TEXT:

‘Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with me’ – Revelation 3:20 Living Bible

THOUGHT:

Radical changes have taken place recently concerning door to door selling. Many homes now display a sign stating “No cold callers”. Home owners, plagued by repeated calls from over-zealous sales teams using aggressive sales techniques, have resorted to this to protect their privacy. Acting on the advice of the Police and Trading Standards, they are now careful about who they want knocking on their door.

In this teaching we will study two occasions in the Bible where it mentions something or someone being at the door. Both will have an influence over a person’s life if they are allowed to.

• Sin – ‘You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master’ – Genesis 4:7 NLT

Cain’s offering had been rejected whereas his brother Abel’s was accepted. God warned Cain that there was a powerful force lying in wait at the door of his life – sin! Its desire was to influence him in the wrong way. He needed to resist or it would lead him down the wrong path.

Rejection usually touches a raw nerve and if not brought under control, can lead to evil actions. Cain could not get at God, so he chose to go for the one accepted by God – his brother Abel. An argument out in the field got out of hand and he ended up murdering Abel. Many people have done things totally out of character simply because they opened the door to sin!

• Saviour – ‘Look! I have been standing at the door, and I am constantly knocking’

The problem is this; if we accept the sin, we are more likely to reject the Saviour. Then when guilt and condemnation fill our hearts, we think it’s even harder to turn to the Lord.

The grace of God is seen by the Saviour being willing to knock on your door. He will not put His foot in the doorway, trying to force His way in. God allows you to decide whether you want to respond to His knocking or not. He promises that whoever invites Him into their life, He will not hesitate to come in. Many wrongly think they are good enough without the need of a Saviour, but there is not one person bad enough to be rejected by Christ. After all He came to save sinners!

Soon it will be December and the start of the Christmas plays and carol services, whether in churches, clubs or schools. There will be many invitations given out and ample opportunities to go. Of course some will make the usual excuses of being too busy and not having enough time. The real truth is always this; they could and would go if they really wanted to. For every invitation they genuinely cannot make, there are others they could attend.

Jesus not only stands at the door, but He is The Door – John 10:7. He is the only way to The Father and Eternal Life. No one else can offer you that!

Sales people rejected before they had a chance to speak about their goods and services, often leave saying, “You don’t know what you are missing!” In the case of Jesus, nothing could be truer. If people only realised how much was at stake concerning responding correctly to His approach, then far more would welcome that knock with open arms.

Dave Edmund had a hit record in the 70’s entitled “I hear you knocking but you can’t come in”. Make sure that is your response to sin, but to the Saviour say, “Come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for you”.

Christmas is a great time of the year to do just that!