Open your Bibles again, please,
to Revelation 3. Our Lord said, that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. I wonder if
we'll ever learn that. Those things which men value
most, esteem most highly, and to which they give the greatest
honor, God despises. God despises. And that which
men ridicule, belittle, and despise, God honors. Just the reverse. Those things that impress you
and impress me, God hates. Those things that we look upon
with disdain, God honors. Our Lord makes it very plain.
The wisdom of this world, the moral righteousness of this world,
the honor of this world, and the religion of this world, God
Almighty holds in total, absolute contempt. And I do too. The wisdom and learning, the
moral righteousness and integrity of the world, the religion of
the world, the wealth of the world, the approval of the world
is contemptible to a holy God. Contemptible. We see this fact
throughout the scriptures and we see it plainly in Christ's
letters to the churches in Asia Minor. The church at Sardis was
great in name and in reputation. Men approved of her and applauded
her. She was wealthy. She was large. She was thriving. She had everything
going for her. Lovely place to meet. Comfortable
padded pews and stained glass windows and a large, nice building. Everything was fine at Sardis
in the eyes of men. She had a reputation. Everybody
heard tell of Church of Sardis. Everywhere you went, men knew
about Sardis, and Christ knew about her. He said, you have
a name that you live, but you're dead. The church at Laodicea
was rich and increased in goods. It appeared that they lacked
nothing. They said, we have need of nothing. We've got everything
we need. We've got everything we need.
They had lots of activities, lots of programs. I'm paraphrasing
a bit, bringing things into focus in the 20th century. They had
themselves a fine gymnasium. They had themselves a nice ball
team. They had a good youth program
and a good senior citizens program and a good singles program and
a good married couples program. Everybody had regard for the
church at Laodicea, except one person, the Son of God. He was so nauseated by them,
he said, I'm ready to spew you out of my mouth. He said to this
church at Laodicea, thou art wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked. God Almighty looks on the heart. He looks on the heart. He is not in the least degree
impressed by those outward things that impress and deceive men. If we ever learned that, we'd
quit playing the hypocrite. If we ever learned that, we'd
quit trying to pretend before God. He looks on the heart. He's not impressed with activity.
He looks on the heart. He's not impressed with fine
speech. He looks on the heart. He's not
impressed with those things that men approve of and men applaud. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. Well, the church at Sardis
was highly esteemed. The church at Laodicea was highly
esteemed. But this church at Philadelphia,
it was insignificant. Church where? You mean there's
a church down in Philadelphia? Well, who's there? I never heard
tell of him. Who's the pastor? When did he
go to school? Well, I never heard tell of him.
What's he like? Well, that's not like I think
Philo ought to be. They were contemptible in the
eyes of men. Mr. Spurgeon said the Philadelphian
church was not great, but it was good. It was not powerful,
but it was faithful. And the Lord Jesus Christ commended
this church for its faithfulness. The church at Laodicea, he speaks
a word of strong reproof. He said, I'm ready to spew you
out of my mouth. The church at Sardis, he speaks a word of strong
reproof. He said, you've got a name that
you live, but you're dead. But this church at Philadelphia,
this poor, despised, insignificant little congregation sitting on
the hillside in Philadelphia, the Lord gives nothing but a
word of commendation. Not one word of reproof. Not
one word of admonition. Not one word of rebuke. Not one
word of censorship. This church, though men looked
upon it as a little body of believers, and they despised it for it was
a small church. It didn't have elaborately decorated,
lovely buildings such as we have. It had no great men of learning
in its membership. There was nothing about this
congregation to impress anybody, but it was faithful. And as you
read through these verses 7 through 13, You will not find one word
of rebuke, correction, or reproof. Christ gave only words of praise
and encouragement. Our Lord holds this church up
as an example, an example. He does not hold up the church
of Corinth as an example. He does not hold up the well-known
the mighty, large, flourishing churches as an example. He takes
this little church nestled down in the city of Philadelphia and
he said, that's what a church ought to be. That's what a church
ought to be. Faithful. Faithful. If I could
be allowed to summarize the message of Christ's letter to Philadelphia
in one brief sentence, this is what it is. Our Lord says to
you and I in this letter, God honors faithfulness. God honors
faithfulness. God honors faithfulness. Now, as we look at this letter
to the pastor of the church at Philadelphia, I want to call
your attention to four things contained in it. First, in verse
7, our Lord Jesus Christ describes himself. He is the one speaking,
and so we meet, first of all, with a divine person. This letter
was dictated to John by Christ himself. He is our God, and this
God is our Savior. Look at what he says. And to
the angel of the church in Philadelphia, that is to the pastor, the messenger
of God's church in Philadelphia, write. These things saith he
that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David,
he that openeth and no man shutteth, and he that shutteth and no man
openeth." Now, here are three attributes by which Christ characterizes
himself. Mark them as you go. First of
all, he that is holy. The Lord Jesus Christ is holy. He's holy. very frequently on
ordination councils, wise older pastors sat back and listened
to younger pastors debate points of theology and controversy,
and then the old man will ask a question. I was asked this
question by a man on my own ordination council. He said, Tell me who
God is in one word. In one word. He's holy. He's holy. Now listen to me carefully, will
you? God alone is holy. God alone, nothing and no one
else in and of itself is holy. God makes men holy. God makes
things to be holy. For example, heaven which he
has created, he has made to be his holy habitation. But it is
the fact that he is there that makes heaven itself holy. God
alone is holy. Holy and reverend is his name,
the psalmist said. We call no man a holy father. so blasphemous that men should
even consider the possibility of referring to that old doddering
fool in Rome as holy and the father. That's saying that one
is God. God alone is holy. And when the
Son of God says here, These things saith he that is holy, he's saying,
understand me, I'm God, I'm holy, I'm reverend. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is holy, the Holy One of Israel, being God himself,
he's glorious in holiness, in every way equal to the Father.
