Revelation 3 verse 7. And to the angel of the church
in Philadelphia write, these things sayeth he that is holy,
he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth
and no man shutteth, he that 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. Hold 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, before I get to my text,
which tonight will just be verse 7 of this chapter, let me make
two or three statements that I think are so very pertinent
in understanding the message of our Lord here written to the
angel of the church at Philadelphia and specifically written to each
of us and to this congregation as well. Our Lord makes a statement
in Luke 16 and verse 15, which I doubt we have yet perceived
the depth of, a statement which few ever consider. This is what
he says. Remember now, as he makes this
statement in the context, he is writing to the noblest, most
highly respected, most highly regarded religious people in
the day in which he lived, if not in any day upon the earth.
He's writing to the scribes, or speaking, rather, to the scribes
and the Pharisees, and this is what he says. That which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Those things
which men value most and esteem most highly, those things to
which men attach the greatest honor, God Almighty utterly despises. Those things which men value
most, those things to which men give the highest honor, which
they esteem most highly, God Almighty totally despises. That which men ridicule, belittle,
and despise, that's what God honors. The wisdom of this world
The pride of this world, the moral righteousness of this world,
the honor of this world and the religion of this world, our God
holds in utter contempt and we should as well. The first chapter
of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians speaks plainly in this regard.
You and I ought clearly to look upon things as God does to the
best of our ability as we walk in this world. We ought to look
upon that which men out yonder highly esteem and despise it.
We ought to look at that which men honor, men without God honor,
and we ought to hold it in utter contempt. I mean the wisdom of
this world, the way of this world, the learning of this world, the
righteousness of this world, all that impresses this world.
When I was, when our daughter was growing up, She learned early,
don't ever say to me, they're wearing this or they're doing
that. They are who put our Lord on the tree. I'm not interested
in what they're doing. I'm not interested in what they
like. I'm not interested in what they honor. I'm not interested
in how this world looks upon me or looks upon this church.
I'm interested in the favor and approval of God Almighty and
nothing else. The church at Sardis we have
seen was great in name and in reputation. Men approved of her
and men highly honored her. But the Lord Jesus looked upon
that church at Sardis and said, Thou art dead. Thou hast a name
that thou livest, but thou art dead. The church at Laodicea
was rich and increased with goods. It appeared that she lacked nothing,
but that church was so nauseating because of her lukewarmness that
the Lord Jesus said, I'm about to spew you out of my mouth. Thou art wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked is the way he described that
highly honored church. You see, God looks on the heart. God looks on the heart. He's just not impressed with
what we put on the outside. He's not impressed with it. He is not impressed with those
things that impress men and deceive men. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an utter abomination in the sight of God. The church
at Philadelphia, written up here in this third chapter of which
we have read this evening, was not like the church at Sardis.
She was not a congregation with a name and reputation before
men. She was not like the church at Laodicea. She was not rich
and increased with goods. But this church at Sardis or
this church at Philadelphia was one that the Lord Jesus speaks
of with great approval. C.H. Spurgeon wrote exactly correctly
when he said, this church at Philadelphia was not great, but
it was good. It was not powerful, but it was
faithful. Oh, God, make us such a congregation. The Lord Jesus commended this
church at Philadelphia for her faithfulness. Men probably looked
on this little congregation at Philadelphia as men do to this
day, churches like her, with great contempt. It didn't meet
in an elaborately decorated, impressive building. So far as
I've been able to discover from the writings dating back as far
as I can go, there were no men in this church of great political,
economic, or academic power and influence, but it was a church
known and spoken of plainly by our Lord for her faithfulness. You see, faithfulness honors
God, and God honors faithfulness. The one thing God requires in
his stewards is that we be found faithful. Our Lord says plainly,
him that honoreth me, I will honor. Faithfulness honors God,
and God honors faithfulness. Here is a church faithful to
the core. Faithfulness, like slothfulness,
has a way of rubbing off as well on others. Therefore, we read
of faithful men and women in the church at Philadelphia who
continued for centuries. Now, you imagine this. I don't
know of another church in history of which this can be said. The
pastors of this church were influential. I don't mean influential in the
world or in the politics of this world, but influential in the
kingdom of God. The pastors of this church were
influential consistently for 800 years. For 800 years. We read in church history of
their influence from the 1st through the 8th century. Only
God himself knows what influence our faithfulness or our lack
of faithfulness has on those around us. Oh, I would to God
I could get the ear of every man and woman in this world who
professes faith in Christ and make us hear these words. Only
God himself knows what influence our faithfulness or lack of faithfulness
has on those around us. We walk before our sons and daughters. What examples we set before them. Mamas and daddies by their behavior,
from their, take their children and expose them from their earliest
days to behavior totally inconsistent with the gospel. And then they
wonder what happened to their kids when they get to be teenagers.
