Charles Stanley - Jesus: The Seeking Savior
The most beautiful and masterful piece of artwork ever to be found about Jesus probably in this passage of Scripture that I want to talk about today. Because it shows Jesus standing at this door with His hand raised to knock. And what it is, it is the message of the Lord Jesus to the seven churches in Asia Minor. And this particular verse is in that particular series of two chapters. Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3, when Jesus is speaking to the seven churches. He spoke to those seven churches and there was condemnation, there was commendation, there was support, and there was comfort, and there was challenge. And so what he said to those seven churches, he also says to us, and the message of those seven churches is the message about the church today. And it's so comprehensive because it's about our relationship to Him.
So, I want us to read these verses together beginning in this third chapter of Revelation. And read the fourteenth through the twentieth verses. Revelation three, fourteen through twenty, this is just one of these seven churches. He said, "To the angel of the messenger of the pastor of the church in Laodicea write: Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this, that is Jesus is saying this. And He said to them, 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot or cold I will spit you out of My mouth.'"
That's pretty strong language. "Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by the fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the same of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore, be zealous and repent". Now here's the verse. Look at this. "Behold," this is Jesus. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me".
Here is a beautiful, beautiful, masterful picture of Jesus. And, more than likely, you have seen this somewhere along the way because this particular scene was painted by Sallman, and do you remember? You've probably seen that picture of Jesus standing at the door and knocking and the light and so forth. Well, He not only was knocking on the door of those churches, He knocks on the door of every single heart. And so, what I want us to do I want us to see Him in the five different perspectives that He's mentioned here. And the first one is this. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock". So we see Jesus, first of all, standing. Well, what is that symbolize? It symbolizes His readiness. That is, He's ready to enter a life that's willing and ready for Him to do it. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock". Now, I want you to notice something here. Who's taking the initiative? It is Jesus who takes the initiative in our salvation experience.
Many people say, "Well, you know, I just decided when I was at a certain age, or when I was going through a certain situation, I just decided I was going to be saved". No, you didn't. You responded. You responded to Christ who was knocking on the heart of your life. So you were a responder. When the Bible talks about salvation, for example, the word reconciliation means that He took the reconciliation upon Himself and He brought us to Himself. And often times we think it's a decision that we make. We are responding to His standing before us, waiting, ready. I want you to turn if you will to Romans chapter 3 to make it a little brief. And here is the human heart the way God sees it. And so, you know, we don't see it this way because we don't like to think of ourselves this way, but as a believer you're not this way. But this is humanity the way God see it.
And let's go to the third chapter the third chapter and look at verse 10. "As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. That is not a single person is righteous, apart from God". "There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one". Then He skips down and He gives some other details, but He says, "There is no fear of God before their eyes". And that's the way God sees mankind. So ask yourself the question: If this is true, how could I have decided, or you could have decided on your own that you were going to be saved and you were going to do better when He says there's none good, there's none righteous, you can't see, you're blinded by sin, and there is none who seeks for God?
So when you come to this passage of Scripture and you see Jesus standing at the door, listen, He stood at the door of your heart before you got saved. There was a time in your life when you trusted Him as your personal Savior. You were responding. You were a responder to the work of the Holy Spirit getting your attention, pointing out to you the sins in your life, and pointing out to you the fact that if you died without Christ you'd be eternally separated from Him. This is this is Jesus taking the initiative. And, for example, in John many wonderful verses that remind us of our salvation experience, but in John the sixth chapter, and if you notice, for example, in the forty-fourth verse, here's what He says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day".
Which is His way of saying, "You don't just decide on your own well I'm going to get saved. Well, I'm not going to get saved now, I'll get saved later. And one of these days, as if it's all I". No, it is, listen, it is the reason you're saved is you responded to the work of the Holy Spirit getting your attention, showing you your sinfulness, and bringing you to a saving relationship to Him. Behold, He says. I'm standing at the door and what am I doing? He says, "I'm knocking". Notice He says, "I'm standing". Not sitting. Not wandering around. "Behold, I stand at the door and I knock". Let me ask you a question: When is the last time in your life that you ever heard God speaking to you? Remember when that was?
You say, "Now, God doesn't speak to me". Oh, listen, if He's knocking on your door, He has something to say. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock". And so you ask yourself the question, well how does He knock? Well sometimes He knocks through circumstances to get your attention. Difficulty, hardship, pain, disappointment. All kinds of things that go on in our life, often times that is God knocking on the door of our heart to get our attention. And if you are an unbeliever, you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, I can tell you exactly what He's doing. He wants to get your attention because He knows what's coming. He knows where you are. He knows that you need Him desperately.
Now, many people are just exactly like He described here. He says, for example, they have this sense of self-satisfaction and that is they will say, you know I am rich I'm wealthy, I have need of nothing. And the truth is, He says, "You don't realize that you're blind and wretched". And many people He knocks on the door of their heart, and they'll tell you they don't need God. But it's interesting when they go to bed at night they roll, and they toss and they tumble. And what they don't realize is that's part of His way of knocking on the door of their heart. He won't let them go to sleep. Why? Because, listen to this, Jesus pursues us. That's who He is. He's not satisfied with our being lost. He's not satisfied with our living a carnal life, a fleshly life. That is half-hearted, lukewarm. And so what does He do? He knocks on the door of our heart with difficulty, hardship, pain, the Word of God, all the ways.
For example somebody says, "Well, you know, I don't like I don't like listening to preachers. Or, I don't like watching preachers on the television, they bother me". I hope so! I hope so because, listen, it's through that pastor, or through that speaker, whether it's a pastor or whoever it might be, what is God doing? Through them He's knocking on your heart's door. And the worst thing you can do is what some people do, and that is you turn a deaf ear. He says, for example, in this passage He said, "You don't know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked". That is spiritual naked. You don't have it. And when people refuse to listen to the Gospel, what they're doing is they're turning a deaf ear to what He says. He says, "I'm knocking on your heart's door". And what is He knocking for? He wants to get our attention.
