to Revelation chapter three,
if you will, and you can follow me in your pastor's commentary.
Revelation chapter three, we will be taking up today in the
next week, the Lord willing, our consideration of the church
at Philadelphia. And so we are on our last stretch
home when it comes to these seven churches. I think I want to deal
with a couple of other themes in the book of Revelation, however,
before we go away from it. But I did promise you that we
would go through this book for the summer and we did that, didn't
we? And so I hope that it's been
of benefit to you. To get to know your savior better,
to know the calling of the church, to get to know the beauty of
being commissioned as a people of God for the service of Christ
in the context of the church. And also how much Christ loves
His church. Because He does. He loves His
church. He's a resident Lord, is He not? He's right there. I think the
psalmist put it this way. A very present help in time of
trouble. I don't know about you, I need
the Lord near me all the time. I don't need Him so far away
from me that I gotta wait for Him to show up. I need Him right
here, right now, all the time. And that's what He says He is
to the seven churches. Now, as we deal with the church
at Philadelphia, I want to Let you know that the mailman who
has been delivering the mail to these seven churches is a
Roman courier. And you have up there on the
screen, again, the geographical layout of the seven churches.
Comprehend that in your mind. Asia Minor was a regional area
that we would call Turkey today. And it's across from Greece where
Corinth is, and Patmos is the isle on which John was banished and persecuted are short
ways from Ephesus. And you see how Ephesus is near
Smyrna and Smyrna near Pergamum and Pergamum around the corner
from Thyatira and Thyatira down the street from Sardis. Do you
guys see that? What that tells us then is God,
in his own strategic purposes, used the mail courier system
of the Roman Empire to deliver the gospel to his people. You
know what that teaches us? That God uses technology. He
uses technology. Now, had there not been couriers
in that day, male persons or men or women, whomever it was
to deliver the mail, God would have used pigeons. Today, we
don't need couriers as such to get the letter. We have them
in our Bibles, we have them in our cell phones, in our iPods,
and everywhere the word of the Lord is running swiftly all throughout
the world. Is that not true? What that means
is God is going to make sure you hear the Word. His people,
out of all people in the world, are going to hear the Word of
God. But just think with me for a moment the privilege of this
Roman courier, who is a typical mailman, having the blessed privilege
of delivering the mail to Ephesus. He doesn't know the contents
of the letter, but he delivers the mail to Ephesus. Then he
goes up to Smyrna and he delivers the mail to Smyrna and then Pergamum
and Thyatira. And then as we saw last week,
whom? Sardis. Now Sardis was such a
heavy piece of mail that it probably was not your U.S. mail courier.
It was probably UPS because the weight of the letter was so heavy
and dense that the Typical US courier would not have been qualified
to take it. But the letter we have in front
of us today is a very unique letter because it's small. It's only a few verses long.
And this letter is actually rich in its contents because it's
very bright. It's very optimistic. In fact,
there is no reproof in this text. real admonition on the part of
the Lord towards Sardis. This letter you and I might say
if it were delivered by the courier was a letter the courier would
have noticed among all the other letters because it would have
been either in a white envelope or maybe a yellow envelope and
it would have been perfumed. You know how some letters are
perfumed when special people send you a special letter and
they want you to know you are special. This letter to Sardis,
to Philadelphia is a special letter of bright content, light
in its nature. And I believe that it's perfumed
with the myrrh and aloe and frankincense of Jesus Christ's love to that
church. That they don't even have to
open the letter to know that this is a letter of love and
commendation and encouragement to them. But I think that the
mail courier noticed this letter and even for him, he was curious
as to what its contents had to say to this church in Philadelphia. See, Philadelphia is different
than Sardis in a lot of ways. Although, will you notice, Sardis
is right up the street from Philadelphia. In fact, Sardis is 25 miles away
from Philadelphia. That would be like us being Philadelphia
and perhaps the outer skirts of Fremont or maybe Vallejo somewhere,
the distance between the two is short, right? Which would
mean that Sardis in Philadelphia is essentially situated in the
same place, same people group. You go to, Fremont, and you see
the same folks you see in Hayward, Union City, by and large, except
Fremont now has a whole lot more of our Indian brothers, don't
they? Afghanistanian brothers as well. Somebody cut the AC
on, will you? I'm starting to go through my
menopause. You sisters know what I'm talking
about. And so Philadelphia is right
up the street from Sardis. And therefore, the body politic
would probably be the same. Except this one fact, that the
church at Philadelphia is radically different in their personality
and in their perspective of their calling for Christ than Sardis. Sardis was in trouble. Philadelphia
was on their job. And we want to learn something
today about the city of brotherly love. That's what Philadelphia
means, brotherly love. So we want to work through our
outline today before we prepare for the Lord's table. And you
are welcome to join us if you are visitors at the table and
lunch, if only you are truly in Christ. So I want to call
your attention to our first point in our outline. And every point
in our outline today is underscored by the opening statement, behold,
behold, And that's the title of our message
today. A letter to what? Behold. It's a letter to behold. It's a letter to regard. Now,
I don't know about you, but sometimes in the bulk of mail that I get,
there are often letters that I should read that I don't. I get tons of mail all the time. And sometimes I read letters
that I shouldn't. And there are letters that I
should read that I ignore. Do you do that? This is a letter
that must not be ignored. This is a letter for the church
at Philadelphia that should not be ignored. And I think the Lord
means for her not to ignore this letter because four times he
says to her, behold, in verse seven, he says to the church
at Philadelphia, these words, write these things that he that
is holy and he that is true, he that hath the key of David,
He that openeth and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens. Verse
eight, I know your words. Now watch this, behold. Now that
term behold is a phrase that means to look, to pay attention,
to be diligent, to mark what's taking place. From time to time,
you see that word behold in the New Testament and in the old,
it's probably more or less King James peculiarity, but what it
really means is hey listen to this This matters and in fact
in the book of Revelation behold is used some 20 plus times Where
he says behold I come quickly Behold it means to be urgent
about paying attention to what's in front of you it's stated in
verse 8 as we saw in It's stated again in verse nine, listen to
what it says. Behold, I will make them of the
synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but
do lie. And before he finishes that clause
of sentences, here it is again. Behold, I will make them to come
and worship before your feet and to know that I have what?
