Would you join me tonight in
the book of Revelation, chapter 3. Revelation, chapter 3, as
we are privileged to go through this letter to the church at
Philadelphia. The letter of the church at Philadelphia,
chapter 3, and we want to begin reading there with verse 7, and
read down through verse 13. and then spend our time tonight
in verses 9 and 10. 9 and 10 of this letter to the
church at Philadelphia. 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 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'll write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, Let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. That's a full letter. There is a lot there. It's just
brimming, brimming. Now, we have looked just briefly
at the way the Lord revealed himself through this letter to
the church at Philadelphia. We have noticed in the manner
in which he reveals himself, he gives to us his credentials,
his characteristics and attributes. He shares with us his person.
And as we combine all of those statements that are made with
regard to these seven churches, we have a wonderful view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's much to be compared between
what we read here and what we read over in the Song of Solomon
when the church is asked there, what does this, her beloved,
mean to her? Or how is he so invaluable to
her? And she concludes her description by saying that every facet and
every view and every thought about him is altogether lovely. And the church can certainly
say that about this view of the Lord Jesus Christ, because we
desire to have one who is holy. We desire to have one who is
the truth. And we desire to have one who
has a key, the key of David, and all the scriptures are hinged
upon him as the key to the scriptures and the key to all the promises
that were given to David. And then to have him open a door
that no man can close and close a door that no man can open.
We're in the presence of deity. We're in presence of God when
we're there. And then he shares with us again
in verse 8, as he has with all these churches thus far, I know
thy works. And he certainly shares with
us in that the great subject of his omniscience, his wonderful
ability of God to know all things. He knows all things about all
people. And in that, the church finds
great comfort. He is one that is able to comfort
us because he has knowledge. He's been tempted in all ways
we have been tempted yet without sin. What a comfort to know that
he has been down the path and he has been tempted in every
capacity. And the difference between his
temptation and ours is he never gave in to it. We may go a month. Two months, five years, but he
went his entire eternity. never gave in to temptation.
So he knows how to be tempted. And then, as we go here, it shares
with us that he knows this church at Philadelphia has a little
strength, and that strength, if they have strength, if we
have strength, if we have a little strength, it's like Paul the
Apostle says, when I'm weak, then am I strong. If we have
anything, it's because of Christ. It's not because of our own power. We don't have enough boiler room.
to build up enough steam to have any power on her own. He is our
all powerful one. Now we notice here in verse nine,
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.
Now that phrase, I will make them. Now that says something
about God. That's what it means he alone
is king of kings. What a God who cannot make them. We have a grave problem today
with parents who don't make their children. That's a problem. They don't
make their children. They don't make their children
mind. They don't make their children obey. And that's not going to
happen with God. He will make them. Now, God will make them do all
his pleasure. The farthest thing from King
Pharaoh, from Pharaoh's mind, was to praise God. But he was
raised up for that purpose. God made him, praise God, whether
he was interested in it or not. Now, in this verse of scripture,
we find that he will make them come and bow. He will make them
come and confess. He will make them do that. God
is of mind to make. He is sovereign. He's the sovereign
ruler of all things. He will make people do what they
normally wouldn't do. He will make people do what they
don't have the capacity to do. Now when it comes to us, when
it comes to His church, this is a delightful thing that God
would make us do what we wouldn't do on our own and don't have
the capacity to do. He will make us come to Him. He will make us bow before him
and he will do that by giving us a new heart. He will make
his people do what they don't by nature have the capacity to
do. I've always wanted to play the guitar. It reminds me of the boy that
went to the doctor, he had broke his arm. And he asked the doctor,
when my arm heals, will I be able to play the guitar? And
the doctor said, well, of course you'll be able to play the guitar.
He says, well, that's good. I never could before. I don't have the capacity to.
Now, we by nature don't have the capacity to worship God.
We don't have the capacity to serve God. We don't have the
capacity to look up to God. How often we find in the scriptures
there are people that are all bent over. What a terrible fix
we're in by nature, but he is able to raise us up and cause
us to look to him. He makes us straighten up. I've been all bent over and went
to the chiropractor. You know what he did? He made me straighten
up. Now my parents did that too. They made me. Now that's a wonderful
statement about the Lord God Almighty. I will make them. Now these are those of the synagogue
of Satan. They're in verse 9 of chapter
3 of the book of Revelation. I'll make them. As Pharaoh was
made to glorify God, all things on this earth will glorify God.
