Open your Bible, please, to Revelation
chapter 3. In his Sermon on the Mount, our
dear Savior says to us, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and
ye shall find. knock, and it shall be opened
to you." Now that's exactly what we might expect from our gracious
God and merciful Redeemer. But now look at this text, Revelation
3 and verse 20. That same sovereign, eternal,
omnipotent God, our Savior, makes this statement. Behold, I stand
at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him
and he with me. Who would ever imagine such a
thing? who would ever imagine that the great benefactor would
ask and seek and knock at the door of a sinner's heart that
he might be gracious. But here it is. Instead of the
sinner knocking at the door of heaven in fervent supplication,
the Son of God himself is knocking at the door of a man's heart
seeking admittance. Truly God's ways are higher than
our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts. I trust that God
the Holy Spirit will be our teacher as we look at these words of
our dear Savior tonight. Now I fully realize that these
words were written and spoken by the Lord Jesus to the apathetic,
indifferent, Laodicean church. They are spoken to men and women
in churches where the Lord Jesus Christ has been spurned, despised,
and neglected. The Lord Jesus, our Savior, says,
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man Any man in
this lukewarm, indifferent, apathetic church, any man in this church
that I'm ready to spew out of my mouth, if any man here hears
my voice, opens to me, I'll come in to that man and I'll sup with
that man and he with me. I'm equally convinced and certain
that these words of our Savior are addressed to any true believer
who, for love of ease, by the care of this world, through carnal
security, has become cold and indifferent to Christ. Our Savior
says to you who need reviving, whose hearts are cold, languishing,
and indifferent, open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with the dew of
Gethsemane and my hatlocks with the drops of Calvary open to
me. If any man hears my voice and
opens to me, I will come in to you and I'll sup with you and
you with me. And I am certain that these words
are spoken to perishing sinners in need of mercy. Christ Jesus
is here calling sinners to himself. He's calling for you to open
your heart and receive him. Now that's astounding. Here is
life calling to the dead. Here is pardon calling for the
damned. Here is salvation calling to
the lost. Here is mercy calling to the
rebel. Here is grace pursuing those
who desperately need grace but have no desire for grace. I have
a message for everybody here. My message falls from the lips
of the Son of God himself. These are the words of Christ
to you, whoever you are, whatever your circumstances are tonight.
These are the words of Christ to you and to me. I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to him and will suck with him
and he with me." The Lord Jesus Christ is willing and anxious
to be gracious to sinners. He says, Behold, I stand at the
door and knock. Oh, may He graciously by His
Spirit cause us to hear His voice and cause each of us to open
to Him. Let's look at the text word by
word. Behold. Pause now. I have a few very old books in
my library. published in the days when they
still used old English. And frequently on important passages,
there'll be a picture in the book like this, picture of a
man's hand pointing. That's what our Lord gives us
here. He says, stop, look, pay attention to this. This is important.
This is unusual. This is something worthy of your
heart's devoted meditation. This is something worthy of your
heart's focused attention. Behold, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, is suing for admission into our hearts. Now you just imagine that. That's
a marvelous thing indeed. What condescension, what mercy,
what grace, what love. Behold, if we were to stand at
mercy's gate, and knock for acceptance with God, knock for an entrance
into mercy's gate year after year and never hear any answer
of peace. If we were to stand at mercy's
gate and knock and knock and knock and call and call and call
and never be answered, that'd be just what we deserve. Our
sins have separated us from God. We justly deserve that he should
show us no mercy. And if he should refuse to hear
our call, if he should refuse to answer our knock, we would
have no just complaint against him. But here, the Lord Jesus
stands at the door of doomed, damned, desperately wicked sinners
and sues for admission. That's incredible. Though he
is often spurned, still he leans upon the door like a rejected
lover and knocks for entrance. Behold, his condescension exceeds
belief, exceeds imagination. Here is the divine creator pleading
with fallen guilty rebels. Here is the creator pleading
with ungrateful creatures. This is the judge of all the
earth following the condemned criminal to the gallows, urging
him to accept pardon, urging him to let the sentence of death
be reversed. This is the all-sufficient, self-sufficient
God who would be just as happy, just as glorious, just as perfectly
content if all the race of man were damned like the fallen angels. It wouldn't have any effect on
His glorious being. And yet this great God comes
to sinners who deserves His wrath, and He calls for sinners to accept
the blessings of grace and glory from His infinitely bountiful
hands. Oh, if you would learn nothing
else from this passage of Scripture, I want you to learn this. This is one of the most profound
things I ever wrote down in my life. I told the men, Back here
a few minutes ago, I wrote this down, looked it over this afternoon,
and I was just astounded. I was just astounded. The Lord Jesus Christ is an earnest suitor for the
affections of worthless sinners. Can you imagine that? Carla Bailey showed me something
