I shall read again tonight on the book of Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three and verse seven. Commence to read in verse seven. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things said he that is holy, He that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. I know thy word. Behold, I have set before thee an opened door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they 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 thou hast 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. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast. Let 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 us. And I will write upon him the name of my God. And the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, 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. In verse twenty, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will stop with him and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame. and I sat down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit set on to the churches. Now chapter four and verse one. After this I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was whereof a trumpet talking with him which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. You may have noticed within the reading, the passage that we have read together, there are three doors. We read about an open door in Philadelphia. Then we read of a closed door in Laodicea. And then we read of an open door in heaven. I think that these three doors give us the key to the interpretation of the day in which we live. When we find that open door in Philadelphia gradually closing and becoming the closed door in Laodicea, I think the next thing we can look for is the open door in heaven and the rapture of the church. We have been pointing out that in the seven churches to age yet, not only do we get a practical application of certain truths to these first century churches, But we also get a prophetic picture. I think we get seven periods of church history. Then what we have been doing this week is looking at them in sequence. First of all, the Apostolic Church in Ephesus, then the Afflicted Church in Smyrna, then the Affiliated Church in Pergamon, and then the Apostate Church in Phaeitair. On Demonstrant is we get a revival. We were speaking about it last night. There we get the Church of the Reformation. We were looking at some of the great outstanding individuals that were responsible for that tremendous revival that took place in the sixteenth century. But God has to plant judgment upon it, and he says this, I have not found thy works perfect before God. We do thank God for these giants. These are outstanding men in church history. The very memory of them today does us good. I believe that every young Christian should study the lives of these men, what they stood for, the truths that they taught, on how they suffered and how they had conviction. The day in which we live is a lackadaisical day, on the pathetic thing about conditions in the world today and conditions in the church. is that there are very few people have any convictions at all. We just drift along. We have never had it so good. And for that reason, these tremendous truths that these men held and stood for and suffered for, and very often gave their lives for, there are things that are not held in the reputation that they should today. Now, what I want to do tonight is to speak about another revival. And I think that we get a sequence here after the Church of the Reformation, God said about it that it wasn't perfect. These men, they went a certain length. It's what you might call a halfway revival. Some of the outstanding abuses of the Middle Ages, they corrected, and some of the truths that were lost, completely lost at that time, and buried under heaps of ecclesiastical tradition, they were recovered. Martin Luther and John Calvin and William Farrell and Zwingli, John Knox and Scotland. These were men who recovered these truths. Last night we were speaking about three of them. The first great truth that was recovered at that time was the simple gospel of God's grace. Justification through faith in the atoning work of Christ. This was the great truth that was recovered by Martin Luther. God opened his eyes to the interpretation of the epistle to the Romans, and particularly that little verse right in the very first chapter, The Jack shall live by faith. This was the great truth that shone into Martin Luther's heart. He was truly regenerated, truly born again, and he started to preach that truth. The second great treasure that was given to us at that time was an open Bible. Erasmus, the man we were speaking about last night, edited the Greek New Testament, and Martin Luther took it and he translated the Bible into the popular language of the people in Germany, around about the same time. printing was invented, that is, movable type. On Gutenberg over there in Germany, he started to print the Bible in such a way that the ordinary man on the street was able to buy and enjoy it. And thank God today, in our own language, we have the Word of God. It's one of the great treasures that we have. I believe that we should thoroughly appreciate that we have an open Bible. These were the men who were responsible for giving it to us, these men of the Reformation. Now the third great truth and the third great treasure that we have today is religious liberty. And we thank God for that too. I pray every day for the government of the United States that God would give these things to us, continue to give them to us, that we may have the liberty, religious liberty in this land. and that we may have the privilege right until Christ shall come of preaching the word of God without any hindrance or anything to stop. These were Reformation truths, and this is what we get in Sardis. Now tonight I want to continue on with this lovely church, possibly the most beautiful of any. And I think that what we get here is a revival, a Latter-day Revival. And it's threefold. And it's this that we would like to look at tonight. The first thing I want to remind you of is the beautiful name of