Revelation chapter three, looking at verse seven. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, That's actually how that's supposed to be pronounced. We don't pronounce it that way. We say Philadelphia, and that's fine. Yeah, we could, but they didn't. And the Lord didn't hear, so we'll call it Philadelphia. I just thought I'd throw that little tidbit of knowledge out to you. Next time you see that word, you'll think about Philadelphia. And the reason for that, of course, is this is a combination of two Greek words, one meaning brotherly and the other meaning love.

And if you look in Romans 12.10, This exact same word is used here. It says, be kindly affectioned one to another with Philadelphia. in honor, preferring one another. And of course he doesn't say that there, but they translated it as brotherly love. And you may have heard the city of Philadelphia, they often refer to it as the city of brotherly love, which is probably the most ridiculous moniker that could ever be given to a natural city in the world, and especially one like Philadelphia. to be called City of Brotherly Love, but that's why, you know, somebody saw fit to give it that name. But anyway, the Lord gave to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, and he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth.

I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now this is the church of Philadelphia, the church that the Lord characterizes as the city or the church of brotherly love. And this is the first church that he doesn't say I've got something, against you, I've got something I want to admonish you about.

But he comes to them and speaks to them of their works. He says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door. Now, the works of the people of God are performed by them, but they are not empowered by them. God works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure in his people. The power for God's people to perform good works, because the scripture says that we are ordained unto good works by him who chose us. That's the purpose for which he sent us into the world, was that we might perform good works. Now a man's a fool that thinks he can go out tomorrow and perform good works in the power of the flesh. You can't do it. You can go out and do stuff, and you can call it good works, and it might, as men define it, it might be good works. You know, you can be involved in all kinds of charities and all these things, and we would say that's good things. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.

But the good works of the children of God are always those things that bring glory to God. They're not designed to bring glory to men, or even help to men, primarily, though they bring help to men, but the purpose of the good works that God brings forth in his children is that he might be magnified, and that they get no credit for it.

Now, you know, that weeds out a lot of good works. I mean, you'd have a hard time getting the world to perform good works if you didn't offer them something in exchange for it. That's why a lot of these preachers and whatnot on the radio, they'll give out, for a love gift of such and such, we're gonna send you our new book, you know.

Any time that good works are performed, they are done without the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing. Because we're not concerned about who sees it or what it's done for or anything else, we just want to glorify God. And so this is what he says, I know thy works. Now we know that those works, if they be true, and if the Lord, if these are works that the Lord is pleased with, they have to be those works which are wrought by him in us and through us. They are not the works that we think up and come up with in order to do ourselves.

But he says here, he, and speaking of himself, he says, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, And he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. That's a mouthful of stuff right there. That's a glorious description of who the Lord is. It says he that is holy. That's the first thing that he mentions.

That was the first thing that he told Moses, was it not? He said, Moses, Take the shoes off of your feet because the ground that you're standing on is holy ground. Now was it holy because it was something different? Was it holy because Moses was there? No, it was holy because God was there. And when God is there, it's holy. And when God is not there, it's unholy. Now, the word holy literally means set apart. It means separate.

And when Isaiah had his vision, as he speaks in the sixth chapter of his prophecy, he says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. and he said that there were four creatures, or creatures that surrounded his throne, and they each had six wings, and with Twain they flew, and with Twain they covered their eyes, and with Twain they spoke, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And whenever John saw him, In the vision that he had here in this book, he felt that his feet is dead.

The scripture says he dwells in the light to which no man can approach. He only hath immortality. He is set apart from men. Men can never be God. Now God can be man because he showed us that. when he came and walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. He is a man, but he is God, but we will never be God. Now there are religions, I guess you can call them that, whatever you want to call them, that teach that man is God. They teach that man can become a God. We'll never become God.

When the Lord said to, or in his prayer, he prayed, Father, I pray that they might be one, speaking of his disciples, even as we are one. Now some people look at that and they think of that as that men are going to become one with God. God, even as Christ is one with God.

That's not what it means. It means as there is unity in the Father and the Son, he prayed, Lord, let there be unity among my people. Now it's interesting that here, when he first describes himself as that holy God, he's speaking to the church of brotherly love. That's a holy thing.

See, you can't just love one another. Now we say, we're commanded to love one another, are we not? Love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, if anybody in here thinks they do that, as the Lord described it, then you can be excused because you are sadly mistaken.

Because when the Spirit of God teaches us the spirit of the law and the truth of the law, we realize, brethren, we don't love one another, we love ourselves primarily. Now by the grace of God, he does move us from time to time to exhibit love to one another.

But it's never that perfect love, is it? There's always some caveat in there. But we desire, do we not, to love one another with pure hearts. And that's what we're exhorted to do, love one another with pure hearts. Esteem one another above ourselves. See, that's holy love. It's love that expects nothing in return.

Now, most human love that we know about, it can have, it has parameters around it, doesn't it? I mean, if it doesn't suit us, well, we can shut the love off. It can grow cold. People talk about love, our love grew cold. Well, that's because it's not godly love.

Because the love that is in Christ is to the end. It doesn't have any hot, doesn't have any cold, but it is that which is true, it's holy, it's set apart, it can't be compared to anything else. And the Lord used a very imperfect example to manifest the perfect example of his love for his people when he gave the institution of marriage in the world, that a man would love a woman and he would love her to the end. And that's the picture of true love, say holy love. And it is that same love which exists among the brethren, a different type of love, but it's nonetheless a pure and lasting love.

We don't fall out with one another because somebody doesn't do things just like we might like it. Or somebody says something and we get offended. See, love is not offended. If you read the book of of First Corinthians, what some people call the love chapter, chapter 13. It's not easily, it's not offended. Love's not offended. Love beareth all things, hopeth all things. That's holy love.

