Take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of the Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. I would like to consider this
morning just one verse. Verse 7 of the third chapter of the book
of the Revelation. It 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. This letter was addressed, this letter to
the church in Philadelphia, was addressed as all the other letters
were to the angel or the pastor of that particular assembly. Angel means the messenger. the
messenger of God, one that brings a message. He's not the originator
of the message. He's a messenger. That's all. He's an ambassador. He says what
his Master has said. And this morning, I truly, as
I was thinking a moment ago upon this passage of Scripture, I am completely aware, at least
in my head, that this message of the gospel, and I say that
meaning I pray that God truly bear this to my heart every time
that I preach, that the only message that the Spirit of God
will bless to the salvation of God's people is the message that
honors the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only message. It's not hard to get an interpretation
of a Scripture. By my head, by my ability as
a man, I can read something And I can understand the interpretation
of it. But to get the message from it
out of the Word of God to God's people, to God's chosen elect,
takes the Spirit of God revealing that. I don't have the ability
to tell you, to relate to you the heart message. But this morning
I pray that God might be pleased to open hearts and reveal Himself
to those that are in need of Him. If a man, if a woman needs
Him, that God might be pleased to
open up. The Scripture says, Spirit and
the bride say, Come. Let him that is a thirst, let
him come. And this morning, I'll tell you
this, and I think you've heard me long enough to know what I
believe concerning God's sovereignty, but in the sovereign Word of
Almighty God, I'm quoting a Scripture here, whosoever will, let him
come. Anyone here, anyone this morning, feels by the Spirit teaching
Him. Anyone that feels they need to
cast themselves upon the mercy of Almighty God, let Him do so.
Let Him come. Let Him come. In this letter
to the church at Philadelphia, the Lord reveals Himself to this
congregation and to this congregation in the fullness of his character
and his attributes. There is no fuller revelation
of Almighty God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no fuller. There is no greater. There is
no other revelation greater than this. These things, that is to
say, these things that are to be spoken, these things spoken
in mercy and in compassion. And just stop for a moment and
think about what is happening right now. We're dealing with
eternal things right now. This is eternal things. You may
be the youngest person in this congregation this morning to
the oldest person in this congregation this morning. This life is but
a vapor. It's just a smoke. Nothing in this world matters. Nothing save God Almighty and
the person of His Son. Someone said, I can't think,
it may have been Brother Scott, I don't know who it was, but
he said, hold on to these things in this world lightly. Hold on
lightly, loosely. Everything that you set your
affection on that is not Him is passing away. These things
spoken to a people Blessed beyond measure, and this is so this
morning. We are blessed beyond measure.
I am absolutely convinced that the only place where Almighty
God blesses is where the message of Christ and Him crucified is
set forth. These things saith he that is
holy. You know, I read that and I thought,
that's such an easy sentence or part of a sentence to read. These things saith he that is
holy. I began to think on the holiness
of God. And so many times, if we were
to stop and just think, Neil, just for a minute, someone says,
Do you believe God is holy? You say, Oh, I do. I really do. And then they were to say, Well,
can you tell me what that is? Can you tell me? Will you relate
to me? If you believe that God is holy,
then what is that? He said He's holy. And I believe
as a regenerated sinner that God is holy. What does that mean? Well, I'm going to say a few
things about it, and when I get through saying all that I know
to say about it, just a few things, I will then come to the conclusion
that I don't really know the fullness, obviously, of the holiness
of God. But that which I have seems to
be able to glean just a little bit about the holiness of God. It has, I know, primarily to
do with God being separated. Separated. from sin, separated from all
that is ungodly, separated. Holiness. The holiness of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
this man, these things saith he that is holy. Exodus 15 and 11 says, Who is
like unto thee, O Lord? among the gods. Who is like unto
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" He
is separated. Genesis 1-1 says, in the beginning,
God. There was nothing but God. There was no heaven, no earth,
no angels, no men. God. Separated. He created all that He created
to manifest His glory, but He is holy, separated. Holiness is essentially ascribed
to God alone because He is independently, infinitely, immutably, that is,
unchangeably holy. The sum of all excellency is
found in Him. There is none good but God. That's what Scripture says. That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ said to that rich young man, good
master, why do you call me good? There is none good but God. Nothing done by His creation
adds anything to His glory or His holiness. Nothing. In Job, let me read this to you. Job 35, 5-7. The Scripture says, Look unto the
heavens and see, and behold the clouds which are higher than
thou. If thou sinnest, What doest thou
against him? Or if thou transgressions be
multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what
givest thou him? Or what receiveth he of thine
hand? There is nothing. God is holy,
unchangeably holy. Nothing can be added to Him. He is holy. Everything that is
referred to is holy. Everything that is found
concerning Him is spoken of, holy, separated, unapproachable,
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 25, verse 31, it says,
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.