Everything redounds to his glory and honor and praise. And all
things were created by him and for him, and for his praise were
they made. So I will make them." And that's
just a wonderful statement made right here in this passage to
the church at Philadelphia, which has no ill statement made by
God in all of this letter, but he does say this, Those people
in Philadelphia, that church of Philadelphia is having trouble
with people who say they are Jews and are not, and God said,
I'll make them. You can't, but I can. You can't
make them bow, but I can. You can't make them come, but
I can. What a wonderful statement about the gospel and the effect
of the gospel. We can't, but he can. We can't,
but he does. He quickens and makes alive and
also he will take those that are without him and without Christ
and without help and without hope in this world to the very
end and he will make them bow before him. Guaranteed, promises
there. Everyone will bow their knee
to the Lord and we'll look at that in just a moment. Now, it
tells us there in verse nine that there's a group And it says,
they say they are Jews and are not. Now, they're not saying
that they had an inheritance in Palestine. That's not the
kind of Jew they're talking about. What they're talking about is
they say they are believers, but they are not. They say they
have the inheritance, but they do not. They say they have Christ,
but they do not. They say that they have been
born again, but they have not been. And that's God's statement
about them. They say they are Jews, but they are not. And then
he goes on to say, which say they are Jews and are not, but
do lie. They lie about this. Now turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Romans chapter two. Romans
chapter two, and we've read this a number of times. We read it
when we went through the book of Romans. We've read it two
or three times in reflection as we've moved through the book
of Romans. And we've read it here in the book of Revelation
two or three times. But this is a wonderful statement.
All the Old Testament, when it comes with regard to Jews, is
summed up in this passage of scripture. All the statements
in the Old Testament. Now a big mistake that we can
make, and Lord help us not to, But a big mistake that we can
make about the Jews in the Old Testament is that we come to
the conclusion that they're all saved. And when their lives are
living like all get out, it just gives people an excuse to believe
in backsliding and all kinds of heresy about the truth. Those
Jews, bulk of them, in fact, the Lord said these all died
in unbelief. Now we only know of three or
four that didn't. Moses, he died because he represented
the law. Aaron, I kind of believe he was
a believer, but Joshua and Caleb. My goodness, we got a short list,
but we got thousands of them that died in the Old Testament,
and they all died in unbelief, and that's what it tells us in
the Book of Romans. They do not represent the church in that
capacity. They do not give us a reason
to live illy. They do not give us a reason
to find fault with God. They do not give us a reason
to say, we loathe this light bread. the word of God. They
do not. They're not representing the
church in those capacities. He is sharing with us that those
people, even though they were Jews by nature and Jews by birth,
were not Jews inwardly. They had never been converted.
They had never been regenerated. Now notice here in Romans chapter
2 and verse 28, this is the verse of scripture that the Apostle
Paul shared with the church at Rome over this very subject.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Now I just wish
that would be put in print, in the newspaper. It would just
straighten up a lot of things if people read that and believed
it. It doesn't make any difference what nationality we are. He is
not a Jew which is one outwardly. Now we can We can become Jews and become
Jewish in religion, but that does not make a Jew. We can proselyte,
become a Jew, and many people have, but that does not make
a Jew. What does it? It says here, which
is outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh, but this is the answer, but he is a Jew, which
is one inwardly. Spiritual new birth makes Jews. Spiritually born again ones make
Jews. Believers in Christ Jesus make
Jews. And he says, but he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but
of God. So this is what a Jew is. Now,
we find in the book of Revelation that the Lord Jesus Christ shared
with the pastor of the Church of Philadelphia and say, you
have some there that are not Jews, but they say they are.
