THE KNOCK ON THE DOOR
Matthew 7:7-8
INTRO.- Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Olive. Olive who? Olive you too.
Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Accordian. Accordian who? Accordian to the TV, it’s going to rain
tomorrow.
Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Radio. Radio Who? Radio not, here I come!
Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Ya. Ya who? What are you getting so excited about?
Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Butter. Butter who? I butter not tell you.
Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Ice Cream. Ice Cream who? Ice cream every I see a ghost.
Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Omelet. Omelet who? Omelet smarter than I look!
ILL.- One winter night near Christmas several years ago there was a loud knock at my door. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” And I thought, “Who in the world is banging on my door? I have a doorbell. Don’t they know it? I don’t live in the sticks.”
Shane opened the door and lo and behold, it was a Salvationist! A what? A Salvationist. A bell ringer. A happy hello. A collector of money. A doer of good deeds. A God-blesser.
It was an Army Salvationist. A Salvation Army volunteer from Cape Girardeau, MO. He was making his annual Christmas visit to our neighborhood to collect money for their work in helping the poor and needy.
We talked for a while. I told him who I was and that I just finished preparing a sermon. HE DIDN’T
SEEM IMPRESSED. No, really, I told him that I had included some words in my sermon about the Salvation Army.
He replied, “I hope it was good.” I said, “Oh, it is!”
Then he told me that he’d been coming to Anna, IL, from Cape for about 40 years. WOW! CAN YOU IMAGINE? Every Christmas for 40 years! Talk about dedication to a cause! Talk about commitment to Christ! Talk about devotion to Christian service! That man had it!
Brethren, that may well be the key to his faithfulness to the Salvation Army. He wasn’t coming to church just to sit and listen! Or to be entertained. HE CAME TO SERVE!
That’s what keeps people involved and coming to a church more than anything! That’s what keeps people committed to Christ and His Church! CHRISTIAN SERVICE! Involvement and service.
Sitting gets old. Service gets exciting! Spectatorship can become boring! Participation is exhilarating!
Mr. Salvation Army man told me about a neighbor lady. He said that he went into her house and said,
“Where’s your man?” Then she told him how he had suddenly passed away with a heart attack.
She must have looked bad and I’m sure she did, because he told me that he offered to pray with her. GOOD JOB, MR. SALVATION ARMY MAN!
James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is
not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Faith without works is dead! When people have a need and we can take care of that need, but we don’t, then our faith is dead. Or at least, it is lacking a great deal.
Just to say, “God bless you” is not enough. Anybody can wish someone well or give them a verbal blessing, but to bless someone with a $20 bill or a hot meal or a sincere prayer, etc. is the real deal. The genuine article.
HAVE YOU HAD A KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR LATELY? Bet you have. We all do at times. And some times when we are not aware of it. Or perhaps it was you who did the knocking. And perhaps you didn’t even know you were knocking!
PROP.- In this message I want to consider three different knocks on the door. Some are good. Some are very good. And some may not be good at all.
1- An inquiring knock
2- An indoctrinating knock
3- An inviting knock
I. AN INQUIRING KNOCK
Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you will find; KNOCK AND THE DOOR WILL BE OPENED TO YOU. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
KNOCK AND THE DOOR WILL BE OPENED TO YOU. This is a good kind of knock at the door. And we are the ones who must do the knocking.
J. W. McGarvey said, “Asking is a simple use of the voice. Seeking is a motion of the body. And
knocking is an effort to open and pass through obstacles.”
Jesus is saying that we must work hard at our praying and asking in order to get an answer. WE MUST
KEEP ON ASKING, SEEKING, AND KNOCKING ON GOD’S DOOR.
All of us are faced with many decisions in life: school, work, marriage or perhaps finding a mate, raising children, paying bills, buying a car or a home, etc. And all these things call for prayer on our part.
ILL.- For example, some children said these things to their pastors about prayer.
“Dear Pastor, Could you say a special blessing for my Aunt Beatrice? She has been looking for a husband for 12 years and still hasn’t found one.”
“Dear Pastor, Could you please pray for all the airline pilots. I am flying to California tomorrow.”
Brethren, I realize that these requests for prayer may sound somewhat selfish, but the point is: at least
these children realized the need to ask God for help and direction! They saw the need to ask, seek and
knock! All of us, adults and children as well, need to ask, seek and knock! Our lives need to be bathed
in prayer!
Sometimes we are faced with some pretty extreme things that we just don’t know what to do or how to handle them. So we must pray. We must seek. We must knock.
