Address—D. Buchanan
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It's nice to be early. Let's sing early.
#22 in the appendix I'd like to sing together hymn #22 in the back of the book.
The Holy.
Uh, in the turn off all of my all.
5 grand wins.
Our Father.
Drive.
Nsnoise.
Your name.
Please, please Siri.
Lightning your word, healing love.
G Drive classmates 24.
1/21.
48.
Oh, make it happen.
And.
Get your time.
Roger.
I would like to speak this afternoon.
On the words spoken to the beloved church.
Philadelphia in Revelation chapter 3.
Brotherly love.
If our brother **** Gorgeous were here, I would ask him to come up here and give me one of his big brotherly love hugs.
As a demonstration to us of what this is about, you can imagine it here, those of you, those of you who knew him.
We're left here as God's people.
And we are loved, beloved.
And it's a it's a joy and a privilege.
To enter into that something somewhat in our lives and to.
In faith respond not only want to one another.
But to the Lord Himself.
I have AI have a concern.
That we're faced with.
A Laodicean type weakness around us and in US and among us.
And the Laodicean.
Attitude pretends too much.
Without a reality.
And I have felt in my own soul that.
This may affect us to such an extent.
That we avoid or shun.
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What would really be a Philadelphian testimony?
Let's read, uh, what the Lord said to that church in Philadelphia.
Before we read it, I will give a brief.
Resume of these chapters two and three of Revelation.
Are a prophetic history of what the Lord Jesus himself thinks about the Christian testimony here on earth since Pentecost till he comes back again.
And in these seven addresses to the seven churches, we have consecutive history lessons of what the Lord thinks as He walks among those candlesticks and sees the light that shines from them.
It is to us his word about what he sees and what he thinks of it, and so it ought to be of keen interest to us when we.
Have given to us from the Lord already beforehand what he thinks about what's going on right now, today in the Christian testimony.
Isn't that amazing that he did that?
We live by faith. We walk by faith.
The Lord doesn't do a outward miracles as in the beginning, and He doesn't come down with the Shekinah glory like He did in the Old Testament, and He doesn't speak face to face as He did with Moses and tell us what he thinks right now today.
But he has given us this outline. And so as we read the particularly the one address to Philadelphia, which I think every one of us here would aspire rightfully desire to be like that.
That's not a wrong desire.
It's not assuming something of man.
To be that, it's more an act of obedience and submission to him in the way we walk that makes it that kind of a testimony that he can improve.
Whereas if we get time to read some into the the the last chapter Church lay of the sea, we see the Lord describes what they say about themselves first of all.
Thou sayest I am rich, increased with goods, and so on. Brethren, it's not what we say about us that makes us what we ought to be.
It will never do that.
It comes down to the walk. It comes down to the obedience.
And owning Christ for what He is.
Giving Him His rightful place will keep us in or put us in our rightful place. Well, let's read in Revelation chapter 3, beginning with verse 7.
And to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right these things, said He that is holy, he that is true. Now this is the Lord Himself speaking prophetically. He that hath the key of David, He that openeth. And no man shut us, and shut us, and no man open us. I know thy works.
Behold, I have set before thee an open door.
And no man can shut it.
For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word.
And has not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say thee are Jews.
And are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet.
And to know that I have loved thee.
Because the house kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. May all I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem.
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Which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
I'm very thankful for.
A heritage of ministry and teaching.
That has opened up chapters like this and taught us the prophetic meaning.
And.
For an appreciation of these things to be able to write and put in a hymn book.
Expressions from the heart of man that I believe would answer to what the Lord Jesus in heaven would seek from His own down here on earth.
The hymn that we saw was probably one of the latest additions to our Little Flock hymn book, uh, written by a man who labored in this country, in Cana, in Canada, Lord Cecil as we know him and, uh.
A heart that appreciated the holy and the truth.
Holiness is a beautiful thing. Heaven will be a holy place.
Nothing to taint.
To mar purity.