I did the best I could. Faithfulness, faithfulness rubs
off. I'm fully aware, I am fully aware
that many faithful men like David, many who walk with God raise
a house full of rebels, but I am telling you plainly that faithfulness
as well as unfaithfulness rubs off on people around us and we're
responsible for the way we influence them. The Lord God found nothing
in this church with which he would give a word of rebuke,
not a word is given to correct anything in this congregation.
He gave no word of reproof to the saints at Philadelphia. Now,
that's remarkable. A remarkable testimony to those
people whose names are known only in heaven. To this congregation,
the Son of God spoke nothing but words of praise and encouragement. Now, there's something to be
learned from that too. Certainly, we must not honor
and flatter human flesh. We must not become flatterers
of men. But those who think that serious
Christianity somehow forbids complimentary words for a job
well done, who think that expressions of gratitude and appreciation
are out of place in the church and kingdom of God, need to read
this epistle. I have on occasion had folks
to do things, you know, do things and make contributions to myself,
some of the missionaries or whatever, and you think, well, don't thank
me, thank the Lord. Well, I did, I'm thinking you
too. Our Lord here commends this congregation, and I suspect if
it's all right for Him who is God our Savior to commend His
people, it'd be all right for me to commend them, and it'd
be all right for you to commend them. Commendation is altogether
proper where commendation is due. Now, here in Revelation
3, verses 7 through 13, the Lord Jesus holds the church at Philadelphia
before us as a shining example of what every believer and every
local church ought to be. I hope that when we have carefully
read and heard the message of Christ in this epistle, we will
each of us have this prayer on our hearts. Lord God, make me
faithful. If I could summarize the message
of this letter to Philadelphia, I would do it in one sentence
like this, God honors faithfulness. I'm going to spend a little more
time on this epistle than I have on the others. So for tonight,
I want us to just look at verse 7. And the title of my message
this evening is Three Divine Attributes. In this epistle,
our Lord Jesus is encouraging faithful men and women to remain
faithful. He's encouraging people who have
thus far persevered to continue persevering in the way of faith,
obedience, and faithfulness. And He begins the epistle by
assuring them of three divine attributes which characterize
Him who is God our Savior. And by these three attributes,
He encourages us that we should continue to follow Him, continue
to believe Him, continue to honor Him, continue to seek His glory. This letter was dedicated to
the apostle or dictated rather to the apostle John by him who
is himself God and God our Savior. And this is what he says in verse
7. These things saith he that is holy. There's the first point
of the message. He that is true, number two. He that hath the keys of David. That's the third point. He that
openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. All right, here's the first thing.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, is holy. Turn to Psalm 111 and verse 9. It's a very brief sentence, but
I want you to see it. Jesus Christ is the holy God. And this is how the psalmist
describes him. Holy and reverent. thy name his name and his name
alone is holy and reverend that means it is abominable and idolatrous
to speak of a man and call him his holiness it is abominable
and idolatrous to speak of a man and call him reverend I get telephone
calls frequently Folks find out I'm a preacher, pastor of the
church, they say, is this Reverend Fortner? And my normal response
is, there's nothing reverend about me, but my name is Don
Fortner. There's nothing reverend here. I am sin just like you. There's nothing about me that
can be referred to as reverend. Not at all. Reverend before God,
but not reverend. Holy and reverend is his name. He is the Holy One of Israel
who is our God. He is, as Moses said in Exodus
15, glorious in holiness. In every way, our Lord Jesus
Christ is holy, equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for
we worship one God in the Trinity of His persons, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, and as God, He is holy. This is what He says
who is holy. But it is not our Savior's holiness
as God, strictly speaking, that's spoken of here in Revelation
3, verse 7. That holiness, the holiness of
Christ as God, is in no way comforting, but only terrifying to sinners.
The absolute holiness of God, His strict holiness, is so terrible
that any man who sees it trembles before it. Listen to what Moses
did. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
21, as the apostle writes and describes for us how Moses responded
to God speaking to him upon the holy mount when he gave the law,
he said, I did exceedingly fear and quake. How come? Because
he who is dreadful in holiness had come down to speak to a man.
When Manoah's wife and Manoah saw the Lord speaking, and the
Lord appeared to them, they saw His great holiness, and they
feared the Lord would kill them. When Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter
6, saw the Lord's exceeding great holiness, he saw the angels of
God crying as they stood before the throne, holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of Sabaoth. Isaiah said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. You see, God's absolute holiness
is something we can't approach to. This is what Paul spoke of
in 1 Timothy. He said, He is light that no
man can approach unto. No man has seen nor can see.