ILL.- A lady I’d known for years called me last week. She was in tears and said, “I don’t know when the
last time I was happy. I feel like everything is crashing down on me.” Then she went on to explain the
latest thing that was weighing her down. Someone said he was going to get her fired from her job. It was just another log on the fire, so to speak.
Hey! Life is full of stress! And we all have difficult things that we are faced with or tough things we have to do. What’s the answer? Where do we turn? We must ask, seek and knock on God’s door in
order to get an answer for our predicament and to get help in life.
ILL.- For several years I worked at the Assistant Manager of the Silk Tree Factory in Cape Girardeau,
MO. I wanted to get back in the full-time ministry, but I didn’t know if that were possible. I was
already preaching on Sundays at the Plumfield Christian Church, West Frankfort, IL.
All I knew to do was to knock on the door and see if God would open it. I started sending out resumes
right and left. And then I prayed, “Lord, it’s up to you. If you want it, then please open the door.”
AND HE DID! Of course, I’m still knocking on His door about some other things in life. He hasn’t answered yet.
Brethren, I think there are times when we “jump the gun” in life. We want answers now, not later. So
we take matters into our own hands and find they don’t always work.
We either don’t ask or we don’t listen. We don’t pay attention. We don’t obey. We don’t wait. We just do our own thing instead of seeking His thing or His will!
Jesus is saying that we must keep knocking on the door and eventually we will get some answers and some help.
Don’t give up. Keep asking. Keep knocking on the door.
ILL.- One church in Indianapolis received the bad news that an underground water pipe connecting the church with the main beneath the street had broken, causing severe loss of pressure in the area. It had to be fixed immediately. Not surprisingly, the water company decided the church should pay the $3,980
repair bill.
At one time that would not have been a problem for the church, because in its heyday, it had more than 5,000 members. But at that time, they had fewer than 500 members and most of them were poor.
The pastor didn’t know what to do about the bill, except to pray. SO HE PRAYED. HE KNOCKED ON THE DOOR. HE ASKED GOD.
At ten o’clock the next morning, an elderly couple stopped by the church to drop off a donation in
memory of a deceased relative. They gave him $3,000 in one-hundred-dollar bills.
THIS IS GETTING INTERESTING. What next?
An hour later the mail arrived. The first letter he opened was from a couple who lived out of town. The
letter contained a $1,000 donation. THE CHURCH HAD JUST MADE A $20 PROFIT!
Should we be surprised by this? Not really. We just never know when the Lord is going to open the door, answer our prayers and take care of our need.
Matthew 7:11 “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”
We need to keep on asking, keep on knocking on the door.
We must remember, however, that there are stipulations to our asking and knocking.
James 5:16 “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availath much.” KJV The prayer of a “righteous” man is powerful and effective.
There must be consistency between our lives and our asking.
ILL.- A minister learned an interesting lesson on the golf course one day. His partner was a priest, who
blessed himself before successfully one-putting each hole. The minister regularly two or three-putted
each hole.
After a few holes, he said to the priest, “I think I will cross myself before I putt too.” So he did at the
next hole, but even after he crossed himself, he still three-putted. So he said to the priest, “Why doesn’t crossing myself work for me the way it works for you?”
The priest replied, “IT DOESN’T MEAN A THING IF YOU CAN’T PUTT.” If we can’t putt, i.e. if we don’t
live right, it won’t do much good to cross ourselves or pray.
I Pet. 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
If we are going to act like scoundrels, God will ignore our asking and our knocking.
But what a blessing to know that when we are trying to live right and do right, and we ask in prayer we
have a Father who cares for us and will answer. He will answer!
1- An inquiring knock.
II. AN INDOCTRINATING KNOCK
The word “indoctrinating” is the thought of a certain “teaching” or “doctrine.” And many are floating around these days.
ILL.- Most of you remember PTL televangelist Jim Bakker who was convicted of mail fraud in 1989. He
was sentenced to 45 years in prison but only served five years. He later wrote a book entitled, “I Was
Wrong.”
At one time Jim Bakker preached a “health, wealth, name-it and claim-it prosperity gospel.” Preacher
James Robinson said, “Jim, you are committing fornication with brick and mortar.”
After years in prison and studying the Bible, Jim Bakker said, “I had been teaching false doctrine for
years and hadn’t even known it! I had been doing just the opposite of Jesus’ words by teaching people to fall in love with money.”
