Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation 3. I'd like to take the next letter in the seven letters that was
written to the church. This particular letter In Revelation
3, and I'm just going to look at first service, verse 7. The scripture 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. To the angel, to the pastor,
to the messenger, a pastor, a preacher, whether
it be me, whether it be Brother Neil, whether it be any Rupert,
whoever stands, anointed of God, sent by God, prepared by God,
is a messenger. We speak that which He has to
say. to the angel of the church. Now
this letter is specifically written to God's people, God's elect,
God's chosen, the church, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a letter written
to the world in general. God Almighty has written this
letter to His people, the separated ones. The church of God, this
is a specific letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, speaking peace to them. Brotherly love. That's what that
means. Brotherly love. By this shall
all men know you're my disciples. Here's the key, here's the key.
He loved the brethren. You love the brother. I don't
care if they're here, Kingsport, Ashland, Lexington, wherever
they are. God's people love God's people.
I want to be with God's people. That's who I want to be with.
I want to be with you. I told you I was in Kingsport the
other day. I was with my kids. I love my
kids. But I fellowship with my children
by the grace of God. They're my family. by human birth,
but my family by grace too. My mama, that's my mama right
there. I fellowship with her. The church in Philadelphia right
Write these things. This is what God has to say.
I am merely repeating, and that's what a preacher does. He repeats
what God has to say. I don't come up with anything
new. I don't want to come up with
anything new. All I want to tell you is what God has to say. You
write this. This is what you write. I can't
improve on it, all I can do is mar it. If I do anything else
but tell you what God has to say. To the angel of the church
in Philadelphia write, these things saith he that is holy. These things speak God. These things speak the Lord who
is holy. I'm going to go ahead and just
admit right now that I will not be able to set forth. I can tell
you what the heart of the word holiness means. Separated. Separated. But I cannot, if the Spirit of
God is pleased this morning to teach us anything. to tell us
anything, to relate anything concerning God's holiness because,
Carl, I'm not even capable. What am I going to say on the
holiness of God? Holy. Separated. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit. Holy. Holy. Holy. This is specifically written
from the Word Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel of the
church in Philadelphia writes, These things saith He, Christ
Himself, who is the image, the Word of God. All we know about
God is what the Lord Jesus Christ has been pleased to reveal. He's
the Word. He's the revelation of God. No
man has ever seen the Father. How do we know Him? Glen, the
Son has declared Him. That's all we know. He is holy. He is essentially
holy. He is independently holy. May I ask you this? Who is likened
to Thee? Oh God among the gods. Who is
like unto thee? Glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises, doing wonders. Who's like you? Nobody. Nobody. There is no God but our God. And everything that is referred
to Him is holy. Everything that is said concerning
us that is holy, holy brethren, holy faith. The only thing that
is said about us concerning being holy is our relationship to Him,
being found in Him. Our relationship to Him is by
grace chosen in the Beloved. Righteousness, holy righteousness,
imputed. I'm telling you, we have nothing
to brag in save Him. I'm going to glory, Paul said,
I'm going to glory in the cross of Christ, in what He accomplished
there, not that piece of wood. I heard Brother Henry say one
time, if we had the actual cross, if we had the cross itself, the
actual cross, burn it. Burn it. Burn it. We had the actual ark,
that golden ark. Burn it. Crush it. You say, have
you got any scriptural basis for that? Yes I do. What happened
when they took that brazen serpent and started to worship it? Grounded
up. Him. not pictures of Him, not
types of Him, Him. He alone is holy. The angels, created beings, referred
to, this is holy, Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man shall
come in His glory and all the holy angels, holy angels, with
Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. Holy angels. How much trust does God put in
His holy angels? None, Freddie. Behold Job 4.18,
He put no trust in His servants, His angels. You know what He
does? He charges them with folly, weakness, the possibility of
sinning if He didn't keep them. A third of them fell. Why? Because he didn't keep them.
Allowed to do what they wanted to do. That's what they did.
Angels. Why is it that God Almighty who
created angels, now you think about this. An angel was sent often. as a
messenger from God to a man. You go tell. You go tell. Why didn't the angel go tell?
Because God has been pleased to send creatures of dust like
us who have experienced redemption, who have experienced mercy, who
have fallen creatures have walked with a mind touched, infected
by sin, darkened, used as a redeemed sinner to preach the gospel. Angels are not like that. Therefore,
verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took
on Him the seed of Abraham. at one that had experienced that
mercy. You who believe, you know something
about redemption and mercy and forgiveness. God's taught you
something about reconciliation. He is holy, impeccably holy. That means He's not able to sin. Habakkuk 113, Thou art of pure
eyes and to behold evil, canst not look on iniquity. Those angels,
holy angels, they cry holy, holy, holy in the book of Isaiah. Holy
is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. This letter was written from
Him who is holy Everything I said a moment ago about him is holy. Psalm 98.1. Psalm 98.1. We speak of when
the Lord calls his people out of darkness. A power and grace and mercy. And that's so. But let me tell
you what the scripture has to say about that power. Psalm 98, 1, Oh, sing unto the
Lord a new song that God's people do. Well, they sing, Lord, you're
worthy. You're worthy. For he hath done
marvelous things, his right hand and his holy arm. The arm of His power has gotten
Him the victory. Do you realize the very calling
out of His elect? And we preach through the preaching
of this gospel, God Almighty who is God alone, God who chooses,
God who selects, God who purposes, Christ who redeemed His elect. and the Spirit of God that calls
them out of darkness irresistibly. That power is set forth in this
book as being holy. That's holy power. We don't have
any power. His power is holy power. Psalm 105, 42. Psalm 105, 42. We're preaching the gospel this
morning. The truth. I'm the way, the truth,
the life. The truth that is being set forth. Let me tell you how little we
think of it. And we're all guilty here. But
listen to this. Psalm 105 verse 42. For he remembered his holy
promise, and Abraham his servant. Just speaking of the promise,
the covenant of God, the Word of God set forth in this glorious
gospel. That promise is holy. We can't
even speak of Him apart from the word holy. His name is holy. Psalm 103. Flip back one page. Oh, bless the Lord, oh my soul,
and all that is within me, bless His holy name. We speak of Him
when we speak of His character. I speak of God the Father as
the electing God. That's a holy name. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Holy Son, the Holy Holy Spirit, His holiness. is manifested in everything that
He does. The sun came up this morning.