Well, here it says that angels are holy. But the Scripture says also in
Job 4, verse 18, Behold, He put no trust in His servants and
His angels. those that must be continually
kept by the Almighty. The Scripture says concerning
them, He charged them with folly. Folly. You know what that means?
Weakness and the possibility of sinning. He charged His holy
angels. So mutable. So changeable. is even the angelic nature that
God does not trust angels with their own integrity. That's why
last week we looked at that Scripture, for verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. He grasped hold, laid hold, took
hold. He took on Himself the seed of
Abraham, natural man. the form of sinful flesh. But this man is holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. That is what the Lord
told John. He said, these things say of
He that is holy. And He is impeccable. Do you
know what that means? It means He is not able to sin. We are. Angels are. God is holy. Habakkuk 113 says, Thou art of
purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. The cherubims, the seraphims,
in Isaiah 6, cried one unto another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory. It is by His holiness that God
declares His purpose. Isaiah 89-35 says, Once have
I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. It's the
character of God that describes everything about Him. His power
in Psalm 98-1 says, His holy arm. unchangeable, immutable, separated. His truth or His promise is called
in Psalm 105, verse 42, a holy promise. His name is called a
holy name. His holiness is manifested in
everything that He does. Psalm 145, verse 17, the Lord
is righteous in all His ways and holy In all of His works,
He's holy. His law is called a holy law. And at the cross was the clearest
display to man of God's holiness. Psalm 22. 22 and verse 1. We've quoted this
one. Many have quoted it. It's a prophetic
Psalm, it says, My God, and you know this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art
Thou so far from helping Me and from Thy words of My roaring? Now, you understand, here is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is at the cross. He is laying
down His life, made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Here He is, bearing the guilt,
made a curse, as Mr. Gill says, a mass of iniquity. All of the guilt of all of the
elect for all of time found on Him. And he says, my God, oh
my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. You think
God heard him? Sure he heard him. But would he back off? He says, in the night season,
and I'm not silent. And here in verse 3 is the reason.
Why did God Almighty forsake Why hast thou forsaken Me? Verse 3 says, But thou art holy. Holy. Psalm 119 says, Holy and Reverend
is His name. Reverend is the name, as I've
said before, that belongs to God. There is not a man born
in Adam that deserves the name reverend. Somebody writes their
name reverend so-and-so. I say, well, reverend, holy reverend, His
name, the holiness of the God-man, the Savior of all who believe
on Him, the surety of God's sheep, His holiness, His righteousness. Now, you stop and think. You
talk about the mercy of Almighty God. I've just said a few things
here. Just quoted some Scripture. As
I said, I can see the interpretation of it. Holy and Reverend is His
name. Holiness. Holiness to the Lord. Oh, but the heart, the revelation
of that. May the Lord reveal to me. And
I just honestly admit to you, I hear this. I'm reading it. I'm saying something about it.
But to enter into it, I just come so short. I mean, so short
is not low enough, Gary. But to stop and to realize that
He who is holy, who can do only that which is right, earned as
a man righteousness as a man. And he who is holy, undefiled,
separated from sinners, earned a righteousness that God Almighty
imputed. charged to His elect and made them to be, as Brother
Scott just said, what they in their own nature was bound and
determined not to be. Heading to hell just as fast
as they could go. And in His infinite mercy, He
stopped them. I found a ransom." Holy. He is the holiness by which or
without which no man shall see the Lord. He told John, He said,
These things saith He that is holy. And He that is true, or the true
one. For He has spoken in holiness,
genuine, the true one, the real one, the fountain of all truth. For He is the truth. Everything
else is a lie. He is truth. I am the way, the
truth, not part of the truth or in conjunction with the truth.
I am the truth. Everything that is not concerning
Him is a lie. John 1, 9 says He's the true
light. Men think they have light, spiritual
light, and they go about trying to manifest what they know. He
said, I'm the light. John 17, 3 says this is life
eternal that they may might know Thee the only true God. In Isaiah 45, verse 5, the Scripture
says, I am Thee, Lord, and there is none else. There is no God
beside Me. I girded Thee, though Thou hast
not known Me. I am the true God. If someone
were to ask you, said, Do you know Marvin Stoniker? Yes, I
do. He's about 5'2", weighs about
3'11", and he's from Alaska, has a very northern accent. They said, that's not the Marvin
Stoniker I know. You may say you know. person born in a foreign land,
in the darkest jungle, be able to find a watch. I read this
illustration on the seashore. And by finding that watch, look
at it and come to the conclusion that he knew everything about
the watchmaker, his intellect, his characteristics, by looking
at that watch. come to the conclusion that he
could figure out who made that watch and know everything about
him than a man could know God. He said, I am God. There is none else besides me. But he is especially here revealed
as the true God and true man. That's what he told John. He says, These things say of
he that is holy and is true. God-man. He's truly man. The Scripture says that He was
made flesh, the Word, truly God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's the true
witness, John 17, 8, for I have given unto them the words which
thou gavest Me, and they have received them, and have known,
surely, that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send Me." He's the true witness to His people. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20
says this, And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath
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. This is
eternal life. This is Him. And then he said,
thirdly, first of all, he said, I'm holy. Secondly, He's true. And thirdly, he said concerning
himself. He that hath the key of David,
he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth."