this church. It's called Philadelphia. Now, the word, as we all know, it simply means the love of the brethren. Philadelphia, the love of the brethren. The word itself occurs five times in the New Testament. Sometimes in our version, it's translated brotherly love. On other occasions, it's translated love of the brethren. But in each case, it's just exactly the same word as we find here, Philadelphia. the love of the brethren. Now, this is a very simple thing, and yet it's tremendously important. You know, it's possible for a person to be as orthodox, as the greatest ecclesiastic in Christendom, and have all the great truths of Holy Scripture lined out crystal clear in his mind. But if he doesn't have this, if he doesn't have Philadelphia, If he doesn't have love in his heart, the whole heart and soul, the heart and core of it is gone. Here is the foundation of Christianity. You remember what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another. And if you see anybody going around with a hard faith and with two hands behind his back and refusing to shake hands with his brother, on having burning hatred in his heart. For his brother there's something seriously wrong. The heart and core has gone out of Christianity. Philadelphia is the foundation of everything in the New Testament. It's the badge of Christianity. The Lord Jesus said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. There's one reason why I believe that I'm a Christian tonight. I trusted the Lord Jesus as my Savior forty-eight years ago, sitting on the back seat of a little building like this on the other side of the Atlantic. I was quite young at the time. God had dealt with me in a wonderful way. Previous to this time, I absolutely hid it. And I used that word advisedly. I hid it. Everything that had to do with the Bible and with the Gospel and Christianity. Somebody said, were you brought up in a Christian home? I was. But you know, the devil has taken possession of my heart. I had a godly mother. She used to invite friends to come to the home. And sometimes on a Sunday evening, they would sit and sing hymns. And I was so mad that people would come into our home. and sit and sing hymns so that the neighbors could hear what they were doing, I was so mad that I just couldn't take it. I picked up my hat and went out and walked around the streets at night rather than sit on the horse, and I felt utterly ashamed that things like that would be done in our home. I was a teenager, and the only word that I can use for it is I hate it. Everything to do with Christianity. But you know, God broke me up. I'm not going to talk about myself tonight, but God dealt with me in a wonderful way. And he brought me to the position where I saw that I was just a poor sinner fit for nothing but hell. And if God had sent me there, that was what I deserved. And you know, one night after I had been thoroughly convicted of sin and sitting on the back seat of a little hall, a little building, something like this, listening to the gospel of God's grace, I opened my heart. and received him not only as my Savior, but as my Lord. I committed everything to him, and I believe that he came into my heart that night, and I tell you why I believe that I'm a Christian. You know, the things that I formerly hated, those are the things that I love. And I couldn't be in any place where I could enjoy more than to sit in a place where people are singing hymns, singing praise to God. And the very company of God's people, I love it. I want to be among them all the time. You know, a person who's not born again, if you transported them up to heaven, they wouldn't be happy there at all. So it would be completely out of their environment. They couldn't enjoy it. But the fact that a person has been born again and love, the love of God has been shared abroad in their heart, to me here is a witness of the Holy Spirit that I belong to Christ, that I have been born again, that I have a new nature, and that I am going to enjoy the things of God when I get home to heaven. Now this is Philadelphia. It's the foundation of everything. And I would love tonight to take time to turn over to the five different places where we get the word in the New Testament. You could easily occupy all the time in talking about it. Peter uses it twice. The Apostle Paul uses it twice. And then it comes to a head in Hebrews chapter thirteen, where we get this little word. Let brotherly love continue. Hebrews thirteen and one. Let brotherly love continue. The word is, let Philadelphia continue. It's five times in the New Testament, sometimes brotherly love, sometimes it's the love of the brethren, but every time it's the same word that you get here, Philadelphia, the love of the brethren. Now what is characteristic of Philadelphia? What are the conditions here that we get in this letter to this church? I would like to suggest we get a three-fold revival. Now, at the commencement of our meeting tonight, we were talking about revival, and we were praying for revival, and I think we all need it. Well, now, if we want revival, if we want revival among us today, all we need to do is sit down and study this little letter. And I would like to suggest that what we get here is, first of all, an evangelical revival. I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. There we get the little indication of a revival along evangelical lines. It's first of all evangelistic. It's first of all evangelical. It's an evangelical revival. Now I believe that what we get here is also an ecclesiastical revival. We want to look at that again in a moment or two. Here's a group of people that are absolutely true and loyal to the person of Christ. They have not denied his name, and they have held fast to his word. There are seven terms here that have to do with architecture, with the building. And I think that what we get here secondly is an ecclesiastical revival. And then there are three little intimations here of the coming of the Lord. We want to look at that too. I think we get here a revival of the truth of the coming again of the Lord Jesus. First of all, it's imminent. Do you remember what he says here? Behold, I come quickly. Here is the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. And the second thing here, he gives them a promise. