In the fourth and final chapter
of Colossians, as Paul draws his epistle to the Colossians
to a conclusion, he writes unto the Brethren at Colossae, to
continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
We've all prayed also for us, that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to
speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man. Praying also for us that God
would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. In Britain today, as in many
nations around this world, most have closed their doors to the
gospel. Many, many doors are shut fast
to the gospel. The people don't want to know
The leaders don't want to know. The media doesn't want to know. People's eyes are shut. Their
ears are shut. Their doors are shut. They have
no time for the gospel and no time for the Christ who is made
known in that gospel. Hardly is there a time more needful
for us to join here with Paul's prayer unto the Lord, that the
Lord would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ. We are few here today and how
many there are round about in the area, in this county, in
the towns round about, how many there are. who have closed their
doors to the gospel, who shut their ears to the gospel, who
don't want to know how many there could be who could come in here,
how many there could be who could have their ears open. And yet
for reasons, and many, they shut their ears and their door is
shut. Yet nevertheless, when man shuts
the door, God opens. And though we live in a nation,
and though we live in an area where many doors are shut to
the gospel, and where men don't want to know, when God wants
to open the door, He opens it wide. And what doors the Lord
has opened, even in our day, for the fervent of the gospel,
How he chooses to send it forth to the four corners of this earth. What amazing doors he has opened
to broadcast his message. Perhaps across the internet,
perhaps with the recorded messages, perhaps with the publications
of books. He broadcasts his message and
he will bring it to those to whom he will bring it. Here Paul prays. He exhorts the
Brethren to pray that God would open a door of utterance, that
he would make it manifest as Paul ought to speak. Well, what
should he speak? What should we speak? What is
this mystery of Christ which Paul would declare? How should
he make it known? What should he declare? We don't know. Of ourselves we
don't know. Only Christ does. He must speak. He spake by Paul. But he, Christ,
was the one who spake. He may send his preachers today,
but he is the one who must speak by them. As then so today, Christ
must open the door and Christ must be the one who speaks. Well, Paul had many doors open
to him to preach the gospel. Yes, there were doors which were
shut, but many doors were opened. We read of the fruit of an open
door to Colossae, this place where Paul had never actually
visited, and yet the gospel reached Colossae, and the hearts of many
were opened in that city. And here the door is opened under
Paul to write unto those whom he had yet to see face to face. And yet God had opened the hearts
of this people to hear and to receive and to believe. Here
in the final chapter of Colossians, we read of a number of those
to whom the gospel had been opened. Paul gives various salutations
and commendations of those whom he loves and those who are fellow
servants and fellow workers and those who have received of Christ
in the gospel. We read here of the fruit thereof,
the fruit of the gospel. We read earlier in chapter 16
of Acts, of some of the doors which were opened to Paul to
declare the gospel. Mighty doors, effectual doors. The apostles would have gone
to this place and to that place, And yet the Spirit forbade them. We read in Acts 16, how they
were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. And
they would come to Mysia and they were saved to go into Bithynia
but the Spirit suffered them not. And yet a vision appeared
to Paul in the night and there stood a man of Macedonia and
prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And
after he had seen the vision, immediately they endeavoured
to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
for them to preach the gospel unto them. And so they went,
and they went to Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia. And
they were in that city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath
they went to the riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. And
they sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard them, whose heart
the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. And when she was baptized in
her household, she besought them, saying, if ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.