He says, I want you to hear me now. Hear me now, people of God,
I will make them to come and worship before your feet and
to know that I have loved you. That's a word to behold. That's
a word to behold. And then he says it again in
verse 11. Look at it. Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast that what you have,
that no man take your what? There's a takeaway principle
again. There it is. And our master is so concerned
with the church at Philadelphia, getting his message, understanding
his words, receiving them unto themselves, because they are
in a situation that we've got to talk about for a few weeks.
By the way, when you're reading the word of God, and particularly
letters written from one person to another, you are a third party.
You are not a direct object of the discourse. There is a sense
of a disadvantage in that because sometimes, contextually, when
one person is talking to another, the person talking to them knows
that the person to whom they are speaking understands things
that you and I don't know. Like, you and I don't know why
he is urgent about letting the church at Philadelphia know,
I will make them bow before you and know that I have loved you.
I want to find out about that, don't you? I want to know who
they are and I want to know why the Lord jumped in and defended
his wife like he did. They must have talked bad about
her for him to jump in like that. But in any event, you notice
that our master is diligent about letting this church know they're
not going to get away with what they're saying about you. In
fact, I'm going to make them bow down and worship you. Glorious, glorious, glorious.
So let's work through our points. First point in our outline is
behold, I am the truth. Do you see that? That's a relevant
proposition in the 21st century where people don't know what
the truth is, even church folk. For Christ to say this in verse
seven to the church at Philadelphia, notice what he says, he says,
Right unto her, Philadelphia, these things said he that is
holy and he that is what? He that is holy and he that is
true. When Christ uses that phraseology,
the saints at Philadelphia knows he's actually telling them something
about himself that they know but they need to be reminded
of. Sometimes, saints, you and I need to be reminded that God
is true. You and I need to be reminded,
as our first point puts it up, that our God that we serve is
the true and the living God. You and I need to be reminded
again and again and again, watch this now, that we have not adopted
a body of doctrine that amounts to fables or lies or myths. We have to be reminded from time
to time that we are dealing with the one true God. And watch this, we need to be
reminded by God that we are dealing with the true and the living
God. God needs to let us know from time to time, I am the truth. You need to hear it in your soul.
You need to hear it in your prayers. You need to hear it in providence.
God needs to affirm in your life that you are dealing with the
one singular true and living God. Now, we use the word a lot,
don't we? We say according to john chapter
14 6 jesus said i am the way the what truth and the life no
one comes unto the father but by him but sometimes We act as
if god is not the truth I'll let you work with that You're
in the house of the lord today. You're amongst the saints. The
angel are here. God is here You can lie to yourself if you want
to but some days we don't act like we know that god is the
truth Now the reason why he shares with us this particular appellation
of himself is to remind you that when he revealed his glory to
you, whenever he did it, and when he showed you the truth
that was in Christ, whenever he did it, you were not under
an illusion. That when he revealed his saving
mercy to you, that day you came to know him in salvation, it
was the true and the living God that did that. Now he's using
this statement As a defense in the life of the church at philadelphia
because obviously they are dealing with trials They are dealing
with difficulties that are causing them to raise the question Is
the god we serve? a god of truth Does that happen
to you from time to time? Yes, it does. Don't lie to me
Yes, it does some of your trials Will have you asking the question
like gideon Lord, where are you at? I know you work for my father's
and I heard you work for my father's father's, but I haven't seen
you in a long time. Are you the true and the living
God? Are you the holy one of Israel?
Are you the truth as you say you are now? See, you can be
honest with God like that. God's servants talk to God often
like that because there are trials that enter our lives that sometimes
challenge the proposition that we actually know God in the truth. Is that right? And so what God
does here, what Christ does here in this letter, because he cares
about Philadelphia, is he's saying to Philadelphia, I want you to
get this, I am the same God that met you in your darkness, that
brought you out of your sins, established you in my righteousness,
and I told you I would be with you all the way through to the
end. I am the God who keeps covenant. You have to worry about me not
being there for you. That God that saved you then,
I am that God. Can you imagine a letter coming
to you saying, I'm not God. I am the Holy One of Israel.
And he's using an Old Testament Hebraic phraseology which is
asserting that the Jesus of the New Testament is in fact the
revelation of the Jehovah of the Old Testament. He is the
same one having spoken through the mouth of the prophets in
times old is speaking now to the church at Philadelphia. Let's
look at a few verses around this proposition. Isaiah chapter 10
verse 20. Isaiah 10 20. Let me state this
as we are going there. You and I need to be reminded
all the time that God is true. Why do you say that, preacher?
