May I please God to bless us
together this morning as we turn to his word. Let us come to the
book of Revelation, the third chapter, and we'll read the last
three verses. Verses 20, 21, and 22. The book
of the Revelation, chapter three, verses 20, 21, and 22. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come into him and will suck with him and
he with me. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame. and have sat down with my Father
in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. When we find a word like this,
behold, it means there's something important that is going to be
spoken about not something of little importance it's that which
we should be able and concerned to give our attention to we are
to behold therefore what is being spoken and as we realise this
is part of those words which were spoken to the church at
Laodicea, it perhaps gives us some indication of the importance
of them. Because this Laodicean church,
the seventh church which the Apostle John was blessed to hear
the letter that he had to write to it, was a church really with
nothing to commend it. The other churches, the six other
churches, they generally had something to commend them. But
this church had nothing to commend them. And that, of course, is
a very, very sad position. And let us realize that here
was a church which went under the name of a church, under the
name of a Christian church. And yet you see there was that
lacking in the Lord speaks to us here when he says, I know
thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert
cold or hot. That means doing the will of
God, doing it in a very lukewarm fashion. No real concern. but just doing that which we
perhaps they felt it was their duty to do just as it were naturally
we might say today ticking a box just to satisfy their outward
form but there was no real reality with them what a sad, sad condition
And as we look around today in the Church of God at large, really,
it is very similar. There is truly a lack of godliness. There is indeed much lukewarmness,
much coldness. And I suppose the truth is that
there is opposition to God because we are not prepared that we might
be those who are truly owned by God. Those who truly give
ourselves to God to do His will and to follow His pattern, to
keep His commandments and not to be left to ourselves. Well, the position was that the
Lord graciously, as He always is, Bless God, He doesn't deal
with us as we deserve, otherwise we wouldn't be here this morning.
But He comes and tells them, He says, Because thou sayest,
I am rich, and increased with goods, and of need of nothing.
Outwardly, that may be the position. Inwardly, it's so wrong. There was destitution. Absolutely. And so the Lord says,
and knowest not that thou wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. What a description. And here
was this church spoken to. You don't know what you're really
like. This is what you are really like. Well, the Lord then comes and
speaks and encourages us. And he says, I counsel thee.
When God gives counsel, it's always good counsel. men may
give bad counsel but God never gives bad counsel it's always
good counsel and it's always necessary that you and I take
heed therefore to what he tells us I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire the precious things of God the pure things
of God likens to gold I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried
in the fire that means tested that means all that which is
false and of no value is cast out and burnt up in the fire
that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest
be clothed and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint
thine eyes with thyself that thou mayest see. You see how
often people don't realize that we are in the eyes of Almighty
God naked. And we need to be clothed. No
one enters into glory who is not clothed. Everyone who comes
to the marriage supper of the Lamb is clothed. and then clothe
the wedding garment. And what is that? The righteousness
of Christ. Now then, to great mercy, therefore,
if you and I recognize the need for that, and to seek that we
might be clothed, therefore, with this righteousness, which
would indeed cover our nakedness. And so he says, thou mayest be
rich and white raiment, thou mayest be clothed, Christ's righteousness
is white, it's spotless, there is no fault in it. And that thy nakedness do not
appear, and anoint thine eyes with thyself, that thou mayest
see. You see, there has perhaps been
that blindness. Blindness! When you and I consider
the things of God, we just pass over it. We don't ponder it. We don't pray over it. We don't
read it carefully. We just pass over it. And again,
sadly today, the majority of the so-called Christian church,
they just consider that they're able to tick a box and they've
done a little duty, but there's been no benefit to the soul. So may we not therefore be found
like that, but may we have our eyes opened as we read the Word
of God, that it may be truly blessed to us that we may see. And then he says, as many as
I love, I rebuke and chasten. Now naturally we don't like chastening. You see, no chastening for the
present. is joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward bringeth
forth appeasable fruits of righteousness. All of God's children are chastened
in their life. That means we are corrected. That means we're brought back
to a line. That means the Lord is graciously
