You would turn back in your Bibles
to the book of Revelation, but this time turn to chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. I'll begin reading in verse 7. 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,
that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more
out. and I will write upon him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which
is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God,
and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." I want to try to talk to you
this morning for a few minutes about the sovereign of the church. This week I received an email
in which I was asked to respond with some verses in the Scriptures
which teach God's absolute sovereignty. And that was a relatively easy
thing to do because they are everywhere and they are many. And the knowledge of God's absolute
sovereignty in all things while it is met with great opposition
and resistance by natural men and women, it is a great blessing
to the Lord's church. Hold here and look back at one
of my favorite verses in Psalm 115. Because here the collective church
of God speaks concerning our God at the response of all the
unbelieving world. The psalmist begins by saying,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. but unto thy name give glory,
for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? By all that the natural eye can
see, by all that the natural mind would think, Men look at
those who profess faith in the living God, and they say, what
about your God now? And to this, the psalmist responds,
in the very thing that is our comfort and our joy, he says,
but our God. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. That is our God, and He is this
absolute Sovereign, and He is especially so in this one who
is the Sovereign of the Church. As a matter of fact, we are instructed
in preaching the gospel. We are instructed to remind the
church of this very thing, because he says to those who bring these
glad tidings, who have this good news to proclaim, he says to
them, say unto Zion, thy God reigneth. And he says that in
a clear distinction from the very fact that this absolute
sovereignty is also to be declared unto all people. It is to be
declared again and again that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Oh, but it's a special blessing
to the Lord's people that they hear that it is our God that
is the One who reigns. And this is especially true in
salvation. It's especially true in the things
that pertain to the church. If you look over a little farther
in Psalm 127, because he says concerning this
very church which is likened to a house, He says in this first
verse of Psalm 127, except the Lord build the house. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the
city. In other words, here are two
pictures of Christ's church, this building and also this city,
Zion, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but
in vain. And over in our text, again in
Revelation chapter 13, Revelation chapter 3 rather, we have the
church that is described in this 8th verse, when he says, "...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."
Now one thing that describes here the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, by Christ Himself, He says, you have kept my word. And the true church, just as
was often stated in those early confessions of faith, they said,
the Scriptures shall be our only rule of faith and practice. That is our only standard. Our last resort and our first
resort is nothing less than the Word of God. And also, the church
also, and I hope that's the case here, the church always gives
the preaching of the gospel the most prominent and preeminent
place. Because as our God says in Isaiah
55, He says, So shall my word that goeth forth out of my mouth,
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper. Not by man's standards,
not by man's numbers, but it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it. He says, you have kept my word. And as the psalmist writes in
Psalm 138, when he says, I will worship toward thy holy temple,
and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness, and for thy truth, for thou hast
magnified thy word, above all thy name." That is, of course,
the Word who was made flesh and also that which reveals Him,
which is the written Word. And then he says something else
about his true church. He says, you have not denied
my name. What is the name of somebody? I thought about it. Not only
is it a stated, written name like Jesus Christ, but a name
has to do with those things that we are known for. Does it not? So and so has a
name for being a kind person. They have a name for being generous. They have a name for something.
