Revelation chapter 3 and verse
7. Revelation 3 and verse 7. And
it says here, And to the angel of the church
in Philadelphia, these things saith he that is
holy, he that is true, He that hath the key of David, remember
we just read about the Lord laid on him the key of David. He that
hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth,
and shutteth, and no man opens. Now, our Lord here is talking
about Himself, and He's called Himself David. He's the Son of
David. We know according to the flesh
the tribe of Judah, he was raised up to be the king, king over
Israel. He was king of kings before he
come, but he's the king of Israel. And he came as the son of David
after the flesh, and he says he has the key of David. Now,
we all know what a key is for. Everybody knows what a key is
for. It's either the lock to keep secure. You lock something,
keep somebody out, keep things secure. And then secondly, you
unlock things. You use a key to unlock, to give
access, to open, to allow people to go in. And the one who has
a key has something that's valuable, and it's valuable to them. Your
house key's valuable to you. Your car key's valuable to you.
It's not to me, but it is to you. I can't get in your house
without your key. You can't get in mine. You can
lock me out, or you can give me access. In the same way, and
that's why something is valuable to them. And some use the key
wrongfully. Now, you keep Revelations, and
look with me over in Luke 11, 52, just a moment. Some have
the key, and they use it. They use it wrongfully. And,
you know, in helping times, we'll say, what's the key to understanding
it? What does that mean? to making that understandable.
What's the key that will help me to learn this right here?
Well, here in Luke 11, 52, look what our Savior says about these
men. Woe unto you, lawyers, for you
have taken away the key of knowledge. You've taken it away. There's
a key of knowledge. There's a key to learning. There's
a key to understanding. and said, You've taken it away.
You entered not in yourselves. You wouldn't enter in. And then
not only would you not enter in, but you would hinder them
who would enter in. So they took away the key of
knowledge. They took away the understanding of the Scripture.
They took away the key that unlocks the Word of God, which is Christ,
which He calls Himself the key. So back over here in Revelation
3, let's look at what it says about our Savior having the key
of David. We know that, and he says here
that he that hath the key of David opens, and no man shutteth,
and shutteth, and no man opens. So he's got the key to shut the
door and lock it. He's got the key to open it,
and when he opens, nobody can shut it. When he shuts it, ain't
nobody none other than the sun, heaven, and earth can open this
So here, excuse me, let's look at his character, first of all.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right. First
of all, says he said to he that is holy. He that is holy. Our Lord Jesus Christ is holy. Now, when we talk about holiness,
we don't know what we're talking about as far as it relates to
human nature and human beings. But when it comes to talking
about God, God is holy. That means He has no impurities. He has no falseness. He has no
weakness, no inabilities. He's pure. He's pure like God
dwells in a life that no man can approach unto. And not only
is He holy, but He's holy in three persons. God the Father
is holy. God Himself says He inhabits
eternity, the high and lofty One, the Holy One, who inhabits
eternity. When the cherubims cried, they
cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God. He is holy as God the
Father, because He was God manifest in the flesh. He says, no man
has ever seen the Father but me. And He is holy in the person
of the Holy Ghost, who comes here and makes Christ known to
us, who makes the Spirit known to us, makes the Word known unto
us, and reveals Christ to us. And He's holy as the Son of God.
As God is a man who come into this world, and as a man, as
a human being, a man of the flesh, He came in here and was the Son
of David after the flesh. He as a man was His, He was only. There was no sin in Him, no sin
about Him, no thought. As a man, when you looked at
Him, He's the only man that's ever lived on this earth that
had no sin, knew no sin, thought no sin, felt no sin. He was holy
inside and outside. Now that's what I'm talking about.
You and I can't understand that. But our Lord Jesus Christ himself
said, which of you convinces me of sickness? If Christ our
Lord was in this building this morning, in the flesh, You would
look at a person and you would say, that man is holy. Now they
call people holy in this world, but they don't have a clue what
holiness is. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
holy! Holy! Pure! Sinless! Immaculate! Glorious! As a man. And, oh beloved, He
is God. We must have, we gotta have somebody
that's holy to save us. You know, we're sinful, so whoever's
gonna save us, they got to be holy. They got to be pure. They got to be sinless. A sinner
can't save a sinner. And only Christ can save sinners,
so He must be holy. And that's why he says that such
a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
severed from sinners, higher than the heavens. And right now,
at the right hand of God, that's just a man. That's just a man. And that man is sinless and perfect
as he sits at the right hand of God, and he, in his sinlessness
and his perfection and his power, because he has that key, he prays
for us and intercedes for us right this moment. And I don't
need Him to do it for me. And oh, beloved, that's why He
says, God said Himself, behold, my beloved. Pilate said, I find
no fault in Him. And everyone who was around Him
said, I find no fault in Him. If God found no fault in Him,
man found no fault in Him, the devil found no fault in Him.