dealing with us. and not leaving us to just wander
on aimlessly as those who are lost but as many as I love that
you see the significant statement I rebuke and chasten it's a mark
of sonship it's a mark of being a daughter of Christ to realise
that the Lord has rebuked us shown us the wrong path we've
been taken, the wrong way we've been going in, and has graciously
come and rebuked us. You think of the billions who
are not rebuked. Amazing love. When the Lord comes
and rebukes us, well, what a mercy today if you and I have had the
rebuking hand of God upon us to correct us to bring us back
to direct us, to instruct us so he comes and says I rebuke
and chasten and he tells us of something to do something which perhaps we haven't
done We are to be zealous, therefore,
and repent. Two things which are the glorious
gifts of God. Two things which are essential,
really, in our Christian life. And you know, there seems to
be today so little zeal for the things of God. There's plenty
of zeal for the things of time. There's plenty of zeal to try
and possess this and possess that and to prosper ourselves,
but there's not much zeal for the things of God. And yet here
we have this important exhortation. Be zealous. When the Lord therefore
has rebuked us and chastened us, We're not to then just sit
down and say, well, there you are, that's my life. We are to
be zealous in the things of God. That means we are to follow the
way of God, follow his blessed examples which are set before
us from Genesis to Revelation. Hail the church of God. have
been led, how the Church of God have been directed. And we've
seen the importance it is. And then to be blessed with this
favour of repentance. We read in the Epistle of Paul
to the Romans, the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance. And that surely is a very clear
and wonderful favour if you and I have known the goodness of
God toward us. And by that I mean we haven't
been dealt with as our sins deserve. And as we review, and as we view
the situation, we see the good hand of God upon
us. And therefore the result is,
as Paul tells us, the goodness of God leads us to repentance.
He could speak from experience, couldn't he? And all the church
of God can speak from experience. The goodness of the Lord leads
us to repentance. And therefore here we have this
gracious word of God. Remember, those he loves, This
is exhortation. To be zealous and repent. Well then, we come to the words
that we read together for a text this morning. And we come to
this word, behold. And it is something that we are
to look at and to remember and to pause and consider carefully. and not to go away ignorant of
the words of God. It's a great blessing to have
the Word of God. It's a great blessing to have
the instruction of the Word of God. And it's a great favour
to realise how the Lord works and what He does and what He
says. And so here we have a wonderful
picture which is very easy for us to understand. And we have
the picture of a door. Well, we all know what a door
is, I'm sure. A door is an entry into something,
into a room, into a house, into a hall, into a palace, wherever
it is, there is a door. And that door has to be opened
to pass into that which is beyond. And so here we're told the Lord
himself stands at the door. Stands at the door. He doesn't just stand there. My friends, the Lord works. The
Lord speaks. He doesn't just stand there.
What does He do? He does two things. He says, I stand at the door
and knock. That's the first thing. And what
is that? Sure that is to draw attention.
than the someone outside. Someone outside is knocking on
the door to draw attention. We know when people come to our
doors, our front doors at home, if someone knocks at the door,
it's because they need some attention. They need the door to be open
so that they can either come in And if they come in, they
can also then give the message as to why they come. And perhaps
to give something that they brought. But if the door remains closed,
there's no possibility of that being performed. And so naturally
we see the importance of a door being opened to permit the person
to come in. Well, the Lord tells us here,
behold, I stand at the door and knock. And he doesn't only knock. He says, if any man hear my voice,
that means he speaks. So it's not as though we might
be afraid to open the door. Sometimes we wouldn't want to
open the door, we don't know who's the other side. and it
might be an enemy and we wouldn't want them to come in. But here
we have the Lord telling us that he's speaking. So therefore we're
not under any misapprehension of who it is. Behold, I stand
at the door and knock. If any man, hear my voice and
open the door. Well, we can see this can't be
very clear in a natural way. And you may think, well, what
is it really in a spiritual way? Well, there is, of course, a
very clear and important spiritual consideration. Because come back
to the truth, the Word of God is a spiritual book. Bless God,
it is. and therefore the door really
represents our heart our heart you see our heart naturally is
closed to the things of God our spiritual mind as it were is
closed to the things of God because we want to enjoy the world I heard recently a sad statement
of a person that had been brought up in religious ways and then
as they got older in middle age they departed and went into all
the things of the world and they made this confession He said,
because I love the world. What does the Bible tell us?