That's a holy rising. This sky, this universe, this
creation is holy. When God Almighty made this world,
what did He say about it? It's good. It's good. There's nothing good about God. We are in the very presence of
holiness. And we are so frail and we're
so unable to perceive. It's only by God's mercy and
compassion that we're not consumed for the sake of Christ. His law. So often, and I have to admit,
I've done the same thing. You know, so often when we speak
of God's law, we talk about the law. The law. As if it's something
evil. Thy law, Romans 7, 12, is holy. Thy commandment is holy and just
and good. The problem is not the law. Here's
the problem right here. My inability to keep it. The respect. Thy shall love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart. All your soul, all your spirit.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself. What's wrong with that? Ain't nothing wrong with that.
The problem is me. I'm the problem. His name, the
scripture says, is holy. Psalm 111 verse 9. Holy and reverend
is His name. Had a man one time, I probably
told you this, there in Franklin. And I, he probably meant well. It just, it rubbed on me so much. Every time I'd walk in, hey reverend!
Hey reverend, one day I just told him, I said please, don't
ever call me that again. Don't ever call me that again.
That's not my name. That's not my title. Holy and
reverend is his name. And this guy, that's visiting
over in this country is not the Holy Father. Almighty God is holy and there's
none else holy and reverent. And the scripture says that this
is from Him that is holy and is true. Who's real is what He
is. and real and genuine. He's the
true light. You want to know the truth? What
does God say concerning His Son? He's holy and true. And the truthful one reveals
Himself to His people. All that the Father has given
Him. They're going to come to Christ. They're going to come
to Him in truth. He is true. He is holy and true. True God. True man. He's truly God because
the scripture says He's truly God. In the beginning was the
Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. God. And truly man. And the Word,
John 1.14, was made flesh. He's the true witness. John 17,
8, I have given unto them, that is His people, all that you've
given Me, all that the Father's given Me, I've given unto them,
speaking specifically in that verse to His disciples, concerning
His disciples, but all that would hear too from their word. I've given unto them the words
that Thou gavest Me. They've received them. They've
known surely that I came out from Thee. They believe that
Thou didst send Me." He is the true witness. Look at 1 John
5.20. 1 John 5.20. The Scripture declares, and we
know that the Son of God has come and have given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. This is from Him that's holy,
Him that's true. And the Scripture says, Back
in Revelation 3 verse 7, He that hath the key of David, he that
openeth and no man shutteth. And I'm going to say something
about that last part in this next verse. He that openeth and
no man shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth. He hath the key
of David. I want you to take your Bibles
as I conclude this first message here. Isaiah 22, Isaiah 22, verse
20. Isaiah 22, about a man who was
a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when the
Lord spoke to those two on the road to Emmaus. beginning at
Moses and in all the Scriptures. He expounded unto them in all
the Word, all the Scriptures, those things concerning Himself.
There was a man, Eliakim was his name. Eliakim. What a beautiful picture this
man is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 22, verse 20. The Scripture
says, it shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim,
the son of Hilkiah. Now you listen to what's said
about this man, and let me ask you this if you don't see him
who is holy and true. I will clothe him with thy robe,
strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government
into his hand. Now let me ask you this, the
Lord who charges his angels and his servants with folly and puts
no trust in them, none, you think he's going to entrust the government
of everything into a mere man? Eliakim is a picture. I will
commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a father
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the house of Judah, and the
key of the house of David, the house of the true David, the
Lord Jesus himself. One of whom David, King David,
was but a type, a picture. One has got the key right here. This great picture of Christ,
Eliakim. The key that opens everything
up of the house of David I will
lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open and none shall
shut. And he shall shut and none shall
open. And I will fasten him as a nail
in a sure place. he shall be for a glorious throne
to his father's house. They shall hang upon him all
the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue,
all vessels of small quantity, vessels of cups, even the vessels
of flagons. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be
removed, cut down, cut off, made sand. God's going to deal with
him on the behalf of all those that he represents. Cut down
and fall in the burden that was upon it shall be cut off for
the Lord has spoken it. This great picture of Christ,
this great glorious type shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ, it
is he that has the key And when he opens, no man closes. And
I said, I'm going to pick this up in just a second. If he shuts,
no man opens. Lord, unto you, we ask that you
speak to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.