Open the Door

Letting Jesus Back Into Our World

Revelation 3:14-20

 

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

7 Nov, 2010   AM

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

www.biblebc.com

 

I.       Introduction (John 1:10-12)

 

A.     We take “relationships” for granted! Marriage, friendships, parents, children

 

1.      Most everyone is “on their own” and instead of growing naturally closer, people fall apart

2.      It is amazing that any of us get along

 

a.       With all the hurt, and the selfishness, and the grudges that people carry

b.      We have not learned to “relate,” much less to love one another like Jesus commands

 

B.     But far deeper is the problem between us and God

C.     With all our flaws, and sinful nature, God seeks OUR fellowship – He seeks our attention, our time. He seeks to walk through each day with the likes of you and me

D.     How can a mortal, sinful, selfish human being, fellowship with an immortal, infinite, all holy Being?

E.      Jesus makes it possible!

 

II.    Background (Rev 3:14-20)

 

A.     The Lord Jesus Writes a Letter to a Church (Rev 3:14)

 

1.      Laodicea was a wealthy trade-city, located on the eastern coast of modern day Turkey

2.      He writes to the Church of the Laodiceans

 

a.       Pagans, barbarians, who turned from idolatry to worshipping and serving the only God

b.      They were a church now – a group of people, committed to impacting their world with the Gospel that had impacted them

 

3.      Their city had an unusual name: it meant, “People’s Rights” – a very “self” oriented people – not very God focused

4.      It is because the church had taken on the characteristics of the city, (instead of the other way around) that Jesus writes to them

 

B.     The Lord Jesus Exposes the Church (Rev 3:15-17)

 

1.      Its works were lukewarm

 

a.       Hot works are passionate, lively, excited efforts

b.      Cold works are dead, lifeless efforts – totally worthless

c.       Jesus wishes a church’s works/efforts were either one or the other

d.      NOT lukewarm

e.       They were in danger of being dumped – expelled – castaway by Jesus

 

2.      Its delusions were wrong

 

a.       They really believed they were

 

1)      Rich – materially, physically, they had need of nothing

2)      Increased with possessions

3)      Really believed that they had need of NOTHING

 

b.      But, they were wilfully ignorant of their true spiritual condition

 

1)      Wretched – what a word! It means, “Very distressed, full of anxiety, or grief”

2)      Miserable – never happy or joyful

3)      Poor – withy all the material things, they were empty

4)      Blind – unable to see their own condition

5)      Naked – shamed

 

c.       It is like a demented man walking around thinking he was a king, or the Prime Minister, yet he wore rags, and had holes in his shoes, and his sceptre was a toilet plunger!

C.     The Lord Jesus Counsels the Church (Rev 3:18-20)

 

1.      Buy from Jesus pure GOLD – it will cost you

2.      Buy Clothes

3.      Buy Eyesalve

4.      All of these are so important to understand, but the thought I want to focus on this morning is the next word – “repent

5.      Truly Repent – of what? Of kicking Jesus out! Christians need to let Him back in charge

 

a.       The answer begins with Himself!

b.      John the Baptist had the right attitude – He (Jesus) must increase, and “I” must decrease

c.       Oh that we would make MUCH of Jesus Christ

d.      Lift Him up in honour – not with words only, but in obedience, and life!

 

D.     The Lord Jesus “Knocks” (Rev 3:20)

 

1.      What a strange way of talking

2.      Jesus promised that he would never leave us, or forsake us

3.      Yet, here He is, described as being OUTSIDE of a church, kicked out, pushed out, squeezed out

4.      Thankfully He doesn’t just simply walk away

5.      I am so thankful that he still knocks, and still wants to try again – “I” certainly wouldn’t keep trying… but HE does, praise God!

6.      I will never understand the depth of His commitment to a someone like ME, and yet there He is:

 

a.       Wanting, seeking to be with you and me

b.      Desiring to fellowship with me, share moments of time with someone like ME

c.       The almighty, all wise God, wanting to hear from ME how my day went

d.      And wanting to just be needed!