And so those things which declare the character and the person
and the work and the glory of God in Jesus Christ, none of
His people would dare deny any of those things. We cannot speak
the name Jesus on our lips and then turn and deny who He actually
is and what He's actually done. as it is revealed in the Scriptures. He says, you have not denied
my name. But if there was perhaps one
thing that describes His church, one thing that would certainly
describe us as a local assembly, it has to be in that He says,
thou hast little strength. That is, outwardly and of ourselves,
we are in and of ourselves always without strength. We are described in this book
as little ones. We are referred to as little
children. We are said to be a little flock. and even individually described
sometimes as being ye of little faith and weak. But what we also
find is that the Lord Jesus Christ died for those and loved those
who are described by these terms. Paul writing to the Corinthians,
He says, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty. You see, He
chooses and He uses those who are weak in themselves and weak
in the flesh to demonstrate His own power and therefore get to
Himself glory. Now, this surely has to describe
us, because we have but little strength, not only individually,
but as an assembly. We have little strength physically,
little strength financially, little strength intellectually,
little strength politically, little strength spiritually,
little strength numerically. And the world often reminds us
of this and mocks us in one sense because of our size. They look and they say things
like this, as a family member of mine said once, I just can't
believe that all these other people in all these other religions
are wrong, and what my so-and-so preaches
is right. Isn't that the way it is? Do you remember when David's
brothers got word that David had come into the camp? David
who is a type of Christ, David who had been sent of God on that
occasion to deliver Israel in the face of Goliath? They looked at David and they
said, you're just a naughty boy. And why in the world have you
come down here in the midst of this battle, by the way, which
was not going on, and left those few sheep? You've got just a
few sheep. They would have mocked Noah in
our day. Somebody said, Noah only had
eight people in his Sunday school. They would mock in every age
those who in the contrast with the great mass of humanity are
described as a few. And he says, Thou who hast little
strength. If you remember God speaking
to that nation Israel, which as a national and earthly people
he identified with. He said, I did not choose you
because you are many or great, you're the least and the fewest
of all the earth. And that's why the sovereign
of the church has to speak to us. That's why our hope can never
individually or corporately as an assembly, a church, that's
why our hope and our strength can never be in ourselves. Who speaks here? I thought it was so wonderful
when Joe was reading that first chapter, I thought, one day I'm
going to sit down, and just in that first chapter of Revelation,
make the statements, list and number all those statements of
what Christ says, being the one who is revealed. You see, that's
what this is all about. It is not the revelations of
men. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And here He was described, the
One which is, which was, and which always will be. And there
in that 8th verse of that 1st chapter, He describes Himself
as the Almighty. The Almighty. I don't think that
there was ever a time when I didn't hear people talk about Almighty
God. But they don't really believe
He's Almighty God. They don't really believe that
He actually can do everything or anything that He wants to
do And they deny this by not believing that He has done and
will do what He says He's already done. He said, I'm the Almighty. That's who's speaking here. And
He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is, as Paul describes Him,
the Head Not just in a picture as being at the top of the body,
but the head, the authority of the body, the church. This is
the One who though in His humanity He walked here on the earth,
He is described as the King of kings and Lord of lords. And John is led by the Spirit
and describes Him in that seventh verse, I believe it is, in this
way, He that is holy. That's who He is. He that is
holy. As God and as man, He is, as
was said to Mary, that holy thing. He is the Holy One of Israel. He is that Christ who knew no
sin, but was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He is holy. And then he says, He that is
true, Now you think about this. Christ
is Himself the truth. All the truth. He is, as it says
in John, the true light, the true bread, the true vine. What does that mean? True means
real and genuine. But it doesn't just say he's
the true this, that or the other here. It says that he himself
is true. What does that mean? It means
he's always true to his people. He's true to His Father, but
He is true to His people. He's true to keep us by His power. He's true to bless us as He's
promised. He's true to be with us even
to the end. He's true to watch over and protect
us. He's true to deal with our enemies. He's true to keep us. If there's one thing, that characterizes
this generation. It is that they are a generation
of those who are not true. They're not true to their parents,
they're not true to their children, they're not true to their mates,
they're not true to their friends, they're not true to their employers,
they're not true to their country, they're not true to anything. But this one's described as true. He's true. And not only that,
but this is kind of where I was going. It says, and he hath the
key of David. He has the key. We use slogans like, the buck
stops here. We look at those who hold the
keys to everything as being the ones who are in places of authority. And he says, that he hath the
key of David, and David typifies Christ as the King, and the key
is his dominion and sovereignty over all things. Do you see the contrast here?