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience. I also will keep thee from that hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the face of the earth. Do you believe that the church is going through the tribulation? This is a very vexed quest in the day. The people of God in many parts of the country are in controversy today, and some of them call themselves pre-trib. Other call themselves post-trib. And there's other people who say that don't believe in the millennium. They're what you would call a millennialist. These are controversies all over Christendom today. But here is a little promise that's given to Philadelphia. Because I have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from not our. of temptation, tribulation, which shall come to try then to dwell upon the face of the earth. Here is a promise, and we want to speak about that too in a moment. Now the third thing is an intimation of the Be-man. Here we're told that we're to hold fast, that which we have, that no man take our crown. You know there are crowns going to be handed out. There are going to be rewards distributed at the judgment seat of Christ. And there's a little information of that here too. This is the threefold revival, I believe, in Philadelphia. First of all, it's evangelical. Secondly, it's ecclesiastical. And then thirdly, it has to do with the truth of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, just a moment or two to show the way the Lord Jesus is presented to this church. Notice the word that's used. These things said, he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shuteth. Now here the Lord Jesus is presented to this church in a three-fold way. First of all, he that is holy, then he that hath the truth, then he that hath the key of David that opens and no man shut, and shuts and no man opens. You know, I believe today... If ever there was a time when we should speak about holiness and sanctification of life, it's at the present time. We were talking a little bit about it today in the home. And you know, everywhere today there has been a lead darn immoral. I believe that those who have the responsibility for the ministry of the Word, they shouldn't sidestep this. Some years ago, there was a young man I encouraged to go over to Africa. He just seemed to have everything. He earned his living on the variety stage before God saved them. He had appearance. He had ability. He was a musician. He could compose music and he could play it. He was a singer. He was a young people's man, and he could stand with any man on a conference platform and minister the word. One of the most able young men that ever I have known. He was exercised about going to South Africa, and I encourage them to go there. After he had gone, and by the way, he left his wife and three children in the old country, and he went over there alone. I believe that that was a tremendous mistake. But after he had gone, I heard some rumors and reports of what was going on over there. And a little time afterwards, we got on board a ship to return to the field, to return to Africa. He met me in Cape Town. I invited him for a meal. I'm sitting on the table. I said to friends. I said, I've heard certain things. And I said, I want to know. I said, would you tell me if they're true or not? They looked at me for a moment with a queer look in his eye, and he said, Who told you? And I said, That's completely beside the point. I said, I want to ask you a straight question. These things that I've heard, I said, Are the true or are the not? He tried to evade the subject. But finally it came right down to it, and he said, Yes, it said they are true. Well, now I'm not going to go into the start of detail. All I want to say is this, that he broke his wife's heart. He brought a stigma on the head of his children. He smashed his home. He divorced his wife. And he went into sin of such a character that I can't describe in detail here tonight. I was heartbroken over it. And after it was all over, and that young man had to be disciplined in the assembly where he was. It was a brother came to me and he said this. He said, brother, I don't know why men like you who have the responsibility of standing up before people and ministering the word, why you don't take off the kid's lust. I said, brother, what do you mean? He said, why don't you talk about these things publicly? He said, you get up and you speak about devotional life. And about acts of service for the Lord and all of these things, these various spheres of activity. But he said, why don't you speak about ordinary common decency in living? About conduct, about behavior. He said, why don't you take off the kid's love? Well, I said, brother, I want to tell you this. Any man who speaks about these things, I believe, should have three qualifications. And the first one is he should be an elderly man. I don't believe that any young man is fit to talk about morals or the lack of them. And I tell you the reason. He hasn't been tested himself. It's only a man who has gone through experience of life and who has kept his feet and kept his testimony, I believe, who's qualified. I heard a young man just a little while ago of giving a lecture on marriage. and on the courtship and marriage and so on. You know, I felt awfully sorry. He had never been tested himself. A man in his twenties talking about things like that. Well, he may have them in theory. But, you know, it's only those that have gone through the experience of life and have kept their head and have kept their testimony, I believe, who's qualified to speak about these things. I believe that the first qualification for anyone who speaks about holiness of life and about the lack of it, I believe it should be an elderly person. And then secondly, the man who speaks about it should have a clear record himself. If he has had a question mark over his head along these lines, he's completely disqualified for speaking about it. And then the third