But this text specifically, in its context, refers to Christ
the man. Christ our mediator, our surety,
our representative, and so the word is having reference to that
holiness which Christ possesses as the God-man. It is not his
divine, essential holiness that gives comfort and encouragement
to his people, but rather it's his representative holiness.
I don't find any comfort from the fact that God is holy. That fills me with fear. But
I find great comfort in the fact that God, the man God, my representative,
my mediator, my substitute, who stands ever in the presence of
Almighty God, is holy. And I've been made holy in Him.
Our Lord says, I'm the Holy One. I'm the Holy One. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was himself holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners as he lived in this world. He had no original sin and he
had no actual sin. Though he was, when he was nailed
to the cross as our substitute, when he suffered and died in
our stead, though he was made to be sin by way of imputation,
he had no sin of his own. He died just for the unjust that
he might bring us to God. Our Lord lived in this world
as the God-man in perfect holiness, and it is Christ's holiness as
our mediator that is the basis of our acceptance with God Almighty. I want you to turn again to this
passage in Romans 5, Romans chapter 5. I would commend to your study,
I would commend to your study the fifth chapter of the book
of Romans. If you come to understand what
Paul's teaching in Romans 5, you're going to get hold of the
gospel. You're going to see the truth
of God. In Romans 5, Paul tells us in verse 12, that as by one
man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Now, wait a
minute. I wasn't born yet. You weren't born yet. You hadn't
even had any existence yet. He's talking about our father
Adam. You mean to tell me, you mean to tell me now that God
Almighty charges sin to men because of what Adam did? That's what
I mean to tell you. You and I became sinners when
our father Adam, whom God made to be our representative, sinned
against him. Well, I don't like that. I do. I do. I like it. I'll tell you
why. Because since I fell in a substitute,
there's hope of recovery by a substitute. You see that, Harold? Since we
fell in Adam, there's hope we can rise in another. The angels
who sinned, they sinned one by one, willfully, deliberately,
they rebelled against God. There is no hope for them. There's
no mediator for them, no substitute for them. But we sinned in Adam. We sinned in a substitute. And
in exactly the same way as we were made sinners by Adam's transgression,
we are made righteous by Christ's obedience. Look here in verse
19. For as by one man's disobedience, many, the many who were in him,
that's all his sons, were made sinners. Even so, by the obedience
of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall many, the many who are
in him, all his sons, shall be made legally declared to be righteous. So our Lord Jesus Christ stands
before this church at Philadelphia and he says, look at me. I am
the one speaking to you now. and I am your holiness before
God. I am your holy God, your holy
mediator, your holy representative, your holiness. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, by his blood, washes away our sins. By his sacrifice,
he satisfied our debt to God's law and justice. His death removed
our guilt, and his righteousness being imputed to us gives us
merit before God. Gives us merit before God. No
wonder he said, if a man ask anything in my name, he'll have
it. What does that mean? That means
we come before God with the merit of Jesus Christ when we speak
to him. No wonder Paul should say, let
us therefore come boldly, come with confidence to the throne
of grace. We got the merits of Christ in the sight of our holy
God. You understand that? We have
the merits of Christ in the sight of our holy God. Not because
of anything we've done or anything in us, but because he's the Lord,
our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness,
our holiness, and our sanctification. His holiness is imputed to us
in justification, that is, it's charged to our account. His holiness
is imparted to us in regeneration, that is, he gives us a holy nature
like himself. And Christ, who is holy, is our
sanctification. We have no holiness of our own.
All the holiness we have is what we get from Christ. Now I wish
we'd learn that. I wish we'd learn that. If we
could learn this, it would go a long ways to stopping our self-righteousness,
our pride, and our arrogance, and it would go a long ways towards
stopping our despair and our doubting and our unbelief. How
do you stand before God? Not because of anything felt,
seen, done, or said by me, but only in Christ. Only in Christ. Can you get a hold of that? John
Gill said Christ is the cause and the author of holiness to
his people. We are sanctified in him and
we have our sanctification from him and we are sanctified by
him. In other words, of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption." He's everything, Merle. He's
everything. He's all and all to our souls
and all in all before our holy God. Christ is holy. Secondly, he is the one who is
true. He is truly God and truly man.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is true and faithful in all his offices.
He is true and faithful in all his covenant engagements. He's
true to God and true to his people. Indeed, he is the truth himself. Christ is the truth of which
all the types prophecies and promises of the Old Testament
scriptures pointed to. Christ is the truth of God, the
sum and substance of all gospel truth, and Christ is the truth
embodied. He is the revelation of the invisible
God. He is the living word of whom
this written word speaks. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our sovereign king. Look at verse 7 again. He has
the key of David. It is he that openeth, and no
man shutteth. He that shutteth, and no man
openeth. Now, those words describe Christ's
sovereign power and absolute authority as the Son of David,
the Messiah, our Lord and our King. Look this way and listen
to me. Look this way and listen to me. You hear contrary to this all
the time. You may have been taught contrary
to it in days gone by. Some of you carry Schofield reference
Bibles, and you've been instructed to believe that there is a time
coming when Christ shall again deal with the nation of Israel,
and he's going to come and be a king. Now, listen to me. Listen
to me. King Jesus is seated on the throne
of David, and he has the keys of David, and he opens, and no
man shuts. He shuts, and no man opens. He is not waiting for this dominion. He's not expecting this dominion. He has it, and he's got it right
now. You can read, if you want, for comparison, Acts chapter
2, verses 34 through 36. Our Lord Jesus Christ is described
here in Revelation 5.5 as the lion of the tribe of Judah who
has prevailed. He's described in chapter 5 and
verse 9 as the lamb who sits upon his throne right now. Christ is king. He has power
and dominion over all things. The Lord Jesus Christ, as king,
opens the scriptures to his elect. And he gives us knowledge and
understanding in the truth by his spirit. Bob Ponce is sitting
over there at the railroad yard early in the morning and late
at night, nobody around but just you, reading the words, studying
them. That's it. That's it. The lady is sitting at home early
in the morning after you get the kids off to school and you
sit down to read the word and you open it up. I never saw that
before. It just opens up. Christ opens. He opens the Word. He gives you
knowledge and understanding. By his Spirit, he guides you
into all truth. And he shuts this book to some.
