WHO IS KNOCKING?
Revelation 3:14-22
Many of us are familiar with the with the first part of these wonderful words, due to the genius of a painter named Holman Hunt. In his painting we observe a door shut, with rusted hinges, all overgrown with rank, poisonous weeds, which indicate how long the door has been closed. There stands amid the night dews and the darkness, the patient Son of man, one hand knocking on the door and the other bearing a light.
The primary interpretation of the passage relates to the church of believers at Ladiocea who had excluded the Lord from its midst. The Lord is pleading for them to give Him his rightful place. The church was not antagonistic but apathetic. So is the church today. We are apathetic about our attendance, attitude, and appearance at the house of God - (no respect for the God’s house anymore) ---- comfortable and complacent.
However, a personal, individual application can be made to sinners in the church from this passage.
One described this verse as “the simplest explanation of the plan of salvation encompassed in so brief a statement withing the lids of God’s Word.”
I. A PICTURE THAT ALLURES
II. A PROMISE THAT ENSURES
III. A PRESENCE THAT ENDURES
I. A PICTURE that ALLURES
Have you ever beheld something that just simply demanded your attention? It just charmed you....it captured your attention?
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock”
There are two things that specifically charm, attract me in this first phrase:
A. The PRESENCE of Christ at the door
Jesus the Lord of glory knocking....The creator, the King of glory, the judge, the Redeemer who is knocking. He that was dead and is alive forever more at the door of my heart.
He that is the door, knocking at the door of my heart. He who is Himself "the Door," and who bids us "knock" that it may be "opened unto" us, is Himself knocking at the door of our hearts.
Why is He knocking? Knocking because He knows the infinite value and preciousness of the soul. Knocking because He knows the terrible peril of the soul without Him. It is love for man that brings Him there, and it is love for man that keeps Him there.
B. The PATIENCE of Christ at the door
“and knock” The present tense verb suggest a knocking continued in the hope of response. Patiently and pleadingly knocking. Love brought Him to the door and love keeps Him at the door. Rejected, He abides; spurned, He returns. II Peter 3:9.
He wants me. He desires a relationship with me.
God’s primary concern for all humanity is one of relationship. See Exodus 19:4. God did not deliver the Israelites so that He could bring them to the land of promise. God delivered the Israelites so they could be free to develop an intimate relationship with him. The location was simply a means for that relationship to develop.
The reason the Israelites spent forty futile years wandering in the wilderness was not that God was unable to give them victory in Canaan. God could have easily done that. However, God allowed them into them to wander in the wilderness for forty years in order to establish a proper relationship with them. The place was accessible, but the relationship was not yet where God wanted it to be. Unfortunately, once the Israelites entered the Promise Land, they came to see the land as an end in itself rather than a means to a relationship with God. As a result, God ultimately took their land way from them.
He patiently knocks!
1. Through the Scriptures
2. Through the saints
3. Through the Spirit
4. Through situations
I do not think there will ever be any hope of Christ finding His way into the life of some, until God is His infinite mercy awakens us to the fact that He is not within, but outside.
A PICTURE THAT ALLURES
II. A PROMISE that SECURES
“If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in”
Here is a promise we can trust!
A. The welcome for which Christ remains
The door has no handle outside. As a result, it is must be opened from within. Man’s free will is plainly set forth here. Don’t become a Christian by compulsion or by chance,but by choice.
When His hand knocks and His voice seeks an entrance, men oftentimes attempt to DIVERT their thoughts to other things, or DEADEN the conviction by plunging into pleasure, or DELAY their answering the door by procrastination - put off that which they ought to promptly do. What Folly!
The Lord will not break open the door; He will make no forcible entry. Nobody is saved against their will. “Open the door” - As one would when a stranger or friend stood and knocked. The meaning here is simply, if any one will admit Christ; that is, receive Him as a friend. The act of receiving him is as voluntary on our part as it is when we rise and open the door to one who knocks. It may be added, that this is an simple thing. Nothing is more easy than to open the door when one knocks; and so everywhere in the Scriptures it is represented as an easy thing, if the heart is willing, to secure the salvation of the soul. This is a sensible (reasonable, sane) thing. We invite him who knocks at the door to come in. We always assume, unless there is reason to suspect the contrary, that he applies for peaceful and friendly purposes. We deem it the height of rudeness to let one stand and knock long; or to let him go away with no friendly invitation to enter our dwelling. Yet how differently does the sinner treat the Saviour! How long does he suffer him to knock at the door of his heart, with no invitation to enter--no act of common courtesy such as that with which he would greet even a stranger!
John 6:40
HOW SIMPLY WE MUST ANSWER!
B The word on which faith resides
“I will come in” - How do I know He will come in? I have His word on it. It is not a matter of feelings but a matter of His Word. My faith resides on His unchanging Word.
You do not look for Christ for salvation, and then look else where for the assurance of salvation. Salvation and assurance are woven together in Christ (His work and His word).
Years ago Napoleon was viewing his troops. Suddenly his horse was spooked and took off in a frantic gallop. One soldier left the rank of troops and brought the horse back to the general.
Napoleon said to the soldier, “Thanks, Captain.”
Whereupon the soldier accepted his own the spot promotion and went back not the ranks of the ordinary soldiers from which he had dashed to the rescue of the emperor’s horse but to where the officers were standing.
“What are you doing here? Get back in your ranks.”
“I am a captain now,” and the man turned and look toward Napoleon and concluded, “He said so.”
I Know I am saved because of His work and word.
HOW SURELY HE WILL ACT!
A PICTURE THAT ALLURES
A PROMISE THAT SECURES
III. A PRESENCE that ENDURES
There is no mention of His departing.
A. The difference His presence will make in one’s life
Where is He welcomed as guest, He assumes the place of host - “will sup with him, and he with me.” Do you remember how, after the Resurrection, when two of his disciple, moved with hospitality, implored the unknown Stranger to come in and prtake of their humble fare. He yielded to their importunity and when they were in the guest chamber, He took the place of at the head of the table and blessed the bread and gave it to them.
What friend can a man have who would confer so many benefits on him as the Lord Jesus Christ? When I open my heart to Him, He opens heaven to me.
1. My pardon He will supply
2. My problems He will solve
3. My pain He will soothe
4. My provisions He will supervise 5. My prayers He will support
B. The permanence His presence will have in my life
Sharing of a meal in the East was symbolical of friendship. It was the forging of a bond that could not be broken. Here is a friendship more wonderful than any earthly friendship for it need never be broken and will never end. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Hebrews 13:5
Conclusion:
Have you let the knocking Saviour in? Today is the today to open your heart’s door to Jesus.
I beseech you, listen not to my poor voice, but to His that speaks through it, and open the door and Let Christ come in.