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
we are not to love the things of the world the devil wants
us to love the things of the world that is his great aim and
because if you and I are loving the things of the world we shan't
be turning to God we shan't be concentrating on the things of
God and it's very easy to become sidetracked and to turn aside
the things of this world love not the world well the wonderful
blessing is if the Lord then comes and speaks to our heart
and as it were knocks on the door of our heart and asks us
to open our heart which is not something that you
and I do automatically it's not something you and I do naturally
our hearts closed to the things of God but if God comes and speaks
and knocks and requests that we might indeed open open the
door and there was a very important reason Why that should be done? So that the Lord might come into
our heart. There's a couplet which I've
heard quoted, I remember years ago, by John Tyler. He said,
come into my heart, Lord Jesus. There is room in my heart today. Oh, friends. What a great blessing if the
Lord is knocking at the door of our heart requesting that
we might open it that we might receive His Word that we might not reject it and
that it might remain closed and therefore there is no blessing
of God He doesn't come in he doesn't come in and speak to
us he doesn't come in and eat with us he doesn't come in with
us and provide us with spiritual food but we're left outside or
rather the Lord's left outside yes tragic isn't it? sad isn't
it? these things are so important
aren't they? behold says the Lord Behold,
I stand at the door and knock. Another place we read in this
chapter, Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it. What a mercy, therefore, if that
door is open, therefore, to us. And then he tells us, I will
come in to him. Remember what God says, never
fail us. He says, I will come in. If you
and I receive that grace and that desire to pray the Lord
will come into our heart, we can believe he will. He will not say us, no. No, but
he will hear and answer his prayer because he is. a prayer hearing,
and a prayer answering God, and do not listen to the devil. This
is the gracious words of the Savior. Rely upon God's word. Don't turn away from it. Lay
hold of it. Grasp it. And see, he says, and
open the door, and then these gracious words, I will come in. to him and will suck with him
and he with me what surely is this? it can be none other than
partaking of heavenly food heavenly manna that food which will sustain
us that food which will be a blessing to us and the Lord never feeds
us with anything which is not good and anything which is not
suitable. We have a very clear picture
of what that is when the Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples
and the multitude recorded in the sixth of John and he likens
it to the natural need that Israel had when they had manna as they
were journeying through the wilderness. But he said, they had that, and
what was the result? Eventually, they died. But those who are blessed with
spiritual food, it is eternal, and they will never die. And
what is that spiritual food? The Lord Jesus speaks it very
clearly. except ye eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of God, there is no life in you. That's a very straight word,
isn't it? Now, that doesn't mean in a physical sense, but it means
in a spiritual sense. It means that you and I feed
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, And that food strengthens our soul,
blesses our soul, encourages us and we rejoice in it. Because what do we observe? We
observe the blessed saviour gave his life that we might live. And that life was a perfect life.
And that life was a sinless life. And that sinless life was given
payment was made it was his life and it showed in the shedding
of his most precious blood that his life had been given. That was a very clear evidence
all through the Old Testament of the sacrifices that blood
was shed. The evidence therefore, death
had occurred. And nonetheless, for the glorious
Saviour himself, he shed his most precious blood in giving
his body as that satisfactory sacrifice in order to redeem
our souls. When the door is open and Christ
comes in, the Church of God feed upon Christ. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. There's no hope of glory without
Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That means then, feeding upon
Christ, that means union with the Lamb from condemnation free. Must be so. Christ didn't die
in vain. Christ didn't shed his blood
in vain. Christ died that we might live. tells us without shedding of
blood there's no forgiveness, there's no remission but with
that shedding of blood there is and if we therefore this morning
have heard the glorious gospel voice of the Saviour when He directs us to this word
to open to Him Open the door to Him. No one else. Don't open
it and let the devil in. Oh no. You need to hear the voice
first. You've heard the voice then,
open the door. The devil might knock. He won't
say anything or if he does it will be false. Don't listen to
him. The Saviour speaks the words of truth and righteousness. he will speak words like this
yes to encourage us seek and ye shall find Mercy it is then to come to the
Saviour and open the door and I will come into Him and will
suck with Him and He with me. Well surely it must be a wonderful
evidence of divine life if by the grace of God you and I have
had the favour of being able by His grace to open our heart
to the Lord and He's come in and He's dwelt with us And what
will that be? Surely it will be fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is it? Fellowship with
his sufferings. Fellowship to realize the blessed
Lord died to redeem our souls. Food and drink. Oh, my friends,
may we be amongst those then. And indeed, not like, again,
like the Bride of Christ, which we read
of in the Song of Solomon. We read of her reaction, which
occurred, and it wasn't a right response because the Lord came
and spoke to her in this way. And he said, or she said rather, I sleep,
but my heart waketh. Now, the Lord had said, I am
come into my garden, my sister, my spouse, I've gathered my myrrh
with my spice, I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I've
drunk my wine with my milk, eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved. And her response was this, I
sleep, but my heart waketh. So what's that? Conscience. Conscience. I sleep, but my heart waketh.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to
me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. For my head is
filled with you, and my locks with the drops of the night.