Read in John chapter 12, verses 39 and 40, we are told concerning
the nation of Israel that it came to pass as the prophet had
said, God sent them blind men. and
hardness of heart, their eyes were blinded, their hearts were
hardened, lest they should believe." You mean God does that? Yeah.
Yeah, he does. He sends blindness so that men
cannot see, and they cannot understand, and they cannot believe the Word. Christ opens the door of utterance
for the gospel in one place, and he shuts the door in another
place. Do you know there are places where Christ wants the
word preached and places where he will not have the word preached?
The Apostle Paul assayed to go over in Bithynia, but the Spirit
of God said, no, you can't go there. And then he sent him over
into Macedonia to preach the word instead. You can read it
in Acts 16. Christ, the sovereign king, opens
the door to his sheep. He said, I am the door. And he
said, I'm the one who opens the door. And I'll eat my sheep in. And he describes himself in exactly
the same way as a king who comes and he shuts the door. And then
men say, let us in. He said, door shut. I shut the
door. Just like God shut the door to
the ark and poured out his judgment upon those men who were still
living in Noah's day, Jesus Christ, the sovereign king, shuts the
door of life in the face of men who will not repent and believe
the gospel. We who believe worship him that
is holy. We trust him that is true. and
we bow before him that is sovereign. Our divine Savior is the holy,
the true, the sovereign Son of God. Secondly, when our Savior
speaks to his church at Philadelphia, there was no recruit, no divine
warning, but there was a word of divine praise to this church. Look at verse 8. I know thy Behold, I have set before thee
an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast little
strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. I know thy works." Oh, that's terrifying. That's terrifying
to the religious hypocrite. But, Oscar, to the believer,
that's comforting. Peter said, after he had denied
the Lord, he said, Lord, you know everything. You see beyond,
you see beyond this thing. You see in my heart, you know
that I love you. And our Lord says to this church
at Philadelphia, I know your worth. Yeah, I see beyond that
shabby little shanty you leave in, they call a church house.
I see beyond those boards you got stacked up together you call
pews. I see beyond that unlearned, illiterate preacher who stands
before you to open the Word of God. I see beyond the ridiculed
and the scorned. I know your words. I know your
words." And then he commends them and praises them for their
words. Imagine that. The Son of God
bends from his lofty throne to speak to an assembly of believing
sinners, men and women who are redeemed by his blood, and he
praises them, Bob. The Son of God giving praise
to a woman. The Son of God giving praise
to an assembly of men. I sure would like to be in that
club, wouldn't you? The Son of God speaks words of
praise to them. We should take this as an example
to follow. Usually, we are quick to point
out the faults and failures of our brethren. I hear people all the time kind
of brag, you know, that you don't have to be worried about what
I'm thinking. I always speak my mind. But they
always speak something hard. I wonder if that's all that's
on their mind, something critical, something mean, something harsh. It seems to me that love would
be quick to forgive, quick to overlook the fault, and quick
to praise. Don't you think so? Sure you
do, sure you do. I'll give you an example. Oscar Bailey sitting back there
with his arms around the apple of his eye. There's not any boy
on this earth like O.J. Bailey, not as far as you're
concerned. That's the way it ought to be. That's your son.
You love him. And you don't pretend that the
boy's perfect. But because you love him, even
though you've chastened him for any evil that might be done,
you overlook the evil and you speak of the good. That's what
love does. And that's what believers do
that love one another. I realize that some people seem
to think that kindness is blasphemy. But if the Son of God speaks
an encouraging word of praise to his church, surely it'd be
safe for me to praise you just a little. Be safe for me to speak
well of you just a little. We get knocked that way sometimes. But a word of commendation, a
word of praise, will go a long, long ways to encouraging somebody
to continue in what they're doing. Give you an example again. I catch myself sometimes, I don't
often have occasion to at home, but sometimes, you know, that
little girl comes in and brings a report card, got five A's and
one B. What do you say? Huh? The B. Let's get that up. I did
that to you the other day, didn't I, Jenny? Get all A's but one
B. I said, now let's get the B up.
As soon as I said it, darn you fool. Why talk to a kid like
that? My soul, look at these A's. You see what I'm saying? We speak
the critical word so much more easily and quickly than the commending
word. You send your boy out to wash
the car, and he works on that thing for a couple of hours,
vacuums it out, gets it all cleaned up, and you come outside and
you miss one spot. Son, you missed a spot here. That's the way we are. and so
discouraging, so disheartening to that child. And it's the same
way with one another. Our Lord sees in this church
at Philadelphia not perfection, but sincerity. Not perfection,
but faithfulness. Not perfection, but steadfastness. Not perfection, but commitment. He said, I praise that. That's
commendable. I see that very seldom. And He
speaks a word of praise. Picture those folks. They get
this letter from the Son of God. Just suppose you're writing it
to Grace Badger's church in Danville. I stand up here to read you a
letter from the Son of God. And he said, I know your words. I've sat before your open door. I know you have a little strength,
but you kept my word. and you've not denied my name."