Because you and I are inclined by nature to believe lies. And sometimes we can find ourselves
in situations where circumstances can be so contrary to the promises
of God and to our evidentialism of his existence that we might
raise the question, are you ready? Is God true? Truth was a big
matter for the Jewish people and it's a big matter for us
today too because if God is not true, listen to me, you can't
trust him. Did you get that? If God is not
true, You can't trust him. Like, there are some people you
just can't trust. Now here's the reason you can't
trust them. Because they're not trustworthy. Now the word trustworthy
proceeds from the word true. And the word true proceeds from
the word amen. God is true because God is trustworthy. Did you get that? God is true
because he's trustworthy. It really is a covenant phraseology
that says you can trust God to come through. Now, the Bible
tells us, and we believe this, don't we? All men are what? Y'all know that verse. You don't
know where it is, but you know it's true. You don't know where
it is in the Bible, but your experiences tell you that's got
to be true. Do you know why? The Hebrew word
for liar, the prominent Hebrew term for liar means to fail.
It means to fail. It's a word that in its analogous
connotation is like rivers of water that ultimately dry up.
You thought you could go to the brook every morning and get a
fresh draft of water. But one day you went there and
it was dried up. It failed on you. That's what
the word lie means. You know what that means? There
are folks you depended on who didn't show up one day. And all
of us are liars by nature. There's only one being in the
universe that we can trust to be there all the time. And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God Almighty. The triune
God is always there. We call him Jehovah Shema. Always there. Our God is always
there. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so when our Lord says, I am the holy and true one, he's drawing
back from his pointer passages places like Isaiah chapter 10
verse 20 look at it listen to what he says here in this text
and it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of
Israel this year are the final tail end of the Israelites I
can actually say that this is referring to the New Testament
Saints including Mary Joseph the Apostles etc that the remnant
of Israel and such as our escape of the house of Jacob This terminology
here is dealing with Jacob in terms of a derogatory statement.
The house of Jacob means the apostate Jewish system out of
which this remnant came out of in the days of Jesus Christ.
Watch. Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them. Watch
this. But they shall stay. Now the
word stay means to lean upon. Isn't that right? To lean on.
They're no longer going to lean on legal religion. works religion
the religion of the Pharisees and the Sadducees the Herodians
and the high priest they're no longer rely upon salvation by
works but they're gonna rely upon and lean on listen to the
language they will stay upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel
what in true do you see it Jehovah the Holy One of Israel in truth.
Take that verse and write by it John chapter 14 verse 6 because
there we have its New Testament fulfillment. Is Jesus Lord? Is Jesus the truth? Then these
are the passages in the Old Testament that affirm that those who trust
in Christ are trusting in the Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel
in the truth. Again, we read over in the book
of Isaiah chapter 6. Notice what it says. Back up
a few chapters as we contemplate the Holy One who is the true. You remember this great passage
of scripture which is often preached as a commission text for preachers. And Isaiah is speaking concerning
the revelation of the glory of God. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple." What a revelation. Above
it stood the seraphim, each one had six wings. With twain he
covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with
twain he did fly. One cried unto the other and
said, what? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole
earth is full of his glory. You see the echo of that in the
writing to the Philadelphians, the one who is holy and true. Here we have an allusion to the
triune God. Is the Father holy? Is the Son
holy? Is the Spirit holy? That's why
we call Him the Holy Ghost. This is the triune God that Isaiah
is speaking of, the Lord of hosts. the whole earth is filled with
his glory. And these are the phrases and
terms that the angels use concerning this true and the living God.
When we use the phrase holy, we are talking about something
that is unique, something that is distinct. When we're talking
about the holy one of Israel, the redeemer of his people, we
are talking about the one singular being in all of the universe
of whom it must be said, he alone is holy. When we use the phrase
holy concerning God, we are talking about God by himself, apart from
his creation. When we say holy, the holy God,
we are talking about this individual who by himself and in himself
is intrinsically holy, distinct from all his creation. Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? So Christ comes to the church
at Philadelphia with one of his highest appellations to let them
know that in him there is no sense of failure, that the God
that they serve and claim can be trusted because he is holy. Now, if Christ failed, At one
of his promises, he would not be holy. For to be true is to
be holy. And to be holy is to be true. This is why we call him the true
and the living God. This is why we acknowledge that
Jesus is the truth, because intrinsic to their holy character is their
ability to be faithfully reckoned with. Go with me in another place,
Isaiah chapter 29, 23. I just want to allow the introduction
of our master's appellation, his calling card, as we've learned
before, his resume, unique to every church, to also resonate
with us in Isaiah 29, 23. This is what Isaiah says concerning
the Holy One of Israel as well. Notice the language. Here it
is. Let me start at verse 22. Therefore, thus said the Lord,
who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall
not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when
he seeth his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him,
they shall sanctify my name. and sanctify what? The Holy One
of Jacob and shall fear the God of Israel. Once again, the holiness
of God is being underscored here because of God's faithfulness.
Now, one more passage, Revelation chapter 16. For those of you
who are going through these verses with me, I want to remind you
that what we are doing is establishing a clear precedent for the character
of Christ as he is addressing the church at Philadelphia. They
need to be reminded that the God that they are dealing with
is both holy and true. Because of the things they are
enduring, they need to remember that. See, sometimes in our trials,
it's not so much what we know that we remember, it's who we
know. It's important to remember the
Lord in your trials. And it's important to remember
his character in your trials. Sometimes God's promises get
away from us. Have you ever been through a
trial and you can't even remember a Bible verse? Well, that's going
through a trial, isn't it? Now you say, Pastor, I don't
think I ever remember going through such a trial. Well, you haven't
been through trials because there are trials that will make it
so hard for you even to remember a Bible verse, let alone remember
where your Bible is. that all you can do is remember
the Lord. Lord, like Nehemiah, when he
was fighting the battles against all his foes, you know what he
would say all the time to the Lord? Are you ready? Lord, remember
me. That's all, remember me. That's
all he would say, is just remember me. It's simple, but it's important. Your salvation is a person. And in Isaiah chapter 16, we
have it alluded to one more time. Here it is. Here it is. Verse
five, and when he had opened the fifth seal, we talked about
this last week, I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they
held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long? Did we
talk about that last week? Watch this, oh Lord, here it
is, here it is, holy and what? That's the same terminology Jesus
uses. Now why are the saints under the altar using that phraseology?
