From Matthew 16, we read a wonderful text.  The paragraph actually begins in verse 13, but we will start reading in verse 16.  “And answering, Simon Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answering said to him, Blessed you are, Simon Barjona.”  That is, son of Jonah.  “because flesh and blood has not revealed to you but my Father who is in the heavens.  And I say to you, that you are Petros, and upon this petra I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not prevail against her.”  (Verses 16–18.)  This is a wonderful, wonderful promise.  When these words were spoken, after the feeding of the 5,000 (see Matthew 14), great multitudes had left Jesus; they forsook Him.  At this time, there was just a handful of men and a few women who were faithful followers of Jesus.  And Jesus made this wonderful pronouncement.  He said, “You are Petros [that is like a rolling stone], but upon this petra, this rock, this boulder, I am going to build my church.”  Who is the Rock?  Who did Peter say the Rock was in I Peter 2?  Who is the chief Cornerstone upon which the church is built?  It is Jesus Christ.  “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against her.”  Do you believe that?  If you believe that, then you believe that from that time until now God has always had a church and will have a church until Jesus comes again.  When Jesus comes again, friends, He is coming for His church. 

This church has been attacked.  Millions of her adherents down through the ages have been martyred.  When we say down through the ages, are you aware of the fact that during the twentieth century it is estimated that between 100 to 200 million Christians were martyred?  The church has been under attack, but we have the Lord’s promise, whether I live or die, whether you live or die, that “The gates of Hades are not going to prevail against this church,” because Jesus is coming, friend.  When Jesus comes, the gates of the graves of God’s children will all be opened. 

I want to tell you, when God says that something is going to be opened, you cannot shut it.  The devil and his entire host, if you die in Christ, cannot stop you from coming out of the grave when Jesus comes.  When God says something is to be opened, nobody can shut it.  If God says something is to be shut, nobody can open it.

The book of Revelation is one of my favorite books in the Bible.  The book of Revelation is not written to the whole world.  Did you know that?  It is not.  God has written some parts of the Bible for the whole world.  In the book of Daniel you will find a vision, a dream that God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar.  It was an outline of the future history of the world given to a heathen king and to all the peoples of the world.  God has written some parts of the Bible for all mankind, but there are some parts of the Bible that are special.  Turn to Revelation, the first chapter.  Let us see who this is written to.  It is not written to the whole world.  That is why the people of the world cannot understand it.  They have to have the people of the church explain it to them.

Revelation 1:1 says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His servants.”  Who is the Book of Revelation written to?  Look at the end of the book of Revelation, at Revelation 22:16: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things to the churches.”  Both at the beginning and at the end of Revelation you are told who this book is written to.  It is written to Christ’s servants; it is written to the churches. 

As you would expect, the very first vision in Revelation starts talking about the churches.  For instance, in chapter 1, verse 11, it says, “What you see, write in a book, and send to the churches.”  The book of Revelation is written to the church; it is written to God’s servants.  Chapter 1, verse 19, says: “Therefore, write what you see, and the things that are and the things that are about to be after these things.”  Notice carefully that when John writes to the churches, he is writing about things that are, but he is also writing about things that are going to happen in the future.  You must understand chapter 1, verse 19, to understand the message to the church.  It is written about the present, but it is also written about the future. 

If you had come to the city of Ephesus, a seaport city, and then you got on a Roman road at Ephesus and followed it, you would next come to a city that was called Smyrna.  If you stayed on the Roman road and went past that city, you would next come to another city called Pergamos.  If you stayed on the Roman road and went past Pergamos, eventually you would come to another city called Thyatira.  If you passed that city and stayed on the Roman road, eventually you would come to another city called Sardis.  If you stayed on the Roman road and you went past that city, eventually you would come to a sixth city called Philadelphia.  If you went past that city and stayed on the Roman road, eventually you would come to a seventh city called Laodicea.  These were actual cities, and they are given in geographical order, starting with Ephesus.  We have descriptions here of all the people in God’s church.  We should understand, as Christians, that these messages to the churches were given not just for the present, but as we just read in Revelation 1:19, they were also given for the future. 