In fact, the devil himself called Him the Holy One of God. They
said, we know who thou art. You're the Holy One of God. If
you come to torment us before our time, if you come to put
us out of these bodies that we dwell in and we control, if you
come to cast us out and put us someplace where we're in hell
and wait to torment us before it's even our time. So his character,
he's the Holy One. Look what else it says about
him. Not only is he holy, these are Seath's face is holy, he
is true. And when we talk about truth, in light of Him being true, everything
else is false. In light of, you know, there's
things that are true. Twelve inches make a foot. That's
true. Two plus two equals four. Those
things are true. But when we talk about absolute
truth, truths, perfection, no falseness, no deception, no darkness. When we talk about Christ being
the true one, we're talking about Him being true in heaven before He ever come,
We talk about him being true when he was in this world, when
they say, boy, he's a true blue fella. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was true. Never uttered a falsehood. Never
walked the wrong step. When God looked at him, he said,
he's true. He's perfect. He is true in his
thoughts and his emotions and his feelings. He's true in every
word he speaks. He's true in every step he takes.
He's true to everybody he comes in contact. When he called a
man a hypocrite, he was a hypocrite. When he called a man a snake,
he called him a snake because he was a snake. When he talked about people that
come to me, he's telling the truth. You come to me and I'll
give you life. He's telling it's true. And all
of it, I mean, He was true to His Father. We're not even true
to our own principles. We're not, you know, one of these
old philosophers, I forget which one, says, to thine own self
be true. Would anybody here say to their
own self they've been true? We're not true to our own principles.
We're not true to our own truths. We're not true to our own ideas. We let him down, but our Lord
Jesus Christ is true. I don't know how to say it. I don't know how to express it.
He was true to his Father. And when he came into this world,
he came here with truth to tell, truth to express, truth to reveal. And when he came into this world,
he came here with the truth of God, the truth of his word, the
truth of his character, the truth of his nature, the truth of everything
that there is about God and man. He came here with the truth about
every one of those things. You want to know God? He'll tell
you the truth about God. You want to know yourself? He'll
tell you the truth about yourself. You won't know the truth about
the Scripture. He's the only one that can make you know the
truth of the Word of God. Nobody else can do that. Who
else can say, I've been true to the Father. I've loved Him
with all my heart. I've loved my neighbors myself.
I've never, ever thought an evil thought. I've been perfect before
you from the day I was born to the day you took me off of this
earth on that cross. I've been true. And God can look
at him and say, oh, this is my son? This is my son. I love this man. I love him.
I love him. And I want everyone to hear what
he has to say. And oh my, our Lord Jesus Christ
himself said this. He said, I'm the way. What way? The way that we lost in Adam,
he's the way back to the Father. I'm the way to the truth. I'm
the way to the scriptures. I'm the way to salvation. He
said, I'm the truth. I'm the truth about the mind
of God, the will of God, the word of God. I'm the truth. And I'm the life. And he said, look over at me
in John. Keep Revelations. Look in John 17 with me just
a moment. John 17. Look what our Master said here.
You know the true one. He that is true. He that is true. We often won't be true because
we don't want to offend somebody. We often won't say what is true,
what we know is true, because we'll say it won't do any good. And the person that we lie to
more than anybody else is ourselves. That's the person we lie to more
than anybody else. Would you agree with that? We'll tell our things about ourselves,
and we'll try to justify ourselves in everything we do, even if
it's wrong. You know, I talked Wednesday
night about judges, and it says, there that every man, there was
no king in Israel, that every man did that which was right
in his own eyes. Nobody does what's wrong in their
own eyes. People just don't do that. If they do wrong, they
say, that's right in my eyes. That's why David said, oh Lord,
save me. Save me from my ways. Oh Lord,
save me Oh, don't let me go that way. And look what our Savior
said in John 17. Look in verse 1 with me. These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power,
authority, might over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as God has given him. Now listen to it. Now this eternal
life, he says, that I'm going to give to them that you've given
to me. He said, this is that eternal life that I'm going to
give to them which you gave to me. This is that eternal life.