He said, “I preached selectively. I skipped over things, rationalized them away. I preached
long-horned sermons. A point here. A point there and lots of bull in between. I would take a verse
from the Old Testament, a verse from the New, and put a lot of Jim Bakker in between. I should have
taught people to fall in love with Jesus rather than the trappings.”
Brethren, by his own admission, Jim Bakker preached a false doctrine! And many people are being sucked into that false doctrine of materialism which says, “Greed is good.”
But there are other false doctrines that are being presented and preached which we need to guard against.
There is a knock at your door. DO YOU HEAR IT? It is not a good knock. It may be the knock of the false prophet.
II John 7-11 “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”
Jesus is the reason for this season, is He not? This is the Christmas season! Christ is what Christmas is
all about.
Doesn’t everyone believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world? No, they don’t, but they should.
II John 9 “Anyone who continues in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”
John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
I Tim. 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
I John 2:22 “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.”
SCRIPTURE IS VERY CLEAR! Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God! He is the savior of the world! The only Savior of the world! Our only approach to God the Father!
We stake our very lives on this truth! And we must live out this truth in life.
ILL.- Barth, Karl (1886-1968), Swiss Protestant theologian, widely regarded as one of the most notable
Christian thinkers of the 20th century, said, “The gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it
sets a question mark against all truths.”
He said, “Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is
himself the way.”
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! It is the truth of all truths! And we need to be giving it away! But some people who come knocking on our doors are
trying to sell us something that isn’t true. This is the knock on the door that isn’t good.
ILL.- Most of us will not be “taken to the cleaners” by a Jim Jones (Guyana tragedy, Nov. 1978), a or
Sun Myung Moon (author of the Moonies) or a David Koresh of the Branch Davidians. BUT SOME PEOPLE WILL BE TAKEN IN BY THESE CULTS!
Heb. 13:9 “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.”
Do you realize there are all kinds of strange teachings that people are preaching, teaching and
spreading from door-to-door?
Some people obviously do not believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of the world, even though it is
Christmas and most folks celebrate Christmas.
But do realize that some people are passing around some very strange teachings about Christ and
Christianity?
ILL.- Some are teaching that Adam is God and that Jesus was his son by natural generation.
- Some are teaching that Jesus was a polygamist.
- Some are teaching that Jesus was a created angel before coming to earth.
- Some are teaching that Jesus did not atone for our sins on the cross.
- Some are teaching that Jesus did not rise from the dead.
- Some are teaching that Jesus is forever dead.
- Some are teaching that Jesus did not come as God in the flesh.
I don’t buy it! And neither should you!
Some people will literally knock on your door and try to get you to believe these things. And others will
simply knock on the door of your heart and mind. When? Where? Out in the world. In the schoolroom. In the college classroom. In the workplace. In the marketplace and so on.
Brethren, don’t be stupid! Don’t buy it! Don’t get taken to the cleaners! IF POSSIBLE, TAKE THEM TO
THE ONE WHO CAN CLEAN THEIR SOUL....THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
1- An inquiring knock
2- An indoctrinating knock
III. AN INVITING KNOCK
This is a good knock on the door.
Revelation 3:19-20 Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 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.”
An inviting knock on our door, which is the door of our heart. Jesus is standing at the door. Do you
hear him knocking?
I love it when people answer the door when Jesus knocks!
ILL.- Some years ago an SIU student named Ken Matthias started attending our church in Anna. Of course, that was because he was dating one of our young ladies in the church.
Ken is 6’ 4” and went to SIU from Pennsylvania on an athletic scholarship. He was a javelin-thrower.
One day before Sunday School started Ken cornered me and said that he wanted to be baptized. I said, “Has anyone ever talked to you about this decision?”
He said, “No.” I said, “Let’s go to my office and talk.”
I preached that morning and when the invitation time came, Ken came walking down the aisle to the front of the church. His girlfriend, Marcia and her parents did not know he was coming forward to make that important decision for Christ.
I asked Ken that important question, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God
and do you want Him as your Savior?” He said, “Yes,” and then I asked him to repeat the good confession. Afterward, I said, “Now we are going to prepare for Ken’s baptism.” And looking up at his 6’ 4” frame from my 5’ 7” frame, I said, “I BELIEVE I’M GOING TO NEED SOME HELP.”
But I actually didn’t need any help when I immersed Ken into Christ. WHAT A JOYOUS DECISION HE MADE THAT DAY WHEN HE OPENED THE DOOR OF HIS HEART TO JESUS!
Of course, that wasn’t the only joyous thing that happened when he opened his heart to Jesus.