 

III. Message – Letting Jesus Back In (Rev 3:20)

 

A.     Who God Is.

 

1.      He is God. He is called Jehovah, the all sufficient One; the all powerful Being

2.      Quite capable of carrying us, and fixing our lives – handling not only our problems, but the worst problems of all the world, all at once

3.      Ladies and gentlemen… He is our only hope

4.      So, it makes the most sense to look to Him for help, and for strength, and for wisdom, and for the supply of our needs

                                   

B.     What We Have Made Him.

 

1.      An outsider

2.      Someone we conveniently ignore

3.      A bother, nuisance, a hassle, an interruption!!!

 

C.     Where He is Now.

 

1.      On the outside of our lives and our world

2.      What a strange place for the Son of God to be

3.      Remember, WE push Him out of our lives (Cf Mark 5:17)

4.      Never sought BEFORE we make decisions

5.      Never looked to for help until we have exhausted all other options

6.      Never made a priority, like he made us to be!

7.      We have SUCH an opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus… and yet we don’t!

 

D.     What He Asks (Rev 3:20)

           

1.      To Listen to his Voice Again.

 

a.       A Powerful Voice

 

1)      Created the universe

2)      Calls you and I to follow Him (Mt 10:28-30)

3)      Will call the dead back to life (John 5:24) – by His word!

4)      It will literally shake the whole of heaven once again (Heb 12:25,26 “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”)

5)      And yet He speaks to you and me – this Book is not a dead book, but the living word!

 

b.      A Peculiar Voice – different than all other voices

 

1)      John 10:1-4, 8, 16, 27

2)      Do YOU know His voice?

 

a)      Paul heard it on the road to Damascus

b)      Jesus spoke to the apostle John on the island of Patmos

c)      King David heard the voice of God

d)      Abraham heard it

e)      Moses heard God’s voice at Mt Sinai

 

c.       A Pursuing Voice

 

1)      Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together…”

2)      Mt 11:28-30  “Come unto me…”

3)      John 7:37 “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink…”

4)      Rev 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

 

d.      A Peaceful Voice

 

1)      Not a yelling, screaming, demanding voice, upsetting voice

2)      But a voice, a sound, that calms, and stills the anxious heart and mind

3)      You can only hear it in the stillness and quite of a time that you set aside just for Him

4)      We spend our lives talking and listening to everyone BUT Christ!

5)      Have you noticed how little QUIET time you have?

 

a)      iPod in your ear

b)      Radio on in the background

c)      TV on in the background

d)      Radio on in the car

e)      Reading the newspaper

f)       None of them are evil, but all of them one right after another, and it looks like we are running, from Someone – trying to drown out a conscience, a VOICE

 

6)      Get BACK to having a quiet time, where there is no sound but HIS voice!!!

 

a)      Listen for Him speaking as you read His words

b)      Listen for Him to speak in times of prayer

c)      Listen for Him to speak as you hear the word of God being preached

d)      Maybe you need to get in your car and head down to the park

e)      Or maybe you need to make a place in your attic

f)       But MAKE time to be just with Jesus!!!

 

e.       Do you KNOW His voice?

f.       This is probably THE most important step – most people never stop and wait for Christ to speak – they have their own minds made up, their own agendas

g.       Did you know that over 3/4th of all marital problems are ear and mouth problems… ?

 

1)      All mouth and no ears!

2)      No listening

3)      Only talking

4)      No taking time to hear not only what is being said, but what is being meant

5)      Should now we learn that our problems in our homes are actually symptoms of our problems with God?

6)      I believe a majority of our problems are a listening problem!!

 

2.      To Yield Again.

 

a.       This is another reason why our homes, friendships, churches are so weak – only a bunch of stubborn dictators, with no ability to simply yield, and give in, and honour the other’s wishes over their own (Philp 2:3)

b.      So, Open the door – speaking figuratively of removing whatever we have put between us and the Lord Jesus!