He is absolute purity, holiness, and righteousness. And God, in
His absolute character, is a consuming fire. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. I got a
letter from a preacher last week. I had written an article concerning
God's holy law, and I made the statement, I want nothing to
do with God's absolute holy law. I want nothing to do with it.
Nothing. He said, oh, how could you say
that? Because I understand that the law is holy. When Moses came
and he had been up on the mountain, God spoke to him. Israel said,
Moses, don't speak to us. Let somebody else speak to us.
Put a veil over your face. We can't stand to look on you. How come? Because Moses represented
law and strict justice, which cannot be and then cannot bow.
And so Aaron, the high priest, the mediator, spoke in the stead
of Moses. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
that one who must stand between us and God's holiness and God's
law and God's justice, or else God himself must consume us.
All right, it is our Redeemer's representative, His mediatorial,
vicarious holiness that gives us comfort. It is His representative,
mediatorial, vicarious holiness that gives us encouragement and
peace as we seek to walk before Him. So that as our Lord appears
here, He says, I am holy, holy, holy. And now He speaks that
for our peace. Follow him, believe him, cling
to him. He's holy. He's holy. Well, pastor, what encouragement
is there? Number one, he's personally holy. Personally. Only if he
is personally holy is he capable of saving us. Only if he is personally
holy is he capable of satisfying the law and justice of God as
our substitute. Only if he is the spotless Lamb
of God. You remember in the Old Testament,
the Paschal Lamb was to be shut up and inspected for 14 days,
make sure there was no blemish in it, no flaw in it, no fault
in it, no sickness in it. Why? Because it represented the
Lamb of God who was to come. Holy in all things, perfectly
holy. Jesus Christ as our representative
is that one who is described like this. He is holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. As long as he lived
in this world, Bob, he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners. Altogether distinguished from
sinners in this aspect, he's holy. But not only was he personally
holy, our Lord Jesus was representatively holy for us as well. This mediatorial
holiness, this representative righteousness of Christ as our
mediator is the basis of our acceptance with God. This is
what is imputed to us in justifying our souls. Turn to Romans chapter
5 and verse 19. Romans 5 verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Now, listen carefully. Listen
carefully. God deals with two men in all things. Just two men. The first man, the last man.
The first Adam, the last Adam. The first covenant head and representative,
the last covenant head and representative. That's what Romans chapter 5
is all about. by the disobedience of the first man, Adam. All who
were in him were legally constituted and declared to be sinners. So that when Adam sinned, his
sin was imputed to all his sons and daughters, all the human
race, because God made him our representative. Folks, I don't
like that. Take it up with God. That's the
way it is. That's just the way it is. And when our Lord Jesus
Christ lived in this world in obedience to God as the second
man, the last man, the last covenant head, the last Adam, all who
were represented by him, by his obedience unto death, have been
made legally constituted, declared to be the righteousness of God
in him. Be sure you understand it. It'll
help you. The blood of Jesus Christ washed
away our sins. His sacrifice paid our debt and
satisfied the law and justice of God as our representative.
His death removed our guilt before God. But the righteousness of
Christ is just as necessary for our redemption and salvation
as is the death and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is His complete obedience to God that is imputed to us. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, having satisfied justice, having obeyed the law
of God in perfect righteousness, now in justification, He has
made of God unto us righteousness. His name, Jeremiah 23, 6, is
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. His name, Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. And we are made to be the righteousness
of God in Him. We have no holiness of our own.
We have no ability to produce any holiness of our own. No ability
to do anything that's truly holy. All holiness that we can possibly
have must come from God through Christ who is holy. Yesterday
I had the blessed privilege. Yeah, yesterday. I was sitting
on the airplane on the way home studying this message, trying
to prepare for this message. And a fellow sitting beside me,
observed that I had the scriptures out and was reading, comparing
scripture with scripture. And he sat there for a long time.
And when finally I closed my Bible, he said, I can't help
noticing, I didn't mean to intrude, but I can't help noticing that
you weren't just reading that book, you were studying it. And
I said, I didn't want to appear ostentatious. I didn't want to
make a show of things, but I've got some studying I have to do
before I preach tomorrow night. And we sat and chatted a little
bit for just a few minutes. And the Lord graciously opened
the door for me to witness to him. You pray, God may be pleased
to affect the word and make it effectual to it. He said to me,
he said, you know, I have been a man of integrity all my life. He said, I've been in church,
go to church regularly most of my life. He said, I've never
fooled around with my wife. I've been tempted, he said, but
I never did. He said, I give and give generously to this cause
and that. He said, my daughter, she's just a delight. But something's
missing. He said, I've read that book
through from cover to cover, the Old and New Testament. He
said, honestly, I've never studied it, but I have read it, read
it all. He said, I go to church, name the church in Austin, Texas,
big church down there. He called the pastor's name.