very special this morning. She's got one of those sparkling
things on her finger. Mark has been suiting her for
a long time. Suiting her affections. Seeking
her heart. I don't understand that. I don't
understand you doing that. I came for the life of me. Understand
the Son of God suiting for your affection or mine." But he does. He does. He is an earnest suitor
for the affections of worthless sinners. Let me show you some
scripture. Come back to the book of Isaiah,
Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65, verse 1, our Lord
says, I'm thought of them that ask not for me. I'm found of
them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands
all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way
that was not good after their own thought. Our Savior says,
come unto me. all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and ye shall
find rest unto your souls." Our Savior, as he looks over the
city of Jerusalem with a broken heart, cries, How oft would I have gathered
thy children as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and you would not." That's the Son of God speaking. That's the
Son of God. Our Savior earnestly pursues
fallen sinners. You have a beautiful picture
of it in the story of Hosea and Gomer. Gomer was a harlot, a
prostitute. She had been probably raised
by a harlot. And she began early in her life
the business of selling herself for sexual pleasures. Hosea was
a godly prophet, a man called of God and anointed of God. And
God told Hosea, go down into the red light district and love
a woman who is a whore. And Hosea went down and he found
Gomer, and he brought her home, and they had three children.
And everything was going well, so Hosea supposed. He loved that
woman. He didn't just obey the command
of God, he loved her. But Gomer was still a harlot. She was still
a harlot. And she thought no more of Hosea
than of any of her lovers. As a matter of fact, she cared
less for him than for all her lovers. And one day, I don't
know how it happened, maybe one of her old companions walking
down the street, Gomer called for him. They chatted. Hosea came home. and Gomer was
gone. He looked for her, and he looked
for her, and looked for her, but he found her not. He left
word for her, but she gave him no answer. At last he found where
she was, and he began providing for her.
She didn't know it. She thought her lovers were taking
care of her. But Hosea was providing her with
her corn and her oil and her wine and her flax and her wool.
But he was determined to have her. He was determined that nothing
would happen to Gomer. So he took care of her. But he
wouldn't go get her. Though it was his lawful right
to do so, he was her husband. She belonged to him. And according
to law in that day, he had the right to go get her and drag
her home. But he wouldn't have her. Not until she wanted him
more than right to stay. At last, Gomer grew old and useless. She wasn't fit any longer to
sell herself for sexual pleasures, so she sold herself as a common
chambermaid to be used as anyone might be pleased to use her.
She found herself on the auction block. Hosea walking through
the streets down where they auction off the slaves, and there's Gomer. She's old, and her hair's stringy,
and her gray, and her face is wrinkled, and her body is bent,
wrecked. Her beauty is gone. She has none. And Hosea bought her for an omer
of Barland. And he walked down. He said, Gomer, are you ready
to go home now? And she took him by the arm and
away they went. That's what the Son of God does
for sinners. That's what he does for sinners.
Worthless, decrepit, ragged, dirty, useless, filthy, ugly,
despicable sinners, the Son of God seeks your heart's affection. Behold, behold I, the gracious suitor for your
soul, the gracious suitor of your heart's is the Lord Jesus
Christ, the friend of sinners. He's the almighty, sovereign,
eternal creator, the God who made heaven and earth. He could,
if it were his pleasure, destroy this world. He could destroy
every son of Adam in this world and create a new race of men
who would love him with all their hearts, souls, minds, and beings.
Were that his pleasure? But he delights in mercy. Who
is this one who stands at the door and knocks? Why, he's the
one whom John saw, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. This is the one who shed his
blood to satisfy the justice of a holy God and to put away
the sins of his people throughout all the world. This is the one
that Paul saw. And he said that he's Christ,
the surety of a better testament, the surety of the everlasting
covenant. He's the one who, before the world was, agreed to come
and save a people. This one who is knocking at the
door is that one whom the apostle described as being the sinner's
substitute. He is that one who died the just
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. He is the one
that John described when he said, my little children, These things
write unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate, an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous
one, and he's the propitiation for our sins. This one who knocks
at the heart's door of sinners is the all-sufficient saving
high priest. the mediator between a holy God
and sinful men. He is that one who is able to
save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him. This
one who says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. He is
that one whom the prophet Jeremiah saw. And he said in that day
and at that time, this is the name wherewith he shall be called
Jehovah, our righteousness. He is that man. who is made of
God and to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Now look at the next line. I stand at the door and knock. The word stand really doesn't
convey the meaning of the word. It's more like I lean. Now I'm sure none of you men
have ever experienced this personally, but you've all seen it on television.
