THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
God-ordained Way
Message Twenty—Taking the Way of Philadelphia
Which God Ordained for the Church
Scripture Reading: Rev. 3:7-22
I. The present advance of the Lord’s recovery is to bring us into a new revival to turn the age by being the Lord’s overcomers, His normal Christians, who are receiving the special seeing of the glorious, all-inheriting vision of the age to live the life of a God-man and shepherd people according to God in the vital groups for the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches to consummate the New Jerusalem—Hab. 3:2a; Hosea 6:1-3; Rev. 1:10; 2:7b. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
II. In order to bring in a new revival and change the age, we need to see the revelation of the history and pathway of the church in Revelation 2 and 3; the seven churches in these chapters not only signify prophetically the progress of the church in seven stages but also symbolize the seven kinds of churches in church history—Rev. 2:1 and footnote 1: (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
A. According to history, the initial church (signified by Ephesus), the suffering church (signified by Smyrna), and the worldly church (signified by Pergamos) have passed away; the following kinds of churches—the Roman Catholic Church (signified by Thyatira), the reformed Protestant church (signified by Sardis), the recovered church (signified by Philadelphia), and the degraded recovered church (signified by Laodicea) will remain until the Lord returns. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
B. Only the recovered church, signified by the church in Philadelphia, can fulfill God’s eternal purpose, and only she is what the Lord is after; the overcomers in Philadelphia live in the reality of the Body of Christ to bring in a new revival to turn the age and bring the Lord back—3:7-13; cf. v. 22 and footnote 1. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
III. The characteristic of the overcomers in Philadelphia is their arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation of God’s economy—3:12: (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
A. One church in Asia was unique and highly appraised by the Lord—the church in Philadelphia; the Lord appreciated the overcomers in Philadelphia because they kept the word, which means they did not turn away from the word of the apostle’s teaching, the healthy teaching of God’s economy, the highest peak of the divine revelation—v. 8; 2 Tim. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; cf. Rev. 2:14-15, 20. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
B. With the overcomers in Sardis, there was the recovery of God’s judicial redemption; with the overcomers in Philadelphia there is the recovery of God’s organic salvation, His deification, “Christification,” and “sonizing” of His believers—Rom. 5:10; 8:10: (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
1. For the overcomers to be pillars in the temple means that they will be pillars in the Triune God, for the temple is “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb”; God is built into them to make them living and precious stones, and they are built into God to make them pillars of stone in God for their incorporation with God as the mutual abode of God and man—Rev. 3:12a. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
2. That the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and the Lord’s new name are written upon the overcomers indicates that what God is, the nature of the New Jerusalem, and the person of the Lord have all been wrought into them, labeling them with the Triune God and making them God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead—Rev. 3:12b; 22:4b. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
IV. The characteristic of the overcomers in Philadelphia is their God-man living by enjoying the riches of Christ as their indwelling treasure—v. 7-8: (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
A. Christ has the key of David, the key of (the treasury of) the house of God (typified by the house of David for the building up of the kingdom of God) to control the door of God’s treasury, in which are the riches of God in Christ for our enjoyment; in order to enjoy His riches as the treasure, we need to remain in constant contact with Him, keeping ourselves absolutely open to Him and using the “keys” of denying the self, taking up the cross, and losing the soul-life—3:7; Isa. 22:15, 20-24; Matt. 5:3; 16:18-19, 24. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
B. The overcomers in Philadelphia have a little power; to have a little power indicates that what pleases the Lord is not our doing much for Him but our doing our best for Him with what we have—Rev. 3:8; cf. 2 Cor. 12:7-10. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
C. The overcomers in Philadelphia keep the Lord’s word; they care solely for the Word of God, saying Amen to God’s Word and remaining in the healthy teaching of God’s economy—1 Tim. 6:3. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
D. The overcomers in Philadelphia do not deny the Lord’s name; the recovered church has abandoned all names other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ; the recovered church exalts Christ Jesus as Lord and calls upon the name of the Lord—Rom. 10:9-10, 12-13. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
V. The characteristic of the overcomers in Philadelphia is their brotherly love; love prevails among them so that they shepherd people by cherishing them with the cheering presence of God and nourishing them with the healthy teaching of the economy of God—Eph. 4:11; 5:29: (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
A. The Lord’s recovery is a recovery of loving the Lord Jesus; the overcomers in Philadelphia stand on the genuine ground of oneness and keep themselves in the love of God to love the Lord and love all the brothers—Jude 20-21; 2 Cor. 5:14; John 12:3; Luke 7:47. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
B. Loving to be first in the church is versus having the Lord as our first love by giving Him the first place in all things—3 John 9. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
C. In the vital groups, love must prevail; God first loved us in that He infused us with His love and generated within us the love with which we love Him and the brothers— 1 Cor. 12:31b; 13:4-8, 13; 1 John 3:14. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
D. In the vital groups, we need to love one another, our wives need to love one another, and we need to love one another’s children. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
E. In order to minister life to others and maintain our victory for the building up of the church, we must have a revived living and a labor in shepherding that flow out from our love for the Lord and for the brothers—John 21:15-17. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
VI. In order to continue in the way of Philadelphia, we must be saved from the way of Laodicea; Laodicea is a degraded and distorted Philadelphia—Rev. 3:14-22: (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
A. Laodicea is characterized by lukewarmness and spiritual pride; when brotherly love is gone, Philadelphia immediately turns into “the opinion of the people” (the meaning of Laodicea)—Rev. 3:14-22. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
B. Spiritual pride comes from history; some still remember their history, but they have lost Christ as the reality of their life, the reality of their former enjoyment of the riches of Christ as life. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
C. If we want to continue in the way of Philadelphia, we need to humble ourselves before God—vv. 19-20; Matt. 5:3. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
D. We need to pay the price to buy gold refined by fire that we may be rich toward God, white garments that we may be clothed with Christ by living out Christ, and eyesalve as the anointing Spirit to heal our blindness—Rev. 3:18. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)
VII. As we are receiving the Lord as our mercy and grace to take the God-ordained pathway for the church, the way of Philadelphia, He puts before us an opened door, which no one can shut, for us to preach the gospel of the kingdom, the full ministry of Christ, to the whole inhabited earth—vv. 7-8; Matt. 24:14. (2006 MDC, msg. 1)