In God's presence, and God wants that now, in a personal way between US and him.
Holiness and truth. Without holiness, no man shall see God.
And so the Lord Jesus as he describes.
This particular testimony that he sees on earth, he presents himself as that One, the Holy One and the True.
There's never a moment in any of our Christian lives.
Where the Lord?
Does not appreciate.
What is properly done before him?
And he enjoys it and appreciates it.
We we marvel at the.
And yet we shouldn't, because God told us their moral decay was gonna come into the world. It was gonna be like the days of Sodom. It was gonna be like the days of of, of.
Noah before the flood, when the Lord comes again. And so those of us who Live Today increasingly are faced with more and more defilement.
It can get you down.
It can.
It can grieve your soul, and rightfully it should.
How wonderful to be able to come apart and enjoy the presence of One who's holy and true.
We need this, brethren, to carry on because.
Every one of us has a nature that.
Could and thus gravitate to those fleshly things.
At the heart of man.
A brother A brother was staying the other night down in our home meeting.
Isn't it amazing that God chose humans? Because humans, of all the creatures that God ever made, are the most obstinate and the most difficult and cause God the more most problems of all of his creature creatures. He doesn't have problems with monkeys or lions or tigers like he does with humans.
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Why?
Did God choose humans if we lookout on it in reality?
Why did he choose you? Why did he choose me? We're no different.
That's God.
God is love.
We have given God the greatest opportunity to show what love and grace is.
In part because of what really are.
And yet God delights in fellowship with us.
And so here is an assembly, a condition which the Lord can come down and walk in.
And he can say these words about us.
About that condition.
And would to God that it is true of us.
Holy and true. Second thing. He that has the key of David.
Helping us and no man shutteth.
I think it's important to comment on this that.
We're not the ones that have the key of David. The testimony here on Earth is not necessarily the ones that have the key.
Maybe there's a response on our part. Yes, it's the Lord Jesus that opens the door. Like David was the one who I believe who originated there before God.
The heart, the desire and plan to build a temple here on earth and God let him do that to up to a point only his Son would build it.
And so the key of David was that desire to have a place for God to meet together.
And the and the Lord on his side.
Corresponds to that. It's beautiful to read that discussion that took place there when David through the prophet was told about building the temple.
God was going to build him a house. David wanted to build God a house. And God says, no, I'm going to do it the other way around. I'm going to build you a house. The beauty of it is that both houses end up being the same because David's son is Jesus Christ and Jesus is God's son. And so God and man come together in one. And this is the key that sets before us an open door to gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And nobody can stop it.
We can give it up.
Our little assemblies are dwindling down.
And it's kind of sad sometimes to go and see an assembly where there were once filled.
You know, I, I, I'm going to tell you a little story just to illustrate this point.
There was an assembly and a location in one place.
Where there was many brethren gathered to the Lord's name and umm, they had no meeting room, but one of the a sister in that assembly donated a piece of property for a for the use as a meeting room. Uh, as long as there were.
Those together that wanted to.
Meet together in that way and that. So it went on for many years and many years.
That particular family didn't follow on and the children inherited the property, but there was that stipulation as long as brethren wanted to gather together in that little meeting room. It was available in legal documents, is written there. Well, just in the last few years.
That assembly has ceased to exist and to break bread.
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What struck me was that the Lord gave them an open door.
They could have even had the meeting room.
I know it means more than that.
But that's just an example. How if there is a desire to respond to the Lord?
In the meeting together, as He would call us to do so, He will set before those that open door, and Satan cannot close it, neither can anyone else.
It ends up that the failure always ends up being on our part.
And sad to say, that happens many times and we can, we must own that. But how faithful and wonderful that the Lord promises. Brethren, we've got the promise. Are we going to fulfill it and respond to it? That open door.
How wonderful an open door no man can shut.
I want to turn back now to so the 16th Psalm and notice something that struck me this week.
Uh, along these lines.
In Psalm 16.