And she constrained them, and they stayed there, and they preached
the gospel mightily, Yes, there were doors, great doors open
to the apostle. The Lord led them to where they
should preach, to where he should preach. He led them to those
whose heart he would open. And what a work of grace was
seen in the preaching of the gospel, what fruit there was,
what tremendous doors were opened. Having preached by the riverside,
The fame of this came unto the leaders of the people there who
were troubled and who put the apostles into jail. And yet what
might be seen as a disaster, humanly speaking, and as the
shutting of the door proved to be the opening of yet another
door, as the jailer himself moved by the tremendous work
of God in the night as there was a great earthquake and the
doors of the jails were opened and he trembled fearing for his
life called unto the disciples and said sirs what must I do
to be saved and they said unto him believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house and they spake
unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in the house
And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their
stripes, and he was baptized, and all his house straight away. And they rejoiced, believing
in God. Oh, what an open door! How would
they have ever come to preach the gospel to this hardened jailer? Except the Lord had shut them
up in his jail, that he might open his heart. What an opening of a door. How
God broke his bands asunder and entered in. How the gospel came
crashing into his heart in such a wonderful way. Yes, God opened
the doors for Paul to preach the gospel. He opened many doors
in many places, great doors, effectual doors. And yet what
was the effect of the preaching of that gospel upon Paul himself? It shut him up. It brought him
into bonds. He writes in 1 Corinthians chapter
16, for a great door and effectual is opened unto me. And there
are many adversaries. You see, men didn't like what
he had to say. They didn't want to hear what
he had to say. They went out of their way to
stop him saying what he had to say. They sought to quench his
voice, to shut the door, to put him in bonds, to tie him down. But what man seeks to shut, God
can open. Nothing can stand in His way
when He wants to open the door. His doors were shut to Paul and
doors are shut to us today. The world hates our Gospel and
it hates the Christ it makes known. It hates Him. We ourselves were
just the same. There was a time when those of
us who may love and know the Lord Jesus today, there was a
time when we ourselves, just like others, shut the door to
his gospel and hated the hair of the Christ that that gospel
makes known. We shut the doors firmly. There was no room in the inn
No room in our inn for this King, for this Saviour. We had no time. We had no ears. The door was
fast shut. Our hearts were fast shut. Our eyes were shut. Our ears
were shut. Sin and death and the corruption
of sin had shut them tight. Maybe yours are shut tight today,
maybe your heart is shut tight, maybe your ears are shut, maybe
your eyes are shut, far shut. Is your heart open to the gospel
or is it shut? Is the door of your heart shut
this day? Is it? Is it hardened against
the gospel? hardened against the Lord, hardened
against all the things of God, shut and yet open to the world
and open to all the treasures of the world, the entertainments,
the pleasures, the goals, the things of this world, open to
all that is here, all that is temporary, all that is passing,
all that perishes and yet shut to God and shut to all that is
eternal and all that is everlasting. Well mine was, my heart was shut,
my door was shut, is yours? Well it may be, it may be shut,
your heart may be hardened, But if God chooses to open the door,
if God chooses to open the door of your heart, then nothing you
can do can prevent it. Nothing. Try as hard as you may. Work as hard as you may. Set
all the power and strength of your will and desire against
it. Lean hard against the door. But in the end, finally in the
end everything will come crashing down and one will enter in. All your defences one by one
will begin to crumble as the power of the gospel is set against
the will of your heart and the will of your heart is weakened
and crumbles and the power of the gospel and the light of the
gospel is brought to shining in power. For when God chooses
to open, no man can shut. When the Lord opens the door,
no man, not even you, can shut it. In Revelation 3 we read of
the angel at the church of Philadelphia to whom John was told to 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,
and shutteth, and no man openeth, I know thy works. Behold, I have
set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou
hast a little strength, and has kept my word and has not denied
my name. I have set before thee an open
door and no man can shut it. Yes, when God opens the door,
no man can shut it. And when God shuts the door,
no man can open it. Yes, God opens the doors. God
sends the preacher. God opens the door to the preacher. He opens the doors of the heart. And he brings the increase. All is of God. Beginning, middle
and end. He opens the door. He sends forth
the light. He enters in. And when he chooses
to open, No man can shut. Is your heart opened? For this opening of the heart
is our need. It's my need. It's your need. It's all our need. That our hearts
are opened. We need an open door. We need
an open door into our hearts, an open door for the gospel,
an open door to the gospel that makes known the righteousness
of God in Christ to those who are unrighteous, those who are
sinful, those who are sinners, those who are dead, those who
are dark. Is that you? You see, when man shut the door
on God in his heart, he died. He died. When he sinned, he brought
in death. When Adam sinned in the garden,
he brought in death. When each man who's been born
upon this world ever since has sinned, he is brought in death. When you sinned, you brought
in death. And what man needs, what I need,
what you need is life. Not death, but life. Everlasting
life. Eternal life. And that life can
only come through righteousness. And that righteousness can only
come through an open door. An open door for the gospel. For righteousness is made known
in the gospel. And the gospel can only be made
known unto you if the door of your heart is opened. Accept God opened the door. Accept God opened the door to