Because they found out that God was faithful. See, you can find
out that God is faithful when you die. See, you and I are walking
by faith right now, not by what? And you and I are hoping right
now, right? We are not embracing reality. But when we die and
cross Jordan, guess what we do? We enter into the reality that
God is holy and true. These people know that he's holy
and true because everything he said about the other side, they
came to know was right. They could trust God. And so
now they are appealing to him. Let's go back to our text. Work
through our points more swiftly now Under point number one. I
just want to call your attention to the fact that as he speaks
to the church of philadelphia He wants them to know that he's
the truth that he's a true in the living god The triune jehovah
more particularly in the person of jesus christ secondly Point
number two. It's almost redundant, but you
got to get it. Are you ready? You've got the right god Do you
see that? You've got the right God. Now
pastor, why would you actually call our attention to that? Because
pluralism is something that has been in the world since the fall
of mankind. What do you mean by pluralism? Multiple gods.
false gods, pagan gods, secular gods, material gods, humanistic
gods, mystical gods, apostate gods, a distortion of the true
and the living God. And so you and I have to know
whether or not we are serving the right God. And what the master
is saying to the church of Philadelphia is, I am the true and the living
God, and you've got the right God. That's a work of the Spirit
of God. That's John chapter 17 verse
3, by the way. Some of these verses you guys
should know by memory. And this is eternal life, that
they might know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent. Learn those verses by memory. And this is eternal life. What's
eternal life? A knowledge of God. Knowing God
intimately. Covenantally in an experiential
knowledge, you know what I'm talking about how God reveals
his glory to you how he manifests his power to you how he guides
your life how he Providentially cares for you how he affirms
the reality of biblical truth over and over and over and over
again how he shows up in your life as a Savior and a deliverer
and a Redeemer and a healer and Master and Lord and Over and
over and over again so that you can say I know him I Know him
I Know him that's John 17 3 in John 1st John chapter 5 verse
20 John makes it clear after being in ministry himself now
some 50 years. He says and we know him. That
is true We know him and we are in him. That is true. I even
in his son Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. That's what John asserts. Now, why is he asserting that?
Because everywhere you go, people are alleging other gods. And you and I have to be able
to stand on the grounds of this, that Jesus Christ is the truth,
and we've got the right God, the only true God, and he is
a covenant-keeping God. Is he not? Does he keep covenant
better than you and me? I'm so glad that this is a one-way
covenant. I know I'm segwaying into a whole
nother concept, but you better get this. I'm so glad that this
was a covenant made up of the triune God apart from me, so
that I'm simply a beneficiary of this covenant. I'm so glad
that the covenant conditions do not require performance on
my part, because if performance on my part was the prerequisites
for the covenant, I would have tore that covenant up long time
ago. But this is a covenant of grace
and a covenant of mercy on the part of God towards me. And as
long as God is faithful, I'm headed to glory. I'm headed to glory. Do you believe
that? Yeah, we call it the grace of
God, the irresistible, indomitable grace of God. If he called you,
he'll get you there. All you need to know is whether
or not you are on your journey to glory. He who has begun a
good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Our God does not lie. Our God
does not change. Our God does not fail. We can
trust our God. Is that true? You ought to be
excited about that. Sitting there cool and calm.
You ought to be excited about that. You ought to be excited
about God able to keep you. able to keep you from falling
and present you spotless before the presence of his glory. Watch
this, with exceeding joy. Joy on God's part, not yours. Happy to have got you into his
presence safely. That's right. That's right. Sometimes we're too cool about
what God has done for us. Way too cool. Get excited sometimes
about the grace of God, about his mercy, about his covenant
faithfulness. That's right. That's right. Well, I'm saved. You better talk like you're saved.
You better act like God rescued you, because that's what salvation
is. Rescue! There's nothing cool about the
word saved. The word saved is radical. It's
radical. God rescued me. Yeah. Yeah. He rescued me. And only the true
and the living God could have done it. He's the right God.
And here's the next point fundamental to our consideration. That's
why I said this is a third party. You and I are third party listeners
into a conversation that we need God to unfold for us. We need
to know that God is true. We've got the right God, the
only true God, and that your adversaries are liars. See, now
that's the premise upon which this letter is written. The premise
upon which this letter is written is a storm that is assaulting
the church at Philadelphia. A storm of lies. And this storm
of lies is the consequence of Philadelphia not doing what Sardis
did up the road. See, Sardis is right up the road.
That's Vallejo. This is the church in Vallejo.
Now, Vallejo ain't that bad. I know some brethren in Vallejo
now. I just want you to know. We got some solid brethren in
Vallejo. But beside those solid brethren, Vallejo's jacked up.