I'll tell you what it is. That they might know me. That
they might know you. Not know some things about you. But they might know some things
that you do. Some ways you act, but might
know you. Know you, just like a person
knows a person. Know you in your glory. Know
you in your power. Know you in your grace. Know
you in your holiness. Know you in your righteousness.
Know you in your sovereignty. Know you as God. And look what he says here. The
only true God. And you can't know Him without
knowing Jesus Christ, whom you see. That's what life eternally
is. Christ makes you know God. And
the Scriptures tell us that He's the true light that came into
this world. Before He came into this world,
there hasn't been darkness. And until He brings the light,
you'll sit in darkness. He was that true bread which
came down from heaven. And they said, Lord of the Lord,
give us this bread. He's that true vine. And all
the branches only live in Him. And let me show you one of them.
Back over here in John, you know, if you was in Revelations, turn
back about two pages to your left and you'll come to 1 John
5. Look what it says about our Savior. Talk about holy and true.
You know, that's why this time to express Christ, who He is,
what He's done. I'm telling you, it's just, we
just, whatever we say, we fall so far short. We can't express
it. And it says here in 1 John 5.20, And we know that the Son of God
is come. We know He's come. And He hath given us, we know
this also, that He hath given us an understanding. And we know
this also, that in giving us this understanding, that we may
know Him that is true. Know who? That is true. God?
That is true. Christ? That is true. The Scriptures?
That is true. And not only do we know Him?
That is true. And we are in Him? That is true.
Even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal
life. And I'll tell you something,
bless His name, He's true to us, no matter how much falseness
is in us. How much hypocrisy's in us? How
much failing's in us? How much pleasure's in us? He
remains true to us. He remains true to us. He does. When we play the heart, He remains
true to us. And, oh, I'm not going to look
over here at another thing he says about it. Not only is he holy,
not only is he true, But he's the only one who has any authority
in this world. And look what he says about spiritual
matters now with God. He is true he that hath the key
of David. Oh my, he's the only one I've
done ready to. He has the key with regard to
the kingdom of God. When he was first born, Herod
said, I hear that there's a king born of Israel. He said, go find
him. I want to worship him. He wanted
that baby destroyed because he didn't want no one to question
his authority. He was the king. He didn't want
no other kings. So he said, go see him and have
all those children killed. And I tell you, beloved, Christ,
when he was an infant, he had the key of David. When he was
12, he had the key of David. When he was 25, he had the key
of David. When he was 30, he had the key
of David. Before he ever came, he had the key of David. He has
all authority. He has that key. He has that
key. The key to the Word, the key
to God, the key to salvation, the key to the kingdom. He's
the only one that can get you in there and let you in there.
And, oh, beloved, He has the key to the kingdom and our present
salvation. Do you know He was the one that
came and opened our understanding? Do you know that? He's the one
who come and saved us. He had the key to open the kingdom. He had the key to bring us in.
He had the key to open the door. He had the key to bring us in.
He's the only one with the authority. And He's the only one with the
authority regarding our future salvation. Our future salvation. What's our future salvation?
Well, we're going to leave this world and set our foot in another
one. That's our future salvation. That's our future. If I'm saved
now, I'm as saved as I'll ever be, except for this flesh, to
go from here to there. I'm as saved as I'll ever be.