you. Except God opened the door of
your heart as he opened the door of Lydia's heart of whom we read
in Acts. Except the heart is opened, then
that door will remain forever shut. Forever shut. You'll never open the door. Never. World without end, you
will never open it. You cannot open it. Try as you
may, you will never open the door to this gospel. Many may
profess Jesus Christ, but they've opened the door to another Christ,
made known in another gospel, to whom the door is opened from
their side. with their key, by their hand,
by their will, but that Christ is a counterfeit who never truly
enters in, for there's never an open door to the truth. They may open their door to a
lie that may lead them to destruction, but man cannot open the door
to Jesus Christ except the Lord Jesus Christ opens the door himself
and that's your need and my need that he opens the door that he
opens the door to his gospel and that by that gospel he opens
the door to you in your heart for him to enter in yes your
need is an open door But consider the door. Consider
this door, this door for the gospel, the door by which the
gospel is made known, the door through which the gospel enters
a sinner's heart, the door through which the gospel may enter your
heart, if God be pleased to open it. Consider the door. What is this door? Well let me
tell you something about this door. The door is Christ. Christ is
the door. Christ is the door to your heart. The door will never be opened
except Christ be made known unto you. Except he be the door which
is opened unto you. As we read at the beginning of
the meeting in John chapter 10, Christ speaks of the sheep, and
of the shepherd of the sheep, and of the sheepfold, and of
the door into the sheepfold, of the entering in by that door. And he says in verse nine of
John chapter 10, he says of that door, he says categorically,
I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. and go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Yes, he says, I am the door. If any man enter in by me, he
shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture. I am come
that they might have life, not death, not sin that brings forth
death, but righteousness that brings forth life. Righteousness,
that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. He's the door, and He's the one
who opens the door. He is the door that must be opened
unto us, for our hearts to be opened unto Him. He must be revealed
to us. He must speak. He must utter. And He must speak unto us. Our heart must be opened up to
receive Him and only the Spirit of God through His Gospel can
open the hard heart. Only the Spirit of God through
the Gospel can make known Christ unto us and reveal Him unto us
in our heart. He's the door and he must open
it by his spirit. Oh, but how hard the heart is,
how far shut the door is, how firmly, tightly shut our hard
hearts are to this door. Self-righteousness, pride, arrogance,
the pride of life, Our own self-righteousness have shut this door fast. Our hearts are shut to it. But
if Christ should come, if Christ the door should come, if Christ
should come in his gospel, in the power of his gospel, if he
should come to you by the sound of this gospel even this day,
to you a hardened sinner, to you with the hard heart, however
hard-hearted you may be. If Christ should come and open
the door, if Christ should come and open himself to you, if he
should open the door, then no man can shut it. Yes, Christ is the door. He opens
the door to sinners. and he shuts the door to sinners. He knows both how to open and
how to shut. He knows how to release someone
and how to lock someone up. Oh yes, he knows how to lock
someone up. Don't think that he will just
come and open at your bidding. He opens and he shuts. at His
decree, based on His mercy and His will. For this Christ, this Lord is
the one who, as we read in Revelation 1, He is the one who has the
keys of hell and of death. He's the door and He's the one
that holds the keys to the door. and not only to the door by which
he enters in with eternal life into the hearts of sinners, but
he's also the one that holds the keys to the door to hell
and of death to those to whom the door of eternal life will
never be opened. He holds the keys to your eternal
destiny, whatever it may be, whether your destiny is unto
eternal life or unto eternal damnation. He's the one that
holds the keys, not you, not you. He has the power either
to judge you and condemn you or to release you and justify
you. He's the one who holds the keys. This moment, this day, this hour
rightly and justly fairly he's the one well if that be the case he is
not one to be trifled with he's not one to be messed around with
he's not one to be apathetic unto His gospel is not a message
to treat with disdain, or to treat lightly. It is not a message
to shut your ears readily to, or to think you can come and
go with it, or to think you'll shut your ears this day and you'll
come and listen another day. This day the sound of the gospel
may be open unto you. It may be forever shut. There may never be another day
when you are brought to hear of the one who opens and the
one who shuts. Yes, this is the one who holds
the keys of hell and of death. He has that power to save or
to condemn. Now, this is not one to be trifled
with. This is the Lord of Lords and
King of Kings, one whom you should reverence, one whom we should
bow down to. This is the one who has absolute
dominion over us. This is the one who holds our
eternal destiny in his hands. Kiss the son, lest he be angry,
it says in the second Psalm. Kiss the son, cry out unto him
for mercy. Oh, that he may open the door
to us this day. Oh, that he may not shut the
door, but that we may know him to be the door, and that he may
be opened unto us even this day. Well, has he opened the door? Has he made himself known unto
you? Is your door open? Have you heard? Have you kissed the Son? Do you
kiss Him? Do you bow down to Him? Have
you heard? Is your heart shut to Him? Is
it still closed even now? Like the world was when He came,
as it was when He walked this world, when Christ entered this
world, when He came as a man, made a man, made of the seed
of David, when he entered this world, he entered into the darkness,
he entered unto a people who shut their doors fast to him,
who closed the doors, who so closed the doors that in the
end they crucified him. Have you shut the door like them?