You sit back there and you say, well, I believe I'll go on keeping
his word. I believe I'll go on not denying his name. I believe
I'll go on in that open door he set before us. But what is
there about this church, this congregation of believers that
the Son of God saw fit to command and praise? The Lord had set before this
church an open door which no man could shut. He doesn't tell
us what it is, but this language generally is used with reference
to a door of utterance for the gospel, for the preaching of
the gospel. God had given these men and women
an opportunity to serve him in the furtherance of the gospel,
and they seized the opportunity. Children of God, let us be like
them. As God sets a door open before
us, let's rush to go through the door. They didn't do much. They didn't have much to work
with. But God had given them a service to perform and what
God put in their hands, buddy, they discharged. They did what
they could for Christ, for the glory of Christ and the furtherance
of the gospel. I like that woman who came with
an alabaster box. And the Lord was about to be
crucified. She couldn't preach. She couldn't
teach. She didn't have any great abilities
of any kind. She couldn't even cook, wash
clothes, or iron. She was a converted harlot. But
she had an alabaster box full of ointment. Spite was very precious. She came in behind the Son of
God and broke that box, anointed him with that fragrance of perfume. And folks looked at her, so what
a stupid thing to do. Our Lord said she did what's
good. She did what's good. That's what I'm saying to you.
Let us do what we can. Let us do what we can for the
glory of Christ, for the furtherance of the gospel. I don't expect
anyone in this congregation to gather a church somewhere and
start preaching. I don't expect anyone here to
do things that other people do. I don't expect this assembly
to do what 13th Street Church in Ashland does. I don't expect
that. That'd be foolish. But it's reasonable, buddy, for
you to expect me to do what I can and for me to expect you to do
what you can. Whatever God puts in your hand to do, do it. Wherever there's an opportunity,
be there. Wherever there's a service, perform
it. Whatever God puts before you,
do it. That's what he said to this church.
I've set before you an open door, and they walked right through
the door. Sometimes we think, well, our
little insignificant things don't amount to much. Oh, don't be
so sure. And don't be so sure. Christ
looks upon faithfulness as an honorable thing, and he honors
it. We don't often see immediate
success or immediate results in what we do. Not often. But
nothing done for Christ will fall to the ground. Nothing done
for Christ will be forgotten. He said, if you offer as much
as a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, I won't forget it. I won't forget
it. You ladies getting ready to entertain our
guests for our annual conference. Open your homes to them and you
invite preachers in and you entertain one another. God doesn't neglect
that. He doesn't forget that. You men,
Bob Ponson teaches that Sunday school class with kids. Shelby
teaches those talks. And you sit there sometimes as
you're preparing and you're bound to have the tendency to say,
well, I don't know what it's worth anymore. I just, you know,
These kids are paying attention to what I'm saying. I just give
them something off the cuff. I won't prepare for it. Even
those little ones you teach, Teddy. Don't take that for granted.
Seed is sown and may lay dormant for years. But that seed that's
sown, if God waters it by his grace, will bring forth fruit.
There were, during the dark ages, In the days of persecution, there
were some men locked away in their cells in monasteries who
learned the truth of God and saw the value of Holy Scripture.
And you know how they spent their lives? They would get some Scripture texts out of the one
volume of Scripture. that was chained to a desk in
the library. They'd scribble it down and they'd
go to their cell. They'd spend their days transcribing
the Word. And lest they should get caught
and be punished for daring to give the Bible to the people,
they'd take those pages when they got a page full and roll
it up and tucked it away inside the walls of the monastery. And later on, in God's good providence,
when the monastery walls were torn down, there was a man there
to find the word. And as a result, look what you
have. Do you see what I'm saying? Nothing done for Christ is insignificant. Oh, you may not see immediate
results, God honors faithfulness. I promise you that. The faithfulness
of these saints in Philadelphia was especially commended because
they had very little to work with. Look at what he said. Thou
hast a little strength. Now, this was not a word of reproach,
but a word of praise. They had been faithful in their
service to Christ, even though they had little strength. Some
churches are like this Philadelphia church. They have a little strength,
but only a little. This word could be applied in
so many ways. They had little numerical strength,
but their lack of numbers didn't deter them. They didn't have
any great assembly of people. They were a small group of people,
a despised group of people. But God thinks more of quality
than of quantity. He regards obedience more than
numbers. They had little numerical strength,
and as a result, they had little monetary strength. Anything required
money? If it required much, give us
a year or two to work on it. Because they didn't have any.
They didn't have anybody with any means. They were a band of
poor, many women. But they were precious to Christ
who counts sincerity to be more valuable than gold. And like
most small assemblies, the church had very little strength in the
area of talents and gifts. Compare this church with Corinth.
At Corinth, everybody could preach. Everybody could teach. Everybody
could speak in tongues. Everybody could perform miracles.
But nobody did a cotton-picking thing. Nothing was accomplished. Nothing but squabbling and bickering
and fighting. Here, nobody could do anything. But they all got together and
accomplished much for Christ. You see what I'm saying? Our
Lord commends them, because they used the little strength they
had, every ounce of it, every fiber of their being, they rallied
together and poured in one direction for the glory of Christ. The
saints of God in this place had little strength,
but that was not their fault, it was their They weren't blamed
for it. The Lord doesn't blame us for
having little strength, but he blames us for having little faith,
little love, little devotion, little zeal, and little consecration. Our strength is little. It is. I realize that. What was it? I think it was Clint Eastwood
in one of his movies I saw on television. Kept telling that
fellow, Smart and Upton, said, man's got no limitations. Well,
we recognize our limitations, but let us pray that our little
strength may be sanctified by the grace of God and used entirely
for Christ. Oh, Lord God, give us grace and
wisdom to put our shoulders to work. And that little we have,
use it for the glory of Christ. These people at Philadelphia
were faithful, persevering in the midst of great opposition.
They had not denied Christ's name. They had kept his word. We don't have to search to see
what the word is they kept. Our Lord tells us in verse 10,
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, That is, it is
the word of the gospel of Christ to whom crucified, in which is
patient suffering as our substitutes set forth. Thou hast kept my
word. This little band of believers were opposed by the Jews, and
they were opposed by the pagans. They were opposed by the intellectual
crowd, and they were opposed by the religious crowd. They
were opposed by the immoralists, and they were opposed by the
moralists. And they didn't have any influence, any power, any
strength, any prestige, but they held the Word. The Word of the
Gospel of God's grace and would not let it go. They believed
it. They loved it. They obeyed it.