But they no more jacked up than Oakland, OK? And Hayward. But
my point is this. What a radical difference of
the people of God in Philadelphia than Sardis. Do you know the
difference? Here's the difference. The folks
in Sardis compromised and became culturally sensitive. The folks
in Philadelphia stood for the gospel. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? See, the folks in Sardis said,
we're not going to rub any people the wrong way. We're not going
to make Jesus Lord exclusively. We're not going to battle with
biblical truth around the condition and nature of man. We're not
going to tell men and women in the area of Sardis that they
need a savior. We're not going to tell them that their religion
is false and ours is the truth. Because to do so is to set up
what we call the law of non-contradiction in philosophy. What that means
is, if you have the true God, then my God is not true. Because
my God is different than your God. And I know this, if your
God is different than my God, either you have the truth or
I have the truth. But we can't both have the same
truth. See, at that point, we're in a battle philosophically as
to what the truth is. But I cannot lose my brain matter
and say your God is true and my God is true when neither of
them actually reflect each other. It's critical for us as the church
of Jesus Christ to know that when Christ called you by the
gospel, he called you for the purpose of exclusivity. Who here
doesn't know what I'm saying right now? Don't you? Don't you
raise your hand. Not the saints at grace. See,
you are not committed to the gospel if you don't understand
exclusivity. But I'm going to just have a
few of you just in case you're in the fog. Exclusivity is one man. and one
woman. Did you get that? Did you get
that? Did you get that? Like for us, Jesus is our man. Is Jesus our man? Jesus is our
man. And for us, he's our only husband.
And I'm his only bride. All the other gods of the world
are idols. He is the true and the living
God. Therefore, when you proposition me with another gospel, you are
lying to me. And this is what our master is
telling the people at Philadelphia. Now, the context is very clear.
Look at Revelation chapter 3, 9. Let's look at who the liars
are. We will more fully develop the liars next week. But you
need to know, earlier as I stated, all men by nature are what? Liars. Now, if you don't have empirical
evidence of that truth in terms of folks that live around you,
all you need is one person for you to know that all men are
liars. Do you know who that person is? You. You are a liar by nature. If
the only person existed in the universe, not just planet earth,
but the universe was you and God, you would be the liar. That
verse would still be true. It would still be true when it
says all men are liars. Lord ain't but one man. And I'm
the one man where you're the liar. Because we don't keep his word.
Is that true? But in this context, we have
liars who are on the outside of our persons. And sometimes
there are people groups and sometimes there are situations. It can
be in a secular context on your job. It can be in your family. You and I are opposed by lies
everywhere we go. And in fact, we're inundated
with it in all of the different media resources we're dealing
with. True. Constantly confronted with lies. And if we're not careful,
to insulate ourselves, not isolate, insulate ourselves. Those lies
can penetrate us. That's going to be my message
in our conference next month when we deal with preaching Christ
forward. I want to help us understand
how important it is to insulate yourself from the ubiquitous
nature and pervasive nature of lies, because they come to destroy
our capacity to be confident in God. You'll wake up one day
full of lies and your mind will be distorted from the truth,
which was in Christ. And you won't know how to get
back to the truth until God comes along and rescues you all over
again. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So our Master is rescuing the Philadelphians here because of
a people group that he knows who have perpetually and persistently
been lying for generations. And I want you to see them. Here
it is, verse 3, verse 9. Behold, I will make them of the
what? Synagogue of Satan. Stop right
there. Now see, what I love about the
Lord Jesus, both when He was here incarnate, and now he's
in his post-glorified, resurrected, exalted, seated position. Is
he not? He's still politically incorrect. I love it about him. You know
what that means? He doesn't mind making you mad.
He doesn't mind telling you the truth in such a way that it offends
you. He called this group of people
a synagogue of what? Now, I don't care who this people
group is. I wouldn't want to be identified
with them for nothing in the world. especially coming out
of the mouth of him who can only tell the truth. You know what
he just called them? A people group who are owned
by Satan. He calls them a synagogue of
Satan. This becomes the premise for a whole body of theology
around Old Covenant, New Covenant, and what the true people of God
are, and we'll talk about that more next week. But here's what
Jesus says about the synagogue of Satan. Here's what he says,
which say they are what? Okay. So there is this people
group going around calling themselves the Jews, the Jews, the Jews,
and somehow they become an antagonist against the people of God, the
Christians in the camp of Philadelphia in such a way that they are saying
to the Christians in Philadelphia, watch this. You are not Jews.