And our Lord has the key to all of it. All of it. Look over here
at Revelation 218 just a moment. He has the key. And you know,
beloved, if someone has the key, they've got the access, they've
got the authority. You know, if you want to get
someplace, and you need to get in someplace, you've got to wait
till somebody comes and brings the key to let you in, or else
you've got to break in. And this is one place you can't
break in. You know, our Lord said, if that man comes up any
other way, he's the same as the steeps in a rocker. How do you
know it's reasonable abundance, pilgrim's progress? Christian
and faithful along the way. There's walking along, talking,
and having a wonderful time, and talking about what Christ
has done for them, what experiences they have. And they're about
halfway along, and this fellow jumps over the wall. He climbs
over the wall and jumps into the narrow way. While they're
walking along, he said, how did you get in here? I got in the
easy way. I climbed over the wall. He said, you didn't go
all the way back and go through that narrow gate, that straight
gate, that narrow way. No, I didn't do that. And they began to ask him questions,
and he didn't have a clue what they were talking about. He said,
you know, you're just a thief, and you're a robber. You're on this labor. When you
get to the end, you know what he's going to say? Depart from
me, you work of iniquity. I never knew you. Our Lord said,
if a man tries to get in any other way than through him, he's
the same as a thief and a robber. And look what I said here in
Revelation 118. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And listen to it, and have
the keys of hell, that's one place, and of death, that's another
key. He has the keys. People say,
well, you send Joseph to hell. No, you don't. God puts you there. Christ will put you there. You know, he has the keys. And
you read over in Revelation 22, he took hell and put Satan in
that bottomless pit, and then he took death and threw it in
there. He's got the key to life, and
he's got the key to death. And you're sitting there dead
in your trespasses and sin, and if you ever have life, he's got
to have the key to give you life. And I tell you, beloved, he's
got the keys on his girdle of hell and death both. And don't
think for a minute that you've got any say or power over what
you're going to do. I mean, our Lord Jesus Christ
got it all. He's got every key to everything
in this universe. You want to go to heaven? He's
got the key. You want life? He's got the key.
You want to stay out of hell? He's got the key. You want to
not die? The second death? He has the
key. It's the idea, you know, that
Jesus is standing there waiting, hoping, pleading. And I'll tell
you, beloved, a man who has the keys don't open and plead and
beg for people to accept the key. He's got the key. You're
going to have to go to him because he's got the key. I know, but you keep Revelation
3. Look over here with me. And Luke
2. No, forget that. No, forget it. We won't go over
there. We won't go over there. Now not only does he have the
authority, the only one who has authority, I wish people would
understand that, I wish they'd understand that. Tonight I'm
going to preach, if God will, on the utter fallacy and criminality
of free will doctrine. It's criminal, it's foul, it's
fallacy, it's horrible. And I'll show you why it is,
and I know why it is because I've been involved in it. But
now let's look at his work. His character, he's holy, he's
true. And the only one who has authority, he has the keys of
David. Look what else it says about him. Look at his work here. He opens and he shuts. He that
openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
He opens and he shuts. While he opens, no man can shut. Now, if he opened it for you,
you reckon you could shut it? If he saved you, can you shut
the door? You know people say you can take
yourself out of his own hand. Why in the world would anybody
think it would be the smart thing and the powerfulest thing to
do to be in the hand of Christ, to be in the salvation of Christ,
and say, well, I don't want to be there anymore. I'm going to
go back to the world. I'm going to go back to my sin. I'm going to
go back to my independence. What kind of idiot would even
think like that? And oh, here he says he opens
the door of salvation. In fact, he is the door. You
tell what our Lord said? He is the door. You know what
a door's for? It's to let people in and also
to keep people out. And I'll tell you, beloved, he
has the door. He is the door. He's the door of the sheep. And
I'll tell you, he says, you know, there's several veils in the
Scripture. There's the veil that was in the tabernacle that kept
the holiest of holies, the holy place, separated from the holiest
of holies in the holy place. And so there they had that veil,
and ordered the high priest to go behind it once a year. And
then there's the veil that Moses had when he come down off the
mountain, because the glory of God shone in his face, and they
couldn't bear to see it, so he covered his face with the veil.
And then there was the veil that was in the temple that was four
or five inches thick. When Christ died, the veil was
ripped from top to bottom. And then there's another veil,
the last veil, is the veil of our Lord Jesus Christ's flesh.
Now that's a veil that opened the way, just like that veil
that opened the way into the holiest of holies. Christ, through
his death, he opened the veil into heaven. I want to veil him
to the holiest of all, a veil into the presence of God, a veil
through his body, through his offering, through his sacrifice,
into the very presence of God by a new way, a living way, before it had to
be through the blood, sacrifices, and death. And now Christ ever
lived, and now we have a living way into the very presence of
God. And that's through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And look with me over in Acts 16. I want you to see
this. Not only does he open the door
of salvation, but he opens the heart. He opens the heart. And why does he open the heart?
