, what are some of the kernels, and what gets developed. But think about going back to Jesus' ministry. 30 AD, roughly. In John 8, Jesus described himself as the light of the world. And as the light, he exposes things. And in John 8, he exposes the things that he says. Exposes who the children of the devil are.

28:34And they are among the Jewish leadership. The Jewish leadership that was specifically rejecting him, and the Jewish leadership that would later sway the crowds to do the same, to reject Christ. In fact, he says in John 8:44, you are of your father the devil and want to do the desires of your father. So there is this Jewish leadership, and Jesus Himself points to them, You are of your father the devil. You are not of the spiritual disposition of Abraham at all. You are of the spiritual disposition of the devil. The devil's a murderer, a liar, doesn't come into the truth, won't come into the truth, and so Jesus stings them. But the children of the devil, if you kept making your way through John 8, as we did years ago, the children of the devil are identified with what they do not do. They do not love Jesus. They do not understand Jesus. They do not believe Jesus.

29:45Children of the devil, blinded by the devil. Do not love Jesus, do not understand Jesus, do not believe Jesus. They don't believe Jesus because they're children of the devil. They do not understand Jesus because they don't believe him and they don't believe him. They cannot love him. Him, children of the devil. This is what satanic opposition looked like during the period that Jesus walked among us, and that's what leads to his crucifixion. Well, then, after Christ, after the great day of Pentecost, after he's resurrected from the dead and the proclamation of his name goes forward and it is taken territory right and left. If they had a problem with Jesus before, they really have a problem with Jesus after. Now it's claimed that he's risen from the dead. 3,000 Jewish people come to Christ in one day after one sermon in Acts chapter 2. And so what happens in this period between Jesus' resurrection and Pentecost and the destruction of the temple, you get this schism in Judaism. Many Jews start turning to Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. And the synagogue is still the gathering place where Jews are meeting. And so these who have believed that they have found the Messiah are coming in and they're talking about Jesus Christ being raised from the dead, being the Messiah. And so there's a schism that takes place in Jesus. Judaism, those who embrace the Messiah and those who reject. And so you have people from Jerusalem, the leadership, go and poisoning minds and synagogue, following around to persecute. It's what Paul set out to do originally, Saul of Tarsus, and then he becomes Paul.

31:50You can read it, like Acts 18:1. It's very clear that during this period, many opposed Jesus, and gradually the opposition against Jesus won out during this time period. And this is why Paul at Corinth says, after reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks, he was devoting himself solemnly to testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. So this is what satanic opposition looked like during that time period. Then the temple gets destroyed in 70 AD.

32:48The first Jewish revolt, sometime in the late 60s. This is what Masada is about. If you've ever seen Masada or been to Masada, you know, this is what leads to the first, or this is the last holdout that. First Jewish revolt. Well, this revolt leads to the destruction of the temple. Now you got a problem. After this period, the Sanhedrin have to reimagine what Jewish life is going to be like without the temple. Think about that for a moment. You remember a few years ago, our sister church, Southern Oaks Baptist Church, was destroyed by a fire. You remember that? Remember it well. Southern Oaks was then in need of trying to find a new location and figuring out what are they going to do next. Well, as you remember, they came and they still meet in our church. But initially, they met at the BSM, Baptist Student Union, or Mission, and then they made their way here, and they're still meeting here. And we went through a process of revitalization, reorganization, reimagining, and now they've got a new place that they will probably be in by the end of the year. Wasn't all that complicated. Yeah, if you were here, that was. But location wasn't so important to the church. Not so in Judaism. Not so. After the devastation by the Romans, they've got a problem. They have. To come up with a Judaism and the practice of Jewish life without the temple, without the sacrificial system, without all the pilgrimages. This is a huge task because they can't obey the Torah anymore. And so, what is what do you do? Well, this is during this time period. You have the Sanhedrin move up to Upper Galilee. Obviously, they're out of Jerusalem. They go up to Upper Galilee, places like Jamnia. If you're on the trips to Israel with us, you might go there, Sepphoris.