Uh, the 1St 3 verses. I'm going to read them out of the Mr. Darby's translation because I believe it presents a truth clear than our King James Version does and I would like to.
Umm, make an application here of this connection with the open door.
Psalm 16, verse one.
Mctum of David, preserve me, O God, for I trust in Thee.
Thou my soul has said to Jehovah.
Thou art the Lord.
My goodness extendeth not to thee.
To the Saints that are on the earth and to the excellent thou hast said in them is my delight. And what I'd like to call attention to here is the difference between verse two and verse 3. Verse three, you have the psalmist, the soul of the psalmist, speaking to God, to Jehovah.
This is our part.
This is the part of a soul. In this case it was David.
Thou art my Lord, my goodness.
Extendeth not to thee. There's an awareness here of the psalmist that.
He cannot approach God on the basis of having goodness himself to draw near to God.
And yet there's that desire. There's that desire in the heart.
And that his soul says.
Thou art the Lord.
Did your soul say that this morning as we were gathered around the emblems there?
Thou art the Lord.
How precious it is.
To feel that in your soul there was no cloud that came down. There was no verbal expression on the part of God saying here I am.
But he was there to the soul that perceived it.
But then in the third, in the third verse, you have the answer, you have got the Lord himself.
What he says about the situation. And so this is what it's clear, made clear in the new translation to the Saints that are on the earth now, this is this is Jehovah's saying, or at least this is what the psalmist attributes to Jehovah and I believe it's correct. To the Saints that are on the earth and to the eczema thou hast said in them is my delight.
Our God looks down in delight.
And his people, the Lord Jesus delighted in US.
King David was tested on that point when he was rejected of his son Absalom and had to flee.
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And, uh, when the when the priest came.
And offered to go with him.
David said no, leave the ark there and he said made this comment, If the Lord delight in me, he will bring me.
I'm not quoting that to him. I'm not. I'm not sure if that's the right except the quotation, but you get the thought.
He trusted, he knew, that the Lord had allowed a governmental dealing in his life.
And this may happen to us today too. There may be governmental dealings, troubles that test us.
Is our soul really a wholeheartedly delighting in the Lord or not?
Or are is there a that kind of a response? Because the Lord does delight in US.
And so.
In them, he says, is my delight. And I would like to apply this to what we're reading in in Revelation Chapter 3, the one who sets before his people an open door.
Why does he do that? Because he does delight in US.
And this is the secret to carrying on in the in all the tests and problems that may come and will come in seeking to gather only to the name of the Lord Jesus.
To hold keep his word and not deny his name. That's the that's those are the two special things that the Lord could say about that condition and.
What a joy it is on our part to see that delight and to be able to be passively responsive in the appropriate way that he's asked us to do.
Now going back to our chapter, Revelation Chapter 3.
I know thy works. Verse eight. I have set before thee an open door no man can shut, For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and not denied my name.
It's not a good thing for us to be seeking for demonstrations of strength and power. There is that character of things that sometimes goes on a pretension to be something of a testimony to the Lord. I don't believe that it'll ever have the Lord's blessing if we approach it in that.
Way a pretension to something. Brethren, if we if we pretend to something, we will end up being a failure.
It's more a response.
To what the Lord desires.
And not being ashamed of the little strength that there is.
At least there's something going on. At least they haven't quit.
The attitude of expressing your dependence on the Lord, having little strength really is our proper place in being any kind of a witness to His blessing.
Keeping his word and not denying his name.
We cannot depart from the scriptures. We must.
Hold to the truth of God and making the Lord's name the focal point, gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
Isn't it amazing that how that name the name of Jesus?
You mentioned any other name in the in our English vocabulary and there is no connotation like if you mentioned the name of it Jesus or Jesus Jesus Christ or the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is that?
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We know why.
Because it's the real. It's the genuine.
Which Satan opposes.
Keep that name, don't be ashamed of it.
Then you have the opposition of those.
A class of people called the Synagogue of Satan.
