GOD HAS AN OPEN DOOR
FREEDOM! Isn’t that a wonderful sounding word? The full meaning of freedom is more than we can comprehend and often taken for granted until freedom is lost. Words can never describe the wonderful feeling of being set from bondage that limits our ability to enjoy life to the fullest.
What young person has not heard the words of Patrick Henry, one of the heroes of our nation, who stood before the Continental Congress in 1775 and gave a rousing speech in support of the War of Independence from King George of England?
Here is the final paragraph of his speech:
Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
That last phrase became a rallying cry and America was born from the hearts of men who wanted freedom more than anything in this world!
Freedom from the slavery of another man or another nation is wonderful but there is a greater freedom that all men must experience. It is a freedom from sin that can only be made a part of our lives by the power of God and the blood of Jesus Christ!
The disciple John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos where he had to serve a prison sentence for the sake of the gospel. John’s body of flesh was imprisoned, but John’s spirit soared above all that man could do him. Certainly John desired freedom to travel where he pleased, and to perform the ministry that he knew God had called him to do, but God saw fit to keep John in that place until God’s time and purpose had been fulfilled.
I wonder if John would have ever had the time to get close enough to God and be in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day if he would have had his way and been free to preach wherever he wanted to? I wonder if we would have ever had the Revelation of Jesus Christ, so that God could reveal to the world that Jesus would prevail and righteousness would reign in the end?
Perhaps that is a lesson that all of us need to learn. God will put us where he wants us for his own reasons that we won’t always understand.
I wonder how many times John questioned God?
Why, Lord, am I confined to this island while multitudes are dying without Christ?
Why am I here, what did I do to deserve this punishment.
Yes, I am happy to suffer for the cause of Christ, but could not my life be more productive for the building of the Kingdom of God than sitting on this barren rock?
Would not it be better if I were preaching from city to city, establishing churches, training pastors and teachers, or holding revival meetings? What good am I to you in this place?
I have already witnessed time and again to my fellow inmates to no avail. My life and my time so often just seem to be wasting away.
You are God and your will is sovereign. I will trust you and worship you no matter what my circumstances! I know that you are ever present.
John had to finally decide that even though his freedom to move about was restricted in his prison, his spirit, soul and mind were free in Christ.
Paul and Silas sang praises in the prison. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day in Prison. Man had bound all of them but that could not keep them from being free in Christ, nor could their bondage keep them from experiencing God’s great miracle working power.
Revelation 4:1, "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter."
God rolled back the curtain between Heaven and earth and opened a door into Heaven for John to hear God’s voice and see things that no man had ever seen before. What an experience that must have been to be lifted from the bonds of a Roman prison into the glorious freedoms of Heaven’s throne!
Looking at this event, I am reminded that God is still opening that door for those who will look to him and listen for his voice. God wants us to see what he has in store for those who love him. He also wants us to see what is waiting for those who reject him.
The first command that John heard was God speaking to him and saying, “Come up Hither”!
If we are ever going to experience the glory of God in our lives we must learn to get close to God and leave the things of this world behind. God desires for us to look up to him. Get you eyes off of the troubles that you face, the sickness, disease, death and destruction, and get your eyes on things eternal. Just like Peter, when we take our eyes off of Jesus and focus on our troubles, we will surely sink into those same troubles and become slaves to them.
God wants us to rise above those things. He wants us to soar on eagles’ wings to higher places in him. God wants every sinner, bound by sin, to break free from those chains of bondage. God wants everyone who is bound by sorrow, sickness and pain to be set free by his great power.
Rise above your troubles! Rise above your difficulties! Rise up and allow the Holy Ghost to rise within you.
Ephesians 2:6, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus…"
God has placed before us an open door that allows us to climb above the mundane things of this world and set our sights on Heaven and all it’s glory.
Revelation 3:19-21, "…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. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
Revelation 3:8, "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it …”
There we see God’s promise! If we would only open the door to our heart and then look up toward Heaven we would see that Jesus has thrown wide the doors to eternal life and given us free access to come to him.
In New York harbor there stands a symbol of freedom that every nation on earth recognizes. It was built as a gift from France as a symbol of international friendship. Among the Word’s inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty are these:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The establishment of our nation brought a new hope to men everywhere that freedom would reign once again.
Men, women and children from every nation, kindred and tongue have come the shores of our great land seeking freedom and liberty. We have become the “Great Melting Pot” of humanity where all men can build a life as they choose. It is a testament to the desire for freedom that in all of us that there are very few who desire to leave this land and go to another where their freedoms are limited.
We don’t see boatloads of refugees trying to escape from America. If they want to leave all they need to do is go and no one will stop them.
We don’t see dissidents being locked away just because they don’t like the President. The Bill of Rights and the US Constitution guarantee our freedom and protection from oppression!
Yes, we should be thankful that we have liberty and freedom and a land where we can all enjoy life without fear of being thrown into a prison –
- But there is a far greater freedom that we should desire!
Jesus has brought a new hope for freedom that nothing on earth can match.
It is not some words of man carved into a stone monument that speak to the heart of man, but across the portals of Glory, through the living Word of Almighty God come these words from our Lord:
Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Jesus wants more than just our physical freedom. He wants our spirit to be free from the grasp of sin.
There are multitudes of people who are free to roam this land in their planes, trains and automobiles but their lives and hearts are held in prisons of sin that cannot be broken. They have no thought for eternity and the bondage that Satan has placed upon them.
Drug addition, pornography, alcoholism, riches, power and fame are the prisons that bind them.
Every day more and more fall victim to a broken heart.
Every day more are held captive in deep recesses of despair and hopelessness. Every day, those who don’t know Jesus, are driven deeper into a spiritual blindness.
Every day more and more are permanently scarred and bruised by the tyranny of sin that engulfs them.
Humanity lives in a prison of darkness and they need a deliverer. They need liberty but no man has the power to deliver his soul from the chains of sin that bind him. Those chains of sin can only be broken by the power of the Blood of the Lamb!
Jesus answered this cry for freedom when he spoke these words in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,"
I know that this message sounds like an Independence Day message that should have been preached last weekend but I want you to know that every day can be Independence Day with the Lord.
His power to deliver is not governed by man’s calendar. God desires to see all men come to him and he has swung wide an open door to Heaven and the call goes forth, “Come Up Hither “!
Jesus calls out to each of us right now, open the door to your heart and let me come in. He will heal the hurt that you feel. He will open your spiritual eyes so that you can understand and know him in a greater fashion.
Under the feet of The Statue of Liberty there are a number of chains that she is crushing under foot to represent the crushing and breaking of the chains of slavery on earth.
Jesus has crushed the head of Satan and stomped him into the ground and broken the power of sin and death for all who will open their heart to him. He wants to break the chains of addition and sin that hold us down. He wants to give us liberty.
John 8:36 says, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
Is your spirit free this morning? Are you still bound by chains of doubt, fear and worry? Perhaps the chains of sin are still trying to tie you down so that you cannot experience God’s best in your life.
Jesus can and will break the power of those chains this morning! Come to him and throw open the door to your heart. He will open the door to Heaven and pour out his blessing on you. He desires for you to be free to serve him. God’s door to Heaven is open right now. Will you come in?
