We are taking as our text the words that are recorded in the verse 20 where the Savior says, 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. There used to be a radio program and it was called A Letter from America by Alistair Cooke. interesting program indeed, A Letter from America. But very, very simply tonight we are going to look at A Letter from Heaven. It was written to the Church of the Laodiceans. I find this to be a very difficult text, and I find it to be very strange. Strange because of its location in the Bible, and strange because of to whom it was written. It is found in one of the letters of the seven churches in Asia Minor. And what the situation was simply this, that the Laodiceans, a church, had shut the doors of the church against the Savior. With a result, he says, I stand at the door and knock. And he goes on to speak of them about being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, and for that reason God said, I'll spew you out of my mouth. Very hard to understand the group of people who would identify themselves as a church and yet would have no place and no time and no room in their lives or their church for the sole king and only head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. But then sadly too, There are many people who profess to be Christians and to love the Lord, but they have very little time for the Savior. And maybe you can throw a thoughtful eye back over the course of your life, maybe to childhood days or teenage years, when you put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. But how is it tonight? And sadly, what the Lord said about the church of Eleusinians can also be said of many professing Christians tonight. They are lukewarm. They are backslidden. They have lost interest in the house of God, the work of God. They have lost interest in their walk with God. And of course, that also applies to those who know not Christ. Because many have lifted up the fists of their heart in rebellion against God, and they said, no, God, not for me. They are not denying that God exists, but they're denying Him, His rightful place in their life. with the result that you and I live in a province where many people have room for pleasure and room for business, but for Christ the crucified, not a place that he can enter in our hearts for which he died. Many have time even for the church, and many have time for ritual and religion, yet at the same time, no time for Jesus. We referred to the late Reverend W. Mann of Knocknamuckley Parish Church outside Portadown. Leaning over his pulpit one Sabbath morning, he said to his congregation assembled, Many of you sitting here, and you are very, very religious, but sadly at the same time you are very sinful. You have never given your heart to Christ. Hence the Savior stands at the door of the church. Is this a reflection of your life? And the Lord said to them, Repent. He said, Be zealous therefore and repent. That word, be zealous, literally means be red hot. In other words, the Lord wants you and I to be everything for Him or nothing. Maybe he stands at the door of your life tonight, and thus far you've had no room for him. As we come to look at our text, I want you to notice a couple of things. First of all, there's the place where the Savior stood that day. Behold, I stand at the door. And the reference is to that of being kept outside. Have you been keeping Christ outside of your life, outside of your home? You want God to prosper your business, you want God to look after your family, but you don't want God interfering in your life personally. That's the Savior's position in regard to your life outside the door. But thinking about the place where the Savior stood, It is clear that first of all he is near because he's at the door, and you'll not be nearer to anyone's house than when you're at the door until you're inside. And always remember what the Bible says, that God is not far from any of us. But sadly, while he is near doesn't mean that he's in. You see, a person could be concerned about their soul, not be converted. A person could be almost a Christian, but not altogether a Christian. He could be near the kingdom, but not in the kingdom. And that's what Jesus said to a young man in his day, after he had answered all his questions correctly. And Jesus said, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. But he wasn't in the kingdom of God. And Jesus is standing at the door of the church of Eleusinians, standing at the door of your life. Not only is He near, but the Bible tells us that He is knocking. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. When someone knocks on your door or rings the doorbell or whatever, that means they are looking for your attention, they are looking in entrance. And so with the Savior. And God knocks on the door of our life in many ways, folks. He knocks on the door of our life through the Word of God. Many people don't put much emphasis upon the Scriptures today. Often it's set on the shelf. It's never taken down. It's never consulted. It's never read. We make our decisions, big decisions, important decisions, but we never consult the Word of God. Maybe we carry it on the Lord's Day to the Lord's house, but that's it. And there may be many Christians, and maybe you're one of them tonight. You never bother with the Word of God day by day. You never bothered with it today. But it is through the Word of God that God knocks on the door of our life. Of course, the Scriptures are given by inspiration of God and are profitable. And the Bible tells us for what they are profitable. And the Bible reminds us that it is through the foolishness of preaching that God has chosen to see them that believe. And I am sure tonight you are not hearing preaching for the first time. In this little province of ours, we have been nurtured In the gospel of Christ, we've been brought up like Timothy, having a knowledge of the Scriptures from when we were a child. God knocks on the door of our life through His Word, but also He knocks on the door of our life through the work of others. In other words, God's people that are an influence and make an impact upon our life. Maybe some speak to us on a regular basis, while others, they live the