A man says or does something wrong, catches his wife in the
wrong mood, and she runs off to the bedroom to pout, and she
locks the door. Whether she has just reason to
be angry or whether she doesn't, the man loves her. And he wants
her and he leans at the door. He could kick the door in. He's
a big fella. He could kick the door in, but
he doesn't want to frighten her. He doesn't want to scare her
to death. He stands at the door. Come on, honey, open the door.
Open the door. That's the picture. That's the
picture. Our Lord Jesus Christ leans against
the door and he knocks. Now that picture tells us three
things. The hearts of men by nature are locked up and barred
against the Lord Jesus. Turn over to Luke chapter 11.
Luke chapter 11, verse 21. Our Lord says, when a strong
man, armed, keepeth his palace, His goods are in peace. Now Satan
is like a strong man armed in his palace and the palace in
which he resides is the heart of man. By great power he arms
his palace against Christ and he keeps his palace in peace.
Many of you are in bondage to Satan. You've been in bondage
to him for a long time and you don't know it. so ignorant of
your bondage that you're in peace, perfectly satisfied to be Satan's
bondman. He'll give you anything to maintain
your heart in peace. He'll give you anything except
Christ. He'll give you religion. He'll
give you morality. He'll give you good works. He'll
give you a religious experience. He'll give you anything to keep
your heart in peace. But when Christ comes seeking
admission, First thing He's going to do is disturb your peace.
He's going to disturb your peace. And you're going to lay every
bar at the door you can find. Everything you can scrape up
to bar the door against Him, you'll place there. Your selfish
lusts bar the door against the Son of God. Prejudice, religious
tradition, unbelief are bars against the gospel of God's grace.
The love of this world, the lust of the flesh, and the lies of
the devil steadfastly deny entrance to the Son of God. No power on
this earth can break the bars of the heart, but the omnipotent
power of divine love can remove those bars, and it will. No man's
heart is naturally open and receptive to the gospel of Christ. It doesn't
surprise me to preach of God's redeeming love and his sovereign
grace and see men get upset and place bars against it and act
as though they're being attacked by an enemy. That doesn't surprise
me. That's in man's nature. All men by nature bar their hearts
up against the gospel. Blindness shuts out the light. Ignorance shuts out the knowledge
of truth. Sin shuts out righteousness.
Self-righteousness shuts out mercy. Rebellion shuts out King
Jesus. But our Lord knocks for entrance
into the hearts of men calling for sinners to open the door. Everybody here has heard that
knock. I'm sure you have. I don't have
any questions about it. You've heard it. You've heard it. He knocks at
the door of your heart with every pricking of conscience. You know what the conscience of a
man is? That's the voice of God in his soul. That's what it is. Our Savior knocks at your heart's
door to awaken you by the event of Providence. Some near escape from death causes
you to stop and think, but not for long. Some close friend A relative
is taken in death and you look up, see what's going on, but
like cattle in the field, you go right on chewing your cud
and paying no attention. But every event of providence, the Son of God saying, pay attention
to me, pay attention to me. Our Savior knocks at the door
by the preaching of the gospel. Some of you sitting here tonight
have heard his voice. Some of you are hearing it right
now. You're hearing it. The Son of God speaking to you
while I preach. I don't have any question about
that. He said he would, and I believe what he said. You hear what he
said. He's knocking at your heart's
door. The gospel of his grace is a loud, clear ringing in your
soul. You know what I'm saying is so.
And he knocks at your heart's door. by the secret wooings and
convictions of his spirit. He does that. He does that. You
know what the knock is. This picture also shows us that
the Lord Jesus is patient and long-suffering, waiting to be
gracious to trifling, obstinate sinners. It doesn't take long for you to wear my patient's
theme. I'm sorry. I've been a little uncomfortable
today. My wife and daughter have been
around me for a while and they know that I'm a little uncomfortable. If I'm not treated fairly well,
you know, I'm likely to make things uncomfortable for them.
I'm sorry, but that's the way I am. Not so with the Son of
God. He's patient and long-suffering
with trifling, obstinate sinners. If I were him, I'd have kicked
you in hell a long time ago and been done with you, and me too.