He said, you know, he's a good man. Said, I love him to death. He's
brilliant. Just a brilliant man. But when I go to church, I come
out feeling so good about myself, and I know I shouldn't. I know
I shouldn't. And he began to weep. And I called
him by name. He gave me his name. And I said
to him, you need to understand something. Your righteousness,
your goodness, and your integrity is impressive to me as a man,
and impressive to you as a man, and impressive to all other men,
but it's not impressive to God because there's nothing good
in you. Nothing. Nothing. The goodness
you do does not arise from a good heart, but rather it arises from
the course of this world which you have chosen to best suit
you and best serve you. It is you serving the lust of
your flesh just as surely as a drunk or a harlot or a dopehead
serves the lust of his flesh. It's all the same thing, just
sin before God. God, you see, requires perfect
holiness. God requires absolute righteousness. He will not accept anything less
than perfect holiness, absolute righteousness. The only way on
this earth a man can be made accepted with God is if he is
made to be as good as God. Now, you talk about getting attention.
That got his attention. As good as God? As good as God? As good as God? God will not
stoop to receive and accept sin. He won't do it. He demands perfection. And the only way he can get it
is in a substitute. And the only way you can get
it is through that substitute whom God himself has provided.
I said, I've got good news for you. God helped you to hear me
and believe on his son. Because what God demands, God
provides. And what God demanded was satisfaction
for sin. What God demanded is perfect
obedience. And only the God-man, Christ
Jesus, has rendered satisfaction by his blood and obedience unto
God in perfect righteousness from the cradle to the grave.
And it is that which God freely imputes to every sinner who believes
on his Son that God might be just and the justifier of all
who believe. When he left, I gave him a bulletin
He said, they're gonna write to me, we'll see. I pray he does. I pray God may be pleased to
make him to know Jesus Christ, who alone is righteousness. There isn't another. He said,
there's still something missing, something missing. I said, the
thing that tells you there's something missing is the voice
of God, the law of God stamped on your nature called conscience.
I hope it'll constantly talk to you. When God looked on his
son and his son said, it is finished. God said, that's enough. And
if God will ever give you eyes to look on his son, oh, if God
will ever give you eyes to look on his son, your conscience will
say, that's enough. And that's enough. That's it.
He's holy. Our Lord Jesus Christ is he that
is true. True. He is himself the way,
the truth, and the life. He is the truth of all the types
and prophecies of the Old Testament. He is the truth of God, the embodiment
of all divine truth, the sum and substance of all gospel truth.
And as the embodiment of truth, Jesus Christ is the revelation
of the invisible God. He is the living Word of whom
this written Word speaks. One more thing. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the sovereign King. Look what it says. I am he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, he that shutteth
and no man openeth. He said to his church, you know
what all the Old Testament scripture said concerning David's son.
There's one coming to whom the Lord God would give the key of
David, the king of Israel. There's one to whom the Lord
God will give the throne of David and the kingdom of David forever.
He said, I'm him. I'm the king, not I'm going to
be or I won't to be. I am right now that one who by
virtue of my obedience has been crowned king, Lord of glory,
as Christ our God and mediator and our king. The Lord Jesus
Christ then gives a very distinct, very clear declaration of what
he means by him being king. This is what it is for him to
be king. This is what it is for Jesus
Christ, the God-man to be enthroned upon the throne of grace, the
throne of this universe. This is what it is for God to
give him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life
to as many as he has given him. And this is it. I am he that
openeth and no man shutteth. I am he that shutteth and no
man openeth. Let me summarize that for you
and I'll quit. It's Christ who opens the scriptures to His elect. And when He opens them to you,
no man can shut them to you. That's it. What He makes you
see. You know, brilliant intellects,
they study the scriptures, they say, well, you know, I've come
to a new position. Shoot, I didn't come to a new position, I came
to God. There's a huge difference. I haven't learned these things
by my wisdom. I've learned them by divine revelation. And the
only way anybody learns the gospel is by him opening. And when he
opens, no man can shut. It is Christ who opens the door
of utterance for the gospel wherever it goes. We go and preach the
gospel. You read Acts 16. Paul said we wanted to go to
Phrygia and the Lord shut the door. We wanted to go to Bithynia
and the Lord shut the door. And the Lord opened a door, an
effectual door for the gospel over in Macedonia. It is the
Lord Jesus Christ who opens the door for His sheep and leads
them out. And it is He who shuts the door
against those who will not obey His voice. We worship Him that
is holy. We trust Him that is true. We
bow before Him that is sovereign. Our divine Savior is holy. He's true and He's sovereign,
the Son of God. Amen. All right, let's stand
together and sing a hymn.