We are the true Jews. You are not Jews. Now Jesus is
stepping in because in his human nature, Jesus was a what? That's
right. He's stepping in to let his people
in Philadelphia know they are going around saying they are
the true Jews. But I want to let you know that
they are liars. Now, some of us need to hear
this, especially in this present generation when we have adopted
a faulty biblical view about what a true Jew is. A true Jew
is not an individual whose blood lineage is tied to Abraham. I'm
sorry to tell you that. No, I'm not. I'm not sorry to
tell you that. Let me take that back. Let me let you understand
that if somehow you have exalted an ethnic group to be a peculiar
people called the people of God, you are contrary to what Christ
teaches, contrary to what the Word of God teaches, because
clearly Christ not only said it here in Revelation 3, but
he said it to their faces in John chapter 8. He told them,
you are not Abraham's seed. Your father The devil and the
works of your father you will do see there's a whole body of
theology around that that Christians need to get Because until you
get it you will again be playing an ethnocentric interpretation
of scripture Exalting a people group and giving them a claim
that is not right. Here's what our master said watch
this He says and are not but do what? They do what? You know
what he said in John chapter 8? The devil, your father, was
a liar from the beginning. And the works of your father
you will do. Here Jesus has risen from the dead, A.D. 33. He's
gone back to glory. We're somewhere around 90 A.D.,
almost 100 A.D. He has to send a letter to the
church of Philadelphia to let them know those Jews are still
lying. They're still lying. And it's a lie that if the Christian
does not keep their eye on Christ, to behold the glory of God in
Christ, who is the true. They might be persuaded that
in order to be a true Jew, they have to retreat again to works
religion, adopt circumcision. hold to the law, to the law,
Torah, and enter into legalistic practices in order to affirm
their Jewishness. Are you hearing me? There are
more implications to this. We'll deal with it next week,
Lord willing, because apparently for these Jews to go around calling
themselves true Jews, they were saying to the Christians, you
are not true Jews, even though you are calling yourselves Christians. Now, what a blight that would
be on Jesus. Because all the historical archives are clear
that Jesus was born of Mary. That his name was written down
in the citizenship of Judah. He was a Judahite. The historical
evidence is clear that Jesus was, in fact, a Jew. But here
the people of God in Philadelphia are dealing with the same ravages
that Christ was dealing with. Remember what they called him
in John chapter 8? They called him a bastard. They said he was
a child of fornication. They were discrediting his Jewishness. And so here in sensitivity of
the people of God, Christ is defending his people by telling
them this. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you are Abraham's seed and heirs of the promises of
God equal to any blood descended of Abraham. And more so for while
you may be a blood descended of Abraham, if you don't believe
the gospel, you are not a true Jew. Did you guys get that? It
needs to be understood. So, we'll work that through more
fully next week. Going back to our PowerPoint so we can move
forward. He tells us that he's the true and living God, that
we've got the right God and that your adversaries are liars and
the scriptures are clear about that. Point number two, behold,
I control purposes and destinies. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Don't you need the Lord to show
up sometime and just say it? I need him to show up and say,
Jesse, I got this thing, man. I got this thing. You can relax,
brother. I'm driving. I'm not the co-pilot.
I'm the pilot. I got this thing. You know, you
hear, Jesus is my co-pilot. You got that twisted, brother.
Christ is the pilot. And I'm not even the co-pilot.
I'm a passenger. And I'm glad to be a passenger.
I don't want to fly this thing. Watch this. And Christ doesn't
need my help. Neither yours. We're all passengers
on a big jet headed to glory. And our captain knows where he's
going because he's been there for 2000 years now. Behold, I
control purposes and destinies. That's good, isn't it? Listen
to what he says over in verse seven. Here it is. And to the
angel of the church in Philadelphia, right? These things that said
he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David. What does he do with it? He opens
and no man shuts. And he shuts and no man opens. Again, this is Old Testament
appellation or terminology which says that Jesus is Lord. That
he is the son of David and he's sitting on his throne right now. He's not going to sit on his
throne in the millennium. Christ is Lord now. He rules now. He reigns now. He has all authority right now. He controls all the hearts of
men. Here it is right now. He governs
the affairs of the universe right now. All power, all authority,
all dominion has already been given to Christ. When he rose
from the dead, he told his disciples in Matthew chapter 28, 19, all
authority has been given to me. Is that what he said? All authority. Now, now, now help me now. I know you're smart people. What
does all authority mean? There you go. There you go. And what that means is there's
no more authority to be given. See now, once you get all authority,
you got it all. And our master was given all
authority when he rose again from the dead. By right of conquest,
he rules over everyone. Now, let me help some of y'all
folks who have been dealing with a small God in your churches
for a long time. When we talk about God, we are
talking about the sovereign of the universe. You know what that
means? He controls every detail of every
event of every creature made in the universe. down to the
smallest microscopic particle in the universe. Are you hearing
me? He upholds all things by the word of his power. By him
are all things contained. Are you hearing me? That means
every fiber, every detail, every molecule, every atom, every subatomic
atom particle that you can't see is held together by Christ. Your DNA is held together by
Christ. When our scientists get it right
and they unravel the DNA, they should see scripture running
all through the DNA because the Word of God is right there too.
That is the level of intelligence that our sovereign Lord possesses
because He is the Word made flesh. And it was the Word that spoke
everything into existence. And He is the Logos of the Father. He is the revelation of the invisible
God. And there is nothing that is
made that He did not make. And do you know this? He controls
the hearts of every man. We all live and move and have
our being in God. Your bad thoughts, He controls.
Your good thoughts, He controls. Your waywardness, He controls.
Nothing is outside of the control of the sovereign we deal with.
Are you hearing me? The Bible tells us concerning wicked kings,
the Lord turns their hearts withersoever He wills, like the turning of
the rivers of water. God is in control of absolutely
everything. He has never ever not been in
control. The moment God is not in control
of one thing, that one thing is itself God. Do you hear me? Now watch this now. If you really
believe that, you wouldn't be sweating as much as you do over
fickle little issues that trouble us. But you and I must be reminded
over and over and over of the impeccable nature of our infinite
God and his absolute omnipotency. His omnipotency, His power everywhere. All power belongs unto God. All power belongs unto God. Isaiah chapter 46, verse 10,
Isaiah 46, 10. Listen to this. Now, we argue
this as pastors and as teachers because we are living in a church
age where men and women adopt a view of God that is fundamentally
erroneous. Because we act as if God does
certain things, but he doesn't control everything. But the Bible
is very clear about this fact. That everything that happens,
happens because of the will of God. Let me show you this. Isaiah chapter 46, 9 and 10.
Are you there? Remember the former things of old? For I am God and
there is none else. That's what we call a principle
of absolutism. When he says I am God and there's
none else, guess what that means? There's no other God. I am God
and there's none like me. God boasts in himself, doesn't
he? And none like me. Watch this. Declaring the end
from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not,
saying my counsel shall what? Now watch this, I want you to
get this last part, and I will do all my pleasure. Do you know what that means?