 

1)      We close the door to reading our Bible

2)      We close the door of our time

3)      We close the door of our prayer life

 

c.       Let Him back in – do you not see just how awful such a situation is? To have the Lord of heaven and earth shunned, rejected, ignored, overruled by a bunch of selfish deluded spoiled brats that call themselves Christians?

d.      Let Him change everything! He changes everything just by His presence – and that is why so many run from Him! They are afraid of being changed, freed, transformed, converted

e.       Yet, He is the only hope!

f.       We have so many people and organisations in charge today, and Jesus is only an icon

g.       Let Him back in as Lord of your life; as Lord of this church; as Lord of this community

h.      Luke 6:46

i.        Relationships are built upon yielding, not controlling, or demanding

 

3.      To Cleave To Him.

 

a.       Jesus is not looking to come make a visit

b.      He wants to “move in to your life” – become part of the family again

 

1)      The head of every meal

2)      The focus of every conversation

3)      The source of every answer

4)      The One reason we do things

 

c.       Relationships are built upon commitment to the other person (Gen 2:24) – never clinging to anyone else

d.      Why would people want to be called “Christians” and yet not cleave unto Christ?

e.       Listen to Moses pleading with God’s people to never let go of their closeness with God in Deut 30:20!

 

4.      To Overcome Every Obstacle in the Way (Rev 3:21)

 

a.       You will have every reason to give up; every reason to say that living the Christian life just is not possible in this day and age

b.      But Jesus is worth it

c.       THAT’S what you had to determine about your wife or your husband… doing whatever it took to make it work!

d.      If you are not willing to overcome obstacles, you are not worthy of having such a relationship – don’t get married if you are not willing to overcome the obstacles that come your way

e.       Don’t have friends if you are not willing to overlook a lot of hurt

f.       Jesus would like to know that HE is worth all of our efforts!

g.       As hard as it may seem, repentance, brokenness, starting over is worth it (Rev 3:19). Our own stubbornness will probably be our worst obstacle to overcome – but overcome it we must!

 


IV.  Conclusion

 

A.     We take “relationships” for granted! Marriage, friendships, parents, children… ESPECIALLY our relationship with God!

B.     With all our flaws, and sinful nature, God seeks OUR fellowship – God seeks our attention, our time

C.     How can a mortal, sinful, selfish human being fellowship with an immortal, infinite, all holy Being?

D.     Jesus makes it possible!

E.      But, as shown in the Church at Laodicea, Jesus is not welcome, not in charge, not Lord! What We Have Made Him is… An outsider; Someone we conveniently ignore; A bother, nuisance, a hassle, an interruption!!!

F.      And so He Knocks (Rev 3:20)

 

1.      Thankfully He doesn’t just simply walk away

2.      But instead, He is…

 

a.       Wanting, seeking to be with you and me

b.      Desiring to fellowship with me, share moments of time with someone like ME

c.       The almighty, all wise God, wanting to hear from ME how my day went

d.      And wanting to just be needed!

 

G.    So, Let Jesus Back In (Rev 3:20) – How?

 

1.      Listen for his Voice Again.

 

a.       It is a Peculiar Voice – different than all other voices. Do YOU know His voice?

b.      It is a Pursuing Voice – you don’t have to go find Him… He’s been looking for you!

 

1)      Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together…”

2)      Mt 11:28-30  “Come unto me…”

3)      John 7:37 “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink…”

 

c.       A Peaceful Voice -  Get back to having a quiet time, where there is no sound but HIS voice!

 

1)      Listen for Him speaking as you read His words, as you take time to pray

2)      Listen for Him to speak as you hear the word of God being preached

3)      Maybe you need to get in your car and head down to the park

4)      Or maybe you need to make a place in your attic

5)      But MAKE time to be just with Jesus!!!

 

2.      Yield Again.

 

a.       Let Him back in charge – do you not see just how awful such a situation is? To have the Lord of heaven and earth shunned, rejected, ignored, overruled by a bunch of selfish deluded spoiled brats that call themselves Christians?

b.      Let Him change everything

c.       Relationships are built upon yielding, not controlling, or demanding

d.      Get back to just doing what Jesus says is right to do

 

3.      Cleave To Him.

 

a.       Jesus is not looking to come make a visit

b.      Let Him “move in to your life” – become part of the family again

 

1)      Make Him the head of every meal

2)      The focus of every conversation

3)      The source of every answer

4)      The One reason we do things

 

4.      Overcome Every Obstacle in the Way

 

a.       Your friends

b.      The balking of your family

c.       The sinful habits of your flesh

d.      ANYTHING that would come between you and the Lord Jesus should be CUT OFF