35:13And there, the Sanhedrin began to imagine Judaism without the temple. And so they, well, there are several things. Judaism without the Temple, Judaism without Jesus of Nazareth, and Judaism that will downplay the near return of the Messiah. They start having to capitulate to Rome by into the second century. They've already had a couple of revolts. They have a diaspora revolt where people Jewish revolt in Mesopotamia and Egypt and Cyprus. You have that revolt, then you have another revolt that is going the second Jewish revolt under Simon Barcoqla. But by the end of all this, Jews cannot even be in Jerusalem. Hadrian has built a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount and even a temple to himself so people would worship him.

36:28And he's even renamed the area to Syria, Palestina, in an effort. We still call it Palestine today, work of Hadrian. But the idea was to get rid of the erase, get rid of Jewish life out of this area forever. That was the effort. Well, much of this has taken place up in the northern Galilee part, Upper Galilee part. And here's just to give you a statement from this time period. There was at Jamnia, a town in Upper Galilee, where all the Sanhedrin met, and they came up with these 18 benedictions. And these benedictions were to be read every Sabbath in the synagogue service and daily by pious Jews. But this is, let me read you the 12th of the 18th benediction.

37:30For the apostates, let there be no hope. And let the arrogant government, speaking of Rome, be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the Nazarenes and the heretics be destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of the book of life and not be inscribed with the righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the arrogant. That was codified. And so, what is the synagogue of Satan at this time? It is a local congregation, a local synagogue. I do not believe this is speaking globally of all the Jews. This was speaking of a local synagogue who embraced this kind of attitude toward Jesus. And so, what you have coming out of this time period is the Mishnah, this writing by the Jewish leaders called the Mishnah that gives you a new Judaism, a reimagined Judaism that doesn't involve the temple and doesn't involve Jesus the Messiah, and can get along with Rome a little bit better. So, the idea. Of Messiah is kind of pushed way off into the distant future. Then, a little bit after that, you have what is called the Gemara, which is commentary on the Mishnah. Okay, how do you actually play this out? And then those two get put together, and they're called the Talmud.

39:21The Talmud. You've probably heard that word. But that's where it all comes from. And you can think about where Upper Galilee is in proximity where these churches are. They're in Asia Minor. There's no more Jewish life happening in Jerusalem. It's moving, it's migrating. And so this is what's happening here. I do not believe this is a global reference to all Jews, as some have taken it in the past. This is a local synagogue that has violently opposed to the church. Smyrna had one as well.

40:12But notice. Notice what Jesus causes them to do. Who are they? The synagogue of Satan? Well, it's this group that has embraced a very anti-Christ, anti-Jesus of Nazarene. Group and are very much opposed to the church there at Philadelphia. They may even be bringing upon them the governmental lash by accusing them as being traitors, that this Nazarene sect still has messianic ideas and they're expecting a soon returning Christ, and all this in an effort to get the magistrates to come against them. All of this is very plausible, if not probable.

41:04But notice what Jesus causes them to do. We know who they are. Now Jesus says what's going to happen to them. Who are they, and what is going to happen to them? Look at verse 9. Jesus is going to cause two things to happen. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. Bow down. What's that? Prostrate.

41:43It's the word revere, often the word kiss, even the word worship. This is not an expression simply of reverence. Replacement or dominance or crushing by violence. This is the language of conversion. I will make them bow down, prostrate. I will let them come to know and be sure of. Look at, I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. Jesus is going to make himself known and he's going to make sure that they know who he is and that he has loved them.

42:45Be sure of. I'm going to make sure that they come to know and be sure of who you are and who I am. Come to understand that Israel's Messiah truly does love these people. They are a congregation of Ruths. They are a congregation of Rahabs. They are not the apostate church, like at Thyratira, not the dead church at Sardis, no, but the true church at Philadelphia. And through their ministry, through their cherishing the Messiah's name, Through the cherishing of the Messiah's word, he's going to bring this local congregation of Jewish people to recognize who Christ is.