Nothing happens outside of the counsel of God. Everything is
working after and according to the counsel of God. The good,
the bad, the ugly, all of it is working according to the counsel
of God. Don't ever say, well, God's not
in that. If God's not in it, it wouldn't
exist. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11
for my people who need to get out of the small God mentality
Ephesians 1 11 are we there? Listen to it. This is what you
and I need to learn in whom also we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of God in whom
Christ Also, we have obtained it inheritance is our inheritance
in Christ. If you're in Christ, you've obtained it being predestinated
Are we predestined? Watch this. We are predestined
in Christ to obtain an inheritance according to, with regards to,
consistent to, the purpose, or will, or counsel, or covenant,
or teaching, or doctrine, or precept of Him. Who is to Him? God the Father, who worketh all
things. Who's working everything? You
know what that means? God's working it. Remember what
I said earlier? I got this thing. Christ said
when he was here on this earth, my father works and I work. He understood that God was in
control of everything. Do you believe that? And when
Pilate came to kill our master, he came to him and said, do you
know I have the power to kill you? You know what he said? Jesus
said to him, you don't have power to do anything. Did you get that? If I want to, I could call down
a legion of angels and annihilate this universe in a hot second.
But what he acknowledged was if it were not for my father,
you couldn't even do what you're doing. Do you know what that
means, ladies and gentlemen? This is going to help some of
your pagan theology too. God is in control of evil as
well as he is of good. Did you get that? Because see,
some of y'all teach that the devil is in so much control that
he's just kind of running around rapping and God's got to catch
up with him. God's like chasing the devil down with his cowboy
rope. He's got to catch him in hog time and bring him in before
he reached too much panic. But the Bible teaches me that
the devil is God's devil. That means he's God's servant.
What that means is the devil can't do anything without first
getting permission from God. Are you hearing me? The moment
you say, well, God can't, you've got the wrong God. The wrong
God, our God controls everything, even the wicked. So if the Bible
says here, he works all things, everything that's working after
the what? Counsel, intelligence, rationale, objectives, goals,
purposes, plans, schemes, agendas. God has an agenda, you know that,
right? Everything is working together according to his agenda.
Now watch what it says. after the counsel of his own
will. All things are working after
the counsel of his own will. Do you believe that? Very clear. Go with me one more place. Proverbs
chapter 16. I need you to see this. Because
sometimes trouble will hit us so bad, saints, that we will not say it with
our lips. But in our mind, we're saying God cannot fix this. I'll get some silence now. I'll
pray for you. Proverbs sixteen verse one, the
preparation of the heart of man and the answer of the tongue
is from the Lord. You believe that? Do you believe
that God directs the thoughts of our hearts, the counsel of
our hearts, and that the things that come out of our mouths are
under God's control as well? Verse two, we're going to roll
through four verses. Verse two, all the ways of man
are clean in his own eyes. Is that true? No. Man is a liar. But you won't meet a man who
will tell you, you know what? I'm a liar, man. I'm a hell-bound
sinner, and all I do is lie. Because every way of man is right
in his own eyes. Is that true? Watch this. But
the Lord weighs his spirit, and he's already found him guilty.
Verse 3. Watch verse 3. Here it is. Commit
your words unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be what?
Verse 4. Verse 4. Here it is. The Lord
hath made all things for what? Stay right there. Stay right
there. I got to educate you. Because you know, most of our
folks go to church just for emotionalism. We check our brains at the door.
We don't want to be taught, but we must be taught. And they shall
all be taught of God. Everyone, therefore, that has
heard and learned of the Father comes to Jesus. You cannot come
to Christ in a saving way unless you are ready to learn. Now here's
what I want you to know about your God. Watch this now. He
made everything for himself. And just in case you thought,
except even the wicked for the day of evil. Woo. In our camps, do you know what
we call that? Sovereignty. In our camp, we
call that sovereignty. That as sovereign Lord, he made
the devil. He made all the fallen angels.
He made the whole bastion of evil. I challenge people all
the time on this notion. Well, God is not the author of
evil. Have y'all heard that? I'm getting ready to rock some
of your boats right now. God's not the author of evil. Wonderful,
wonderful way to kind of protect God from conundrums that we have
in our own brain. But you don't need to protect
God from this truth that if it exists, he made it. Did you hear
that? So God is not the author of evil.
I need to actually deconstruct your proposition and ask you
Do you know what the word author actually means because I know
you borrowed it from the theologians, but do you own that word? Ah
Good question, isn't it? What do you mean? God is not
the author of evil. Well, where did evil come from? What evil
came from the devil? Did it really? Where did the
devil come from look at the text? Oh See, you can't get away from
God being culpable of both knowing and purposing everything. Did
you get that? You can't get away with God being
both culpable and knowing everything that he made. The question is,
how can he create and make evil and not be guilty of sin? It's
because of who he is by nature. Didn't we already learn that
he's holy? Didn't we already learn that he's true? And if
we've learned also that he made all things for himself, even
the wicked for the day of evil in his holy and true nature,
he creates evil in order to glorify himself. And the sooner the child
of God gets that into his thinking, then you can incorporate your
sufferings in your sanctification, get closer to God and get more
grounded in the truth. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Now watch this now. The sooner you get evil, as being
something that God has purposed, determined, yea, even created
for your sanctification and His glory. The sooner you get that
into your thinking, the sooner you will settle down and know
that God's not out of control. That He's in absolute control
of your life. That the evil is only there to
advance His glory in your life. See, Joseph understood this,
didn't he? Did Joseph understand this? Joseph understood they
meant it for evil. God meant it for good. God always
means evil for good for his people Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And in the moment we abandon our divorce ourselves from this
kind of theology Our theology is paganism and the technical
term is dualism and no such thing exists in the scriptures. There
is one God everything else is a created thing and God uses
everything for his glory and Now, the folks at Philadelphia
need to hear this because the Jewish constituency in Philadelphia
is making them feel less than Christian right now. Are you
hearing me? See, the power brokers in Philadelphia are making the
poor Christians feel like, well, maybe they don't actually have
the true gospel. But when God comes to them and
tells them he's in full control, go back to our PowerPoint. I
need to run through this and I'm going to shut it down here
for today. He says, I am the truth. You got the right God.