thing. The man who speaks about it, I believe, should be able to use delicate language and not use language that possibly would scandalize and hurt people. And you know, sometimes it's so possible to do that, to lose one's head completely on the platform, to lose one's self-control and use in delicate language. And instead of helping, all they do is hurt. The very hurt people that they're trying to help. But I want to show that here tonight the Lord Jesus, and speaking to Philadelphia, he's the Holy One. You know, it's not very often today we hear about holiness on sanctification of life. I believe today that it's possible, in spite of all the immorality, the lack of moral, the deterioration in conduct and behavior today, I believe it's possible for a person to live a holy life. We say, do you believe that? in eradication of sin, I certainly do not. Do you believe that it's possible for a person to live completely without sin? I certainly do not. I know a little bit about my own heart, and I know that inside I have the flesh. I have the old man. I have the body of sin, and that's only the grace of God can keep me from bringing this grace. upon the name of the Lord Jesus on bringing this honor upon his name and upon the testimony. It's only God can keep any of it, but all beloved Cran, the necessity of the day for speaking about holiness and practical sanctification of life and behavior and conduct, I believe it's awfully necessary today to emphasize it at every suitable opportunity. The Lord here presents himself to Philadelphia as the one who is holy. God is a holy God, and he expects us to be a holy people, and people that have at least a test on my name, that we can face the world and preach the gospel and not bring dishonor upon the name of Christ. And then he's the one who is true. He could say when he was here on earth, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Everywhere today there's all kinds of lies being propagated. false doctrine, false teaching on every hand. The Lord Jesus is the Holy One, and He's the one who's the perfect embodiment of truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. And then He's the one who is the key of David, who opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens. It would be interesting tonight to turn over to this passage on which this is taken from in Isaiah chapter twenty-eight, and also in another passage in the book of Kings, the key of David. What does it mean? It's taken from a historical incident in the life of King Hezekiah. You remember the Assyrian king invaded the land. And to ward off the invasion of the land, there was a man called Shevna. He was in charge of the treasures of the king's house. And he went to the treasury, and he takes the key that he was responsible for opening the door, he takes that key, and he opens the door, and he takes the treasury, those treasures that have been accumulated by the kings of Judah, and he uses it for buying off that pagan king, that Assyrian king, Sennacherib. Now, he did something that he had absolutely no right to do. He plundered the house of God to buy off an invader, to buy off an enemy. And another man, he came and took his place. His name was Eliakim. And this is what the passage is taken from. He is the one who has the key of David. Here's the heavenly Eliakim. Do you think that he will ever plunge to the house of God? Thank God he wants. Shephah was the man who failed. He hunt the key of David. And he gave the treasures of the house of God to this pagan king. But another man who took his place was loyal and faithful and true. to that gold and silver and the treasures in the treasure of the heart of God on that person today. Am I in him is just a picture and type of that blessed person, our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we are told that in him, in him, the Lord Jesus dwelleth all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the one who has the key and who opens the door of wisdom and thank God these treasures of the Word of God. The one who gives them out to his people, the one who is the mediator, and taking the truth of God, these treasures of God and giving them to his people, is our Lord Jesus Christ. He hath the key of David. He opened, and no man shut, and shuts, and no man opened. I think that there's another thing here that we must recognize in connection with this open door. Again, it would be interesting to go into detail about it. But I think that what we get here is an open door in the gospel. Philadelphia was in a strategic position. It was at the head of a valley. And in that valley, three countries met. The whole pagan world lay before the city, Philadelphia. And I think that the term, an open door, is a term that's used five times by the Apostle Paul, and always in connection with the gospel. I have said before thee, an open door, and no man can shut it. I think that what we get here, subsequent to the Reformation, is the open door from the gospel in every part of the world. I often think of a young man sitting at a cobbler's bench over in England. At that time, the pagan world was completely closed. There were no evangelical missionaries in any part of the world, as far as I know, at that time. It was immediately subsequent to the French Revolution. The French Revolution took place in seventeen eighty-nine. And here is a man in seventeen ninety-three. He's sitting at a cobbler's bench. And he's a man with a word before him. His name is William Carey. and he begins to get exercise about the dark, dark, pagan heathen world. He went to a little Baptist church where he was in fellowship, and he told some of the brethren there that he was interested in going out to the subcontinent of India and taking the gospel there. There was an old gentleman, stood up, and he said, young man, he said, Saddam, if God is going to take the gospel to the heathen, he'll do it without your help or mine. He believed in certain truths, I suppose, that were propagated by John Calvin. And the result was that William Carey, he was squelched. But that wasn't the end of the story. He made up his mind he would go. And one day