"I Have Set Before Thee An Open Door" (Revelation 3:7-13)

"I Have Set Before Thee An Open Door" from Revelation 3:7-13 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on August 3, 2025.

Find out more about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta at www.mycitybaptist.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta.

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Let's take our Bibles. Let's turn to Revelation chapter 3. And we're continuing in this seven letters to seven churches series. And we're in the sixth letter. We come here to Revelation chapter 3. And let's pick up in verse number 7. Revelation chapter 3, verse 7. The Bible says, And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, these things saith 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 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 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, and 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, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Would you mark this phrase from verse number eight? And we'll take this for the theme of the Bible message this evening. Verse eight, where he says, I have set before thee an open door. I have set before thee an open door. John writing here to this church at Philadelphia, this is the church of brotherly love. He speaks of an open door before them. This was a place, actually, where in the times of the Hellenistic culture, the Greek culture, they set up Philadelphia kind of on the edge, more inland than a lot of these other cities. There was closer to more barbaric areas, and it was to be a place where Greek language and Greek culture and Greek customs could be kind of sent out as missionaries in a secular way to get Greek culture out to these barbaric areas. And in the same way, just as the Greek culture was trying to get into other areas and look for open doors, as they would say, John writing this church says, look, and you know, the Lord writing to them is saying, I have set before you an open door. When he speaks of an open door, he's speaking of opportunity. And he's saying, I have opened up some things to you. In church at Philadelphia, I am expecting you walk through that door and you take that opportunity. And I think he shows us what he's given to this church here all through these verses. Would you make note of a few of these things? If you're taking notes, would you write this down? Number one, we are responsible for open doors. We are responsible for open doors. If God opens a door for us, if God gives opportunity, we're responsible for it. Would you look in verse number seven here? He says to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, write, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, take note of this. He that hath the key of David, I've made note of that, he that hath the key. You ever come up to a door, metaphorically speaking, and you say, boy, this door's locked. This isn't going anywhere. Nothing is going to happen here. Well, you know what? There's one that has the key. And if he wants it opened, if he wants it to move forward, if he has a way, he's the one with the key. And he's the one that opens it up, and he's the one that makes the way. You know, God opens doors and he closes doors. He says here, he is the one that has the key. And it says here, he that openeth and no man does what? Shutteth. And he says here, and no man and shutteth, and no man openeth. Look, if God opens a door, no man can close the door. And if God closes a door, no man can open the door. I think about the open doors God has given us all through this city. You know what we need to do this fall? It's what I'm praying toward. We need to put a registered student organization on this campus across the street from us. What an open door. What an opportunity. What a place to preach and teach the Word of God. That's an open door. And we're responsible. Think of all the people within earshot of this place. Think about the 53,000 students that are going to be on this campus in just a few days. More students than have ever in the nearly 140 years of Georgia Tech's history. They ever had that many students enrolled. 53,000 of them. That's an open door. And we are responsible for it. I think about the 242 neighborhoods in our city. Some of them a little far from us, but a lot of them very close. And I think, what an open door. What an opportunity. And we are responsible for the opportunity. Look what he says in verse 8. He says, I know thy works. I'm always encouraged by that. He says that to every one of these churches, by the way. I know thy works. I know what you've done. I know where you're laboring. I know what you're doing. And he says, Behold, I have set before thee an open door. Consider the first word in that phrase, I. You know what that is? That's God's word. God says, I have opened the door. I'm the one that did this. I'm the one that's given the opportunity. I'm the one that's allowed you to be here. I'm the one that's put you at 425 10th Street Northwest. Do you think Mark McElreath figured that out? Absolutely not. God says, I have done it. And then he says, I have set before thee an open door. You know what that is? That's our work. Every open door is a part God's work and our responsibility. God opens a door, we're responsible to walk through it. If God opens a door and we don't walk through it, we don't take advantage of that time, then we're the only one to blame. We're the only one that can be said, you know, and I believe God is going to open some doors for some churches he's not going to open to us. And there's some doors he's