Revelation 3:20 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… "Behold!" The sight is indeed a most astonishing one, which ought to fill our hearts with surprise and shame. God outside; He who ought to be recognised as Lord and Master of the human being, to whom we owe everything. I question whether there is any revelation made to us in the whole course of God's Word that more strongly illustrates the persevering love of God. The love of God is not content with redeeming a guilty world, but He brings the redemption to the door of every human being. How, it is natural we should ask, is this extraordinary phenomenon to be explained? If we look at the context, we discover what the explanation is. "Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." Ah! it is in those words that the clue is found to the extraordinary spectacle. I cannot understand a man going on, year after year, realising his own inward want, and yet not accepting the supply which God has given. How is it that Satan prevents this? How is it that he brings us to the position which is indicated to us by this figure? By filling us with all sorts of things which are not God. What are they? Some make their religion a substitute for God. That is one of the very worst substitutes that we can possibly fix upon. Again, how many persons there are who find an excellent substitute for Christ in morality. A man may have kept all the Ten Commandments, and yet, all the while, be shutting the door of his heart against Christ, and if a man does that, he keeps the letter of the Commandments, but not the spirit. Again, how many there are who take worldly pleasures as a substitute for God. Another thing set up in the place of God is the love of wealth. What is there that money cannot do? Another man puts learning in the place of God. What is there that intelligence cannot do? All these attempts to create substitutes, what are they? They are simply so many sins against your own soul. It would not have been at all a thing to be marvelled at, if we had read this passage thus: "The Lord once stood outside the door and knocked." Had the Lord Jesus Christ given us one offer of mercy, and given one loud, thundering "knock," and, being refused, left us to take the consequence, left us to our own miserable doom, you know we should have deserved it. Oh, deafen not your ears, men and women, against His call: do not be so blind to your own interest as to keep Him standing there: listen to what He says, "If any man hear My voice." Notice that. He does not say, "If any man makes himself moral; if any man will try and make himself better." That is not it, thank God! "If any man will shed oceans of tears." No, that is not it. "If any man has deep sorrow." No, that is not it. "If any man has powerful faith." No, that is not it, What is it He says? "If any man will hear My voice." As the preacher is speaking now, say, "God is speaking to my soul; He is speaking in all the infinity of His mercy: I cannot, I won't deafen my ear against Him." Well, as soon as the man hears the voice, he is on the highway to salvation. What more is wanted? Just one thing more. "If any man hear My voice, and will open unto Me." It does not sound very much, does it? "Ah, but," you say, "faith is so difficult. One man says, faith is this, and another says it is another thing." Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ will stand back if you say that? I tell you, you will find those bolts and bars will fly back the moment you tell Him you are willing. Now, what are you going to do? Nay, what will He do? He says, "If any man will open to Me, I will come in." Well, what will He do? Young man! you are thinking to yourself, "I should like to have Jesus as my Saviour, but if He comes to my heart He will bring a funeral procession with Him; my countenance will fall, my life will be overshadowed, my joy will be gone; my youthful pleasures will disappear, and I shall become mournful and morose." I tell you that is the devil's lie, not God's truth. Wherever Jesus is, He carries a feast along with Him, and so He says to-night, "If any man will open unto Me, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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