he set off with very, very few material things. And he went over to India. And he was the first man to enter that open door. God opened the door for him. He spent a long life over in India pioneering with the Gospel. He was the first man to enter the open door. You know, I read his life a little while ago and I was amazed that at the end of his life he had done translation work in forty languages and dialects. He had no formal education at all before he went to the country, before he went to India. but he was a vessel that had been raised up by the Holy Ghost and fitted for that work. And he completed a work that has never been equalled in the record of missionary annals from that day to this. He was responsible for translation in fourteen languages and dialects over in that country. Now at the end of his life he was sitting at the Viceroy's table in Delhi in India. And there was a high-ranking military officer sitting on the other side of the table. And, you know, sometimes there are some men love to take a man down. I suppose the only word he could use for that man was a snob. And the old gentleman, Mr. Carey, he was sitting on the other side of the table, and this man, thinking that he would take him down, and in the presence of the Viceroy, and these high-ranking military officers, he said, in a patronizing way. Mr. Carey, I understand that in your early life you used to be a shoemaker. And the old gentleman smiled. He said, oh, no, no, no. He said, nothing so great as that. He said, I wasn't a shoemaker. He said, I was only a cobbler. He said, I wasn't even in the category of a shoemaker. I was only a cobbler. But he said, I want to tell you, my business was to preach the gospel. And he said, I cobbled shoes to pay expenses. And he said, I'm not ashamed of that. Neither should any man be. I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. We thank God for William Carey into that door. Now there was another man, Hudson Taylor. I would love to trace his life here tonight. If there was one book was more of a help to me than another when I was a young believer, it was the life of Hudson Taylor. You possibly know that there are two volumes. The first volume is called The Growth of a Soul. I read it when I was seventeen years of age, and it has left a permanent effect upon my life. I would like to recommend it to every young believer here tonight. If you haven't read it, get a hold of it. The Growth of a Soul, the early life of Hudson Taylor and how God dealt with him, it will be a tremendous blessing to you if you read it. He was the man that was responsible for entering Interior China. He took the gospel over there, and God greatly blessed his work. We can't take time to talk about it tonight, but here is a second man. I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. It was a door for the gospel in interior China. And what shall we say about Africa? It's the country that I know best. I spent all my adult life over there, and of this one man I respect, more than another. The man who opened the door to interior Africa was dear David Livingstone. He was a man, too, who came from a very humble home. I stood in the room last year where he was born. over in Blantyre in Scotland. The whole family lived in one room. The bed was there in that room. The kitchen table was there. Everything connected with the home. It was in the one room. They had a bed pushed onto the other bed. They called it over in Scotland a whirly bed. And they pulled it out at night time. And the whole family slept in that one room. And as I stood in that room in front of that dear man, on the place where he came from, on the marvelous work that he did, I just bowed my head, and I thank God for the memory of the man. When he was eleven years of age, he started a work. He took care of a weaving loom, but as the shuttle went backwards and forward on the weaving loom, he had his Latin grammar, and he was learning his Latin verbs at eleven years of age. When he was old enough, he went into Glasgow University and he graduated as a medical doctor. And then he went out to Africa. You know, after a long life of pioneering with the gospel through the interior of Africa, where no white man had ever trodden, he laid down his life in a little village called Chittambaw, and what is now known as Zambia. There were four men who had carried him in there. Four Africans. David Livingstone was sick. As a matter of fact, he was deathly ill, and that night he was to die. The men outside they made the meal, and after it was ready, the tiptoed to the door of the little hut, and they looked inside. A place that's very, very familiar to anyone who's lived there. Just a little piece of bark, raised about six inches of the floor. And there was David Livingstone upon his knees, with his two elbows on the little barbed bed, and he was praying. The men withdrew, they sent around the fire for a little while, and then they went again and looked inside, and they found that their master had collapsed. They went over and put their hand upon him, and finally was dead. He was gone. And those faithful men, they carried his body out. They were very intelligent. The first thing they did was open the body and drain off all the fluids. On them the interior parts of the body, stomach, liver, intestines, and so on, his heart was taken out and buried underneath a tree. On them his body was mummified, completely dried out on the sun. On them his knees were pushed up to his chin. and it was wrapped around with trade cloth. The skies is alone, and those men, they carried that body for two thousand miles out to the coast of Zanzibar. The body was placed on board a British warship and carried to London, and he was buried in the central isle of Westminster Abbey in London. I was over there last year, and every time I'd went to that building, I always walked down the aisle, and I looked at the grave of David Livingstone. You look over to the left, and you'll see the graves, the tombs, the epitaphs to the great of Eric. Men who have been mighty conquerors as far as the battles of this world are concerned. You look over to the other side