life and let their light shine. And maybe there's someone in your home tonight that's saved and you're not saved. And someone that pleads for your soul at the mercy seat every day. And there's those that are lives that speak to us of Christ. Just as we were thinking last night of Pilate when they were ganging up to crucify the Son of God. His wife came to him and she said, have you nothing to do with this just man? In other words, if they are going to crucify Christ, don't you be involved in this. And my friend, that's the message of tonight. There are many people and they are bent on going down the road to a lost eternity and they are not going to change their ways. I was up in the prison today. And I went into the cell of a prisoner at rock bottom in his life and he says, I am going to kill myself and nobody is going to stop me. And they are people and they are bent on going down the road to a lost eternity and nobody is going to change them. They are not going to be sealed. I was conducting a gospel mission on one occasion and there was a woman who was very enthusiastic about the mission. And long before the mission ever came to the area, she was telling people about it and she was inviting people. And naturally she started with her next door neighbor. The woman was weary of her. And the mission started on a Sunday night and the woman knocked the door and says, the mission is starting tonight. Will you come? She says, I'll not. And on the Monday then, she went back and invited the lady to come. And the woman, to the Christian lady's surprise, said, I am going to come. And I am going to come tonight. Not because I want to be saved, not because I will be getting saved. I am coming tonight so that you won't ever come back to me and ask me. I am fed up listening to you inviting me to come to the mission. Coming tonight, not coming back. And she came to the meeting that night. And it was a hall much smaller than this. And she was sitting right up in the front seat. Folks, that's not the best seat to be in a gospel mission because the preachers spit all over you and all the rest of it. And the wee woman was totally drownded. All was said to her afterwards, you were baptized before you were saved. But that night she came to the mission. God spoke to her heart. And she told me afterward, she says, I was confronted with my own claims that I had made. I'm not getting sealed. But she said, God's so spoken to me, I must get sealed. And she'll never look back and rejoices tonight in God's salvation. God uses other people. And I know there's many people will find false with Christians and all the rest of it, but remember what Jesus said, look unto me and be ye sealed. And if you look to Christ, you'll find there's not a flaw and there's not a fault in him and no reason why you should shut him out of your life. But there's not only the Word of God that he uses and the work of others that he uses. But then there is the wounding of our conscience. Every man has got a conscience. That little sermonizer stationed down in the deeper recesses of every individual's heart. He never draws a bow at a venture. He is God's detective. He is on God's side. His witness back to God is always true. You and I have a conscience. That conscience tells us that we are answerable to someone higher and holier than ourselves. Conscience tells us there's an eternity, there's a judgment day, there's a God that we must meet, and then, of course, there's a witness of circumstances. In other words, the things that you and I put down as mishaps are not mishaps at all. Those are God's providential dealings with you and me. God using those things to speak to our hearts. Things happen in our home. Things happen around the home. Things happen in our community. And friend, things have happened. So many things have happened in this province over the years of debauchery and murder and shame that should have turned every man and woman to the sort of repentance and faith in Christ. People ushered out into eternity on a daily basis. And sadly, Many, they never stopped, they never thought, if that was me, where would I be? Friend, where would you be tonight, five minutes after your death? God knocking on the door of your life. But there's not only the place where the Savior stood. Is that where He's standing in relation to your life tonight? You have shut him out. You have closed the door. No God, not at this time. Maybe when I am dying I will get saved, but not tonight. And friend, there are many people, most people in this world do not have a death ban. Suddenly ushered into eternity. But then there is the plea which the Savior makes. He says, If any man My friend, he is speaking to you. If any man, that is people of every class, people of every creed, people of every color, whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. In John 3.16 the Bible says, For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth. Richard Baxter, the great preacher of a bygone day, He said, I'm glad that God didn't say in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, that if Richard Baxter believes, I'm glad he used the word whosoever, because I would have thought he is speaking about some other Richard Baxter. But because he says whosoever, that means me. Friend, you're not excluded, unless you exclude yourself. It is a plea, first of all, to religious people. And that is to whom the Savior is writing. He is writing to the church of Eleusinus. They are a religious organization. They are a religious body, but they have no Christ. Friend, we can have a religion without a Redeemer. And that is borne out, of course, in the life of Nicodemus, a rabbi, a teacher of the Jews. And Jesus said to him, you must be born again. And he was totally bamboozled at what Jesus said, because he said, how could that be? How could a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And he had no idea of what Jesus was talking about. And sadly, even in this beloved province of ours, there are people who are deeply religious, yet when you talk about being saved, giving your heart to Christ, they don't know what you're talking about. Friend, do you know what we're talking about tonight? Can you sing with the children that often sing in