"Why People Don’t Answer The Door"
Rev 3:20
Have you ever gone to someone’s house and knocked on the door and they never came to answer it? You know their in there, the TV is going or the radio going, tape player going, but they don’t answer the door.
I was told a story once about a guy went visiting and took a fellow with him, and the guy knocked and knocked. The fellow said they must not be at home, the guy said there in there, I know they are. He kept knocking and after about 10-15 minutes they came to the door. He told them about Christ and that was it.
Would you stand at a persons door for that long? If you knew they were inside would you stand there and keep knocking?
Lots of time people never get saved, or if they are saved never get anywhere for God, because they never answer the door when God knocks.
Maybe you can look back this week on your daily life and seen where God has knocked, but you just never answered the door. Maybe God wanted you to do something, learn something, get rid of something, but you never answered the door.
You may say preacher, that may be going too far. How far is going far enough? I don’t know, but I know how far, far enough is. It’s when God gets the glory from every part of our lives. That is far enough.
God is the knocker, the stander, the one who wants to come in and have fellowship with me and you. But we have to open the door he will never push it open, knock it down. But he will knock.
Why don’t people answer the door?
1---THEY DON’T HEAR---
Some people come and sit week after week and never get anything from the service. They don’t hear.
***Too busy---Entangled with the affairs of life. Some are so pre-occupied with life outside of the church they never hear what’s going on inside. People can get so busy that they will never about to anything for God. Too much noise in their life. They can’t hear the knock.
When you come, sit down and relax, get in line with the Spirit of God, Put your mind on what Jesus did and will do and what’s going on here. Lose the world.
***Too far away---Some are just too far away to hear. Psalms 10:1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Some are even like Peter was, following afar off.
Mark 14:54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
Something happened in the life of people and they find themselves far off from God. God never moved. Lot’s of times things gets in our lives that shouldn’t ought to be there, and before long we are too far away to hear the knock.
Oh we can pretend to hear the knock, but those who are close enough to hear it, knows when God is knocking and when he is not.
People get things in their lives like envy, malice, mistrust, jealousy, just plain sin. Before long those things have them so far away they can’t hear the knock.
Good Revivals come when people get those things out of their lives. When people gets those things out of their hearts and get close to God and hear the knock.
***Too deaf---A seared conscience. They can’t hear, it’s been scared over. What can they do? Let God come in and cut away everything that is not suppose to be there.
For some sin in their life.
John 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
For not being in subjection.
Romans 13:5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
For justifying sin.
Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Being deceptive with the truth.
1 Timothy 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Friends these things will cause you not to be able to hear God knocking.
2---HE KNOWS OUR WORKS--- v15
God knows what we been doing, and going on in our lives and we know that he knows. And many times when he knocks we know he wants to fix something gone wrong and we will not answer the door.
When we confess things and let God’s light shine in, it cleans it up and always makes it better. When things are bothering us that we know shouldn’t be doing, and then we get it all right with God it sure does feel better don’t it. But for some, they won’t open the door because they know he wants us to stop some things.
3---OUR ASSOCIATIONS---
Sometimes our associations keep us from answering the door. We have counted the cost and it cost too much for us we think. People get the "I’d rather do this than be real close".
My Momma, use to warn me about certain people I use to hang around with, now I thought the dear old lady meant well, she just didn’t know those guys too good. I found out, Momma may not have known them personally, but she sure knew who they were.
If you think the people you hang around with don’t have an effect on your life, if you are saved or lost, you are in for a rude awakening.
Let me be blunt, some people you are hanging around with will cost you more than you are willing to pay.
People have to take a stand. When the door is opened and God gets close, some of our associations has to go. If God was to stand today in your life, and you stand beside your associations, those things you think you need, or love more then anything else, how close would God really be?
4---TOO EXCITED---
People in our day and time like to have their ears tickled. They want something to excite the flesh. People many times get so excited they forget to have fellowship with God.
I think sometimes people getting too excited is a tactic for not doing what God wants them to do.
( A fellow went out west to hear some preachers, and came back with all kinds of books, 3 months later he was still reading those books, he was so excited about it he was not doing anything)
People will not take time to be still and know God, Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
In the Book of Acts Peter was in prison and they had killed James, Peter stood knocking on the door, a lady named Rhoda came and was so excited she never opened the door. It was a while before Peter was able to get inside. Acts 12:13-16.
There are times when people are so excited, that after a few months or years they look back and wonder why they have not moved very far, and they can see somewhere in their life they saw God knocking on their door and waiting to have fellowship with them, to get them alone so he could talk to them and show them things but they were so excited they never heard the knock.
Excitement is great, it’s blessed, as long as we can still hear the knock of what he wants us to do. A fellow once ask a Pastor what had happened to a brother Preacher, he said the guy when he fell he hit hard. Boom. The Pastor said let that be a lesson to you, don’t lose that fellowship with God.
5---TOO WEAK TO GET TO THE DOOR---
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Sometimes people have been beat back, beat down, beat up and in such a shape they may just be too weak to get to the door.
You folks that are spiritual (mature), don’t tell how spiritual you are, show it. Prove it, you help carry their burdens, you help carry them to the door.
Maybe if you would answer the door, you could carry a few to the door yourself.
Illustration--- 2 Monks was going to a monastery and a bad snow storm came up, they came across a traveler who had fallen and was helpless, one monk said let him alone, his fate has dealt with him. The other monk loaded him on his shoulders and carried him, the weight slowed him down and the other monk went on, almost to the monastery the monk carrying the fellow tripped on something , the other monk had froze to death, but the monk carrying the fellow had kept warm by the body heat generated by carrying this fellow.
He was ask afterward what was the most tragic thing he has seen, and he thought of that and said, "Not having a Burden to bare."
Amen, now are you wanting to be a better Christian, or just want to be saved and that’s it? There is more to this thing than being saved.
