Why People Don't Answer The Door

"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.