And they are of the synagogue of Satan. Now, synagogue is a
very familiar term to a Jew. If you weren't at the temple,
they built synagogues so you could go worship. They're subcontractors. You can't get to the church to
the temple We have a place for you to go and we have the reading
of the law and we have the priests and we have all Those things
that goes on down there But this synagogue is not a synagogue
that you want to be a part of this is the synagogue of the
liar He's a liar from the beginning the synagogue of Satan now this There are several ways that we
can see a sign of this condition. And I want to read a few. Would
you turn with me over to the book of Numbers, chapter 21. Numbers, chapter 21. Numbers, chapter 21. And I believe
we read this Sunday, but I want to read it again. Numbers, chapter 21. What is
it that identified these? Because Lord only knows there
are times every day that we don't look like Christians. What is it that identified these
people as being Jews which are not Jews but are of the synagogue
of Satan? What was it that betrays them? What identifying marks is there
that will betray one of being a Jew outwardly and not one inwardly,
that don't have a claim on the grace of God? What is it? Well,
one of them that jumped right out at me is found over here
in the book of Numbers chapter 21, and there in verse five,
Numbers chapter 21 and verse five, and the scripture shares
with us here, and the people spake against God. Now there's
one qualifying mark. Now we may have difficulty 24
hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year of being viewed
as a Christian, but Lord help us never to speak out against
God. Oh God help us, because that
certainly was an identifying mark for these in Israel who
didn't know the first thing about what it was to be a Jew inwardly. Now it says there they spoke
out against God and against Moses. Now it would be like speaking
out against Elijah. It would be like speaking out
against Habakkuk, Daniel. the prophets of God in the Old
Testament who were fearlessly delivering the message of God's
grace to these people in perilous times. But they spoke out against
God, oh Lord help us. and spoke out against Moses.
Now it's not so much speaking out against the law, it's speaking
out against God's man there. And then it goes on to say, wherefore
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
What is they speaking against? They're speaking against the
providence of God, the purpose of God. They're speaking out
against God Almighty and what God had done with them. And then
they go on to say, for there is no bread. Now, My goodness,
we're just gonna find out that they've been eating bread, they've
been eating manna, God's prescribed bread for them, which didn't,
nobody got rickets, nobody got scurvy, nobody had any problem
whatsoever health-wise with what God was providing them, and they
spoke out against the food that God was giving them, the word.
My goodness, to speak out against God, to speak out against God's
prophet, to speak out against his providence, and then to speak
out against his word, that's identifying marks of those of
the synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews and are
not. My goodness, God's people, Lord help us, never gonna speak
out against God. We may not understand his purpose
for our life, but he still is God. And we may not understand
the prophet that's bringing us the message, but he's still God's
prophet. And we may not understand his
providence, but we're not. God help us never to speak out
against his providence, where he has brought us from and where
he has taken us to and how he is doing that. And then to speak
out, what's it say there? There's no bread, neither is
there any water, and our soul loatheth. Ooh, that's a terrible
word. Our soul loatheth this light
bread, this manna. Oh. Now there's some identifying
marks of those who were of the synagogue of Satan. It doesn't matter what they say.
Now you and I have no right whatsoever, we're going to read about that,
we have no right at all to ever say leave. Now most of them will. They will leave. Most of them
will. But my goodness, to ask somebody to leave when there's
only one place in this world where they're ever going to hear
anything that's going to change their life. Now, I'm going to have
to ask them to be quiet. But this is some identifying
marks. My goodness. Oh, to speak out
against God. That is certainly. Now, turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Acts. Acts 15. Acts 15. Here's another identifying
mark of those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews
and are not. And this Herod, poor old Paul,
the apostle, in every area he ever went to when there were
Jews present and Jews who are not Jews. They just bothered
him. They were an affliction to him. He'd get up and preach and you
know what they'd say? It's not true, it's not true,
it's not true. Now this is what they were saying. Notice here
in Acts chapter 15 verse 24, Acts 15 and verse 24, for as
much as we have heard that certain went out from us have troubled
you with words, subverting your soul saying, ye must be circumcised
and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandments. Now what's he saying there? Those
who go out and say Christ is not enough. Those who go out
and say you must do this work. You must be circumcised is the
same thing in telling someone you must be baptized. You must
take the Lord's Supper. You must work every day. You must, you must, you must,
you must. And before you know it, we have
to go right back with the apostle said, we didn't authorize that. Lord didn't authorize that. Holy
Spirit didn't authorize that. There's no must. You must be
born again. Now you do that. Not gonna get
the job done. We're commanded to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one way that that's
ever going to happen, when he gives us a new birth, and we'll
just follow right through. Follow right through. All right,
now go on here with me. In Acts chapter 15, verse 24,
verse 25, it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one
accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas
and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, therefore, Judas
and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
For it seemed good to, what? Notice this, please notice this.
It seemed good to the Holy Ghost. We got God speaking. It seemed
good to the Holy Ghost, and then put your name in the last three
letters there, words, and to us. We want to be included. God's
people want to be included in what the Holy Ghost has to say.