I invited Ken to go back to the door so the people could welcome him as a new Christian and as a
member of the church.
Ken had hidden an engagement ring in the foyer and when his girlfriend got back there, he immediately
asked her if she would marry him. HOW COULD SHE SAY NO?!
She didn’t refuse and now Ken and Marcia have been married for some years and have two little girls.
And Ken is also a deacon in the church.
Great things happen when people open the door of their heart to Jesus!
ILL.- While preaching at Iberia, MO, I became acquainted with the local funeral director. Terry and his family began attending our church because we had a lot of kids in our church (more than any other in
town) and because his wife had come from a church of Christ which is somewhat similar to the Christian
Church.
One day while visiting with Terry at the funeral home I asked him if he’d ever been baptized. He said,
“No,” and I said, “That’s something very important to consider.” And went on to explain what the Bible
said about baptism.
One Sunday morning when we offered the invitation to come to Christ, Terry got out of his pew and came walking down the center aisle with a very determined look on his face. I asked Terry, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?” And Terry responded, “YES, I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY HEART.” With all my heart. What a great way to accept Christ as your Savior.
ILL.- One time during one of our revival meetings at the First Christian Church, Iberia, MO, I noticed a
young married couple named James and Mathilda Wall who attended the revival most every night. Someone told me that they were Catholic in faith and had been all their lives. Naturally, I found that somewhat strange that they would attend our church so one day I went to call on them.
The lady answered the door and I expressed appreciation for them attending our revival meeting and
asked if they had any questions. Immediately, she said, “Yes, we would like to know more about baptism.”
I thought, “Well, O..K!” I went in and shared with her what the Bible had to say about confessing
Christ, repentance from sin and baptism into Christ.
Very soon after that, she and her husband called me and asked if I could baptize them by immersion.
Naturally, I was very excited and we set up a time, which happened to be about 9 o’clock on a Saturday
night. I called one of our elders and ask if he and his wife could be present for their baptism, and they
graciously consented to be there as witnesses.
After their baptism, James pulled out his billfold and wanted to give me some money. Since one of our
elders was standing right there, I said, “Oh, no, I couldn’t take that.” Had he not been there... No, I
would have said the same thing. I told James Wall, “If you want to make a donation to the church on
Sunday you are certainly welcome to do that.” He said he would and I believe he did.
Some years later, James and Mathilda Wall were getting ready to go on vacation and he mentioned that he had to get up very early, like 4 in the morning. And he said, “I get up that early every morning.” I asked, “Why do you get up so early in the morning?” He promptly replied, “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”
I thought, “What did I do?” He said something to the effect, “You said in your sermon that a person
ought to get up early every morning for prayer and Bible study and I’ve been doing that for a long time
now.”
WOW! Isn’t it just great when people open the door to Jesus!
HAVE YOU HEARD JESUS KNOCK ON THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART? And have you opened the door and let Him in?
What is He asking you to do? To confess Him? To repent of some sin? To be baptized? To get
involved more with the church? To become more of a servant to others?
Jesus said to the Christians at Laodicea, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.” Why did Jesus
say those words to Christian people? BECAUSE THEY WERE LUKEWARM IN THE FAITH!
They were materially rich but they were not rich in faith. They had become very indifferent and
lukewarm in their faith. COULD THAT BE A PROBLEM TODAY? It could and it is with many Christians.
They have no fire in their faith. To them, Jesus is saying, “Open the door and let me in!”
HE IS KNOCKING. But do you hear him? And are you going to answer the door? What is He asking of
you? Will you let Him in? Will you do what He wants? Jesus is saying, “If you open the door and I’ll
come in and we will have a good time together. We will share life together and you’ll be happier than
you’ve ever been.”
CONCLUSION------------------------------------------
The poet wrote:
I think my soul is a tame old duck,
Dabbling around in barnyard muck.
Fat and lazy with useless wings,
But sometimes when the North wind sings,
And the wild ones hurtle overhead,
It remembers something lost and dead.
And cocks a wary, bewildered eye,
And makes a feeble attempt to fly.
It’s fairly content with the state it’s in,
BUT IT ISN’T THE DUCK IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
Most of us are not the ducks we should be. That is, we’re not the Christians we should be! And it may
be as a result of answering the door when the wrong person knocked. Or it may be because we haven’t knocked on the right door or long enough. Or still, it may because that Jesus has been knocking on the door and we just haven’t answered His knock! WHY NOT LET HIM IN? Why not yield to His will?