Because the heart's closed. The heart's closed. He's the
only one who can open it. It has to be opened. He opens
the heart. Look here. Now they're down in Philippi,
Paul's down in Philippi, and there's some Jews, because they
didn't have a synagogue there, they'd go down by the riverside,
and they'd go down there and pray, and they would go down
there and worship God. And on the Sabbath, in verse
13, we went out of the city by a riverside where a prayer was
wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which
resorted there. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of
purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God with us,
whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul." God opened her heart. Now, she didn't
pay attention to what Paul had to say until God opened her heart.
When God opened her heart, she started listening. Now, I'll
tell you what, when God opens your heart, you won't start listening
until God opens your heart. You'll hear the voice of a man.
You'll hear prayer being made. You'll hear songs being sung.
But as your God opened your heart, you will not attend. Say, I've
got to have that. I'm going to attend what this
fellow says. And then it says there, what did he say? And when
she was mad tired of her household, she was told, I said, if you
think I'm worthy, I'm not worthy for nothing. But if you think
I'm worthy, will you come to my house? So you see, beloved, God's got
to open the heart. And when He opens the heart,
you'll start really paying attention to what's being said. Things
will start making sense to you. Things will start coming into
focus. Things will start saying, well, listen, that's true. And
you'll start realizing, you know, that there's things being said
about you and about God that you didn't know of before, you
never heard before, you never experienced before. The Word
comes alive to you and you see things in it you never saw before.
And God's got to open your heart. And not only that, but He enlightens
the understanding. This understanding is dark and
He's got to come and turn the light on. And when he talks about
opening the heart, the heart's given for the whole person, everything
about that person. You see, the scripture says,
with the heart we believe. The heart we believe. She attended on things, and faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And then he
opens the word. He opens the word. Not only does
he open the door of salvation in the heart, but he opens the
word. Look in Luke 24 with me. Look in Luke 24. You need to see this right here.
I know you've seen it plenty of times before, but look what
it says here. We are absolutely in and of ourselves. We can't understand nothing.
I read a Bible a lot. Especially when I was a child,
and then I went and bought one one time, a little world Bible,
when I got under conviction back in 1973. And I went out on North
Dixie, and there's a little Bible bookstore out there, and I went
and bought me a little Bible, a little world Bible. Made by
world, about half the size of this one. And I said, well, I'm
going to read the Bible, I'm going to start doing better,
I'm going to start living right. I'm going to start trying to
change, you know, make a difference in myself, in my home. I got
that Bible and I read it and it was, it was just absolutely,
it didn't mean a thing to me. I just couldn't understand it. When I read, you know, that he
that hath a pure heart shall see God, I knew right then and
there that I wasn't going to see God. All it done was convince
me that I didn't have anything. He that hungered and thirsted
after righteousness, I wasn't hungering and thirsting after
righteousness. I was hungering and thirsting after trying to change my life.
I wasn't even hungering and thirsting after that. But I was interested
in changing my life. And I thought I could read the
Bible and do that, but the Bible was a closed book to me. And
so I closed it up and put it away. until God does something for
me. Look over here now in Luke 24 and verse 32. And they said to one to another,
after they spent a day with Christ walking, and they said one to
another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with
us by the way? And listen, while he opened,
opened to us the scriptures. Now, these fellows were men who
read the Scriptures. They studied the Scriptures.
Went to synagogue and heard it read. But he said, we didn't
know what the word meant. Now we know what it means. He
opened your understanding. Look down here in verse 45. Then, well, look back at verse
thirty-four first. And he said unto them, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
Scriptures." Until he does that, you ain't gonna understand it. Do you understand any of it now?
He has to open the Word. And the Bible's a sealed book
until the Lord opens the understanding. David said, Open thine eyes,
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy love. And then not
only does he open the Word, he opens the door of fruitfulness.
If we bring forth any fruit, if we are useful in any way,
he has to be the one to cause that to happen. David said that
he opened for me an effectual, I mean, Paul said he opened for
me a door, an effectual door. He was the one who opened the
door for Moses to go down into Egypt and set his people free.