As we study history from that time, going through the different periods of the Christian church, astonishingly we find that the experience of the majority of the predominant number of the people in the Christian church, at the different times in Christian history, exactly coincides with the descriptions given in the seven churches.  However, there is something else we need to remember.  Everybody in the church does not necessarily have the experience of the church that living in the period of time described.  No.  There might be people in the same group having the experience of any one of these seven churches.  So we need to study them all. 

There were times when Ellen White took the church of Ephesus and applied it to Seventh-day Adventists.  There were times when she took the experience of the church at Sardis and applied it to Seventh-day Adventists.  We cannot go through all of them, but we are going to look at one.  I will go through quickly all seven of them with you, though.  I will give you just a snapshot picture that you can study out later on your own. 

The first church, Ephesus, we could describe as “the loveless church,” because they had lost their first love.  If you have lost your first love, then you are in the Ephesus church. 

The second church, the church at Smyrna, we could describe as “the persecuted church.”  If you are enduring persecution—on your job, in your home, wherever you are—maybe you are in the church at Smyrna. 

The third church, the church at Pergamos, we could describe as “the compromising church.”  Very scary.  You see, in the church at Ephesus, they would not tolerate people that were teaching the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, but in the Pergamos church, they had people that were teaching the doctrines of  Nicolaitans.  They also had people in that church teaching them to commit fornication—spiritual fornication—and to worship idols.  They were a compromising church. 

Compromise always results in something, and that is the experience of the fourth church, Thyatira.  We could describe the experience of Thyatira as “the corrupt church.”  There were people in that church that Jesus said knew the depths of Satan.  They allowed Jezebel to teach in that church—the one who called herself a prophetess—and to teach the Christians wrong practices. 

Then there is the church at Sardis.  This is another very sad testimony from Jesus.  We could describe this church as “the dead church.”  In Ellen White’s day, there were evidently many Seventh-day Adventists in the church of Sardis.  Jesus said, “You have a name that you are alive, but actually you are dead.” 

Then we come to some wonderful news, the church that we want to study, Philadelphia!  Wonderful, wonderful word.  Phileo is the Greek word for a friend or somebody that you love with tender affection.  When Jesus said to Peter, “Do you . . . ,” He used the word agapao, that is usually used in the New Testament for divine love.  (John 21:15.)  Peter replied immediately.  He said, “I phileo you.  Lord I have tender affection for you.”  The second time Jesus said to Peter, “Do you have love for me,” he used again the word agapao, and Peter immediately said, “I phileo you.  I have tender affection for you.”  (Verse 16.)  The third time Jesus did not use the word agapao.  The third time Jesus asked Peter that question He said, “Do you phileo me?”  The Bible says Peter was grieved, because the third time Jesus did not use the word agapao.  Peter said, “Yes, Lord, you know I do.”  (Verse 17.)  Phileo is a word that means you have tender affection for somebody.  Adelphos is the Greek word for brother.  So Philadelphia is “the place of brotherly love.”  I want to tell you, if there was ever a time when we needed Philadelphia in the church, it is today. 

Of all the seven churches, there are only two churches for which Jesus has no condemnation.  One is the church at Smyrna, the persecuted church, and the other is the church at Philadelphia.  We could describe the church of Philadelphia as “the faithful church.” 

There are two churches that received no word of commendation at all but only rebuke from the Lord.  Those two churches are the church at Sardis and the church at Laodicea.  You know about Laodicea if you have studied Daniel 11, because there was a queen mentioned in Daniel 11, not by name, but she is referred to.  Her name was Laodice.  Laos is the Greek word for people.  Dicea has to do with right or judgment, so the word Laodicea has to do with the judging of the people.  This is the church that lives during the time of judgment.  It could be described in a phrase as “the lukewarm church.”  There we have the message of the seven churches.  We have described each of them by just a phrase.

Let us go now to Revelation 3:8.  Jesus says to the Philadelphia church, “I have set before you a door that has been opened.”  Now to get the context of verse 8, we need to know what was said in the last part of verse 7.  It talks about the Person, the Holy One, the True One, the One having the key of David.  Who is that?  That is Jesus Himself.  In the beginning of each of the messages to the seven churches, it has certain references to the descriptions of Christ.  Verse 8 says, “The One who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens.”  Notice, when Jesus opens something, nobody can shut it.  And when He shuts something, nobody can open it. 

