Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to Revelation chapter 3. We've been studying our Lord's
letters, if you will, to the various churches. And here He
begins a message to the church in Philadelphia. Now, the name
of that city means one who loves his brother. That was the name
of the city that this church was at. And you'd think with
a name like that, surely it must have been influenced by a believer. But it wasn't. It was an ungodly Greek king
whose brother proved to be very faithful and loving to him and
loyal to him, and he named him as his successor. And in honor
of him, they named this city Philadelphia. Philadelphia was a little city,
and it was known for its wine. It was on a hillside, and they
had great vineyards there, and it was known for its wine. The
Greeks established this city when it was under another nation's
rule and taught there the Greek language. And so it become a
center for the language, for the Greek language, and in doing
so they had kind of got fellowship with those
nations and those people around. And they liked the language so
well that they give up their own. And almost everyone there,
according to the historians, turned to the Greek language
as their language. And then, like some of the other
cities that we talked about, it was very earthquake prone.
And earthquakes did a lot of damage to the city and a lot
of deaths and so forth. Now let me say something in light
of how I want to approach this study this morning. This church
in Philadelphia, unlike the others that received rebukes from the
Lord, they received no rebuke whatsoever. Whatsoever. It was a faithful church, an
example of what every church ought to be. It was tiny in size. It wasn't very big. But they
were faithful. They were faithful. And for that
reason, I want us to take a little more time to examine our Lord's
words to that church. I don't know if you've ever thought
about this, but Christ and His church are never revealed by
a single name. Neither Him nor His elect are
revealed by a certain name. We say, well, sure they are.
His name was Jesus. I'm going to tell you something
that this generation don't know because that's what they think.
And they're calling on Jesus, calling on Jesus. You turn TV
on, that's all you hear, all you hear. But that wasn't the
name that he came to manifest. His name was manifested in who
he was and why he came and what he did. And where he's at now,
exalted, seated on the throne of glory, his name, he manifested
a saving knowledge of God. He manifested the very character
of God when he was here. That's his name. That's his name. And yes, his name was Jesus,
and that name means Joshua or Savior. And it was told to Mary,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from His sins. But the name which is revealed
by the Holy Ghost in the preaching of the Gospel to God's elect
is a declaration of His character, and of His offices, and of His
work. In Romans chapter 10, verse 13,
He just got through telling us what the righteousness of faith
was all about. And then he says this in verse
13, he said, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Don't that mean if I just go
in my closet and kneel down and call out the name Jesus that
I'll be saved? No. No. That's not what that
means. Listen to this. Here's the next
verse. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they had not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they had not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? There's more to this thing than
just a name. You follow what I'm saying? In
Acts 4, verse 11, Peter declaring Christ to the unbelieving Jews
said, This is the stone which is set at nought of your builders,
which has become the head of the corner. Now listen to this.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name given among men whereby you must be saved than His name. the name of Jesus Christ. So
His name is manifested in His offices, and in His person, and
in His attributes, and in His accomplishments, and in His promises.
Did you know that in the Old Testament Scriptures, the word
Jehovah, God Almighty, Jehovah, is used in compound to describe
our Savior's name 14 times in the Old Testament. Did you know
that? Listen to this. In Genesis 22,
verse 14, he is called Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord
will see to it. He is our provision. Jehovah-Rapha,
Exodus 15, verse 26, the Lord our physician. He is the physician. Jehovah-Nissi, Exodus 17, verse
15, the Lord our banner. Jehovah Kedesh, the Lord our
sanctification. Jehovah Reha, the Lord our shepherd. Isn't that what David said in
Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd. Jehovah
Hasenu, the Lord our maker. Jehovah Elohikah, the Lord our God. Jehovah Elohei, the Lord my God. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our
peace, and so on. Fourteen times. He sets forth
his name, and it's not the same. Not the same. It varies a little
bit each time he says it. Because you can't say his name
in a single name. And because his people wear his
name, you can't say their name in a single name either. You
read in the book of Jeremiah, And you'll find out that it says,
and his name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And
then you go over a few more chapters over there in the 30s somewhere,
32 or 33, and he says, her name shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. And these names were all manifested
in the person and work of Christ. He's not known simply as Jesus,
but as the Lord Jesus Christ. And so too are His elect described. Lost sheep. That's His elect. Lost sheep. Sinners. Sick. Fallen. Blind. Deaf. Demon-possessed. Leprous. On and on He goes with
these descriptions of those for whom he come to die. He describes
them. He doesn't say, I came to save
Darwin. He said, I come to save sinners.