and you see the poets and the writers, Shakespeare, Milton and men like that. But right in the center of the aisle, in the most prominent place of the Abbey, you find the grave of David Livingstone. I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. And what a tremendous work that that dear man did in opening the interior of Africa to the Gospel. Do you know that the first man to take the Gospel to South America? Do you know his name? Did you ever hear that he died of starvation? Well, he did. His name was Alan Gardner. He went down to South America. He was the first evangelical missionary to go to that country. He was promised supplies. He was promised reinforcements, but they never arrived. On one day, dying of starvation, and sitting underneath a little boat in Patagonia, In the far south of South America, he died, and he died of starvation. And when his body was found lying underneath an old boat, he had his Bible open at the Book of Revelation chapter fourteen, and his dead hand was lying on that verse. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light upon them nor any heat. All these were men. real man, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. We thank God for these men that went into the open door on what a tremendous, tremendous result has been from these pioneers that have opened these different countries to the gospel. I believe that in the old country, the man, I suppose, that saved England, that saved Britain, From the terrors of the French Revolution was a man called John Wesley. There may be a Methodist here tonight. And I do want to say, beloved friend, if you're here from the Methodist Church, I believe you should read the life of John Wesley. I was reading it just a little while ago. I was out in California. And in the room where I was living, where I was staying, John Wesley's journal was there. You know, it was something of a shock to me to find the difference between those days and the present day. As I read John Wesley's journal, he says this. He said, if a man doesn't preach at five o'clock in the morning and preach again at eight o'clock at night, he's a backslider. That was the type of a man that he was. He spent fifty years practically on a horseback going right around the world. John Wesley and his fellow worker, George Whitfield, were the men who, I believe, saved England from the terrors of the French Revolution. They did an amazing work. Oh, I do wish there were more men like them today. The kind of men that we hover on to there are very, very different. And they certainly don't hold to the truth. But, dear John Wesley, and George Whitfield, and these other men hailed in those dead. These were the men who entered the open door, and I believe were responsible for that tremendous revival that went right around the world. Some years ago, I was in a little place called Newburyport in Massachusetts, and I went there to see the body of George Whitfield. He died there. He had preached the gospel the previous night, and he talked about having a good pulpit sweat. Anytime that he had a fever, the way he always got over it was having a good preach. And a good pulpit sweat, he said, did far more good in getting rid of his fever than any medicine that he could take. But he had a good preach anyway the previous night, and a good pulpit sweat. But the next day, God took his dear servant home. I went into that little Presbyterian church, an old colonial church there in Huberty Port in Massachusetts, on the Verger. conducted me down into the crypt underneath the pulpit. And there was George Whitfield's coffin. The upper part of his body was exposed. A piece of glass covered his head. And as I stood and looked at it, and thought of that dear man, on the way he preached the gospel right around the country, I couldn't help but feel, Oh, God, raise up men like this today. Man that are able to preach the gospel and see souls led to Christ, here is Philadelphia. I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. Now, we can go on and on and on about this. You know, I believe today that there never was a day in church history when there's more simple, plain, pure gospel priests than the day in which we live. You know that there are three radio stations that cover the whole world? You think of the Far Eastern broadcasting station out in Manila. And if you think of HCJB, that broadcasting station in Quito, in Ecuador. And then if you think of the radio station in Monte Carlo, over in Europe, these three stations cover the whole world. They get behind the bamboo curtain in China. They get behind the iron curtain in Russia and Siberia. And the whole world is covered a day by broadcast right around the clock. Twenty-four hours a day the simple gospel of God's grace is going on. You know, I believe we're living in an amazing day. God is giving the world the opportunity, if they want it, as they will have it. He's giving them the opportunity of listening to the gospel today over the radio. On every possible way, there never was a day when there's more gospel priests right around the world than the day in which we live. I believe that's Philadelphia. And today, the Bible Society, I was at the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the American Bible Society just at the end of last year. and they announced that they had given away six hundred million, six hundred million copies of the Word of God during the one hundred and fifty years of their existence. I believe that this is Philadelphia. I've set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. Now just a word or two about the ecclesiastical side of the revival. We were pointing out that Martin Luther went a certain distance and then stopped. There was one truth that Martin Luther learned, but never put into practice, and that was the truth of the priesthood of all believers. You appreciate that truth? There's one truth that Martin Luther never learned. Another one, and that was the fact that the risen head of the church is in heaven. He's not in Rome. He's not in Canterbury. And he's certainly not in New York. The head of the church is no earthly potentate or