What I would like to get into as quickly as we can happens to be one of the most controversial doctrines that the Second Advent Movement has believed.  If you read any of the books that have been published by former Seventh-day Adventist ministers who are now calling themselves Evangelical and who attack the Second Advent Movement, you will find they always attack this doctrine.  For instance, I am not interested in name-calling, but I think we need to get specific.  When a former Seventh-day Adventist pastor by the name of Walter Rea wrote a book called The White Lie [M. & R. Publications, Turlock, CA., 1981], he included a whole section which he calls, “Go Shut the Door.”  What is he talking about?  He is talking about this doctrine right here.  If you look in the books and on the Internet, at the books published recently against the Second Advent Movement, you will find that they always attack this doctrine.  Whole chapters are given to the doctrine of the shut door.  But friends, this chapter in Revelation teaches that when Jesus opens something, nobody can shut it, and when He shuts something, nobody can open it.  Is there such a thing as a shut door?  Yes, there is. 

I am amazed to find that every doctrine that I study has that doctrine, at least in embryo form.  Have you ever noticed that?  It is an astounding thing.  Have you read anywhere in the Book of Genesis where there was a shut door?  I know of two places.  In the Book of Genesis, there was a time when Noah and his family went inside the ark, and the door was shut, and nobody could go in anymore.  There was a time when the angels reached out and took Lot and pulled him into his house and shut the door.  And I want to tell you, everyone that was on the outside of that door was lost.  There is such a thing as a shut door. 

What I really want to study with you is the open door, but for people who are critics and skeptics, I want you to see from the Bible that there is such a thing as the shut door, and I want to tell you there was a shut door in 1844.  There was.  You see when you reject a vital message from God, you have shut the door yourself.  Did the Jews shut the door of salvation on themselves?  Yes, they did.  Is it serious if you are a Christian and you do not want the Lord to come back again?  Is that serious?  Friend, that is a way to commit the unpardonable sin.  Think it through.  If in your heart you do not really want the Lord to come right away, you are on your way to committing the unpardonable sin unless you are converted.  It is serious. 

In Luke 13:22–30, we read: “And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, making as if he were going on to Jerusalem.  And a certain one said to him, Lord, are there few that shall be saved?  And he said to them, Struggle.”  Let us stop right there just a moment.  Have you ever heard a preacher get up and say that it is easier to be saved than lost?  Have you ever heard that doctrine?  Every time you hear that doctrine, turn to Luke 13:24 and read it and see what Jesus said.  “Struggle to enter in through the narrow door, because many, I say to you, will seek to enter in and will not be able, from which time the master of the house has risen up and shut the door.  And you began to stand outside and to knock on the door, saying, Lord open to us, and answering he will say to you, I do not know you [or] where you are from.  Then you will begin to say, we ate before you and drank, and you have taught in our streets.  And he will say to you, I don’t know you, where you are from.  Depart from me all of you who work unrighteousness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourself cast out outside.  And they will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will sit down in the kingdom of God.  But behold they are the last, they shall be first, and the first, they shall be last.”  We could read more texts of scripture, but you see it clearly, don’t you?  There is such a thing as a shut door and there is coming a time when the Master of the house is going to shut the door.  Remember, when the Master of the house shuts the door, nobody can open it.  But right now, this moment has not yet happened.

To the church of Philadelphia was given the message, “I have set before you a door that has been opened.”  Remember, friends, when Jesus opens a door, all the skeptics in the world cannot shut the door.  Are you glad for that?  This is a door that has been opened.  Now I want to ask you a question.  What was the door that was opened to the church at Philadelphia?  “Well,” somebody says, “that is the door of salvation.”  You mean, the door of salvation was not opened until the Philadelphian church?  Think this through a little bit. 

When you go to the Old Covenant, where was the worship of God centralized?  Where was the central place, the headquarters for divine worship in the Old Covenant?  It was in the sanctuary.  Now let me ask you another question.  None of these are trick questions, but we want to think.  I will give you a hint to start with, so you won’t make a mistake.  The sanctuary had more than one door, but what I want you to tell me is how many doors.  When the people went to the sanctuary to worship, think carefully, how many doors did they have to go through?  Three, exactly. 