going to open to our church, he's not going to open to other churches. There's an open door. I'm praying. You pray for me this week. We went down many weeks ago and we helped another church about 20 miles from here with door-to-door evangelism. And there was a grandmother, I'd never met her before, but there's a grandmother in that church, and she told her grandson, hey, there's a church that came and helped us with door-to-door work. And she said, Don't you work for Georgia Tech Police Department? He said, Yes, I do. And she said, I think they're close to Georgia Tech Police Department. And that grandson of the grandmother called me last week. He said, Hey, I'm an officer here at the Georgia Tech Police Department. I'd like to go to lunch with you. I'd like to find out about your church. Now tell me that's not an open door. For nearly three years we've sought an open door there, and then they pick up the phone, call us, and say, hey, we'd like to have lunch with you. That's an open door. What are we going to do? We're going to walk through it and see what the Lord does. He says, I have set before thee an open door. Would you hold your place with me? Go to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. I enjoy this book, 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Paul is coming to the end of this first epistle to the church of Corinth. And he says in 1 Corinthians 16, verse number 9, here's what he says. It says, For a great, what's the next word out loud? Door and effectual. That word effectual means a powerful door. It's the same word. In fact, the word effectual here is the same word used in Hebrews 4.12, where it says the word of God is quick and powerful. It is effectual. It's powerful. It's alive. There's something going on there. A great door and effectual is opened unto, what's that next word? Me. Paul says, a door is opened unto me. Not open unto you. Not open unto you. Not open unto you. It's been open unto me. And there are many what? Adversaries. He does not say, a great door and effectual is open unto me, but there are many adversaries. He says, a great door and effectual is open unto me, and there are many adversaries. You know why that is? Because with great doors that are open to us, you know what comes? Adversaries. That's not an exception. That's the rule. My pastor of many years, Pastor Sexton said, the door of opportunity always swings on the hinges of opposition. You want to do something great for God? You have a great door of opportunity open to you? Great. You know what you can expect? Adversaries. Oh, we're going to move forward for the Lord at the City Baptist Church. Great. Then there will be adversaries. Not, let's pray away the adversaries. Maybe there won't be adversaries. Maybe everything's going to go just fine, no issues. No, no, no, no. There will be adversaries. It's going to happen. We're going to start a Christian school. Great. And there are many adversaries. We want to see other churches planted across the city. And there are many adversaries. It's just going to happen. It's the way it's set up. Look with me. Keep reading, he says, and go back. Look what he says in verse 7. He says, For I will not see you now by the way, but I trust to tarry a little while with you, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. He's talking, and we could read all through 1 Corinthians 16 how Paul is talking about going to Macedonia, going to Ephesus, Timothy coming, and all of these he's saying, if the Lord permits, or if the Lord wills, or if he opens this door, if he allows this to happen. If the Lord opens the door, I'm going through it, and I'm going to expect the adversaries. Read through the book of Acts. Every great advance, what happens? There's adversaries. Every church planted, there's adversaries. Every great door the Lord opens, and there are the adversaries. Turn with me. Past 1 Corinthians, and go with me, please, to Colossians chapter 4. 1 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And in Colossians chapter 4, verse 3. Paul writing here, Colossians 4, verse 3, he says, withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a what? A door. A door of what? A door of utterance. To speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. I think about not just a door to go to a place, but a door of utterance. When God gives opportunity for us to speak the truth in love, to give the gospel. There's a story of Charles Spurgeon, of course, traveling in the late 1800s, traveling by train oftentimes, and the conductor came to him, finding out the great Charles Spurgeon was there riding his train, and he said, Mr. Spurgeon, I'd like to talk to you. He said, Great. He said, Tell me, how can I win more people to Christ? How can I speak to people about the gospel? And Charles Spurgeon looked back at him and he said, Well, the man who shovels coal on this train, do you know if he knows the Lord? And the train conductor said, Well, I don't know. He said, Well, go back and start there. What is he saying? You have a door of utterance open unto you. You have an opportunity to speak to people. And don't just go praying for one. Look for them, and when God gives it, take it. There are untold amounts of times God opens a door of utterance for us to speak to people all throughout our day. And you miss those opportunities, and I miss those opportunities. You miss those open doors. I miss those open doors. But we've got to remember we are responsible for them. We've got to be watching for them. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2.12, he says, When I came to Troaz to preach Christ's gospel, a door was opened unto me of the Lord. God will open doors of utterance. God will open doors for us to advance and follow him. He's the one that holds the key. You know, I think about how God also shuts doors. The first time I see mention of a door being shut is in the book of Genesis, all the way back in Genesis chapter 6. In verse 16, it says, The door of the ark shall be set in the side thereof. Noah was to build the ark and put a door on the side of the ark. That's where all the animals came through. That's where he and his family came through. It says in the next chapter, chapter 7, verse 16, it says, And the Lord shut him in. There came a time where the door was open. There came a time where the Lord shut the door. I think about doors of opportunity for people to be one for Christ. Doors of opportunity for people to be saved. Now it's true, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, I think there are windows, there are doors of opportunity God opens. But he's not going to seek and draw and come after you forever. There will come a time where that door shuts, that opportunity closes. There's a story in Olive Discourse that Christ tells. He says in Matthew 25, verse 10, he speaks of the ten virgins who are supposed to go get oil before the bridegroom comes. They don't have oil, and the bridegroom comes, and they're not ready, and it says, and the door was shut. They weren't ready and they didn't come in. There will come a moment where we can miss a door of opportunity. God is the one who opens and closes doors, and we are responsible to go through them when he opens them for us. Look at verse number 8. Back in our passage, Revelation chapter 3 and verse 8, he says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door. No man can shut it. And I like that. When God opened the door, he says, I'm going to keep it open as long as I want it open. And then he says, For thou hast a little strength. Now the Lord knew who the church at Philadelphia was, and you know what? He knows exactly who we are too. And I think if he was writing to us, you know what he'd say? I know. Thou hast a little strength. You know what that means? If we go trying to open doors up ourselves, we're going to have a hard time. You know what we've got to do? We've got to wait on the Lord. We're starting a Christian school. We've sought not to just kick that door open ourselves, but when the Lord was ready, opens a door, gives a green light, and we're going to move forward with him. We're going to follow him. Why? Because we have a little strength. He says in verse 8, and thou hast kept my word and hast not denied my name. You know what I think that shows us? God knew he could trust the church at Philadelphia with the open door. He says, You're the kind of people you've kept my word. You're the kind of people you haven't denied my name in Philadelphia. In fact, there's no faults about this church given. Only two of the seven churches, church at Smyrna and this church at Philadelphia, no faults are mentioned about them. And he says, I can trust you with this opportunity. I can trust you with this open door. Let us be the kind of church God can trust with open doors. Would you make note of a second thing? Go with me, please, to verse 9 of Revelation 3. We find first that we're responsible for open doors. But secondly, doors don't stay open indefinitely. Doors don't stay open indefinitely. Would you look at me at verse number 11? He says, Behold, I come what? Quickly. You know what he's using here? He's using the teaching of the imminence of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, imminence is not the same as being immediate. It doesn't mean he's coming immediately. He's going to come right then. Imminence means he's going to come quickly, he's going to come suddenly, he could come at any time, and that was used as a motivating factor for the New Testament church. He's saying, I have opened this door to you, but look, I'm coming, and you don't know when I'm going to come. In Revelation chapter 1, in verse number 3, he says, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. He says in Revelation chapter 22, all the way at the end of the book, the last chapter of the book. In Revelation 22, he says in verse number 12, Behold, I come quickly. He says in chapter 22, verse number 7, he says, Behold, I come quickly. He says in chapter 22 and verse number 20, he that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. What's the point? We don't have time to wait. We don't have time to twiddle our thumbs. We don't have time to sit around. We don't have time to waste because Christ is coming again. Do you believe Jesus Christ is going to return one of these days? There's no countdown clock anywhere. We don't know we've got a year or five years or ten years or twenty years or a hundred years. He could come. The eminence of Christ shows us he could come before the ending of this service. Before we had the altar call and finished here, Christ could come back. So doors don't stay open indefinitely. So what are we going to do about it? When the Lord is moving and guiding, we've got to walk through the door. Look what he says down here. Look down in verse number 11. He says, I come quickly, hold fast, or hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Hold fast. This was also used in chapter 3, earlier in chapter 3, in verse 3, he said, Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast. It's a nautical term. It was a command given to sailors when entering a storm to hold on to anything that would keep them from being washed overboard by the waves. They would say, One hand for