He was the one who opened the door and made David the king
over Israel. And, oh, God give us wisdom to
know when the door is open. And I tell you what, he opens
the heavens. He opens the heavens. You know,
when Rook opened Revelation 4, you know when Stephen was being
stalled And he was laying there dying, and they stoned him to
death. He looked up and he saw the heavens
open. He saw Jesus standing at the
right hand of the Father. And how in the world did he see
into heaven? Christ opened it for him. Christ
opened it. You know what he saw when heaven
was open? He saw the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only reason
in the world for heaven to even be there, is because of him.
He didn't say I saw a throne. He didn't say I saw golden streets. He didn't say I saw clouds and
angels up there playing on the harps. He didn't say, I saw my
mommy there. He didn't say, I saw my daddy
there, my grandpa there. He said, I see the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that made him that much angrier.
He said, I see the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all there is in
glory. That's what we'll see in glory.
That's who we'll worship in glory. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
look what it said here in Revelations 4, verse 1. After this, I looked,
and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice I heard was
as it were a trumpet talking, which said, Come up here. I'm
going to show you some things. I'm going to show you some things.
And oh, what did he see the first thing when he got there? Chapter
5 and verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of
him that said on the book of Thrown a book written within
on the backside seal was seven seals. And he says, and who is
worthy to open, verse 2, the book and to loose the seal. Open
that book and loose the seal. This is the book of God's will,
the book of God's purpose. This is the book of God's decree.
This is the book that's got all of God's elect in it. All of
God's will, all of God's purpose. And nobody was able to open it,
not even look at it. And I began to cry. And look
what he said in verse 5. He said, don't cry, John. The
line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. Who opened the book of God's
will, the book of God's providence, the book of God's decrees, the
book of God's purpose, the book of God's will? Christ did. Who
accomplishes that will? Who fulfills that will? Who fulfills
that purpose? The same one who opened the book.
And I tell you, beloved, And we're seated, right now, we're
seated in heavenly places with Christ. And then it says here
in Revelation 3, and I'll try to wind this up here, look what
else it says about him. Not only does he open and no
man shuts, he shuts and no man opens. When he shuts something,
it can't be opened. It can't be opened. He shut the
floods of God's wrath and judgment upon no one. Noah was put in
that ark, and the scripture said, he shut to the door. Come down
in the ark, and it says, God shut the door. And beloved, when
he shut that door, Noah was in that ark. Everybody outside that
ark, the judgment and wrath of God fell on them. But he shut
the door of wrath, and it never fell on Noah. If he shut the
wrath of God against you, I believe he shut it against me. I don't
believe the wrath of God, the judgment of God is going to fall
on me. Why? Because I'm in Christ. Christ, the wrath and judgment
of God already fell on Him. The punishment of my sins already
fell on Him. So when God's wrath comes running
through this nation and running through this world, and when
the last word has been said and time ceases to be, beloved, I'll
go straight to glory to be with Christ and everybody else, the
wrath of God is going to fall on them. It's not in Christ. And, oh beloved, who could open
that door when it was shut? Don't you think that people went
banging on that door when that water started rising up about
their knees? Then it got up to their waist? You saw that tsunami
about a year ago over there in Japan? And you saw that water
come rolling through there and kill tens of thousands of people? And there's over 15,000, 18,000
people that's just washed out to sea. and ain't never nobody
hurt from again. That was just water that washed
them away. Now, you imagine what the wrath
of God was going to do. But, boy, when those folks were
standing there in that water, and they did pray God, it was
a while before that ark began to float. Got to be enough water
to get it up. And that water started getting
deeper, you know them folks started beating on the side of that boat.
Oh, let us in, let us in! You can't get in! The door's shut, and I ain't
coming out! Oh, listen, I got my baby in
my arm! The door's shut! I got my wife
and my children! The door's shut! I got my whole family, my mother,
my grandmother, my children, my grandchildren. The door shut. He could hear them crying and
weeping. Open, open, please, Lord, please, please, you know. The door shut. It shut. And once it shut, it shut forever. And you know
what the scripture said? The waters prevailed over the
whole earth. The wrath of God will prevail
over the whole earth. I'll tell you why he shuts the
door of salvation. Look in Matthew 25 with me for
a minute. He shuts the door of salvation,
and that's why I heard these say last week, you
know, today is the day of salvation. One of the brethren had mentioned
it. And today, right now, today, the day of salvation is right
now. Not tomorrow, not next week,
not next year, not when you intend to. Right now. Right now. And look what he said here in
Matthew 25. Look what it said here about
verse 21. Then shall the kingdom of heaven
be in like unto ten virgins, which took the lamps, and went
forth to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise, five were foolish.