They are the ones that I take this to mean a certain pretension to religious profession.
Synagogue of Satan say they are Jews and are not.
They're the ones. This is the. This is the one that pretends to be something.
And the Lord gives his commentary about it.
It speaks about them coming and bowing before the feet of His, His of His, of his own in the latter part of the verse. I believe that will take place after the rapture, when the Lord reigns and He associates His own with him.
We walk by faith. We don't see, we don't expect to see the outward testimony converting the world. In the early parts of the Reformation, there was this thought that Christianity was going to go out and become a great thing that was going to convert the world so Jesus could come back and reign over it. That's totally misses the plan of God.
The Scripture teaches us that the Christian testimony is going to deteriorate and become weaker.
Not the Lord is going to lose any of his own Saints. Not that one soul is not going to be let is going to be left behind.
When the Lord comes again, not a single soul is going to be lost, His house is going to be full, everything but as far as the public testimony here now.
We must be content with the Lord's secret approval without the public demonstration right now. It's a great thing to go on in confidence of the of the Lord's approval.
Without the public testimony approval right now.
I know it's difficult. I know there's AI know there's a certain stigma people, uh, well, what church do you go to? Well, you know, there's 1001 ways or what denomination do you belong to? There's 1001 ways to, to answer that. But there's a, there's a kind of a stigma to saying, well, I just gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. We don't, we don't have a umm.
Uh, a system of organization could by set up by man that this doesn't, that doesn't sound high and noble and and make a make a loud clamor as far as testimony here on the earth, but it is holding to his name, not denying the part of not denying his name.
And to know that I have loved thee.
Brotherly love.
The Lord's love for us, this is everything.
This is the very thing that Ephesus the 1St the 1St testimony that was as the Lord spoke of in these addresses, that they had left there first love.
The Lord never stops loving us.
And, uh, he tells this group this this.
Profession of Christianity in this assembly that he reminds them, I have loved thee.
This will keep us. This is the secret to going on, the enjoyment of His love. There's no shortcut. There's no other way around this. This is the.
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The the the fee key feature.
I believe when the Lord spoke about the warning of leaving the first love, He made a a classical point of it because it was the key point in Christianity. If we give up that love, what do we have left?
What basis of going on for God can replace that? Nothing.
Nothing, love.
God is love.
It's stronger than the.
All the military might or all the force that man can.
Put together in any other way to hold something together.
You know, it's been said about.
The Muslim faith that what really keeps that together is power.
What really keeps Christianity together is love.
That's it in a nutshell.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation. Now the keeping of the word of his, uh, of my patience.
You know the Lord Jesus is patient too.
John speaks of that in the first chapter of Revelation. John was banished on the Isle of Patmos for that very reason, for the testimony of Jesus.
And in the patience he speaks of Jesus Christ. And so we're reminded here not of necessarily of our need of patience, although that's part of it, but it's the patience of the Lord Jesus who is it up in heaven longing to have his people more than even we want him to come.
It's the Lord Jesus.
He is patiently waiting this.
Is what will keep us from becoming worldly or what will keep us from getting occupied with distractions here on earth at the loss of our occupation, with what we're really called to heaven and how the Lord is waiting for us.
Earthly mindedness.
Is is probably one of the key elements that Satan is attacking us on.
We live in a so-called Christian land and thankfully there's a moral restraint from the group. Many of the grocer crimes that people look at, but there is an abundance of so-called Christians being taken up with earthly things.
Having their fun.
Their fun they're.
Good times, not necessarily things that are evil in themselves, but things that are purely earthly. And when, when this world ends and when we live end our life, all of that is going to be done, gone.
And nothing left.
To to compensate for it.
Over and over in this Book of Revelation, it speaks about the, uh, the, the uh.
The earthly, earthly people.
That that are mentioned.
This is, this is, this is a real danger that I, uh, I feel like myself, that is, I'm attacked on this, uh, so often not sinful, wrong things in themselves, but things occupied with earth and they're not keeping the word of the Lord's patience when I realized that the Lord Jesus.