43:54You see, there is a time and a place. Now, I recognize we're getting out of time. But this statement has been interpreted by many that the church replaces the promises made to ethnic Israel. The question becomes: who bows to who? Do the nations bow to Israel as Isaiah 60, as I read earlier today? In Isaiah 60, 10, foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you, for in my wrath I struck you, and in my favor I have had compassion on you. In verse 14, the sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all those who despise you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet, and they will call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

44:53And since it's clear, this language in Isaiah 60 is about the nations coming and bowing. Down to the feet of Israel. And then they look at this verse, Revelation 3:9, where there is a statement that Jesus is going to make the Jews come and bow down at the church's feet, that somehow the church must have replaced or inherited all of the blessings promised to ethnic Israel. So the thinking goes. Well, both of these words are true. Isaiah 60:14 is true. Revelation 3:9 are true. And if there is an end-time implication for these words, it will be clear that Israel will become followers of Jesus before the nations become bowing down to them.

45:53All that's going to come in the book of Revelation is preparing Israel to have a change of heart to the one that they have pierced. Israel will become true followers of Christ before the nations in Isaiah 60 come and bow down. But it's not, they're not going to come to the ornate church of loveless orthodoxy or to the The apostate church of Thyratia, but they're going to see in the faithful churches those who really did cherish the Messiah's word, those who really did cherish his name, congregations of Ruths, congregations of the Rahabs, congregations that are covenantally faithful to him, much like David's mighty men were to him. They will see this.

47:00Personally, I think this is, I wouldn't go any further than just saying this is a local situation. At some point, people in this congregation would come and turn to Christ because of the testimony of the church at Philadelphia. But if there are implications beyond that, I don't know how to parse them out. But here's the point: Jesus will vindicate his faithful before their enemies. For sure. For sure. There is a time and a place where the Jews will become part of the church that Jesus cherishes. There will be coming a time when all peoples, all that have opposed Christ, will come to understand. Just how much Jesus loves his church.

48:04He will vindicate his people before their enemies, for sure. Third, for the church Jesus cherishes, he delivers from the great hour of testing. You know what? This is exciting. From the hour of testing, because they've been faithful to him, he's going to keep them from the great hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. You're going to have to come back next week.

48:49Just close our thoughts this morning. I just said we're going to begin. I'm glad we made it through the second one. But as you think forward to this semester, I know a lot of people backward thinking of our year and perspective, trying to look ahead. Don't you want to be part of a church that Jesus cherishes? If there's one thing to do with your semester, be part of a church that Jesus cherishes. And. Be a person that strengthens the church that Jesus cherishes. That's an open door.

49:41Listen, how quickly this semester will be over, how quickly this year will be over, how quickly your college days will be over. Listen, the times and the epics move so quickly. It just seems like a little while ago, Emmanuel, we were downtown and church there, church building there. How quickly we have changed, it seems like a distant past. But very soon, what is will be what was. Soon, all of this earth will be what was, and we will be ushered into the presence of what is forever.

50:25Is there anything worth doing more than cherishing Christ, cherishing his word, cherishing his name, and building up those who do? The doors are opened: the door of forgiveness, door of new life, door of purpose, and the door of eternal reward. And no one can shut these. And the invitation for you today is to walk through those. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you, thanking you for your goodness to us. Thank you for the truth that's in your word.

51:09Thank you, Father. Thank you for the open doors. Father, that we can cherish your name. We can cherish your word. We can obey your word. We can resist every temptation to disobey your word, not because there's anything of great importance in us, but because you have promised your spirit and you have opened the door to obedience. Lord, help us to walk in that way. Help us to walk through the door of forgiveness and just keep reminding ourselves of the great love that you displayed for us there at the cross. Help us to reflect upon the whole new life that you have given to us through your resurrection, the new hope that that gives us, the forward perspective that gives us on where we're going and what the end of all of this is going to mean and be. Father, thank you. Help us now in our time and place, even though we are people who feel like we have a little strength, oh, but we have your great love. What a joy. What a massive opportunity. Help us to walk through this door with full stride. In Jesus' name, amen.