We want to be included in the truth. We want to be included
in what the Word of God has to say. So he says, this seemed
good to the Holy Spirit, and to us to lay upon you no greater
burden than these necessary things, to abstain from meats offered
to idols, from blood, man, that's not a problem, is it? You don't
have to write about that twice. And things strangled and from
fornication, from which if you keep yourselves, you should do
well, fare ye well. So when they were dismissed,
they came to Antioch. And when they had gathered the
multitude together, they delivered the epistle, which when they
had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. Hallelujah. They were saying, we knew it
all along. We're just glad we got this word on it. When God
saves his people, they know it in their soul that there's nothing
else but Christ. They just love to hear about
it, though. They love to find out the more and the more about
it. So, over there in the Old Testament, they complained against
God, they complained against Moses, they complained against
his providence, they complained about the bread, they complained
about the way, and that's just sure signs of those who say they
are Jews and are not. And then here, adding something
to Christ, adding circumcision, the law, doing, doing, doing,
doing, doing, and that's just a sure sign of those who say
they are Jews or not. Now, there's a verse that was
brought up on Sunday, and I need to read it right now, and it's
found in Matthew 23, Matthew chapter 23. Verse 27, there's a lot of woes
to these scribes, Pharisees, lawyers, all this stuff. The
Lord summed it all up. Notice here in Matthew chapter
23, verse 27, 28 and 29, the Lord said this, Matthew chapter
23, verse 27, Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are full of dead men's bones
and of uncleanness. Now, what is this? This is their
boasting in what they have done out here. Oh, man. Lord, guard
us. Guard us. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. That's the difference. That's the difference between
being a Jew inward and one outward. We have the treasure inside,
and these Pharisees, they had it all on the outside and were
bragging about it. Look at our works. Look at our works. Look
what we've done. And if we'd have been here, we'd
not crucified Jesus. And if we'd have been here, we'd
not killed all those prophets. Oh my goodness. They would have,
they crucified Jesus. Now notice, follow this through,
would you please follow with me here in Matthew 23 verse 27,
it says here, but are full of dead man's bones and all in cleanliness.
Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous unto men. What is it?
Impress people, impress people. What a sign of those who are
of the synagogue of Satan. What is, who are we supposed
to point people to? John summed it up so clearly. He must increase, I must decrease. Now that's a sign of having,
being a Jew inward. Christ must increase in our view. Christ must increase in what
we think, and we must decrease. We're just weak and needy creatures. We're just worms of the dust. But he must increase. King of
kings and Lord of lords. So it goes on to tell us here,
they appear righteous unto men, but within are full of hypocrisy
and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and
garnish the sepulchers of the righteous. So here's another
statement about what it is to be a Jew outward and not a Jew
inward, appear to be righteous. Our righteousness is Christ,
it's not in appearance. Our righteousness is Christ,
it's not in appearance. It's not in our activity, it
is Christ in us. And that's what kills us. That's
what breaks us, is when we have a two minute period when we We do things that are not honorable
to our King. That's what hurts us. And that's
a good sign. That's a good sign. Now, Matthew
13 has this to say. There's all this problem in that
church. The Lord never said, all right,
get your hoes out, get your rakes out, and you rack them out of
here. Get them out of here. He never said that. He says,
I will, I will, I will, I will, but you don't. Now here in the
13th, now this is an interesting, I'd never noticed that in the
giving of this parable and in the answer or what does this
parable mean, there's another parable and the disciples didn't
ask what that one meant, they wanna know what this one meant.
So read with me here in Matthew 13, verse 24, The Lord Jesus
is given a parable and he spoke in parables as a fulfillment
of scripture. A parable is a story that has
a spiritual significance. Spiritual significance. And he
did this so that his children could understand the principles
of the kingdom of heaven and the world could not. They just
saw, oh, he's talking about sheep, isn't that nice? He's talking
about grain, isn't that nice? Oh, he's such a wonderful teacher.
We know about this, and his disciples are saying, he's talking about
the church. He's talking about the word.
So it takes on much deeper significance. Now, Matthew chapter 13, verse
24. We read this, another parable, put he forth unto them saying,
the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which soweth good
seed in his field. Now we're gonna find out that's
God. He sows good seed. But while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. Now this is like one of them
birds that doesn't stick around for the, what is that, the cow
bird? No cowbird will lay his egg,
or her egg, she'll lay it in anybody else's nest. Never spends
an ounce of time feeding it. Let the little birds take care
of this great big bird that shoves every other bird out of the nest.
Not this cowbird. Now that's what this is like.