The courtyard represents things that happen here on earth, and something else happened in the courtyard of the sanctuary that must happen to us.  After the brazen altar, they had to go past the laver before they went into the sanctuary.  That was where they were to be cleansed or purified. 

You cannot go into the sanctuary if you are not purified.  Look in Hebrews 9.  We won’t read all the context, you can do that for yourself, but look at Hebrews 9:8.  It says, “The Holy Spirit making it plain by this that not yet it was manifested the way of the holy places while the first tabernacle yet had standing.”  The other two doors were not open yet; you could only enter by faith.  There were people, such as Enoch, that went in there by faith.  Enoch lived before people even knew about all these things, before even the Old Covenant was made.  Did Enoch have a Most Holy Place experience?  Yes.  He could go clear in by faith.  Could people have their sins forgiven before Jesus died on the cross?  Yes, by faith.  Hebrews 9 explains that.  It is just the same as if I give you a promissory note and I promise you that at a certain time I am going to pay you $10,000.  If I have good credit, can you take that note to the bank and get money for it?  Yes, you can.  It has not been paid yet, but if my credit is good enough, you can take that note to the bank and get money for it.  That is the way people’s sins were forgiven in the Old Testament.  They were forgiven by the promise of God.  The price had not been paid for their sins yet, but they were forgiven by the promise of God.  In the same way that they could have their sins forgiven before Jesus died on the cross, they could go by faith into the Holy Place and into the Most Holy Place.  But there came a time when the price actually was paid, and Jesus actually did die on the cross for their sins.  When that happened, then there was no more meaning to offering lambs and goats and all of those things anymore.  The book of Hebrews discusses that in detail in chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10.  There was no point in that anymore.  Jesus invited his people to come with Him by faith, and He was going to go into the heavenly sanctuary.  But, most sadly, the Jewish church refused to go. 

Now, if Jesus says that it is time to stop offering your lambs and your goats because the true sacrifice has been offered, and He wants you to follow Him into the temple in heaven and you refuse to go, how much meaning is left in your religion?  What gives meaning to religion?  What is the foundation of all religion?  The whole foundation of all religion is love for God, isn’t it?  If you do not love God enough to follow Him when He goes somewhere and asks you to follow Him, what is the meaning of your religion?  It is meaningless. 

There was a time when it was meaningful to offer those sacrifices and do all those things in the Old Covenant, because it was expressing faith in what was going to happen.  But after it happened, those things had no meaning.  The people that refused to go into the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary, had a meaningless religion.  All they had left was the ritual, the form, the ceremony.  The meaning was gone.  Jesus said to them, in Matthew 23:38, “Your house is left to you desolate.”  There is no meaning to it; it is empty.

When we look at the history of the seven churches and we follow in our church history book and compare the experience of the church with the vision of the seven churches, and we look at the time period, it is very, very interesting.  We find that the church entered the period of Philadelphia right toward the end of the life history of John Wesley, around the time and after the time of the French Revolution.  The church had been stagnant and almost dead, just like it described in Sardis, for over 200 years.  Right after the French Revolution, there was a tremendous resurgence in the interest of Bible prophecy in all churches and tremendous Bible societies and mission societies formed.  Missionaries started going all over the world.  That happened in the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century. 

You can read in any church history book about that.  It is one of the most thrilling stories of modern missions, but it lasted less than 100 years.  When God had a faithful church, He said to them: “I am setting before you a door, and it has been opened.”  What door was this?  It was the third door.  It was not the door into the court.  That was opened to the Jewish church.  It was not the door into the Holy Place.  That had been open in the time of the apostles.  It was a door that was now open, and people began to look inside.  We can read about what they saw when they started to look inside this open door.  Revelation 11:19 says, “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen the ark of his covenant.” 

When the door was open, people noticed something that somehow they had lost sight of for many centuries in the Christian church.  They saw that when you go farther in—not just into the court, not just to see the cross, not just into the Holy place,—when you get clear inside to the inner shrine of God’s temple, there is just one article of furniture.  It is so important that in it there is a law.  That law, friends, is the foundation of God’s government.  It is the basis of His divine government for the whole universe.  When people began to look into that law, they found out that they had been breaking it.  Have you been breaking it? 