I'm just telling you, if you had any man who even began to
think about treating you like you'd treat the Christ of God,
you'd kill him if you thought you'd get by with him. You know
it, I know it, but he's patient. Thank God. He's long suffering
with trifling, obstinate sinners. Turn over to Isaiah. Isaiah 30. If you want to, you can just
jot it down and read it at your leisure. Let me read it to you.
Isaiah chapter 30, verse 18. Our Savior says here, Therefore will the Lord wait
that he may be gracious to you. And therefore will he be exalted,
that he may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment,
blessed are all they that wait for him. For the people shall
dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, thou shalt weep no more. He will be
very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy pride, when he shall
hear thee." He will answer you. Isn't that amazing? He'll be
gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When He hears you
cry for mercy, He'll answer you. When He hears you cry for pardon,
He'll answer you. When He hears you cry for grace,
He'll answer you. That's what this book says. God does not slacken those who
promise. But he's long-suffering to us,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance
in the knowledge of the truth. Don't you know that the goodness
of God leads you to repentance, that the long-suffering of God
is salvation? He's long-suffering to sinners. Oh, he's been long-suffering
to you. Year after year, Christ stands
knocking, waiting to be gracious, calling. Scripture says in Acts
13 that he suffered the manners of Israel in the wilderness for
40 years. How long has he been knocking
at your door? How long has he been calling
you? How long have you heard his voice? You spurn him and
despise him and reject him. How long has he stood knocking
at your door, enduring your insulting neglect
and unbelief? Sometimes I go visit folks for
one reason or another, And usually it requires some
effort. Go knock at the door. You hear
some rustling inside, you know they're at home, but they ain't
gonna open the door. They're not gonna open the door. They
just ain't gonna open it. For whatever reason, they ain't
gonna open it. So what? You've driven 30 miles to go
see them, it don't matter. That's insignificant. I get so mad. I get so mad I
don't know what to do. But I'm not bringing mercy. I'm
not bringing grace. I'm not bringing peace and pardon
and salvation to men who deserve my wrath. I'm just a man knocking
at another man's door. Son of God knocks to be gracious. And you ignore him? You ignore
him? Huh? Will you hear me? If you persist in your obstinate
despising of Christ, if you persist in your obstinate refusals of
His gracious call, the time will come when you will open to Him and
He won't be there. You'll call for Him and He'll
not answer you. You'll beg for mercy. and he'll
laugh in your face. I don't believe he'd do that.
Just hang on. Just hang on. Read Proverbs chapter
1, the last 10 verses of the chapter. He said, you'll eat
of the food of your own ways. By your own works you'll be destroyed. When the Lord God sent Noah to
build the ark, For 120 years, Noah said, get in the ark. Get
in the ark. Fellows, judgment's coming. Get
in the ark. Get in the ark. Noah, you're
a fool. Get in the ark. Noah, it never
rained on this earth. Get in the ark. Noah, if it starts
to get cloudy, we'll come running. Get in the ark. Noah, you've
been doing this now for 120 years. We've not seen any rain. Get
in the ark. Get in the ark. God said, Noah, get up, and he
shut the door. And when God shut the door to
that ark, men and women were still alive, carrying on their
business, just like Noah had lost his mind, and they were
the only ones who knew what was going on. And when the lightning
began to strike, and the thunder began to roll, and the rain poured
out of heaven, I dare say they beat that door with all their
might and cried begging for Noah to open that door, but God shut
the door. And there's no opening. There's
no opening. Now you listen to me. When Christ
Jesus ceases to knock, It'll do you no good to open. It'll do you no good to open.
When he ceases to call, it'll do you no good to pray. I'm just telling you, you trifle
with him, you'll pay the price. If any man will hear my voice
and open the door, I will come in. My friend, if you're going to
obtain mercy and grace from God, if you're going to get God's
salvation in Christ, if you hope to enter into eternal life, you're
going to have to open your heart and receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
To as many as received him, to them gave he power, the right,
the authority to become the sons of God. You must hear and obey
his voice. He says, open to me, and you
must open to him. If you will not open to him,
he will not come in. The Lord Jesus will never refuse
to come in to the heart and soul of the vilest sinner who opens
to him. The Son of God delights to come
into the house of sinners and take up His abode with them.
He loves the company of sinners. It's His glory to receive sinful
men. He doesn't have any use for good
folks. He doesn't have anything to offer righteous folks. He
doesn't have anything to give moral folks. But helpless, bankrupt
sinners, He delights to show them mercy. And he will never
refuse more, ever. The great aim and design of the
gospel preaching that I'm doing right now is to persuade sinners
to open their hearts and receive Christ. Oh, today, if you will hear his
voice, harden not your heart. And be assured of this. No sinner will ever open his
heart and savingly believe on Christ by faith until Christ
graciously opens his heart and causes him to hear his voice.