They defended it. They were ready at all times,
against all odds, to defend the truth of God. Most men are like
spiders. Do you ever wonder how spiders
spin a web? You know where they get that stuff? Out of their
own belly. And they spin their webs out
of their own substance. And most men spin their theology
out of their own bellies, out of their own substance, out of
their own feelings, out of their own emotions, out of their own
thinking, out of their own opinions. That's where they get their theology.
What do you believe? Well, I believe what I think.
I hear people tell me, I get so tired of it. Well, this is
what I think about the Word. This is what I think about that
doctrine. I don't give a flip what you
think. And you ought not give a flip what I think. It doesn't
matter what we think. What does the Word say? That's
what I believe. That's what we believe. These
folks here at Philadelphia, they said we'll hold this Word and
we'll not deny it. You see, our hope of eternal
life is in the eternal truth of God. Oh, may God give us grace
in these days of Arminian freewillism, these days of apostate religion,
apostate wholesale religion. May God give us grace to hold
fast the gospel of his grace. What do you mean, Pastor? Well,
I'll give you some statements that will make you understand
exactly what I mean. I believe God's I believe it
because this word states it. Either God is totally, absolutely,
universally sovereign, or he's not God. That's right. This book describes a God who's
sovereign. Sovereign. He has his way in
heaven, in earth, and in all these places. In all things. I believe that man's dead. Dead. That means he's totally depraved.
He has no ability to help himself. He is guilty before God. He's
utterly condemned and utterly helpless. The book says this.
The book says this. There's not one good thing in
any man before God. Is that what his book teaches
us? There's not one good, not the slightest little inclination
toward good. Not the slightest bit of ability
in the center to do anything for himself. Not before God.
Either man's totally depraved, dead in trespasses and in sin,
or he doesn't need a Savior. He's all right on his own. I
believe, according to the Word of God, that God chose and determined
to save a people in the eternal, unconditional election before
the world began, and that He will save those people. Because
this book states that. It states it just as plain as
the nose on your face. Somebody says, I don't believe
in election. They don't believe God. They don't believe God. I don't believe in predestination.
Well, you don't believe God. Because the God of this book
states plainly that he shows a people and that he predestined
they be conformed to the image of his son. Now, either God shows
his people and he will save his people or there's nobody going
to be saved. Nobody. If it's left up to you,
how are you going to get to glory? If it's left up to a dead sinner
to get himself to God, and not up to God to get the sinner to
himself, nobody will be saved. We believe and insist upon it
according to the word of this book. God Almighty sent his son,
and his son by his shed blood actually, effectually put away
the sins of his people. He redeemed us. He redeemed us. Now either the Son of God redeemed
his people, or he failed in his work. Take your choice. If Jesus
Christ died to save Judas Iscariot, and Judas is in hell, he failed,
didn't he? That just makes sense to me.
I can't imagine saying that Christ tried to save Judas, and Judas
is still lost anyhow, and still saying that Christ is a success.
He fails if he tries to save any who are damned in the end.
We believe, according to the Scripture, that God the Holy
Spirit, effectually, irresistibly, by sovereign power, comes to
dead sinners and causes the dead to live. They live not by an
exercise of their free will, not by the manipulation of some
preacher, but they live by the power of God. And we believe
that all of them will persevere to the end. All of them. Why? Because Christ said so. That's
all. That's all. Why do you believe
in eternal security? Because Jesus Christ said, I
give Bob Ponce eternal life and he can't die. He can't die. Now, that means he can't die.
Well, but what if this and what if that? I don't care what if.
Just put whatever what if you want to. If Christ says that
man has eternal life, Bob Pontius, you'll never die. You'll never.
Not if Christ gave you eternal life. Now, these crews, I am
prepared to live by. I have for some time. and God
helping me if need be, I'm prepared to die by them. But we will not
and we cannot give them up. To deny any one of these truths
would be for us a blasphemous denial of Christ himself. Our
Lord says to these men, you kept my word. That's the same thing
as keeping my name. Those who embrace these gospel
truths are our brethren, and we love them. Those who are the
enemies to these truths are the enemies of our God, and the enemies
of our God are our enemies. David said, those are your enemies,
my enemies. I hate them with a perfect hatred.
Read it for yourself, Psalm 139, verses 22 and 23. Pastor, do you mean to tell me
that you esteem free will Arminians, promoters of works and self righteousness,
Pentecostal charismatics? You mean to tell me, you're saying
that those men are not our brethren? They're not mine. They're not
mine. They ain't the God I worship.
They spoon with their mouth when they hear me talk about divine
sovereignty. They read when they talk about
election. And you call them Brethren? Huh? No. No. I know folks come listen
to me preach and they say, well, I don't think I want any more
of that. Well, that's all right. That's all right. Either believe
it, bow to the word of God, or go on to hell, but I'm not going
to change the word. I'm not going to change the word.
Do you keep this word, this word of the gospel? You may have no
great talent. You may have no influence among
men. You may be always numbered among a small group of narrow-minded
fanatics. But I'll tell you this, the salvation
of your soul depends upon your faithful adherence to gospel
truth. Keep the word. For in that word
we keep Christ. I've got to just give you a couple
of comments on these next verses. And as much as these men were
faithful to Christ, Christ assures them that he would be faithful
to them, and he declares them that he will keep them with a
divine protection. Look at verse 9. Behold, I will
make them of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews
and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them come
and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee." There were Jews then, as there are today, who are Abraham's
physical seed. And they claim, since they were
Abraham's physical seed, that they were the true people of
God. And there are preachers all over the country who say
the same thing. But here our Lord calls those who worship
according to the customs of Judaism the synagogue of Satan. That's kind of plain, isn't it?
The synagogue of Satan. You see, it is not the physical
seed of Abraham, but his spiritual seeds who are the people of God.
The Israel of God for whom the promises were made and for whom
the covenant was made is the church of the living God. Abraham
is the father of all who believe according to Paul's doctrine.
