JOHN 10:9.I AM THE DOOR IF ANYONE ENTERS BY ME HE WILL BE SAVED
HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED THROUGH THE KEY HOLE... ITS THAT TV PROGRAMME WHERE LLOYD GROSSMAN TAKES THE VIEWERS THROUGH A DOOR AND INTO A CELEBRITIES HOUSE WHERE HE METICULOUSLY SHOWS YOU AROUND AND POINTS OUT CERTAIN OBJECTS AROUND THE HOME WHICH ENABLES THE VIEWERS TO UN RAVEL WHOSE HOUSE IT MIGHT BE. AND THEN LLYOD GROSSMANS CONCLUDING REMARKS ARE “WHOSE HOUSE IS THIS? OVER TO YOU DAVID” AND SO BACK IN THE STUDIO DAVID FROST’S GUESTS HAVE TO DECIDE.... WHOSE HOUSE IT BELONGS TOO. FROM WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN AND BEEN TOLD FROM GROSSMAN.
FRIENDS WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THIS WORLD HE GAVE US A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE KEY HOLE OF ANOTHER HOUSE HIS FATHERS IN HEAVEN. THROUGH HIS LIFE, ( A PLACE OF PERFECTION PURITY A SPOTLESS PLACE) HIS TEACHING ( A PLACE OF INFINITE WISDOM AND TRUTH) , HIS MIRACLES ( PLACE OF POWER AND LOVE A TRANSFORMING PLACE) AND ULTIMATLY HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION (A PLACE WHERE THERE IS NO LONGER ANY SIN, DEATH AND EVIL AND A PLACE THAT WE CAN ENTER INTO)
THROUGH HIS LIFE JESUS CAN TAKE US OVER THE THRESHOLD OF ANOTHER KINGDOM INTO HIS FATHERS HOUSE, ALL OF US WITHOUT EXCEPTION HAVE GLIMPSED SOMETHING OF THE FATHERS HOUSE AS WE LOOK AT JESUS AND BECAUSE OF THE INDELABLE IMPRINT IN OUR OWN CONSCIENCES.
SCRITURE REFS TO HEAVEN : MRK 10:31 THE VALUES IN HEAVEN ARE TURNED AROUND MATT 12:24 WE CANNOT LOOK AT IT IN A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE WE WILL NOT BE MARRIED JESUS SAYS WE SHALL BE LIKE ANGELS JHN 14:1- 3. A PLACE PREPARED BY JESUS FOR US A PLACE OF EVERLASTING LIFE REV CHAPER 4 – 5. AWESOME AND HOLY PLACE REV. 21:1- 7. NO LONGER SUFFERING DEATH EVERYTHING WILL BE CHANGED REV. 22:1-5 PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD LIVING IN PEACE AND UNITY WE WILL SERVE GOD TOGETHER FOR EVER. 1COR 2:9-10 THIS AWESOME REVELATION OF WHAT IS PREPARED HAS ALREADT BEEN REVEALED!
• PP. SOMEPEOPLE SAY HEAVEN IS ON EARTH IS IT REALLY? CONSIDERS OUR WORLD. .... WITH ITS DICTATORS - SUFFERING - FAMINES - EARTHQUAKES –TRAGEDIES - VIOLENCE - WARS - HATRED -MURDER – NEGLECT - ABUSES - DRUGS THIS IS OUR WORLD ..... IF IT IS CLOSE TO ANYTHIG AT ALL, ISNT IT CLOSER TO HELL?
• WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE WORLD?” A NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL ONCE ASKED. G. K. CHESTERTON WROTE IN REPLY, “I AM.”
WHEN WE CONSIDER LLOYD GROSSMAN GOING THROUGH THE KEY HOLE HE CAN ONLY EVER TAKE YOU AROUND AND GIVE YOU A GLIMPSE OF A CELEBRITIES HOME. AFTERWARDS THE DOOR WILL BE SHUT , HE CAN’T REALLY SHOW YOU WHAT TAKES PLACE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS? AND ITS THE SAME IN OUR HUMAN HEARTS BECAUSE “THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM IS THE PROBLEM OF THE HUMAN HEART.”
WHAT DOES JESUS DO?