their little meetings, I know that I've been born again? Sadly, there's many good and kind and sincere and religious people, but they don't know the Savior. And it was to such that the Savior is writing in our text. It was also a plea to rebellious people and there are people, you know, who just turn their back upon the whole matter and say, it's not for me. Not for me. You know, Saul had a religion and he had a zeal for his religion. And he had such a zeal for his religion that he was prepared to kill for it. And though he was sincere, he was wrong. You see, there's many people and they tell us, it doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. Do you not think the Mormons are sincere? Do you not think the Jehovah's Witnesses are sincere? But I want to tell you someone, friend, they're sincerely wrong. And you will see them tramping the doors all day long, every day. And sometimes Christian people mistake that and say, oh, what a zeal. No, they're trying to work their salvation. They're trying to be saved by works. When salvation's free, it's without money, it's without price, whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. You could be religious but not saved. I'm not knocking that. I'd rather see people get out of their bed on a Sunday morning and go and worship God than lie in their bed and not bother. But friend, we could do all those things and still not be saved. Or to put it into the words of the hymn writer when he says, It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers, but the blood that atones for the soul. And it wasn't until at the height of his godless career that Saul of Tarsus was converted on the Damascus road. And he's introduced to us in the Bible as a young man, a young man with murder in his heart, Because after they had stoned Stephen and put him to death, the Bible says they laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. Maybe there's a young Saul in this meeting. You can't wait till people stop exercising their authority over you and you'll be your own person, do your own thing and go your own way. then suddenly is brought to the realization of a state before God that has turned from darkness to light. It's a plea also to reckless people. And you know, there are people who live a reckless life spiritually. Their attitude is, whatever's to be is to be. And that, of course, was how it was with the prodigal. Is there a prodigal in this meeting? Not just a young prodigal, but maybe someone who is older. And you had all the privileges of the gospel as you grew up. The Bible says of him that when he left the Father's house and went out into the big world of sin, the Bible says he wasted his substance and riotous living and spent all. In other words, he gave himself without reserve to living a life that he felt would bring fulfillment and fruitfulness, but it brought nothing but bankruptcy, disappointment, disillusionment, barrenness and emptiness. The Bible says he came to himself. That's the realization, isn't it? when we come to ourselves and see ourselves as God sees us without a Saviour. I remember on another mission there was this man. We were having a mission in a tent and we asked him if we could take electricity from his car garage. And he said, certainly you can. It was just over the hedge, but he wasn't for coming to the meetings. We could take electricity, we could do whatever we like to his garden and his garage, but he wasn't coming to any meeting. But you know, a tent doesn't really hold the volume in. And so he could hear us preaching. And what he used to do at night was this. He used to then go into the garage and start blowing his bagpipes so that he wouldn't hear us preaching. But he says, I could still hear them preaching. So he had to get rid of the bagpipes. And he was a man who had a big interest in motorbikes. So he would get into the garage then. He would start the motorbike. But he says, I still could hear the preaching. Then one night, he said, something drew me into the tent. I could gloriously see. God was knocking on the door of his life, and no matter what he did, he couldn't shut that voice out. It wasn't the voice of a preacher. That was the voice of God. My friend, is God's voice been speaking to you even during these meetings? Yet, you still shut him out. It doesn't matter who we are, what we are, religious, rebellious, reckless, whatever. We need to be sealed in Cain. But then I want you to notice in closing the promise that the Savior stated here. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, I want you to keep that thought always before you. If any man, that means you. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, will sup with him, and he with me, there's first of all the promise to save. I know that many people seem to shy away from the very use of the word save. And yet that's a very biblical word. The scripture says, neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must Friend, I'm talking about a must in your life. I'm not talking about something that's optional. I'm talking about something that's imperative. You and I, we must be saved. Jesus said it. That settles it. I heard someone say, Jesus said it. I believe it, that settles it, friend. Jesus said it and whether you believe it or don't believe it, that settles it. And he says we must be sealed. And here is this glorious promise. Whosoever shall call, he says, upon the name of the Lord shall be sealed. That's positive. That's powerful. The Bible says he is able to save to the uttermost. That word, uttermost, means forever. He is able to save forever those that come unto him. Or, as some put it, He is able to save to the uttermost from the very guttermost all those who come unto Him. My friend, it does not matter what the sins of the past have been. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. And your sin may rise up like a mountain that would seemingly crush your soul to hell, but His blood cleanses from all sin. It cleansed Saul. He had murder in his heart. it cleansed Nicodemus. He was deeply religious. Whosoever will. And there is not only this promise to save, but this promise to stay. You see, it is not a matter of Johnny Morrow saved today and lost tomorrow. Because Jesus says in John chapter 10 verses 28 and 29, And I give to them. Friends, salvation is the gift of God. Forget about what you have to do or what you don't have to do. Jesus said, I give. And He wants to give you salvation. He wants to give you eternal life. He wants to give it to you now. He says, I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish. Friend, that is a salvation that is worth having. To know that come life or come death, it is well with my soul. As we referred to the Shunammite woman in the Old Testament, the little boy out in the fields working with his dad. He falls ill. He is taken home. He dies on his mother's knee. She lays him on the prophet's bed. She goes out into the field. The prophet's servant is sent to her, to us. Is it well with thee? She says, It is well with me. Is it well with thy husband? She says, It is well with my husband. And they said, Is it well with the child? But the child is dead. Yet she could say, It is well with the child. And my friend, if you are saved in life and in death, it will be well. For He says, I give to them eternal life and no man And that word, man, is an italics put there by the translators for our more easily understanding, but not on the original text. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any, not even the devil can pluck the believer out of God's hand. I tell you, my friend, trusting in Christ as Savior, you will be as safe as God can make you. And more than that, you'll be as sure of heaven as if you were there. In Ulster homes, it used to be that there would be little verses on the walls of houses. It used to be one. I remember clearly in my grandmother's house, Christ is the head of this house. The unseen guest at every meal and the silent listener to every conversation. It used to also be in many homes you would see a picture and it was this picture called The Light of the World. It was a picture of Revelation 3 and 20. And it showed what the artist's impression of Jesus was. And it showed him standing outside the door and it showed him with a lantern in his hand the light of the world. And Hullman Hunt painted that great painting. Of course, the original is worth millions. But after he had painted it, he gave it to a critic to examine it, and the critic came back and said to him, it's a masterpiece. But there's one terrible mistake. You have painted the Saviour of the world beautifully. The door in the Lantern. But he says there's a grave mistake with the door. He said there's no handle on the door. And if you look at that picture, there's no handle on the door. But Hans said that is not a mistake. Or he says, the text says, if any man hear my voice and open the door, so the handle must be on the inside of the door. And friend, Jesus stands at the door of your life and He knocks on the door of your life and He knocks through the Word of God and the witness of other Christian people around you. And those great gospel texts that you will see on trees throughout the province and open air meetings and church services. knocks on your door through the witness of conscience, through the circumstances of life. And he says, if any man hear my voice and open the door. Friend, open your life to Christ tonight. And he'll save you. He'll not only save you, he'll keep you. You know, the devil's lie is give your heart to Jesus. And what about tomorrow? You couldn't keep it. And that's very true. Evelyn never spoke through her words. But Jesus said, I will come in to him, will sup with him. In other words, he'll come in, he'll stay. And he will keep us, for he says, as many as received him, to them give he power, the right and the authority to become sons of God. of a decision to make tonight. Like the Laodiceans, shut the door in the Savior's face. Get up out of your seat. Walk down that aisle and trample Jesus' blood under your feet. Or open your heart and let the Savior in. What will you do? neutral you cannot be. Maybe someday your heart will be asking, what will Jesus do with me? Friend, what will you do without Christ in the day of death? As you face eternity, what will you do without Christ? But tonight He bid you come. Open the door and let the Saviour in. Would you do that tonight? No. Let us bow together for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Christ, the Saviour of sinners, the light of the world. We ask that hearts will be opened, even as Lydia's heart was opened that Sabbath day down by the riverside, So open every heart this night. And just when our heads are bowed and our eyes are shut, is there one here without Christ? He stands at the door of your life. He'd be your Savior, and He'd save you gladly. There's coming a day when He'll be your judge, and He'll not be able to save you. Is there a backsider here? Way back somewhere you trusted Christ, but you've lost interest. You're not really walking with God. You never go to a place of prayer. God's Word is lost. It's shining your heart. Isn't it time to come back to Him? And just with our heads bowed and our eyes shut, we'll sing a little verse. of just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come." Friends, sing it. Make it the prayer of your heart. Trust the Savior. Let's sing that verse, just as I am. I now come to the scene, and if you may have me straightly, I'm not just simply a cop, but a dear darling and husband. I know this should be a surprise to you, shouldn't it? But this will not serve your accent. It just will not serve your name. saying one final verse to the teacher, just as I am, I will live on. Just as I am, I will live on. On the final day of the year, when my men have sought silence and peace in the world, they have sought the Lord Christ, and not just somewhere around the world, then again, take it down again. For the Lord is with me, Friend, we'll be here when others go. And do feel free and come and speak with us or just do what many of us did. Go home to your bedside and trust Christ as Savior. Remembering His wonderful promise, Heaven that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Heavenly Father, we ask that You will give us out in grace. Now separate us with Your blessing and grant to all journeying mercies. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.