Judaism is not a companion to Christianity. Judaism is an apostate,
pagan religion of Muslim Romanism. And God will not have it. He'll
not have it. There are many who, like the
Jews, claim to be God's people, who are not. They say they're
Jews, but they lie. All who hope for acceptance with
God because of their work, their baptism, they're receiving the
sacrament, they're going to the mass, they're saying their Hail
Mary, they're doing their religious work, their experiences, their
personal holiness, all of them are hypocrites of the synagogue
of faith. God's elect, the true people
of God, are circumcised in their hearts by the power of the Spirit.
They worship God in the Spirit, they rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and they have no confidence in the flesh. And in the end, the
despised people of God shall stand on his right hand, and
he'll say, Come, ye blessed of my Father. And those whose religion
has been a refuge of lies will come before us and say that God
loves us with an everlasting love. For they were right. They were right. I'm not being
arrogant. I'm not being cocky or smart
like this. I hear folks want to debate with
me about some of the things I've talked to you about tonight.
They want to fuss and argue with the Word of God. My general response to this And
if they're interested in learning, I'm glad to do anything I can
to teach them. But a man who won't stand and fuss and argue
with this book, fuss and argue with the truth of God, well,
I just say, well, we'll find out. Look, I'm prepared to meet
you at the bar of God, and we'll see who's telling the truth.
I'm prepared to meet Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, or any of the rest
of them at the bar of God, and we'll see who's telling the truth.
Our Lord says, in that day, in that day, They're going to come
and bow down at your feet. They're going to come and bow
down at your feet. And then in verse 10, he says,
Because you kept the word of my patience, I'll keep you from
the hour of temptation, which shall come on all the world to
thrive in the dwelling. There are going to be many who
have a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Apostate
religion will sweep the world, but it'll not take you. I want
to keep you. I'll preserve you because you
kept my word. You hold my word. Our Lord says
in verse 11, Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown. He says, I'm going to preserve
you and I'm going to keep you as you hold the word. You hold
fast what you have. upon the basis of the promise
to preserve us in temptation, our Lord admonishes us to persevere
in faith. All of God's elect shall be preserved
unto the end and to eternal glory, but only those who persevere
and go on holding fast to the faith of the gospel shall be
saved." Then in verse 12, our Savior gives us a divine promise,
"...to those who hold fast the word He says, him that overcometh,
him that overcometh I'll make a pillar in the temple of my
God. Now, a pillar is a permanent
structure. It's a permanent structure that
abides in one place. And our Lord says to you who
persevere, to you who overcome, I'm going to make you pillars
in the glorious habitation of God. You're going to be permanent
residents around the throne of God. and you shall go out no
more. He says I will write upon him
the name of my God and the name of the city of my God which is
the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God
and I will write upon him my new name. Let me give you a paraphrase. He says you hold my word You
hold the gospel of my grace. You hold fast the hope of the
gospel. Don't be turned aside from me.
Don't be turned aside from Christ alone as your hope before God. And I'll give you assurance that
you belong to me and you belong to God and you belong to the
heavenly Jerusalem and you have a place in glory and all the
privileges of God's saints are yours forever. As I write my
name upon you, I'll make you know that you're my son. That's where assurance is. We get assurance, we have assurance,
exactly in proportion as we trust Christ alone. That's right, Merle,
exactly in proportion. We have doubts and fears, despairing
fretting, worry, anxiety. When we start looking to ourselves,
our experiences, our deeds, look in here, try to find something
to make us have confidence before God. Buddy, it's not there. It's
in Christ. And when you hold him, hold him. Jesus only, our God and Savior,
hold him. His blood, our only cleansing,
his righteousness, our only merit, hold him. That gives assurance,
that gives assurance. I have a measure of confidence that I belong to God, that Christ
is mine and I'm his, that heaven is mine, as really as though
I was right now possessed. How can you say such a thing?
Because I believe that. He said, he said, he that hath
the Son hath life. He that believeth hath everlasting
life. I dare to believe him. I dare
to believe him. How about you? Well, he that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Amen. Let's stand together. Oscar,
if you will, I ask you to just intercede in prayer. I realize some of you You've heard me preach these
several years together and listened. You've been instructed,
but you still have no faith. You're still under the wrath
of God. You're still perishing without
hope. Coming home yesterday, I asked
God to give me a message for you, a message that you need, a message
that he'll call you to him. If ever you and I enter into
heaven, we must be redeemed by the blood of Christ. Our sins
must be atoned. Our sins must be put away, God's
justice must be satisfied, and only Christ's blood can do that. We must not only be redeemed,
but we must be made perfectly righteous in God's sight. That
is, we must stand before him as men and women who have completely
obeyed his law in thought, word, and deed. That, too, comes only
by Christ. Only Christ can make you righteous.
Only Christ is righteous and only Christ can bestow righteousness. And we're all by nature dead. Dead. I'm preaching to you. Some of you sitting here right
now are dead. Stone cold graveyard dead. You don't have any life. And unless God Almighty comes
to you and gives you life, what I have to say today, as what I've had to say to you
all these hundreds of times, will just kindly float over your
head, and you're not going to hear it, because you're dead. You're dead. You must be regenerated
by the Spirit of God. Unless God does that for you,
you will never be saved by his grace. Now those things we recognize
are so. Men must be redeemed, they must
be righteous, and they must be regenerated. It's all together
God's work. But hear me well. Now listen
to me. Listen to me. Everybody here,
give me your ear. If you think that somehow God's
going to come to you, knock you in the head and drag you to heaven
by the hair of your head, you're going to die in your sins. It
doesn't happen that way. If you think that God's going
to come and save you, And you fold your arms, make
up your mind not to seek him, not to call upon him, not to
plead for his mercy. Say, well, if I'm one of God's
elect, he'll save me. If I'm redeemed, he'll save me.