JESUS SHOWS US WHAT WE ARE REALLY LIFE - INSIDE OUR HEARTS AND IN THE WORLD AROUND US. AFTER ALL LOOK HOW THE WORLD TREATED HIM – THEY ABUSED HIM AND THEY MURDERED HIM. THAT’S OUR WORLD, THAT’S A PICTURE OF EACH ONE OF US. WE CAN SO OFTEN POINT THE FINGER AT OTHERS, BUT AS JESUS SAID ”HE WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE”
YET DESPITE OUR SINS GOD DEMONSTRATES IMMENSE LOVE TOWARDS US BECAUSE JESUS DOES’NT LEAVE US WITH THE DOOR SHUT IN OUR FACES - WITHOUT HOPE BECAUSE NOT ONLY HAS HE SHOWN US OUR OWN DEPRAVITY (EVIL/SIN) AND A GLORIOUS HEAVEN TO BE OBTAINED YET DESPITE OUR SINS HE ACTUALLY INVITES EACH ONE OF US TO BE PART OF IT TO STEP OVER THE THRESHOLD OF THIS PHYSICAL LIFE AND NATURAL WORLD WITH ITS SIN AND DEATH AND STEP INTO A ABUNDANT SPIRITUAL LIFE.
LOOK WHAT HE SAYS JOHN 10:9.I AM THE DOOR IF ANYONE ENTERS BY ME HE WILL BE SAVED.
JESUS IS THE DOOR OF SALVATION - WE MUST ENTER THROUGH HIM TO BE SAVED . DESPITE HUMNAITIES EVIL EXPLOITS SEEN IN THIS HURTING WORLD OF OURS - JESUS HAS MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR EACH ONE OF US TO BE SAVED.
THE DOOR IS AT THAT CROSS WHERE JESUS GAVE HIS LIFE BLOOD . HE WAS NOT ONLY PUT THEIR HUMANITY BUT IT WAS THE WILL OF THE FATHER ALSO ACTS 2:23 JESUS WAS PUNISHED IN OUR PLACE. SO THAT GODS JUSTICE COULD MEET AND HIS LOVE FOR US DEMONSTRATED BY RECIEVING FORGIVENESS AND SALVATION THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS.
ON THE CROSS JESUS BECOMES THE GREATEST SACRIFICE OF ALL TIME.......BECAUSE ITS HERE WE CAN ENTER INTO SALVATION , HERE IS THE DOOR TO ETERNAL LIFE, SAVED THROUGH THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS.
CHRISTIAN WRITER AND PASTOR WARREN WIERSBE TELLS ABOUT A TOWN WHERE A HORSE BOLTED AND RAN AWAY WITH A WAGON CARRYING A LITTLE BOY. SEEING THE CHILD IN DANGER, A YOUNG MAN RISKED HIS LIFE TO CATCH THE HORSE AND STOP THE WAGON. THE CHILD WHO WAS SAVED GREW UP TO BECOME A LAWLESS MAN, AND ONE DAY HE STOOD BEFORE A JUDGE TO BE SENTENCED FOR A SERIOUS CRIME. THE PRISONER RECOGNIZED THE JUDGE AS THE MAN WHO, YEARS BEFORE HAD SAVED HIS LIFE; SO HE PLED FOR MERCY ON THE BASIS OF THAT EXPERIENCE.
BUT THE WORDS FROM THE BENCH SILENCED HIS PLEA: "YOUNG MAN, THEN I WAS YOUR SAVIOR; TODAY I AM YOUR JUDGE, AND I MUST SENTENCE YOU TO BE HANGED." ONE DAY JESUS CHRIST WILL SAY TO REBELLIOUS SINNERS, "DURING THAT LONG DAY OF GRACE, I WAS THE SAVIOR, AND I WOULD HAVE FORGIVEN YOU. BUT TODAY I AM YOUR JUDGE."
FOR ALL OF US HERE THAT DAY OF JUDGEMENT IS YET TO COME – JESUS IS STILL IN THE BUISSNESS OF SAVING PEOPLE, HE IS THE DOOR IF YOU ENTER THROUGH HIM BY REPENTANCE AND FAITH YOU WILL BE SAVED. BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE IF YOU LEAVE IT TO LATE RATHER THAN BEING YOUR SAVIOUR HE WILL BECOME YOUR JUDGE.