Foolish took the lamps, but didn't take no oil with them. They carried
a Bible, but they didn't have the Holy Spirit. They went to
church, but they didn't have the Holy Ghost. They weren't
born again by the Spirit of God. But the wise took oil in their
lamps with their vessels. The Spirit of God done something
for them. The Holy Ghost done something for them. Well, the
bridegroom tarried. He waited. He said, I'm coming
back. They all slumbered. They all slept. Everybody does
that. At midnight, a cry came. The bridegroom's coming. Go out
to meet him. Virgins arose and trimmed the lamps. The foolish
said unto us, Give us of your oil. Our lamps is gone out. We can't see. We're in darkness.
But the wise said, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and
you, but go you rather them to sell and buy for yourself. You
think you's going to get through this thing? Now go try to buy
it yourself. Go try to get it. And while they
went to buy, thinking they could buy, the bridegroom came. And
they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and
the door was shut. The door was shut, and look what
it says afterward, came also the other virgin, saying, Lord,
Lord, open to us. He said, I say unto you, I know
you're not. The door was shut, you can't get in. But we had
our Bibles. We got tired of waiting. Our
lamps went out. I better run and buy me some
oil." He came by it. He came by it. He came by it. And, oh, beloved, let me show
you one other, and then, honestly, I'll be through. Luke, look with
me in Luke chapter 13. Luke 13, verse 24 and 25. Oh,
my. Luke 13, 24. Our Lord says this,
Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you,
will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house
is risen up, and hath shut the door, and you begin to stand
without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open
unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I know not
which you are. I don't know not who you are.
Oh, my, shut the door. That's why it says, you know,
there's only one way to strive to enter this great gate. How
in the world you strive? You come and you listen to the
gospel. You forget yourself, you forget your works, you forget
everything. And you say, there's a straight gate, that's the one
I want to go in. I want to go in that narrow way right there.
And I do also know this, that he shuts the gates of hell. When
hell's over and done with, when this world's over and done with,
he shuts the gates of hell and nobody opens. Do you remember
when the rich man went to hell? And he says, Father Abraham,
would you send Lazarus, that fellow that sat out there by
my gate, that fellow that had sores on him and the dog licked
his sores, that fellow that I didn't do anything for, had no compassion
for, had no mercy on, did nothing but drive by him and look at
him in his misery. He said, would you let Lazarus come down here
and just dip his finger in water, and just let one drop, one drop,
over my parking ton. One drop. And he said, Ladders can't come there, and
you can't come here. There's a great gulf fixed. Great gulf fixed. Ladders can't
come there. I don't care what agony you got. He can't come there. I fixed
it. We ain't never gonna go there. And you're there and you can't
come here. And I fixed him, you can never go to one another. Just a drop of water. He didn't
say, I'm sorry for my sin. But hell is the door shut on
hell. And I tell you what, the door's shut on hell for a lot
of people in this world already. Do you know that? Do you know
how many reprobates are in this world? And God's already shut
the door. And I mean the door is shut.
I hope and pray that He hasn't shut that door on you. I hope
that He hasn't shut that door and says, now listen, it's shut
and you can't get in. But He's got the keys. And I
do know this about Him, that no one has ever come to Him and come to Him with a need. with their sin, with their weakness,
with their inability, that He ever turned away. Never. And once you ever start
coming to Him with a need and a weakness and you sin, you'll
come to Him for the rest of your life, just like you came to Him
the first time. God help you to come. Our Father,
in the blessed, holy, glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
thank you for this day. Thank you for the gospel. Thank
you for the truth. And, Lord, open our hearts. Oh,
open our hearts. Open our understanding to love
you more, to see more of you, see more of you in your Word.
And, Father, I pray that you would have mercy today. While
the door is yet opened, While the door of hell hasn't been
shut, while the door of salvation hasn't been shut, I pray, O Lord
Jesus, that you'd open a heart today, that you'd do for someone
here what you did for Lydia. And they would arise and be baptized,
saying, if you count me worthy. Lord Jesus, you're the only one
that can do that. And we look to you because you
have the key. Use the key. Bring glory to yourself
in opening hearts, saving your people. We ask these things in
Christ's name. Amen. Amen.