And the Lord pictures, gives us the picture of himself as that one who is holy. He set apart, we can never be him. We can never be like him. but he has put within his people a desire to manifest his glory. See, we don't want to love one another so you'll say, oh man, he really loves people. We don't want to be patted on the back. Oh, he really loves people. No, that's not what we, that's not even involved. We love him because he first loved us. and however he loved us is how he says for us to love one another.

That's a holy love, and he's a holy God. He's high and lifted up. His train fills the temple, and he can't be reached by men. See, a lot of people think, well, God's just sitting back like a little puppy dog waiting at home, and you know he'll be there whenever you need him. No. No, our God's in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He's pleased. And yet He has been pleased to visit with men. And if He visits with us, dear brethren, we're blessed.

If He doesn't, there's nothing we can do to cause Him to do that. Now I remember when I was growing up, we were basically taught that you could cause God to do anything if you just believe strong enough, if you just ask strong enough, you could finally get God to do something. That's how most people approach prayer. Oh man, if we can just get enough people gathered up around and we can get a prayer circle going and we can get all these vibrations happening and all this stuff, well we can just make God do anything we want him to. No, God doesn't do what we want him to because he's holy.

He does what He wants to do. And He, by His grace and mercy, is pleased to bring us along and let us see the unfolding of His glory in the earth. I mean, when you read, as Brother Al's been going through the book of Kings, as you read about these different kings and the prophecies and all these fulfillments of things that happened, you see the glory of God. I mean, he said that he was gonna destroy this man's house and all that was in it. And he didn't do it just like that. But he said it's gonna happen, and then, almost in an offhanded way, we read, and the house of so-and-so was destroyed.

It's like I heard an old black preacher say one time, he said, God don't pay off, don't always pay off on Saturday night. Now you kind of have to be, have grown up in the South and been around how, you know, farmers and stuff, when they're hired help, sometimes they'd pay them off on Saturday evening because they didn't want them to go anywhere. They wanted to be there to work right up till the end of the day, and then they'd pay off. But he said, God don't always pay off on Saturday night. And what he meant by that was that because God says he's going to do something, doesn't mean he's gonna do it right that minute.

But he is going to do it. He's not gonna miss that. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap, because he is a holy God, and he has a holy law. And that law cannot be sidestepped, it can't be neglected, it can't be forgotten, or the consequences of it must come to pass, because God is holy. The scripture says he's of purer eyes than to even look upon sin. And when we think about that, what a glorious thing it is that God, who has no, there's no reason, as men can understand it, that he should have any concern for men. See, a lot of people think, well, God ought to do something for us. Why? Is he not the potter? Are we not the clay? Can He not make us whatever He wants us to be? He doesn't have any obligations.

But you see, the glorious thing is in His holiness. David said, there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. See, you wouldn't, you don't forgive people. God forgives people. That's the hardest thing. I believe that's the true thing. The hardest thing for a man to come to grips with is forgiveness.

Peter said, Lord, how many times should a man do something to us and we forgive him? Seven? Is seven good enough? Lord, I hope so, because I'm tired of this. The Lord said to Peter, He said the answer is till 70 times seven. What's that mean? It means an unending number. It's not a finite number.

See, everybody, they want there to be an end to forgiveness when they're dealing with men because they want men to get what they deserve. You know, somebody cuts you off in the parking lot and you hope he gets what he deserves. I hope somebody opens his car door up and bends the side of his car, you know, or something like that. But you see, that's not the forgiveness of God. He's a holy God. And when he forgives something, it's gone. It's as if it never occurred. And that's what the scripture says that he does with the sins of his people. It says he forgets them.

And he removes them as far as east is from the west. Now if he had said from the north, from the south, there's a north and a south pole, but there's not an east and a west pole. See, if you go east, you're gonna just keep going east. If you go west, you're gonna just keep going west. Because there's no end. to the forgiveness of God because he's a holy God. And he can do that according to the good pleasure of his will.

No reason that he should. We don't have, you know, we often, somebody the other day, I heard them talking about that such and such didn't deserve mercy. Well, dear brother, there's no such thing as deserving mercy. Mercy is freely given. And only God is the author of mercy. Of course, see, you've got an obligation to love your fellow man, so you can't ever show mercy to him.

But God can. Because you see, he's the only one who has the right to destroy us. But yet, he's holy. Beyond any comprehension we have, and he forgives. His people. Peter, Satan has desired to have you to sift his wheat. Peter, you're gonna deny me. And you're not gonna do it one time, Peter. You're gonna do it three times. And he said, Peter, I love you. I have forgiven you. And I have prayed for thee.

Oh, what a glorious God He is, a holy God, beyond the comprehension of men, outside the realm of our thought. See, this is the great God who has sent the gospel into the world and sent men to declare it, said, tell sinners that there's a Savior. Tell sinners that there's forgiveness. Tell sinners that Christ is the one who takes sin away from them as far as east is from the west. Remembering it no more. A holy God. These things saith he that is holy, and he that is true. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now, the truth comes from true. Because God is true, then he is the truth. You see, that which is true is perfect.

Now, we often talk about a surface Say if you're machining something, you say, well, man, we got that surface, it's true. That means it's perfect, it's flat. Now, if you could get a microscope with enough power, you could look at any surface that man's ever had anything to do with, and there's imperfections there, I guarantee it. there are no true things that men have touched. And there may be some things that's close, and it may be close enough. When I was in the building business, we used to say, well, that's close enough for government work. And what we meant by that was we did the best we could, and we were willing to have a little imperfection. You can take five levels, And you can put them all side by side and I will guarantee you that all five of them will not read the same reading because they're not true. You see, God's true.