This one never sticks around to see what's going to happen,
just leaves. Now the good shepherd loveth his sheep and will not
let the wolf get them. Now notice this here it says
Matthew 13 24. Verse 25, but while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his
way. But when the blades were sprung up and brought forth fruit,
then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He saith unto them, An enemy
hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? And he said, No, lest
while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until
the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I
will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles, and burn them. But gather the wheat
into my barn. And then it says in verse 31,
another parable put he forth unto them about a mustard seed.
And then verse 33, another parable he put forth unto them. And verse
36, Well, verse 36, Jesus sent the
multitudes away and went into the house and his disciples came
unto him saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares of
the field. Now I think that's pretty interesting.
He's already spoken two parables in between and they said, give
us the insight on this one, because it's pretty serious. So he said,
he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. Field is the
world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but
the tares are the children of the wicked one. Now there's an
interesting thing about tares, just like there are about the
children of the wicked one. When they are planted and grow, they
look almost identical. And it isn't until they bring
forth their fruit that you can tell. And the fruit of the tares,
I've been told, is poisonous. And the fruit of the grain is
for bread." So he goes on to say, now, the enemy sowed them
is the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. As, therefore, the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end
of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them
into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in the
kingdom of their Father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
And you know those disciples, all this is, oh my goodness.
What is he telling them? Leave them alone. Leave them
alone. It's better that they're there
here in the gospel than anywhere else they could be. The gospel
has an effect even on lost people. Leave them alone. Don't you ever,
ever go tell someone, I think you're lost. I don't think your
profession of faith is good enough. Boy, you'll have to bite your
tongue. That's not our job. Now, he says
in that church in Philadelphia, there is a bunch in there that
say they are Jews and are not, and are of the synagogue of Satan.
Now let's go back over there and see what he's gonna say to
them. Book of Revelation. Verse nine. 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." Hmm. I will make them come and
worship. I am God and I can do with them
that nobody else can do with them. I will make them come and worship. Now, turn with me to the book
of Isaiah chapter 45. In Isaiah chapter 45, we have
a wonderful verse of scripture here that's quoted twice in the
New Testament, but let's just read it over here. Isaiah 45
verse 22, we read this verse of scripture about knees bending,
knees bending. God has the ability of making
knees bend. We say, I'll go through this
life straight-legged. I'll not bend and I'll not bow,
but God has the ability of making knees bend. He has the ability
of overruling, and if he doesn't overrule our will, we'll never
be willing we will never come to him. So it is imperative that
he overcome our will and that he make us do something that
we cannot do by nature and we wouldn't do by nature but he
makes us do that. Now notice here in the book of
Isaiah chapter 22 excuse me chapter 45 verse 22 The word of the Lord
says, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall
one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall
glory. Now that's the Jew that's a Jew
inwardly. All of those Jews shall be justified
and shall glory. Glory in their Lord, glory in
God, glory in redemption in Christ Jesus. Now turn with me to the
book of Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14, this verse
is brought up just like it's done over in the book of Philippians.
Romans chapter 14, every knee I'll make them come and worship
before thy feet. Now those who appear to be Jews
outwardly, Saul of Tarsus, those guys that are mean and ornery
and never will bow. God made him bow. God made him
bow on the road to Damascus. God made him bow before the Lord.
God gave him a new word in his vocabulary. All the years before
that, he never was able to say Lord with a capital L. Now this
day, he said Lord with a capital L. Lord. That's what he said. He's able to give us a new vocabulary. All the years before that it
was just little L-O-R-D and little G-O-D. But now he knew what capital
G-O-D was. Capital L-O-R-D was. And that's
what God's people do. And they'll not be caught in
that same camp as those over in the book of Numbers. Belly
aching about God. bellyaching about God's preacher
there, bellyaching about God's purpose and providence, and bellyaching
about God's food. They won't. They'll never say,
don't you ever have anything else to preach? Christ is the issue. It is in
Him we live and move and have our being, and it's Him that
we'll be asked, What think ye of Christ? And God help us to
say, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And we
can hear that resounding voice of many waters say, Blessed art
thou, for flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but
my Father which is in heaven. That's what we want to hear.