We are few, we are little, we are weak, we are helpless, we
are without strength, but He has the key of David. Now what does that mean? What
is the extent to this one power, sovereignty, who is the Almighty,
who has the key of David, who rules and reigns as the King
over His church as well as the King and Lord over all things. At least in my feeble mind, this
sums it up. Verse 7, "...he that openeth And no man shuts. And he that shuts, and no man
opens. Do you see the extent of this
sovereignty? He that opens, and no man can
shut. and he that shuts, and no man
can open." Turn back to the book of Job
for just a moment. In Job chapter 12, I really don't know of anything living in this world Being the
sinner that I am and seeing all that goes on, not only within
me, but in this world, I don't know of anything that is as comforting
as the knowledge of Christ as He really is. Job chapter 12, and just look
with me as I read these verses, beginning in verse 6. The tabernacles
of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure,
so they sing, into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. But ask now the beast, and they
shall teach thee. and the fowls of the air, and
they shall tell thee, or speak to the earth, and it shall teach
thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee, Who
knoweth not in all these things that the hand of the Lord hath
wrought this?" Here are dumb fish in the sea, birds of the
air, creatures of the earth, all the things of our creation,
and every one of them, could they talk, would confess this, except those who would rob this
from God. Who knoweth not in all these
that the hand of the Lord hath wrought? in whose hand is the
soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." The soul, not just the body,
but the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Whose hand are they in? in the
hands of God. Doth not the ear try words, and
the mouth taste his meat? With the ancient is wisdom, and
in length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength,
he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and
it cannot be built again. He shutteth up a man, and there
can be no opening." Do you see that 14th verse? This
is God in His absolute sovereignty. He breaks down, and if He breaks
down, it can't be built again. He shuts up a man, and there
can be no opening. Behold, He withholds the waters,
and they dry up. Also, He sendeth them out, and
they overturn the earth. With him is strength and wisdom
the deceived, and the deceiver he is. He leadeth counsellors
away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the
bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth
princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away
the speech of the trustee, and taketh away the understanding
of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes,
and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. He discovereth deep
things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death. He increaseth the nations, and
destroyeth them. He enlargeth the nations, and
straighteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the
chief of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in
a wilderness where there is no way." I can't read that verse without
thinking about our own country. He taketh away the heart of the
chief of the people of the earth. One of the judgments of God,
he says to nations, is that he takes away their wise men and
their good counselors, and calls at them to wander in
a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without
light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. That's God. And that's God as He is in His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He opens and no man shuts. He opens doors. He opens the door of salvation. Turn over to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Now, if you
want to hear the sovereign of the church, John 17 and verse 1 says, "...these
words spake Jesus, And he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may
glorify thee." Now I'm sure of this, neither the Son is going
to make the Father better or the Father make the Son better.
So that means to glorify, means to make known of someone or something
that which it already is, but it's made known. And now Christ
is calling on the Father to glorify Him. "...as Thou hast given Him power,
authority over all flesh." You know, there are a lot of
people who are always running, they think to these verses in
Scripture that they believe teaches universalism. But they never
go to this one. He said, Father, You've given
to Your Son power over all flesh. That. He should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given Him. Now, He alone can open the door
of salvation. He alone has been given power. in this sense of being Jehovah's
servant, power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. He is so much the one who opens
and no man shuts that He is described in John 10 saying, I am the door. There are not lots of doors.
There are not lots of faiths. There are not lots of ways. I am the door, but not only that,
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in
and out and find pasture." He said, by me. Not only is he the door, but
only by him do any enter in. and enjoy this saving mercy and
liberty in Christ, and find Him the way to God, the way of righteousness,
and find Him in His sacrifice as the new and living way which
He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His
flesh. My friend, He's going to open
that door. to all the Father has given Him. And no matter what the obstacle
is, not only outside of them, but also and especially within
them, He's going to open that door of salvation to them, and
no man can shut it, not even them. I don't know about you, but it
seems like to me sometimes that in myself, in my flesh, I do
everything possible, it looks like. That if it were possible
to unsave me, I'd surely do it. But that's not possible, because He opens the door of
the heart. You remember when you used to
sing those long invitation hymns? Some people were not raised up
in a false religion, they don't know anything about this, but
most people have. They'd sing all those songs and
the preacher would say, you need to open up your heart to Jesus. Open up your heart and let the
Son come in. Nope. The heart of man, the heart
of all men and women, is shut tight with a key only on the
inside that will never be used. One day God sent the apostle
Paul and some others down to a certain place, and there
was a woman there and some other women, and that woman's name
was Lydia, and she's described as a seller of purple from the
city of Thyatira, and it says that when she heard Paul, and I really quite honestly believe
that as an orator and as a preacher, you would have found him pretty
disappointing. Maybe some seem to think even
hard to look at, because he had a condition, I think, of his
eyes. That's why he had so many that
he dictated to, that he could not even be easily looked at. But he preached the gospel. And
it says of this Lydia, it says, she heard us whose heart the
Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. Why was her heart opened and
maybe somebody else there not opened? Because the sovereign of the
church opened her heart. And that will be the same with
everyone that God saves. It will be because of His act
and movement toward us, and not our act and movement toward Him. Only He can open up unto us the
Scriptures. In Luke 24, On the road to Damascus,
he came and he revealed himself to some people, and later on
they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us
while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us
the Scriptures?" This book is a closed book, except
God opened it. And later on, to more of his
disciples who were cowered in their unbelief, it says in verse
45, "...then opened he their understanding that they might
understand the Scriptures." That's what the psalmist prayed
for. Open thou mine eyes, that I may
behold wondrous things out of thy law." Not only that, but
he's the only one who can open up a way and a door of gospel
witness. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16
as he asked, The believers there to pray for him, he said, for
a great door and effectual is opened unto
me, and there be many adversaries. Most believed that what he was
talking about there was at Ephesus. where the opposition to the gospel
was so bad that he uses language like this, saying that he had
fought the wild beasts at Ephesus. But let me ask you something.