no earthly ecclesiastic. The head of the church is the risen head. The head of the body, he's in heaven. He's on the throne. And that we are members of his body here on this earth. And that was something that Martin Luther never learned. And while I have the highest respect... on honor for that dear man. On the other hand, this was a great truth that he never learned. The risen head in heaven and we members of his body here on the earth and responsible to be in obedience to him and allow him to lead and guide. He never learned that. A third truth that Martin Luther never learned and that was the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide and worship. He never learned that truth. And there were others as well. But these were the outstanding things. The revival went to certain distance as far as the gospel is concerned. An open Bible. Religious liberty. But these were truths that were never recovered at that time. Now God raised up on the man. And I think that we get this here in Philadelphia. There's a name that's very highly honored in church history. But today... There are some people that say very disrespectful names about him. Now I refer to the name of John Nelson Darby. Now let me say, just here in passing, that Mr. Darby was just a man like another man. The best of men are men of the best, and you'll never find a perfect man. And I know that dear Mr. Darby, he made mistakes, willing to admit that. But I believe that he was a vessel that God raised up to recover truth that had been buried under mountains of tradition for centuries. I heard Mr. Harold Sengean say this, and I think it can be substantiated. It may be a strong statement, but I believe it's true. He says that Mr. J.N. Darby was the greatest constructive theologian since the Apostle Paul. And I say, Amen. I believe that. I believe that he recovered truth that has remained with the church in evangelical circles to the present day. He was the vessel that God raised up to recover those truths. Now, just what are they? I want to be very brief here. It's a subject you could spend a lot of time speaking about. But the very first truth that J.M. Darby learned was... The head of the church is in heaven, and we are members of his body, and we are responsible to recognize that fact here below. You know, today as we look at Christendom in its divided condition, with all kinds of names and tags that people adopt right around the world, that divide the people of God, we must never lose sight of the fact. that the head of the church is in heaven and every born again believer is a member of his body. Now, people today, sometimes we don't realize this and it may seem a very drab on a well-known truth, but it's a tremendous truth. Every born again believer is a member of the body of Christ. But sometimes people throw all kinds of things at us and they say, you people, You think that there's nobody going to heaven but yourself. Now, if there's anyone here tonight that gets that idea or has that idea, my dear friend, just rid yourself of that idea completely. We don't believe anything of the kind. We believe that every truly born-again soul, washed in the precious blood, is linked to the risen head and by virtue of the fact that he's a member of the body, he's linked to me. And we're linked with every sense that he loves his name. Oh, we only got a grip of that. The head is in heaven, and we are members of his body here below, and we're linked to every truly born-again believer, and we'll be with them eternally in heaven. Now, this was the first truth that Darby learned. And the second truth that he learned was that every Lord's day, the bond and responsibility of each member of the body is to gather together and remember the Lord Jesus and the sufferings and death on the cross. Now, one day there were four young men. All of them were young men, and I'm awfully thankful for that. Most of them, all four of them in their early twenties. One was Darby. He was an Episcopalian clergyman at the time, and he was still wearing the Roman collar. He was still dressed in the vestments of a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. And one Lord's Day morning with three other young men. One was a lawyer. One was a dentist and the other was a businessman, and recognizing no name, no other name but the name of the Lord Jesus. They gathered together on the Sunday morning, and as they say, Darby was still dressed in the vestments of a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, and sitting there on the table, they put a glass of wine and a loaf of bread upon the table, and they sat down as members of the body of Christ to remember the Lord. You know, that was a tremendous thing. It was practically unknown in many parts of the world. But Darby and the others, they found out that there were other people in other parts of the world were doing the same thing. It was a spontaneous movement. It was the Holy Spirit was operating. It was taking place in the West Indies. It was taking place right here in America in Before Darby knew anything at all about what was happening in the city of New York, those accompanied of God's people were doing exactly the same thing, sitting at the table on a Lord's day morning and remembering the Lord Jesus Christ in his sufferings and dead, recognizing that he is the only head of the church and that we are members of his body. And it happened in many parts of the world spontaneously at that time. I wonder have we learned that truth? Do we recognize that truth? I can say this. And the Lord knows tonight I'm not bragging. It's the furthest thing from my mind. I learned this forty-eight years ago. And I can say this, I must learn sincerely. Never during these forty-eight years have I been absent from the Lord's table. for any reason whatever, unless I was on the broad of my back and wasn't able to get up. I was maybe down with a raging fever, with malaria, and wasn't able to get up. But for forty-eight years, I have never been absent from the Lord's table on a Sunday morning, for any reason whatever, unless I was either ill or there wasn't another Christian that I could