If I'm to be born of his spirit, he'll cause me to be born of
his spirit. And you fold your arms and wait
on God. Let me tell you something. You're
going to perish in your sin. You're going to perish in your
sin. Nobody, nobody will ever enter glory except those who
seek the Lord, except those who believe on Christ, except those
who repent of their sins. Now, my friends, you're going
to have to seek Him. You're going to have to call
on Him. You're going to have to repent of your sins. You're
going to have to come to Christ. Are you going to perish? That's
true, isn't it, Lindsay? That's true. Now that's... Say,
well, I can't reconcile those things together. I can't either. Don't even make any difference
to me whether anybody can reconcile them together or not. I'm just
telling you it's so. I'm telling you it's so. Say,
well, I'll just wait. You'll be waiting. when the angels
cast you into hell. You'll be waiting when the angels
of God gather his elect into heaven. You'll still be waiting
and dead, dead. Oh, I realize that repentance,
faith, are gifts of God as much as redemption, righteousness,
and regeneration are gifts of God. But I realize that repentance
and faith are as necessary for salvation as redemption and righteousness
and regeneration. You're going to have to call
on the name of the Lord. I want to give you an example of just
how to do that. I am by far, or I am far from
giving you any kind of a formula to say, do this and you'll be
saved. But I'll give you an example.
I'll give you an example of a man like yourself. who sought the
Lord, and he found it. He came to the house of God one
day like you. He came to the house of God seeking
mercy, and when he left the house of God, he had obtained mercy. Oh, I pray, maybe somebody here
has come seeking mercy. If you have, you can obtain it. You can leave here this day with
mercy. with a pardon, with righteousness,
with justification before God. Look in Luke chapter 18, Luke
chapter 18. There was a Jew, a Jew who was
a publican. This Jew had become one of the
most despised, degraded, corrupt of men in his society. He was
a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman government. The publicans
were not only traitors to the countrymen, but they were notoriously
vile and wicked, a hard group of men. This particular publican
was rather well known. He was probably a notorious one
in his day. That's evident from the fact
that the Pharisee knew his evil deeds. This man had cruelly oppressed
the poor. He had broken the heritage of
widows, he had robbed the friendless and the orphans. This man was
a cursed, despised, scorned man, despised by the Jews and scorned
by the Romans. Half of all that he possessed
he had gotten by theft, if not more. He was a totally selfish
man. He had lived all his life only
to enrich himself. No matter who he had to trample
in the dust, no matter who he had to hurt, no matter who he
had to destroy, he lived for himself. But suddenly, for some
reason, this man's conscience began to bother him. His heart
was troubled. The Spirit of God, by some way
or another, had gotten hold of him. Up until this time, the
man had been without morals, without conscience, without feeling.
This publican didn't very often go into the temple. He knew that
he was not welcome in the temple. He knew that nobody there wanted
him there, and he knew that he didn't deserve to be there, and
he had no desire to be there. But in God's good providence,
the Spirit of God met him, and he made this man to think on
his ways. I don't know how that happened,
but it does. If God's pleased to have mercy
on your soul, he's going to make you think on your way. He's going
to cause the prodigal to come to himself. He's going to cause
the prodigal to think of his ways and his corruption and the
end, the result of all that he is and all that he's done. He'll
cause you to come to yourself. Thank God he has ways of doing
that. Oh, this publican began to think
on the blackness of his heart and it began to give him pain.
He was full of trouble, but he kept it to himself. At night,
he couldn't sleep. In the daytime, he couldn't concentrate
on his business anymore. The hand of God was heavy on
this man. At last, unable to endure the
misery any longer, he thought of the house of God at Zion.
He remembered the sacrifice that was daily offered in the house
of God. He must have thought to himself to whom or where should
I go but to God. Where can I find mercy but at
the mercy seat, at the place where the sacrifice is offered.
And no sooner did he think it that it was done. He went to
the temple, but he was ashamed. He was ashamed. He kind of just
sneaked in the back door, just crawled in the midst of the crowd
and Found him a place over in the corner somewhere. This proud
Pharisee that we read of in this 18th chapter of Luke. He walked
right by the publican, didn't pay him any mind. He did happen
to notice that he was there. Rather strange thing that he
should be here. This isn't the place for publicans.
This isn't the place for sinners. This is the house of God. This
is the place we have built. We don't want you around. He
walked right by this publican. And he made his boastful prayer.
He stood and he said, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.
I thank you especially that I'm not like this, this publican. But this heavy hearted sinner
found a secluded corner, a place where he hoped no one would either
see him or hear him for the first time in his life. This proud man was humble. For
the first time in his life, this man of authority was fearful.
For the first time in his life, this defiant rebel was trembling. Because he made up his mind he
was going to speak to God. He was going to speak to God. Oh, I expect he had said prayers
before. I expect he had been to religious
ceremony before. But now he's taking it on himself
to speak to God. He needs God. He needs mercy. He's fearful. He's trembling. He's humbled. Fixing his eyes
on the ground. The hot tears of repentance running
down his cheeks, not daring to lift his eyes up to heaven, he
began to speak. It wasn't much more than a groan,
but oh, what blessed language it was, for this is what he said. In verse 13, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. Oh, what music! What heavenly music! What a charming voice for the
ears of God! God, be merciful to me." Now, listen. If you, this day, from your heart, from your heart,
speak to God like the publican did. You're going to walk out those doors
righteous in God's sight, forgiven of all sin, freely justified
forever. Well, it was done. The trembling
voice was heard in heaven. God had mercy on this publican
and he spoke peace to his conscience. We're told in verse 14 that when
he left the temple he went down to his house justified rather
than the proud self-righteous Pharisee. He had come into the
temple guilty of sin with a heavy groaning heart but he left the
temple a saint, redeemed, justified, rejoicing. He came in defiled. He left clean. He came in with
a broken heart. He left with a whole heart. He
came in with a wounded spirit. He left with a healed spirit.