That's how closed the world was then to Christ. That's how closed
the world by nature is today to Christ. Far shut. So closed that that hour, it
crucified him. With what consequence? With this
consequence. in slaying the prince of life. With wicked hands in slaying
the prince of life, the world that would shut their doors to
him played the part that God would have them to play, to bring
to pass the opening of the door of salvation to all his people. Yes, when man sought to shut
the door, unwittingly he opened it wide. The doors of salvation
were flung open when Christ was nailed to the tree. There the
doors of mankind at the tree may have been shut, but in shutting
the door they opened the doors of salvation. Upon the cross
when they nailed the Saviour to the cross, upon that cross
the doors of hell were forever shut to all those for whom Christ
would die. Those doors of hell and of death
which Christ holds the keys of, When He was nailed to the cross,
they were forever shut to every last one for whom He died in
the place of, as their substitute, for whom He shed His blood to
wash them by His own blood. Yes, at that hour, when nailed
to the tree, there the door was opened unto everlasting life,
everlasting glory for all those in Christ, all those who are
brought to believe upon his name. Oh what the people who crucified
him meant for evil, God used for good. Yes as with Joseph
in the account in Genesis, the same was true of Christ. Joseph's brothers had him slain,
as it were. They threw him into a pit. They
gave him away as dead. Yet God delivered him from the
pit and raised him to a great height where he became a blessing
to many people. And Joseph would say at the end
of Genesis to his brethren, as for you, ye fought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good. to bring to pass as it is this
day, to save much people alive. To save much people alive. And when Christ was nailed to
the tree, that which the people fought against him for evil,
God meant it for good. That closing of the door brought
an opening of an ever greater door. It was brought to pass
that day to save much people alive. Oh, what a door was opened
when Christ was crucified. Oh, may you hear of the one who
opened the door, the one who is the door, the one who speaks
to sinners from the other side of death, having died, having
risen again, having ascended, He stands in glory, the other
side of death, in eternal life, and He speaks from the grave,
from heaven, from the other side of the rivers of death. He declares
from the grave His gospel, and He speaks eternal life unto those
who live in darkness, eternal life to those who are dead, those
who He will make alive. Oh from the other side of the
grave the light shines forth out of the light into the darkness
into the death of this world to declare unto those who shut
their doors of one who is the door of one who opens the door
of one who opens the door unto everlasting life Oh may God give
us ears to hear him, to hear his voice. May he open the doors
of our hearts to him, to hear of him who is made known in the
mystery of Christ, the gospel. May we too be given an open door
to make that gospel known in our day for God's glory. Paul exhorts the Colossians here,
having exhorted them to pray for him that the door of utterance
may be opened, that he may make known the mystery of Christ.
He exhorts them to walk in wisdom towards them that are without,
redeeming the time. Let your speech, he says, be
always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye
ought to answer every man, how ye should speak O may the door
of the gospel be opened unto us, and may the door of utterance
to declare that gospel to others be opened unto us, that we may
know how we ought to answer every man, that we may know that God
may make it manifest how we ought to speak. We read in Acts, in chapter 14,
that when they, the Paul and the apostles and the others,
his fellow workers, would come and had gathered the church together,
they rehearsed all that God had done with them, all those doors
that he had opened, all that blessing he had brought forth,
they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had
opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. The door of faith. O may God open a door of utterance
this day, that the mystery of Christ may be made known unto
you, unto you a Gentile, even unto you. May he be pleased to
open to me and to you the door of faith by the gospel, that
same door of faith which he opened unto the Gentiles, to the apostles,
may it be opened unto us. that that gospel which was made
known unto the Gentiles, even to those at Colossae, that gospel
made known unto Gentiles, those who in the eyes of the Jews were
dogs, that gospel, that it may be made known unto us, that gospel
which was made known at Colossae, to those whom the door had once
been shut fast, those who were not Jews, those who were outside
of the Commonwealth of Israel, those who had once lived in darkness,
the door to them had once been shut fast, but now in the New
Testament, in Christ, the door had been flung wide open. So
Paul here at the end speaks of this door, mindful of the door
which had been opened to the Colossians. mindful of the bonds
in which the preaching of this gospel had brought him. He closes
his epistle with these wonderful salutations and commendations
which he gives to his brethren there. In love he writes to these
people to whom the gospel had been made known. He writes and
he concludes with these salutations and cares from him and those
who had laboured with him. And though in bonds though this
gospel had brought him into bondage, nevertheless he loves those to
whom the door of the gospel had been opened, and he rejoices
in the goodness of God to them, though he had never seen them,
that goodness of the grace of the gospel. Oh, he prays that
the door of the gospel may be opened yet to others, may it
be opened even today, even unto us, even unto you, perhaps, if
God be pleased to open. And so Paul concludes his epistle.
He concludes by saying, the salutation by the hands of me, Paul. Remember
my bonds. Grace be with you. Grace be with you, to whom the Lord
opened a door of utterance to preach the mystery of Christ.
Grace be with you. Amen.