Here is something more you may wish to study later.  Remember there are two apartments to the sanctuary, the one we call the Holy Place, and the other one we call the Most Holy Place.  The Holy Place is where you take sin in.  Let me explain that in just one paragraph.  I come to Jesus as a sinner, every single morning, seeking not just confession and repentance but restoration.  When I come to Jesus as my great High Priest and I confess to Him my sinful condition, as I repent and as I confess my sins to Jesus, by means of His blood, my sins and my guilt are taken away from me.  Where does it go?  Have you ever studied the sanctuary enough to figure out where it goes?  When the people came, in the Old Covenant, and confessed their sins over the head of the lamb, where did the guilt go?  It went to the sacrifice.  That is why the sacrifice had to die.  It went from the person to the sacrifice, and then the life of that sacrifice, represented by the blood, was brought into the sanctuary and sprinkled there. 

After that, the Most Holy Place is a place where you take sin out.  On the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled the blood, he then came out with all of that sin, and he confessed it over the head of the scapegoat, and the sanctuary was cleansed.  It was purified; it was vindicated; it was restored to its rightful state.  My dear friend, if you are a Christian, you have a case pending in God’s court.  If you are a Christian, you have a page in the Book of Life, and in that book is written down every particular of your life history.  One of two things is going to happen. 

Maybe you would like to read it in the words given to the Sardis church as recorded in Revelation 3:5.  “The one who overcomes like this, he will be clothed in white garments, and I will not at all wipe out or blot out his name from the Book of Life.  And I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.”  If I overcome, what does Jesus promise me?  He promises me that He will not blot out my name. 

In Exodus 32:33, it says, “Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out from my book.”  The Lord says that the person that sins against Me, I will wipe him out; I will blot him out from My book. 

That is the destiny, friend.  One of those two destinies awaits each one of us.  Either our sins are going to be blotted out—sins are blotted out during the times of refreshing, you can read about that in Acts 3—or our names will be blotted out like it says here, one of the two.  What is going to happen to you?

I want to put this as kindly as I know how, because I have nothing against people who are our theological opponents.  There are a lot of people that want to go into the Holy Place, but they do not want to ever leave there.  They do not want to go to the Most Holy Place and have that experience.  They want to bring their sins in, and they want to confess and confess and confess. 

Now friends, when we sin, we should confess, but that is not all there is to religion.  The sanctuary did not have just one compartment; it had two compartments.  The plan of salvation does not just have one part.  It is not enough to bring the sin in; the sin has to sometime be taken out.  God has already told us that He is going to cleanse His sanctuary.  He is going to purify it.  He told us that in Daniel 8 and in Hebrews 9.  Jesus said and Moses said also, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established.”  (See Daniel 8:14; Hebrews 9:22, 23.) 

The Lord has told us that His sanctuary in heaven is going to be cleansed.  There is only one way it can be cleansed.  Think this through.  If you are a Christian, you have a page in the Book of Life.  On that page, all of your sins are recorded, every sin that you ever committed your whole life—every sinful thought, every sinful feeling, every sinful word, and every sinful action.  There are only two ways God’s sanctuary can be cleansed.  The page containing your name with all of your sins could just be taken out of the book; that is one way.  Then you are lost.  Or your sins can be blotted out and your name remains.  Is that what you want to happen?  Does the Bible teach that the sins of the true Christians are going to be blotted out?  Yes, it does.  Read Acts 3. 

I just want to ask you one question for you to think about.  Would it do any good for God to blot out my sins if the next hour or the next day I sinned again?  It would not do any good.  You can study that out on your own. 

Are you praying in your daily devotions?  Are you saying to the Lord, “Lord, I want to have a fitness for heaven?”  We have to have fitness for heaven, and we can have it, because the Lord can give it to us if we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. 

I have learned that we human beings need to make decisions while something is on our mind.  If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you now, you need to make a decision now.  The Bible says, “Now is the day of salvation.”  11 Corinthians 6:2.  If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now, don’t wait and say, “I will make a decision later.”  You do not know when the Holy Spirit is going to speak to you again, friend.  If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you now, you need to make a decision right now.  Say to the Lord, “Lord, I want my sins blotted out, and I am willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit so that this can happen.”