WHAT MUST I DO? REV 3:20 HERE I AM I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR , I WILL COME IN AND EAT WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME. - JESUS IS STANDING HERE, HE IS KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF OUR HEARTS - HE IS SPEAKING TONIGHT WE ARE CALLED TO RESPOND TO HIM BY OPENING THE DOOR OF OUR HEARTS, .HE WILL BE WITH US ALWAYS.
1. LISTEN TO OUR HEARTS : JESUS IS PRESENT TONIGHT HE IS KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART… IS YOU HEART BEATING OF COURSE IT IS BUT IS YOUR HEART BEATING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY TONIGHT .. IS JESUS PULLING AT YOUR HEART STRINGS … IS THERE AN AWARNESS THAT YOU ARE A SINNER IS THERE ANY CONVICTION OF HEART .
2. LISTEN TO HIS VOICE CAN YOU HERE JESUS SPEAKING TO YOU I DON’T MEAN IN AN AUDIBLE SENSE BUT BY FAITH IS WHAT HAVE HEARD TONIGHT MAKING ANY SENSE AT ALL - IS THE PENNY STARTING TO DROP…..
• 19TH CENT POLITICIAN WILLIAM WILBERFORCE ONCE TOOK HIS FRIEND WILLIAM PITT (BRITAIN’S YOUNGEST PRIME MINISTER) TO AN EVANGELICAL MEETING WHERE THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED BY RICHARD CECIL, WILBERFORCE’S HEART AND MIND REVELED IN THE GOSPEL YET PITT AWAY UNDERSTOOD NOTHING OF WHAT HE HAD HEARD. THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS TESTIFYING TO WILBERFORCE YET NOT TO PITT.
•
3. A RESPONSE IS CALLED FOR “OPEN UP THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART”.
ON SUNDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 8, 1871 DL MOODY WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO. HE CHALLENGED THE LISTENERS TO GO HOME AND “THINK ABOUT WHAT I’VE SAID ABOUT THE GOSPEL AND COME BACK TOMORROW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU HAVE DECIDED ABOUT FOLLOWING THE LORD?” SOUND GOOD, HUH? IT’S A BIG DECISION. DON’T RUSH INTO IT. WEIGH YOUR OPTIONS.
ABOUT THE SAME HOUR THAT THE MEETING WAS CONCLUDING, A BLAZE HAD BEGUN IN PATRICK O’LEARY’S COW BARN. BY MIDNIGHT THE FIRE HAD JUMPED THE CHICAGO RIVERS SOUTH BRANCH AND BY 1:30AM THE ENTIRE BUSINESS DISTRICT (WHERE MOODY HAD BEEN PREACHING) WAS IN FLAMES. BY 3:00 AM THE INFERNO HAD RACED NORTHWARD, JUMPED THE MAIN RIVER, AND DEVOURED MORE THAN 100,000 HOMES.
NOT UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT THE NEXT DAY WAS THE FIRE EXTINGUISHED, AS A STEADY RAIN FELL ON CHICAGO SMOLDERING, AND IN RUBBLE – WITH HUNDREDS DEAD.
MANY OF THOSE PEOPLE HAD HEARD THE GOSPEL THAT SUNDAY NIGHT PERISHED IN THE FLAMES. IF THEY DIDN’T DECIDE TO FOLLOW JESUS THAT MOMENT THEY HEARD THE INVITATION, THEY MISSED THERE OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND TO GODS GOOD NEWS.
DL MOODY’S MINISTRY WAS CHANGED FOREVER BY THIS TURN OF EVENTS. HE SAID “FROM NOW ON, EVERY CHANCE I GET I WILL URGE UPON PEOPLE A DECISION TODAY. TODAY SIR, MAKE A DECISION TODAY. ALTHOUGH YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR ACTIONS; YOU CANNOT CHOOSE THE CONSEQUENCES.”
FRIENDS TONIGHT I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND TO THE CALL OF JESUS TONIGHT AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER THROUGH THE DOOR AND BE SAVED IT INVOLVES YOU MAKING A RESPONSE OF REPENTANCE AND OPENING UP THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART BY TRUSTING IN THE FNSIHED WORK OF CHRIST TO SAVE YOU.
LETS PRAY…..TOGETHER IF YOU HAVE TAKEN THAT STEP OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH LET US KNOW BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE YOU IN YOUR NEW FOUND FAITH BY PASSING ON TO YOU A BOOKLET THAT WILL HELP.