Now, this revelation of Himself. Turn over to Isaiah 22. Isaiah
22. This revelation of the Lord Himself
was taken from this passage of Scripture In Isaiah 22, beginning
in verse 20, here's the fulfillment. Isaiah
22, verse 20, it shall come to pass in that day that I will
call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe
him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle. and will
commit thy government into his hand. And he shall be a father
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And
the key of the house of David will I 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. And he shall be for a glorious
throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him
all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the
issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even
to all the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in a sure place be removed,
and be cut down, and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall
be cut off, for the Lord has spoken it." Now, this account
in Isaiah 22 was given about a man, a faithful man named Eliakim. Eliakim means God raising or
my God will raise up. My God will raise up. Eliakim. was a man who was the keeper
of the treasury of David. He had to keep to David's treasury
entrusted. Now, knowing that all Scripture speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we realize in this last point that there is a greater than
the Lycan being spoken of here. Behold the glorious picture. This is the way the Lord Jesus
Christ came to John in writing a letter to the church at Philadelphia. He told him, he said, I am holy. I am true. And he said, I have
the key to the house of David, the spiritual David. I have that key. He said, if
I open, no man shuts. If I shut, no man opens. In verse 20 of Isaiah 22, Eliakim was called to be a servant. It says, it shall come to pass
in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim. Hebrews 5, let me just read this
to you, verses 4 and 5, says this, No man taketh this honor unto
himself. But he that is called of God,
as was Aaron, so also Christ glorified not himself to be made
an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son today,
have I begotten thee." As Eliakim was called to be a
servant, Christ Himself The servant of Almighty God was called to
the service of the elect's eternal redemption. In Isaiah 42, verse
1 to 6, Isaiah 42, Behold My servant, whom I uphold,
Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. till he hath set judgment in
the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith
God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them
out, he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh
out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and
spirit to them that walketh therein, I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness, and will hold thine hand. and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of
the Gentiles." Eliakim was called to the service. So was the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 21 in Isaiah 22 says, "...I
will clothe him with thy robe." Eliakim was clothed with the
robe of authority. You consider him whose obedience
to the law is our imputed robe of righteousness for justification
before Almighty God. The Scripture says also of Eliakim,
"...and will strengthen him with thy girdle." Eliakim, the girdle of authority,
was also that girdle that set forth and pictured our blessed
Lord in Isaiah 11-5 in His righteousness. It says, "...and righteousness
shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of
His reins." The believer by faith, and you that believe, understand
what I am about to say. Faith is not of ourselves. It
is the gift of Almighty God. It is God's grace given to His
people, those that believe, that He has given a heart to believe,
whereby they by faith grasp hold of the loins of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of His girdle, His righteousness, His obedience, All of their trust
is in Him. The girdle. The Scripture says
in Isaiah 22, back concerning Eliakim, I will commit thy government
into His hand. The government. Isaiah 9, 6 says
of Christ, the government shall be upon His shoulders. The authority
to rule and reign in the direction and providential ordering of
all things concerning the salvation of His people is on His shoulders. Whether you believe this or whether
you don't doesn't change the fact. But the Scripture says
that He orders all things. He does all things after the
counsel of His will. Everything in this universe is
in perfect order. Everything in this earth is so
ordered and directed and moved in the salvation, the bringing
about of God's people. It's the most amazing thing to
me when I began to think upon how God orders all things in
getting His people under the sound of the gospel. How can
it be but for the providential power and glory of Almighty God
that He brought this group together in this place? You go to another
place, a place where as far as we know, there is no gospel.