That great and effectual door that the Lord opened for Paul
to bear witness of the gospel to there in that wicked, idolatrous
city of Ephesus, Could anybody shut it? We have an epistle that
has that name. We have the testimony of God's
Spirit that God saved a multitude of people there. He shuts, and no man opens also. You know that door of grace and
wrath that is so clearly pictured whenever
the Lord called Noah and his family into the ark? And the Bible says that God shut
them in? That same door by which God shut
them out He shut everybody else out. He shut them in. He shut everybody else out. Don't you just imagine that as
those floodwaters which had never been seen before, don't you just
imagine that there were those who, as they began to sense what
was about to take place, and the reality of it began to flood
into their own minds and hearts, don't you imagine that they went
then to that ark, maybe beat on the outside of it, beat on
that door of the ark? They couldn't open it, because
he shuts. and no one opens. He shuts the
age that is described as the acceptable day of the Lord. That time between our Lord's
first coming and that time of His second coming. He's going to bring it to a close. Men and women hear the gospel
just like they think that they're going to have the privilege of
hearing it and deciding something about it for eternity. No. In Matthew he says, And while
they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready
went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward
came also the other, those foolish virgins, saying, Lord, Lord,
open to us. But he answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, I know you not." I know you not. You know, if you look back over the last chapter
of the book of Matthew. Our Lord, as He was about to
ascend back into glory, He left that early church with some instructions that are to be followed from
that time until He comes again. If you look in Matthew chapter
28 at that 19th verse, he says, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world." But before he ever gave that
instruction, He preceded that with the only
thing that would be possible to encourage His people, and
especially poor preachers like me, and that is the assurance
of His absolute sovereignty. Look at that 18th verse. And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. Go ye therefore. And then he can surely shut off that door of hell and judgment. Do you remember that rich man who wanted, after he
was already in hell, to just have Lazarus bring a drop of
water to him? And God tells him that's not
possible. He said, between us and you,
that is, Lazarus and his Lord, there is a great gulf fixed,
so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot, neither
can they pass to us that would come from thence. And that power, is not only over man, but also
over devil. In Revelation, this same book,
he says, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He
takes the devil and he casts him and all his angels into outer
darkness. We are certainly of little strength. But the head of the church is
the absolute sovereign, who said, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He is our salvation, our strength,
our sovereign, our power, and our victory. And so Paul closes
out that 8th chapter of Romans saying, as it is written, For
thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep
for the slaughter. Nay, But in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Our God is in the heavens, and in heaven, but especially
here on this earth, and especially with His church. He hath done
whatsoever He hath pleased." And it pleased Him, the Apostle
says, to make us His people. And it pleased Him to bruise
His Son in our place. And it pleased Him to save His
people and encourage them through the preaching of the cross. We are little, but He is great. Just go back and read that first
chapter again. Whenever that one is described
by John as he is unable to see Him, John said, I fell before
Him like a dead man. And I'll never forget reading
some old preacher years ago who said, better to be dead at the
feet of Christ than alive anywhere else. He's the sovereign of the church.
He's the sovereign over all the universe. But He rules and does
all His will, especially as it pertains to His people. Father, we thank You this day
and give You praise and honor for Your own glorious blessedness,
especially as it is and is revealed in Christ. Give us fresh views of our Savior, fresh views of our Sovereign,
fresh views of our King, that our hearts might be encouraged,
that in our little strength we might be strengthened in Him, who is worthy of all praise and
honor. and who will always be true to
us, though we're not true to Him. We thank you and we praise
you in His name. Amen.