Is longing to take me there to be with him.
Then that will.
Take all of these other things that are just purely earthy things and pleasures and put them in in their proper place and my soul will not be famished.
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Our souls can crave after those kind of things. We can delight, We can spend our life accumulating a lot of earthly things and enjoying of them. Even our families can can can take up that that realm of occupying us unduly with just plain earthly things.
And forgetting, hey, we're going to leave all this here on earth behind, the Lord is going to take us home. And then what?
And so he reminds him about.
Keeping the word of his patience, that's when the reigning time will begin.
So he promises to keep them from the hour of temptation.
That's his promise. And then it goes on to the uh, to the overcomer. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. We have something worth holding fast. We have so much that many Christians do not enjoy.
Like we have been given to enjoy at a conference like this and in our own local meetings, so much truth and understanding of our relationship with the Lord and so on. What's going to happen in the future and so on. The Lord is has communicated that to us by His Spirit.
Hold it fast, it's easy to let it slip by.
Little by little.
There's the there's the promise to the overcomer.
I believe I'm not gonna comment on all those things, uh, individually, it's the public in verse 12, the public approbation that the Lord is gonna give after he comes to those that were faithful while here on earth and being associated with him as a, in a primary place, as a pillar and so on. And the new name there, that special relationship that was enjoyed in this life.
There's going to be a witness to it.
With the Lord there when he comes.
So.
In concluding.
What is our? What is our should be our attitude?
Is it right to aspire to be this kind of a witness to the Lord of this character?
What should we profess?
The following church.
It's been said that there had to be a Philadelphian testimony before there could be a pretension of being rich and increased with goods, like it says in Laodicea, and I think there's a lot of truth in that.
There is such a thing, brethren, as pretending to go on with this.
In an outward way, and this is the great danger. Did this carry on with the meeting thing?
To go.
Don't want to cause your brethren to feel bad because you don't go by then they'll notice. Oh brother, so and so wasn't there, and so you carry on outwardly with that.
Testimony that you're pretending to be.
I think you understand what I'm meaning.
That is what Laodicea was doing.
Pretending to be something, and the Lord and his place.
Was left out and in that in that church the Lord is knocking on the door and then he he has the remedy in his hand. He has the eye salve and so on and he has all the remedies to those di difficulties. Brethren, if we feel like we're carrying on something as a pretense, what's the problem? The problem is we need to go to the Lord himself. There's no shortcut. You cannot carry on with this.
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Pretension of something without having that relationship of enjoyment with the Lord.
Maybe it's, you just need to get out on your knees and confess something and your weakness and your failure. If so, do it. Or if you're tired and it, it's meeting night and you think about, oh, uh, shall I go to meeting tonight? Or should I do this? Or young people want to do this and should I go do this? But I'm tired, you know?
What's the remedy?
Turn your face up.
See that man, I'm not Calvary's cross, how much he died, how much he loved to die for you, and you will find there's something will well up in your heart of love and response to that and answer to it. If you're born again, Christian, that will happen in you.
This is the remedy the Lord Himself.
I have loved thee.
He says. And so let's not throw out the baby with the dishwater.
With the bath water.
If there is a pretension in US and a carrying on of.
Of something that may be in a sense of pride, even as that we are, we are this, we've gone on for so many years in this place and so on and so many people, you know, this kind of a pretension, uh, is not a building.
That does not mean, if we've fallen into that rut, that there is a real.
ISAF.
There is a real love we can come back to and find our heart warmed and our our feet enabled to go on faithfully till the Lord comes.
Let's close with singing a couple of verses of hymn number.
Let's sing hymn #77 I was going to sing another one, but I think I'll sing this one.
Hymn #77 John, can you help us out here?
Umm, and how long time?
Umm, could we also sing the other him? I wanted to sing 77 in the back of the book. Just the last two verses.
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Nsnoise.
I love you.
I worry.
I.
Grace.