Now, if I don't fit the character that he sets forth to describe
those for whom he come, I've got no reason to lay claim to
the promise, do I? And so he introduces himself
as the author of this letter to his churches by these six
things. Now, watch this. Revelation 3,
7. And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, you write this,
these things saith he that is holy. Who's doing the speaking
here? He who is holy. Now let me tell
you something. And it could be most of you do,
I don't know. But most people, writers that
I read by, preachers that I hear preaching and so on, and especially
these preachers out here in the world that don't know him at
all, when they talk about holiness, they relate holiness to righteousness. Holiness and righteousness are
two different things. The holiness of God is talking
about his wholeness. It's talking about all of His
character, but it's talking about more than that. It's talking
about the unison of that character. God will not compromise any part
of His nature for any reason. Not going to do it. He won't
do it to spare His Son, and He won't do it to spare the unbeliever. He will not compromise the glory
of His name. Not going to do it. Not going
to do it. And that's why Christ had to
come to redeem his sheep. He had to do it. Otherwise, God
would have to compromise his nature. Not going to do that. He's holy. God is righteous, and God is
just, and God is merciful, and God is gracious. He's good. God
is wrath. He's wrath. That's part of his
character. And God is long-suffering. God
is love. But God is none of these things
to the exclusion of the others. This generation would have God
to be all love and no justice, all love and no righteousness.
God cannot be merciful to the exclusion of His justice, and
God cannot love to the exclusion of His righteousness. God cannot
justify to the exclusion of His wrath. His wrath must be suffered. That which do our sins, that
which the righteous justice of God, that righteous wrath of
God is set to punish, it's going to be punished. So whatever God does in full
unison with His character and this divine unison, He calls
holiness. So everything He does is in unison
with His character. You know, in a vision of glory,
Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ high and lifted up. He said His
train filled the temple. He was the preeminent thing in
that temple that Isaiah saw when he saw Him in His glory. He was
preeminent. He sat there on the throne. His
train filled the temple. The seraphims which were over
that ark, you remember that ark of the covenant, and those two
seraphims were overlooking that ark, and the high priest went
in and sprinkled that blood. Well, here above Christ is these
two seraphims, and they're covering their face and their feet and
their body before Him, and they're crying day and night, Holy, Holy,
Holy, the Lord God Almighty. That's our Savior. It said, Isaiah
said these things when he saw his glory. And Christ said, and
then he spoke of me. He spoke of me. He's the one true and living
God, and he's holy. All right. Secondly, he says,
these things saith he that is true. He that is true. One of John's
favorite names for Christ is the Word of God. He says it in
the Book of John. He begins the Gospel according
to John with those very words. He talks about, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
That's His name. You go over to 1 John, he says
the same thing. He calls Him the Word. to the book of Revelations, which
the same John wrote. And you go over there and there
he is saddled and on this horse going forth to conquer. His name
is the Word of God. That's what he called Christ. And as he is the Word of God,
so he is the revelation of God, which was fixed in his name from
all eternity. And then in 1 John 5 and verse
20, it says, and we know that the Son of God hath come and
given to us an understanding that we may know Him. Now watch
this. That is true. Is that His name? This is who's
speaking to the church, Him who is the true and living God. He is the embodiment of truth. You see what he is saying here?
He is the embodiment of truth. The one who speaks to his churches
by his pastors and by his Spirit is he who is himself holy and
true. Are you with me so far? Holiness,
the wholeness of God. He said, the one who is speaking
to you is the embodiment of the wholeness of God. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's who's speaking
to you. And it's true. His name, He's
true. Everything that He is and everything
that He did and everything that He says is truth. He is the embodiment. You want to know the truth? Know
Him. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Isn't that what he said? He's
the embodiment of it. Alright, here's the third description
he gives to his elect of the author of this letter. He said,
this one who speaks to you, he hath the key of David. What on
earth is he talking about there? He has the key of David. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
22. What's he talking about here
when he says he has the key of David? Well, watch this over
here, Isaiah 22, verse 20. And it shall come to pass in that
day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah,
and I'll clothe him with thy robe, and I'll strengthen him
with thy girdle. And I will commit the 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. Now if you read just a little
bit further there in Revelation chapter 3, he quotes those words.
And he says this in verse 23, back here in Isaiah 22. He said,
I'll fashion 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 quality and vessels, even
the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, shall the nail that is fashioned in a sure place be
removed and cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon
it shall be cut off, for the Lord has spoken it. That is,
he shall be cut off to secure that which God hung upon him. You understand what that scripture
is saying? This is the key of David. He's talking about the
son of God. He's talking about that prophet
that should come and rule as David ruled according to the
appointment of God. David was nobody. Saul was the
big man. Saul was the well-known man.
He was the people's king. Everybody wanted Saul to be king.
The problem is he wasn't God's king. God appointed David to
rule. And here's this little ruddy
boy, that's how the scripture described him, a ruddy boy, just
a shepherd, just a young boy, didn't know anything. Called
him in. The prophet said that's him.