You would think, wouldn't me, there would be an immediate response
of love and joy and rejoicing. We have to be very aware that
Satan is very active on such occasions like this. And therefore,
she was in bed, and she says, I put off my coat. How shall
I put it on? I washed my feet. How shall I
defile them? My beloved put in his hand the
hold of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. Well, eventually,
she rose up. She came to her time scale. I rise up to open to my beloved,
and my hands drop with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling
myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I open to my beloved, but
my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. I wonder, perhaps,
in our lives sometimes, What's happened is we haven't put first
things first. We've allowed material things
to be uppermost in our lives. And what has occurred? We've
been robbed of the blessing. Yes, you see, God will have our
attention. God won't take second place.
We should never think he will. We may have thought so. We may
have been not bold enough to utter it, but by our actions
we've put Christ in second place. I suppose the truth is that we've
been like those spoken of in the parable of the sower who
are choked by the cares of this world. Yes, the cares of this
world. You see how easily they come
in. And it's not easy to get rid of them. Not easy at all. You'll need the wonderful gift
of repentance to get rid of them. So may we know what it is to
rejoice and be blessed with the wonderful favor of God coming
into our hearts No, that he may remain there. He may not depart. He may not go away. But we may be constantly rejoicing
in his great, glorious, finished work. Because what must that
do? That must bring praise to him,
hasn't it? True thankfulness in our hearts that we're able
to come and to deal with such a God. Well then, the Lord goes,
comes on and says, to him that overcometh. That gives us the
clear picture that there is opposition. There's something to overcome.
We need to overcome our old nature. We need to overcome the rebellion
of our hard heart. we need to overcome that which
is against the things of God and goes for an easy life and
goes to the things of time but the Lord tells us here there
is therefore an overcoming and that won't be because of what
you and I have done that won't be at all to him that overcometh How do
we overcome? Well, we read it in the 12th
chapter of Revelation. And they overcame through the
blood of the Lamb. That really means that if there's
no communion with Christ, there's no overcoming. There's no praising
God for what he's done. There's no blessing His great
and holy name for His glorious gift of repentance which He's
given to us and to seek His face and to desire that He would come
in and dwell with us and to feed us. Lord bless God. He's given us grace to look to
Him and realise, yes, we are more than conquerors through
Him, said the Apostle in the 8th of the Romans, more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. We're not the conquerors, the
Saviour is. We overcome through the blood
of the Lamb. To him that overcometh, this
is the promise. When I grant to sit with me in
my throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with my father
in his throne. What do we see? The picture here,
the great and glorious savior. With all the opposition that
Satan could bring upon him, he overcame, he overcame. And so what a wonderful thing
it is to realize even as I also overcame, yes, he overcame and
has sat down with my father in his throne to be united with Christ eternally,
eternally. This should be the great object
and the great concern of the Church of God. to be forever
with the Lord. Forever with the Lord. Amen. So let it be. And then finally,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. Bless God today. If he has given
to you and me an hearing ear, to hear His Word, to hear what
He has said and be given that wonderful grace to be zealous,
to repent, to hear His Word, to open the door, to hear His
voice, to entertain Him in our heart and to enjoy the blessed
favour of fellowship with Christ, fellowship with His sufferings,
union with the Lamb, from condemnation free, and to be therefore amongst
those who overcome through the blood of the Lamb, and who, by
His grace, will one day sit down with Him in glory for ever and
ever. And so let us hear these words
for our soul's eternal good and for the honor and glory of God. Amen.