We won't turn there, but in the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verses
2, 3, 4, and 5, you have a picture. I sleep, but my heart wakens.
It is the voice of my beloved knocking at the door, saying,
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my
head is filled with the dew and my locks with the drops of the
night. And she responds, I've already washed my feet, I don't
want to get dirty again. I put off my coat, I don't want
to be disturbed right now. And she refused to open. And then it says, But my beloved
put his hand in by the hole of the door." The picture is far more clear
if you understand the Oriental customs. In those days, they
didn't have bolts and locks on doors like we have. The door
had a hole. with a lock and latch on the
inside. And the master of the house,
the man who owns the house, the man who made the door, the man
who made the lock, knew exactly where the lock was and exactly
how to open it. So he didn't carry a key, he
stuck his hand through the hole of the door and he opened the
door. That's our Savior. My beloved
put his hand in by the hole in the door. And my bowels were
moved for him. And the result, I opened unto
him. If he ever knocks at your heart's
door and puts his hand in by the hole of the door, your bowels
will move for him. Your heart is going to move for
him. And the door is going to fly
open. You will willingly open the door to him. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man will hear my voice
and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him
and he with me." When Christ comes in to sup with us, he brings
the provision. He brings his gospel, his grace,
his mercy. He brings himself. as a feast
of fat things for us to feed upon. There is in this world
mutual, sweet, intimate communion between Christ and redeemed sinners. He brought me into his banqueting
house and his banner over me was love. Love was an everlasting
bond, love was a love that passed I cried, save me, with flaggings
of wine and unsinkable heart. He put his right hand around
my waist, and his left hand held my head, and he embraced me,
and I swooned at his feet. You read that in the Song of
Solomon, chapter 2, a sweet, intimate communion on this earth
between Christ and believing sinners. sweet communion. And that communion is just a
prelude to and a foretaste of heaven's eternal bliss. Our Savior says, open to me. Do you hear
his voice? He will come in to you, and when He comes in, He'll bring
peace, pardon, righteousness, and everlasting life, if you
hear His voice and open the door. Years ago, Brother Ralph Barnard,
I may have told you the story before, he was preaching what
they called a revival meeting. And as the preachers normally
were expected to do, this preacher got the evangelist and carried
him all over the town, knocking on doors, visiting folks, inviting
them to come to church. And Roth wasn't much one for
that. So he was walking along with this preacher and they started
go by this house. Roth leaned over to open the
gate. White picket fence around that
house. He just presumed they'd been
in every other house around there that was going into that. Pritchard
said to his brother Barnard, I wouldn't go in there five years.
That's the wrong thing to say to brother Barnard. He said,
well, why not? We've been in every other house
in this town. He said, oh, I wouldn't go in there five years. After
a little talk and conversation, Brother Barnard knocked on the
door, and this lady came to the door. And she said, well, what
can I do for you, big boy? And he said, I'm the evangelist. We're having a meeting over here
at the church down the street from you. I'd like for you to
come hear me preach tonight. She said, come on now. He said,
yeah, I want you to come hear me preach tonight. She said,
if I go in there, Churchill's gonna fall over dead. He said,
it'll do him good. Come on down and hear me preach.
She said, well, I might. And she did. And Roth preached. The power of God fell upon his
message. And they stood to sing a hymn.
When they did, that old harlot came walking down that aisle.
broken-hearted weeping, confessing her sin, calling on God for mercy. And that place got quiet. It
got quiet. Brother Barnard said, Sister
So-and-so has come confessing Christ. What's your pleasure? An old woman came, walked down,
took her by the neck and hugged her and she said, welcome home,
sister. That's what the Son of God does.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Anybody hears my voice opens
the door. I'll come into him, no matter
who he is, no matter what he's done, I'll come into him and
I'll sit down and suck with him and he with me forever. Now what our savior says to perishing
sinners, he says to redeem sinners too. He said, Bob, open the door. I'll come in. Buddy, open the
door. I'll come in. Lindsey, open the
door. I'll come in. It's up to you.
And you with me. Open the door. I'll come in.
The only reason we don't enjoy his blessed presence and sweet
communion is because we keep barring the door. We keep barring
the door. Blessed Savior, grant us grace ever to fling
open the doors of our hearts and souls and bid thee welcome,
Lord and King. For Christ's sake. Amen. Let's sing a couple of verses
of a hymn. Take the song to Grace Book and
turn to number four.