you and one hand for the crew. You hold on to whatever's going to keep you on that ship, and then you help somebody else with the other hand. And he's saying here, look, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you've got. Hold on to what you've got. That no man take that crown. I think this shows us there comes a point where we've got to keep pressing and following the Lord and advancing because there is a crown. There is reward in sight. How often are we tempted to let up and give in and hold back with the reward in sight? There's a story. There's a book called Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It was written about a hundred years ago, one of the, probably the first, kind of the original, kind of a self-help type book. And he tells the story of a man with the initials R. U. His last name was Darby. R. U. Darby went with his uncle out to Colorado. This is the late 1800s, because they were going to find gold. His uncle had bought a little piece of land and he was drilling on that land. He thought a gold vein was there. They found a little bit of ore, a little gold ore, and they dug and dug and dug and dug and drilled and drilled and drilled until finally they found a little bit of ore, but then the vein disappeared. For days and days and weeks and weeks they kept drilling, trying to find where the gold vein go, and they lost it. They said, Well, this was a total bust. They sold the equipment to a junk man, sold the land, went back east. Well, the junk guy who bought all the equipment and bought the land, he said, Well, all this is still set up. Let's I'm going to get an expert in here and let's see if we can find this vein. He said, I'll drill for just a few more days, see if I can find gold. And sure enough, he drilled three feet further than R.U. Darby, where he stopped. He drilled three more feet and he found the gold vein. And over the coming years, millions of dollars of gold ore came out of the formerly defunct Darby gold mine. He said, What are you saying, Pastor? I'm saying don't let up. Don't let some other man take thy crown. Don't let another take the reward. We've got to keep pushing, we've got to keep pressing, we've got to keep advancing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, could it be that there's great reward? I'm talking about not just some reward of some gold mine. I'm talking about souls for Christ. Churches to be planted, churches to be revived, people to be reached, Christians to be encouraged, because we went a little further. We dug a little deeper. We let no man take thy crown. Look what he says here. Go back to verse number nine. He says, Behold, I will make of them the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship them. Before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. He says in verse number 10, Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation. Would you make note of that in verse 10? The hour of temptation. You know, he's using time words here. He's talking about I come quickly, and then he talks about the hour of temptation. What is he saying here? You know, in eternity, the hour of temptation will pale in comparison to the door of opportunity. You know what that hour of temptation is? That when we when we advance for the Lord, we walk through the great door he's opened before us, and there's temptation to quit. A temptation to let up. Temptation to stop, temptation to let someone else take the reins, temptation to, oh I'm not, I went through an open door before and I met those adversaries. I'm not going to go through another open door. That's the hour of temptation. And he calls it the hour of temptation because it's just for a moment. It's just for a time where you say, I don't want to deal with this anymore. I don't want to put up with these things anymore. There's got to be an easier way to do this, right? And yet he says, if you can just push through those doubts and that hour of temptation, oh, look what he says. 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, and let no man take thy crown. You know what we get when we get past the hour of temptation? We get the crown. I think about, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 24, know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run that you may obtain. I think about athletes and the hours and hours and hours and hours, days and weeks and months and years of work that goes into being a top-rated athlete. And all of that, you're pushing and you're going, and there's always the temptation to, I'm just going to stop right here. I'm not going to run any further, I'm not going to go any farther, I'm not going to lift anymore. But if they can push through the hour of temptation, what are they going to do? They're going to win the prize. They're going to get the reward. It comes when they push through the stopping point. And he says here, let no man take thy crown. Why? Because doors don't stay open indefinitely. So we find we're responsible for open doors. Doors don't stay open indefinitely. Would you make note of a third thing we find here? Thirdly, God blesses when we walk through open doors. God blesses when we walk through open doors. Here's what he says in verse 12. Him that overcometh. Who's the one that overcometh? The one that walks through the open door and keeps going. It's one thing to see an open door. It's one thing to see an opportunity. It's another thing to walk through it, face the adversaries, and keep going. That's the overcoming. This word overcometh, it means to conquer. It's from the Greek word where we get the word, it's Nikeo. It's a word we get for Nike, the brand