He came in with a heavy heart. He left with a rejoicing heart
because he had obtained mercy. Now, my business this morning
is somehow under God. try to persuade you to seek his
mercy in Christ. I just have two points. First, I want you to see what
this publican did. He made a full heartfelt confession
of his sin to God. Look in verse 13. The publican
standing afar off would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
To whom was the confession made? He did not go to a priest. He did not go to a preacher.
He did not come down to the front of the church and make a confession
to the church. But rather, he went directly
to God himself. He said, God, be merciful to
me, a sinner. He seems to have said within
himself, no one but God knows the fullness of my sin. All others
recognize that I am a sinner, but no one but God knows the
extent of my sin. No one but God knows my heart. And above all else, my sin is
not against man, but against God. And so he goes to God. Recognizing that none but God
could forgive sin. None but God could have mercy
upon him. None but God could relieve him
of his guilt. None but God could pronounce
absolution of sin. And so he doesn't fool with men.
He doesn't fool with a priest. He doesn't fool with a preacher.
He goes to God. Oh. That's where you're going to
have to go to find mercy. I know that in this day we, in
our Baptist pulpits, cuss the papists because they have their
confessional booth, and we give them down the road and tell everybody
they're going to hell if they go to the confessional of the
Church of Rome. Well, that's so. That's so. But
then we pretend that we can do the same thing priests claim
to do. And it's a whole lot easier, whole lot easier for any of you
to come talk to Don Fortner and Grace Baptist Church about your
sin than it is to talk to God Almighty about your sin. Now
that's tough, Merle, that's tough. But the only way you ever obtain
mercy is to speak to God about your sin. You're not speaking
to God about your sin. You don't have to call upon God.
You must somehow do business with God Himself. It'll never
do you any good to walk a church aisle, to shake a preacher's
hand, or to sign a decision card, or to get in a baptismal pool,
or to stand up here in front of the church and sob your eyes
out about some little crime that you committed, whether it was
stealing a watermelon, or adultery, or murder. That's not the issue. You stand before a holy God condemned
and you're going to have to do something about it. You're going
to have to do business with God himself. This publican came in
the place where God met with men, at the place of sacrifice,
at the place of mercy, and he said, God, be merciful to me,
a sinner. His confession of sin was secret. I don't have any doubt that his
heart was open to God. In his heart, he told God much
more than he spoke in public. He said much more than he gave
for men to hear. Before God, he confessed everything.
Before God, he confessed, oh God, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner
by birth. I'm a sinner by nature. I'm a
sinner in heart. I'm a sinner in word. I'm a sinner
in deed. Everything I am is sin. Everything
I do is sin. I've tried my best to reform
my life and my reformation is sin. I've tried my best to do
this and to do that. All that I am is marred with
sin. I'm a blind, helpless, condemned,
justly condemned sinner who confessed to sin to God. But all that any man heard was,
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I almost think that in our churches,
we reward folks depending on the measure of their sin, you
know. We get a fellow out of prison who's committed multiple
murders and rapes, and he makes a confession of faith, and we
introduce him now, oh, Joe over here, boy, he used to be a scoundrel. Let me tell you about what he
did, and you tell him about it, and then he gets up and brags
about it a while, and we just make some big whoop-de-doo over
a man's sin. Well, we're all the same. We're all the same. Every last
one of us. You see, the ground around the throne
of God is all level ground. The ground around the cross is
all level ground. Nobody stands any higher than
anybody else there, and nobody lower. We're all sinful men. We fall at the footstool of mercy
and confess our sin. In our hearts, confess it. It'll be of no value to you,
to me, or to anybody else, for us to talk about our sin and
say, yes, I'm a sinner, and confess our sin openly before men until
in our hearts. In our hearts, we acknowledge
our sin. Now, when in your heart you acknowledge
sin, you've confessed sin. But until you acknowledge sin
in your heart, all the confession of your mouth is nothing but
a hypocritical show of religion. a hypocritical show of humility.
Not only was his confession of sin secret before God alone,
but his confession of sin was spontaneous. No one had to tell
this publican what to say. No one had to convince him that
he had done certain things contrary to the law. The confession of
sin, my friend, is not true. It is not real unless it's spontaneous. You stand around and wait on
me to tell you what to say. Your confession is just a shame.
You see these folks on television. Most of you have been through
it. They say, well, you say this, repeat after me. If you need me to put words in
your mouth, you hadn't got it yet. You just hadn't got it yet.
This confession of sin came from the man's heart. It was a willing,
spontaneous confession. He confessed himself a sinner
because he had to do so. He couldn't keep it in. He couldn't
help himself. His sin was crushing his heart
and the only way he could get relief was to confess it. This
man came before the throne of God. He took his place in the
dust. freely surrendering himself into
the hands of Almighty Justice, confessing that he was a rebel,
a sinner deserving eternal condemnation. Now that's the place where mercy
is found. And it's not found until you
come to that. Turn over to Psalm 51. Psalm
51. I want you to see this. This man came confessing his
sin, and in so doing, he took sides with God against himself. Are you prepared to do that? Are you prepared to bow before a holy God? Now
listen to me. Are you prepared to bow before
a holy God and plead with Him like this, Lord God, the hottest, deepest, darkest
pit of eternal damnation, I justly deserve. And if you should forever cast
me into hell, I fully deserve your eternal
death. A strange way to plead for mercy,
isn't it? You go to the courts in Danville,
they arrest you for stealing. And you go up there and you tell
them, well, that's what I am. I'm a thief. I've always been a thief. I would have got caught sooner,
but I just hadn't had it catch up with me yet. And I, I've broken
the law. I deserve the penalty of the
law. If you let me go, I'd probably do it again. Well, they're not
likely to let you go. That's the only way to deal with
God, Oscar. I'm a sinner, a guilty, helpless sinner. I've broken
your law. All I am is sin. I've tried my
best to kick God off his throne, and if you'd let me go, I'd