associate with. I spent the most of my life in isolation in Africa. But if there was another believer anywhere that I could sit down with every Sunday morning during these forty-eight years, I have tried to put that truth into practice. You know, I believe we should have convictions about this. The great thing is this, that we're linked to Christ, the risen head, and that we're members of His body. And on the Lord's day as we sit down, we have that privilege of remembering the Lord Jesus. We don't join the brethren. I have never joined the brethren. It's a thing that I would utterly repudiate. I have never joined the brethren but one thing that I have done, and that is recognize that I'm a member of the body, and that I'm linked to the head, and I'm linked with every sense that loves his name, and I love that. I appreciate it. I have convictions about it. It was the truth that Darby learned. And then the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide and worship. I wouldn't feel very happy. If I was at a place on the Lord's day morning and somebody would presume to direct the worship, the Holy Ghost is the one who can raise a man to his feet to give thanks to the Lord. Or maybe introduce a hymn or maybe read a passage of Scripture and say a little word about the Lord Jesus that leads our hearts out and worship to him. It's the Holy Ghost who does this. And I think that we must leave room. for the operation of the Holy Spirit while we gather together to lead in our worship. There are many other truths. I see my time has gone. But I just want to say, in closing, just a word about the Lord's coming. But I just want to say, before we leave this, that these are truths that are being let slip today. And I think we should have convictions about them. These were things that these men learned. And not only learned them, but they suffered in putting them into practice. and I think that we should do the same. Now the last great truth here is the truth of the Lord's coming. Behold, I come quickly. That is the first thing. Do you believe that the Lord is coming and that he's coming soon? Oh, I believe he is. All we need to do is to look at Leo to see it. We haven't had time during this week to look at the things that we find there, but conditions in the world today and in the church are perfectly described here in Laodicea. When we find that those open doors that we have been describing, when we find them gradually closing, we can look for the open door in heaven. I'm awfully sorry that the country where I have served the Lord for more than forty years, it's a closed door today. I was thoroughly happy over there, and if it had been the Lord's will, I would gladly be there tonight. We had no other intention except spanning the rest of our lives over there in Angola. I made an application in nineteen sixty-one, and again in nineteen sixty-three, to go back again, and I was told, very bluntly and very plainly, no. On others the same. The door is gradually closing. It is closed in the countries behind the iron curtain. It is closed in the countries behind the bamboo curtain. And it is closed in the Sudan, in Libya, and in many other countries around the world. Gradually, the open door is closing today. Uncertainly, as far as ecclesiastical truth is concerned, is being let go. And I think that when we see these things, the next thing, the closed door on Christ outside in Laodicea, the next thing is, I saw a door opened in heaven. Where do you think the rapture is in the book of Revelation? Some would tell me it's in chapter twelve. There's other people who would tell me it's in chapter nineteen. I'm quite sure it's in chapter four. And I think I could give some reasons for that. It's one thing for a man to make a dogmatic statement, but I think he should give a logical reason for it. And I think I could. But that would occupy another hour, and I'm not going to abuse my privilege here tonight. But we believe that the Lord is coming. He's coming soon. Behold, I come quickly. And my reward is with me. And then the second thing is that thou hast kept the word of my patience. I also will keep thee. on the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, will be taken out of it before the judgment fall. And then finally we're told this, That which thou hast already, O fast, let no man take thy cross. Oh, what a day it will be when the Lord Jesus shall come and were ushered into his presence up to the Father's heart. And then the day, judgment seat of Christ, And these rewards for faithful service will be handed out, and will hear that well done. Good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Oh, may this be the portion of each one of us here tonight for his namesake. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, we again bow before thee with thankful, grateful hearts for thy word. We thank thee that thou hast not left us in the dark, either to the character of the day in which we live, or in these events that lie ahead. We thank thee, our Father, that the Lord Jesus is coming, the one who died for the church, the one who laid down his life, who shed his blood. And our Father, we thank thee that he's coming back again to claim his bride. We thank thee that it is a blessed hope. It's a happy hope. And we thank thee that it may take place soon. We pray, our Father, that thou wilt help us to live loosely to the things of time and sense, and that I may be able to look to thee and work for thee the little time that thou dost leave us here. Now we commend thy dear people to thee. We thank thee for them every one. We thank thee for their salvation. And our Father, we thank thee that thou hast preserved them up until this present time. And we pray thy rich blessing upon the assemblies here in Durham. Remember those at the center, remember those here at North Gate, and the surrounding companies of my people, and wherever there's a pure testimony to the personal work of the Lord Jesus, we pray that it may have thy blessing upon us. Now we commend us to thee, thanking thee for this time of fellowship together, in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.