And in that place, as far as you know, There are no believers
there, because if they're there, they're going to find a place
where they can hear. If they've got to pack up and
move, they'll go. They're going to get where they can hear the
truth. But you think, here is a group of people that God has
so brought together, and all of us are from pretty much someplace
else. And He is so directed. He put
you and your spouse, He put you and your parents. And you were
born. And you met that person. And
so ordered. All these things He put together. The Scripture says the government
is on His shoulders. He orders all things after the
counsel of His own will. His people will be under the
sound of the Lord Jesus Christ. He ordered those things. Not
here by accident. Not here by luck. Luck? Shoot. Eliakim was said, also he shall be a father to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the house of Judah. Isaiah 9.6
also says concerning him whose holds the government upon His
shoulder. He said He is the everlasting
Father. He is the Abba. The head or the
Lord of a family is what that word means. The Father. The everlasting
Father. And then it says in verse 22,
"...and the key of the house of David I will lay upon His
shoulder." The key to the treasury of David was actually possessed,
as I said, by Eliakim. But concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, our true Eliakim. Ezekiel 18, verse 4 to 9. Turn with me there. You want
to read this. Ezekiel 18. beginning in verse 4. And he said that I have the key
to David. I have it. That's what the Lord
told John to write to the church in Philadelphia. I have it. Behold,
he said, and you know what a key is. A key opens a door. A key
makes a passage. A key is the opening. It's by
way. It's how it's opened. He's the
door. And he said, I have the key to
the door. Behold, all souls are mine. Every person in this building
this morning is His. It's His. All souls are mine. As the soul of the Father, so
also the soul of the Son is mine. And the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. Now, there's one thing that we've
come to the conclusion of. The soul that sins is going to
die. But if a man be just, and do
that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains,
neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of
Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither
hath come near to a minstress woman, hath not oppressed any,
but hath restored to the debtor His pledge hath spoiled none
by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, hath covered the
naked with a garment. He that hath not given forth
upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn
his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between
man and man, hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments
to deal truly. He is just, he shall surely live,
saith the Lord God." Anybody in here done all that? No. Only in the person of our
substitute, our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. Leave me to myself. The soul that rebels against
God, the soul that sinned, is going to die. But if I be found
in Him, He who was made sin, He who took what I did, all of
those things, that I might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The Lord said, I have the key. If He opens, if He opens my heart,
if He opens my eyes, if He opens my ears, if He opens, nobody
can shut Him. Nobody. If He gives me a heart
to see Him, I see Him. I see. And nobody can convince
me differently, Bob. Nobody. But I'll tell you this. If he shuts, no one can open. He has the key to His Word to
some in this building this morning. They are just like the two that
were on the road to Emmaus that said, Did not our heart burn
within us while He talked with us by the way and while He opened
to us the Scriptures. And they see. They see. Two people sitting there. One
hears and one doesn't. Why does one hear? Because the
Lord opened. Why does the other not hear?
Because the Lord has shut. Left them to themselves. He has
the keys of heaven, of earth, and hell. Matthew 28, 18, And
Jesus came and spoke with him, saying, All power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. How much? All of it. All of it. How much does a fickle, dead,
impotent, lying man have? How much does he have? None.
Well, doesn't he have the power though to accept or reject the
Lord Jesus Christ by his own free will? No. He doesn't have
a free will. It's been given up. Adam, he
fell in Adam. Adam exercised his right to make
a choice and he chose to rebel against God and everybody else
did too. They fell in Adam, all of them,
all of them. The Lord told John, he said,
I have the key of David. I open and no man shuts. I shut
and no man openeth. Eliakim, the Scripture says,
was a sure nail in a sure place. I will fasten him as a nail in
a sure place. He shall be for a glorious throne
to his father's house. All of the glory of the Father's
house was hung on him concerning Eliakim. David trusted him. He had the key. He had a key. I give Brother Scott a key to
my house. And you know what? I trust him. I trust him. He's not going to
abuse it. He's not going to abuse that
trust. I trust him. Almighty God hung everything
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of Eliakim, and also
our great Eliakim, the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, I'll fasten
him as a nail in a sure place. He shall be for a glorious throne
to his Father's house, and they shall hang upon him all the glory
of the Father's house, the offspring and the issue, all the vessels
of small quantity, the vessels of cup, all the vessels of the
flagon, all of God's elect chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
government for the bringing about of all of them, He hung on Christ. The Lord said, I am He. I have the key. But also it says in that last
verse, with this verse I'm going to stop for today, it says in
Isaiah 22, 25, ìIn that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall
the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and
be cut off, and and the burden that was upon it shall be cut
off, for the Lord hath spoken it." What does that speak of? It speaks of His crucifixion.
And as Paul says, I was crucified with Him. In the glorious Eliakim
of our salvation, Christ Jesus our Lord, God, our Father, has
fastened all the elect all the Beloved, all of His people from
all of eternity, and hung them upon Him who is their hope. And when He died, when He was
cut off in judgment, having borne the guilt, the iniquity, the
transgressions of all of His people, they died with Him. Brother Scott just read. He that's
dead is freed from the law. Look in your margin on that word,
freed, right there. It means justified. They're justified. They died. They died in Christ. Crucified. He said He fastened
a sure nail in a sure place. It hung all of it on Him. And
when He was cut off, they were cut off in judgment with Him. in Him. And now, they're free. They're free. Free from the law. The Lord told John, He said,
these things saith He that's holy and true. He that hath the key of David
that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth that no man openeth. All right, Pat.