Your adversaries are liars. And behold, behold, I control
purposes and destinies. He is the true and the living
God. There is one absolutely fabulous verse we need to contemplate
under this rubric, I am God. And that's Romans 11, verse 36.
Commit this one to memory too because what this verse teaches
us is that all things have their origin in God all things are
controlled by God and all things will ultimately redound to God's
glory and Here's where this is and I want you to get this and
then we'll finish this point and we'll prepare for the table
Romans 11 Are you there? I'm going to start at verse 33
and go through verse 36. And verse 36 is the verse you
commit to memory. This will help you keep from
losing your mind when your eyes play tricks on you in your life. Here it is, verse 33. All the
depths of the richest, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
Is God's wisdom unsearchable? Is his knowledge unsearchable,
inexhaustible? incomprehensible ultimately and
Unfathomable. Yes, and his judgments and his
ways are what past finding out now watch this. This does not
mean we can't know It simply means we don't have the apparatus
to plumb the depths that if we're gonna get down that deep God
has to take us there if I'm gonna know anything about God God has
to reveal it to me if I'm gonna know the deep things of God God
has to show them to me and That's all it's saying. Now listen to
this. Listen to what he says in verse
34. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been his what? Now
see, there are folks who go around as if they spend all their time
at God's elbow, telling God a thing or two. They're so smart, they
can help God solve his own problems. But the text tells us in a rhetorical
question, who's been God's counselor? Have you ever taught God anything? Ooh, that's good, isn't it? God's
boasted in himself, right? Remember now, he says, I am God
all by myself, and there are no other gods with me. Because
if you ever think that you have the prerogative of telling God
one thing, you're God. Did you get that? You also are
God. Now watch what he goes on to
say, or who had first given unto him and it shall be recompensed
unto him again. Do you see that? This will destroy
your notion that your salvation is by your works or by your decision
for Jesus or by your accepting Jesus into your life. And because
you accepted Jesus into your life, he therefore must save
you. Boom! Just destroyed another idol.
Did not. Did not just destroy another
idol? because there are some of you in here who think you
are saved by something you did. That God is obligated to save
you because you chose him. But if that's the case, we turn
this text upside down on his head, do we not? Do we not? See, because I received him,
I cried big crocodile tears, and I came to the front of the
audience, Jesus, Jesus, I want you now. and he has to now save
you like some of these false prophets say God owes you and
your salvation is based on your works and God must now pay you
it is not by mercy now it's not by grace it's by merit because
God is obligated to save you because of something you did
perish the thought perish the thought that you are saved by
what you do if you ever come to the true altar Not this altar,
but the altar in heaven is because God took you there and showed you his glory and
took out the stony heart and put in a heart of flesh and caused
you to fall in love with Jesus so that you said yes to Jesus. That's the only way you can receive
him if he receives you first. Are you hearing me? I love him.
Do you love him? I love him. I love him. Watch this. Because he first
loved me. Because he first loved me. He
doesn't owe me a thing. I owe him everything. I am not
going to twist my lips and tell men and women I'm saved because
of something I did. And I certainly will not tell
you that. Are you guys hearing me? Now listen to it. Here's
what it goes on to say. Verse 36. For, we call this a
purpose clause. For of him. Do you see it? Of him. I wish I had time to
teach some Greek here, but I put all y'all to sleep. For of him. He is the origin of everything.
Of him. You guys would know that this
is in the genitive form. Of him. Watch this. And through him. Watch this. And to him. You know
what we call this? A closed loop system. That's
called a closed-loop system. Did you get that? There's no
room for participants on the outside. This is a closed-loop
system. It starts with God, it's contained by God, and it's concluded
by God. It starts with God, God controls
it, and it's concluded with God. Everything. Everything. Are you hearing me? Everything.
For of him and through him and to him are all things. Now you can worship to Him be
glory forever and ever and ever. Hallelujah for a sovereign God,
a ruling God, a reigning God, a God in control of everything,
a God who upholds all things by the word of his power, a God
who sustains the universe by his counsel, by his might, a
God who's got my back, a God who is in control of my life,
a God who promises to keep me, a God who is in absolute control. This God is to be worshipped. This is the God that's to be
worshipped. This is the God to be worshipped. In heaven, they
worship this God. This is the God they worship
up there. Do you hear the angels worshipping God? The seraphim
worshipping God. The cherubim worshipping God.
The four living creatures worshipping God. All the nations worshipping
God. This is the God they worship.
They worship a sovereign God. That's right. They worship a
sovereign God. They worship a sovereign God.
So what our master is saying to the church at Philadelphia,
and I need to hear it sometime, master, tell me you are holy
and true. Master, tell me you've got my
back. Master, tell me you open doors and nobody can shut them.
Tell me you shut doors and nobody can open them. Tell me that all
things are working together for good to them that love God. Tell
me those that you call, you have justified. Those you justify,
you have glorified. Tell me that, oh God. Tell me
that. Tell me that. Tell me that. He's amazing, isn't he? Hallelujah. Hallelujah.