Now, here in the book of Romans, chapter 14, verse 10, God's word says, but why dost
thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at not thy
brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess
to God. So then every one of us shall
give an account of himself to God. I love that. In the church
I grew up in, they used that as a heavy, heavy hammer over
us. Oh man, you just better watch it, you're gonna have to answer
to the Lord. Now I've got the clue, I've got the answer to
this now. Everyone shall give an answer, what does that say? Everyone shall give an account
of himself to God. Take it up with my advocate. Take it up
with my advocate, my Lord. I know what I am, I know what
he is, and I know what he supplied for me. So I'm giving an account
of myself. I am his and he is mine. That's
it. Now, and over in the book of
Philippians chapter two, this verse is also mentioned, this
statement, Philippians chapter two. And here it brings this
whole subject to just such a head. Oh my, let this mind be in you,
which is also in Christ Jesus. He brings it to the heart and
core of the matter. Philippians chapter two, and
there in verse five, says, let this mind be in you, which is
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus,"
oh, I love it, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.
That's the subject, the heart, and the core. Every knee shall
bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the
earth. And every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ is Lord,
capital L-O-R-D, to the glory of God the Father. I will make
them come. I will. I will bend them. I will
bend them. The Lord Jesus illustrated that
point so aptly when he sat down on an unbroken colt and that
colt didn't even crow hop, took him on a journey, presented him
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Lord took an unbroken
donkey and had no trouble. He can take
any man, woman, boy, or girl. And when he rests on them, they
are broken before him. Not this, but I bow. I bow. I bow. Your Lord, capital L-O-R-D. And then he's going to say this.
I just love this. This is so good. I'll make them to come and worship
before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. I just, I just sit there and
ruminated in my study this afternoon when I read that. I was talking
to that brother down there in Central Point, and I used that
term, and you could just tell he was giggling on the other
end of the line. I said, there are just times I read something,
I have to just go out under my apple tree and ruminate. And
he just giggled. Well, he says, I'm going to be
doing that. I'm going to be ruminating, chewing on. That's what we do
with the word. I just love chewing on a word.
Well, look at this. They shall know. that I have
loved thee." Now God has loved his people with a special, particular,
eternal love. And how does the world know that
God has loved his people? How do they know? Now there's
a passage of scripture that's written over there in the book
of Galatians that said, all of these things, the fruit of the
spirit that God gives us, there's never been a law against it. Love, joy, peace, the fruit of
the spirit are these characteristics in God's people. And there's
never ever been a law against it. Now if you read the works
of the flesh, there's a law against every one of those. They're nasty. We don't want that, and we don't
want to live around people like that. But when God saves His
people, He gives them the fruit of the Spirit, and God has so
reigned in them that they bring forth these things, and people
know. God's work. And you know what?
It usually causes people to dislike. Can you imagine? People dislike
people who have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
not worried all the time, just satisfied with things. God, people
hate that. They want, they love people who
are always agitated and always worried and always flustered
and always out and down and everything else, but people who are just
satisfied with Christ, I hate that. I hate that. Well, that's a sure sign God
has worked a work of grace in some people and they're just
finally at peace with God. And First Thessalonians, First
Thessalonians, turn there with me, would you please? Our time
is getting so close. We need two hours on Wednesday
night. We need to have an hour and then have snacks and then
come back. What's that? No law against that,
no. and we wouldn't let it happen
if there was. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I like this verse. This verse is so good. That's
kind of like John 6, 6. I found this verse. I wondered
who would put it in my Bible. Just run on to it. Here it is.
1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 9. But as touching brotherly
love, you know not. You need not that I write unto
you. Isn't that interesting? Paul was told, I don't have to
write about this subject. Why? For ye yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. It is natural for a Christian
to love one another. Now, if that's an impossibility,
there's a bunch of Jews who say they are, a bunch of people say
they're Jews and are not. If that's a difficulty, we have
a problem. We have a problem. He said, and
to know that I've loved you, God has loved his people. He
loves his people out of the world. He's the premier, premier love
of his people. And we love him because he first
loved us. And every other principle that
we have, we have faith in him because he gave us faith. He
is the first reason for all things. There's no footprints on the
back of others as we step up. Now that's in the world. I remember
working for a man, he was a well-to-do man. Rich, had lots of land and
cattle, and his nephew, who I'd been working for, his nephew
was old enough to be my dad, and he says, don't you think
for a minute he didn't get where he is by stepping on people.
He'd stepped on a lot of little people to get where he was. Well,
in the church, it shall not be so. It shall not be so. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples, if you have love one for another. I'm going
to stop there, and we'll get to that next verse 10. I thought
we'd get there, but we're just not going to do it. So we'll
stop right here.