He anointed him. And though everybody in the kingdom
fought against it, the king fought against it, the king tried to
kill him, everybody around him tried to kill him, David become
king because God appointed him to be king. And this is what
Christ is saying here, he that speaks unto you is he that is
appointed of God as your king. You see what he's saying there
in the book of Revelations? This description of our Lord
is one which calls attention to his divine appointment as
the mediatorial king of glory, put there just like David. God
made Him sovereign over all, everything, dead and the living.
He's sovereign to this end. He both died, was buried, and
rose again that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
And God made Him sovereign over all in order to give eternal
life to His elect. You won't see that in the Scripture.
It's in John 17, 2 and Romans 14, 8 and 9. I have the key of David. Alright?
Fourthly, this One who speaks to you, this One who has ordered
this letter to be written to you, is He that openeth and no
man shutteth. Now in John chapter 10, our Lord
speaks a parable to His Pharisees who rejected His claims and His
person and His authority. And He said to them, He that
entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up
some other way, they are thieves and robbers. They are thieves
and robbers. John 10, verse 2. But he that
entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Now listen
to this. To him the porter openeth. He doesn't have to say anything.
He doesn't have to do anything. He just stands before the door
and the porter knows who he is and knows why he came and he
opens the door. You see what he is saying there?
This one who speaks to you is he that openeth. Now you stand
before the door. Anybody stand before the door.
Let the Pope stand before the door. The porter is not going
to open the door. There is only one who can stand
before the door that the porter will open the door, that Jesus
Christ, our Savior. You see what he's saying here?
I open and nobody can shut the door because the door is open
and shut by God. That old arc of Noah, I want
you to think about something. That door, it says, began at
the lower. Talking about the bottom of the
ship. It began at the lower, and then the second story, and
then the third story. This door in its side, which
speaks of the side of our Lord, opened and gave access to the
whole of the house of God, where He's
going to preserve His elect. When you went through that door,
you could access any part of that The whole ark was accessed
through this one door, but there's just one door. And that door
was so big, it was so big, and the side of this big old thing
that God had ordered to be built and preserved, everything that
He was going to preserve, He built this huge ark. And here's
this door, first, second, and third story. And when they went
in, there they sat in this big gaping hole, and said, and God
shut them in. He openeth, and no man can shut. And he shutteth, no man can open. You see that? It's not up to
you. Religion has men trying to open
the door for themselves. You can't open the door. Isn't
that what they say? Jesus, they got pictures of him
standing there knocking on the door, waiting for you to open
the door. He said, this one who speaks to you opens. You can't
open the door. You can stand and knock, but
you can't open the door. He opens the door. The porter opens to him because
he knows him, knows his relationship to the sheep. The porter opens
to him because the good shepherd gave his life for the sheep.
The porter opens to him because he bought the sheep with his
own blood. And then a little later on this chapter, he says,
I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He opened that door. All enemies in the world can't
shut it. He shuts the door, and all the powerhouses in this world
can't open it. He opens and shuts. Oh, how this
world hates the doctrine. God's sovereign elect in grace.
But in particular here, I believe he's talking about his authority
to open to them a door of utterance. He's talking to this church about
a door of utterance. They had their enemies, their
persecutors, their rivals, but they couldn't shut the door that
God opened for this church. I was thinking about all the
things that I read in the book of Acts. You remember Peter and
John, they went into that temple and they told him to stretch
forth his hand. They did. He was healed. And
all those Pharisees and Sadducees saw that and the high priest
council and all this stuff. Here they come and they took
them, put them in prison and did all these things to them.
It said over 5,000 people. were saved under his ministry
before they took them in. And then they took them in, and
then all that did was open an opportunity for them to preach
to him. It just made the door even wider. And so they preached to them,
and then they warned them not to preach in his name, not to
say anything in his name, and we're going to release you. And
they said, well, whether it's right for you to obey you rather
than God, you figure that out." He said, all we can do is preach
what God has given us to preach, and that's what we're going to
do. And they went, and I tell you, the Lord opened doors after
door after door. And people tried to shut it,
and they couldn't shut it. All they did was open it. They
took Paul out and beat him, and that was just the avenue to the
next place. They put him in prison. That
just opened the door for him to preach to the Philippian jailer.
And it just go on and on and on. He opens a door of utterance,
and no man can shut it. And he can shut that door of
utterance, and no man can open it. In my lifetime, I've seen
that. I've seen that. Men and women who receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this
cause, God sends them strong delusion. He takes that open
door of utterance and takes them away from it. Either takes it
away from them or takes them away from it. One or the other.
I've seen it so many times. So many times. May God our Savior
make us to understand what a great privilege it is. This is what
our Lord's telling this faithful church. What a great privilege
it is for you to hear me. That's what our Lord's telling
them.