Nike. It means to conquer, to overcome, to keep going, to put down. And he says here in verse number 12, Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God? You know what pillars picture for us? They picture strength and beauty. They're both form and function. In fact, if you were to go to Philadelphia, Philadelphia was called Little Athens. It was a place of great beauty, incredible architecture, but it was plagued by numerous and frequent earthquakes. There were times where earthquakes would roll through Philadelphia, and the only thing left of some of the historic buildings, it would only be the pillars. Why? Because they were built last. And he's saying, you know, when the earthquakes come and things start rumbling, I'm going to make you like one of those pillars. You're still there. You still have a foundation. You're still built. You know, another thing about a pillar, he says in verse number 12, and I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. He shall go no more out. You know what those people would have to do when those earthquakes started rumbling? Well, they didn't want to be around all that masonry, they didn't want to be around all those stone structures. They'd have to leave the city. They'd have to go out into the fields to get away from it. And he says, But look, if you're an overcomer, you're not going to have to go out anymore. I'm going to give you a place where you can dwell and a place where you can stay. And he says, and I will write upon him the name of my God. You know what they did on those pillars? They'd have pillars in very prominent places of the city, and they would inscribe the names of heroes or the names of city leaders on those pillars. Why? They didn't want to remember the pillar, but the pillar was the avenue and the vehicle through which they could remember the great feats of old. And those men and those women who had served that city loyally and faithfully. You know what the Lord is saying? If you go through the open door, I'll bless. You know what I'll do? I'll make you a pillar. I'll make you a place where there's a foundation. You won't have to go out anymore. It'll be a dwelling place. And I'm going to write some things on there. He actually tells us in verse 12. He says, I'll write my name upon him, the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from God, and I'll write upon him my new name. And you know what happens when we walk through open doors and God blesses? He says, I'm going to inscribe some things on those pillars. I think about places all through the city. There's monuments you can go. And you know what those monuments are there for? To remember something that someone great did back in the past. And you know what God is saying? I'm going to write my name on you as a pillar? He's saying, I want you to be someone because you faithfully went through an open door. People are going to see that, they're going to remember it, and they're going to say, well, if the City Baptist Church could go through that open door, surely we could go through that open door. If God could use them in that place, then surely they could use us in our place. What if God said, I can trust that church with open doors? I can trust that church with opportunities. And I will put my name there. I'll make them a pillar. Not because I want them to be lifted up, but I want people to see I'm doing something. I'm at work. I'm powerful enough. I'm great enough. And they'll say, if God can do it there, surely he can do it anywhere. If God can use those people, surely he can use our people. And he says, look, he that hath an ear to hear, verse 13, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Are we listening? Are we spiritually awake enough to see the open doors? And are we spiritually strong enough to say, we're going to follow the Lord? He already knows. We have little strength. He already said that. But he says, I know I can trust you if I open the door and I keep it open that you're going to walk through it. The Lord is not done giving us things to do. And look, we're not just looking for things to do. You know what we're looking for? We're looking for doors that God opens. And when he opens them, we've got to have the spiritual vitality to go through them. We can have the spiritual understanding to see them and to know they're there. To not pull back, to not let up, to not give in and say, well, look, if God's opened the door, we're responsible for it. We can't let it close. It's not going to stay open forever. I've often wondered if we didn't take a step of faith out and say, we believe the Lord's going to put us at 425 10th Street Northwest. That's where the Lord wants us. Would a high rise be here now instead of a church? And then every time we drove up down 10th Street, we say, I remember when there was an open door there. And we missed it. But maybe now when people drive up 10th Street, they say, There's a church. I don't know much about it, but I do know they trust the Lord. And that place was supposed to be torn down. And people said there'd never be a church in that building again. But there are people that believed God and believed he could do something there, and it was worth walking through that open door, and there were adversaries, and there were every reason in the book not to do it. But they followed the Lord. And now they're a pillar. There's literal pillars here.

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But they're a pillar of what God can do when a church will be faithful to follow him and walk through the open door that he's given them and made them responsible for.mycitybaptist.com.