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One of the most dangerous things that can happen to you is for God to begin to deal with you about some area of your life that He wants to deal with and if you're not saved, listen, He knocks on the door of your heart in many, many ways. And there were times, maybe, when people talked to you about Jesus it disturbed you, it bothered you, it turned, you didn't you didn't like it. And after a while you just ignored them. So, you didn't even hear what they had to say. You thought you'd conquered it. What happened is Satan has defeated you. To the fact that you have turned a deaf ear to listen to the voice of God. When you, as a believer, for example, God begins to disturb you about something going on in your life. And so, what you do, you take the easy way out instead of listening to Him you what you do, it helps you do what? It helps you deaden. It helps you deaden the knock of God on your life to get your attention.
Why would God want to get your attention about something? He wants your attention for your good; to save you from yourself and to save you from a bad influence and to save you from making decisions that will ultimately destroy you. And if you die without Christ, here is a life He created, gifted, talented, skilled, had a will and a purpose and a plan. Wasn't because He didn't care. Wasn't because He didn't try to get in. Wasn't because He didn't say anything. It's because you would not listen to the voice of love; awesome, eternal, unending, gracious love. You turned Him down, and you pay the penalty. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock".
And you see, if there're things in my life that I don't want to give up, what I do is I take enough, or till finally I don't have to listen. And I think I have escaped, only to have set a trap for my life that could absolutely destroy it. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and I knock". But He's not just knocking because listen to what He says. He says, "If anyone hear My voice," watch this, "If anyone hear My voice and opens the door, here's what I'll do". So, I want to ask you again: When is the last time you know that God spoke to you personally, specifically about something in your life? It may be good or bad. Somebody say, "Well, God's never spoken to me". And I say to you, yes, He has. You thought it was something else, but He has spoken.
Would God not speak? Sure, He does. Remember this: He loved you enough to die for you. And if He loved you enough to die for you, He, listen, He's going to knock at the door of your heart. He's going to speak. He wants to get in because He knows you desperately need Him. And secondly, you will rejoice once He's there. Life will change absolutely completely. And you will be the grateful for all eternity that you let Him in. Sure He's knocking. But what I want to ask you is this: Even while I've been speaking, has the Spirit of God brought something to your mind and your life that you know doesn't belong there? It doesn't belong there. So, while I'm speaking, you say, "Well, I that's just what the pastor said". No, it may be my voice, but it's His message. And His message is the powerful, penetrating thing. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hear My voice", listen, what is He saying? I'm pleading to get in. Let me in.
Now go back to what we said in the very beginning. In other words, we're not out there looking for Jesus. Here's what he said, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost". Jesus could put the most awesome truths in a simple, short sentence. "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save not just to seek and to save that which is lost". Which means every single person is the goal; an object of Almighty God, through His Son Jesus Christ, His death at the cross paid as sin, debt in full, opened the door to the entire world. So, He's made it possible for us to receive Him, and therefore He's there. And He says, "If anyone hear My voice and open the door..."
So, I'll ask you this question: Has there ever been a time in your life when you said in response to the Lord God, "I do open my heart to you, Jesus. I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins. And I'm asking you to come into my life. And I'm asking you to guide me. Save me from my sins, and guide me all the days of my life". Have you ever done that? If not, let me tell you what's happening. Hello? Hello? And He's still standing there, and He's still knocking, and the voice is still there and you've ignored it. That's a dangerous thing. To ignore the love of God, the penetrating power of God, the awesome work of the Holy Spirit to draw to you Himself. To, listen, the Bible says, "Do not resist the Spirit, and do not grieve the Spirit of God".
Think about Jesus, who went to the cross. And you hear the message. And you hear that He wants He wants to come into your life. That He loves you. That everything good that's happened in your life to this point's been Him. And now He wants to He wants to He wants to come into a deeper relationship with you. You won't even answer the door. That's the way it is with some believers. Because you some you see, some believers are like what He said about being lukewarm. Don't expect too much. I just want to float through life, and I don't want anybody to bother me. That's not the way life is. Every single one of us in confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And not only that, we're confronted with something else. He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest". But He also said, "Follow Me". To follow Him is to obey Him. He said, "Come to Me, follow Me, and abide in Me".
I'm to come to Him in salvation. I'm to follow Him in obedience. And to abide in Him, I'm to rest in Him; I'm to live in this wonderful, intimate relationship with Him. Those three things make up the Christian life: Come to Me, and follow Me, and abide in Me. Look at that. Come to Me, follow Me, and abide in Me. And suppose he or she didn't let you in? You'd be deeply hurt. When He says in this passage, "I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking". It's not enough to knock. He says, "I want to get in. I want I want to change your life". He's a penetrating Christ. And think about this. He says, for example, when He's talking to Nicodemus He said, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God".
That is it's a new life that I want to enter and give you. When Christ comes into a person's heart, it's a new life. Paul said to the Colossians in that first chapter, he said, speaking of this relationship, he said, "Christ in you, is your hope of glory". Listen, watch this, it's not being a member of a church, you can be a member of twenty churches and die and be lost. He says, "Christ in you is your hope of Heaven. Christ in you". When He says, open, He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hear My voice and open the door".
Why does Jesus want to get in? In other words, many people like to think about the Christian life as God's up yonder, I'm down here, and when I have need of Him I call on Him. I need His protection or whatever I need in life, I'm going to... No. We're talking about an intimate relationship. You know how intimate a husband and a wife are. What you know, I know. What you feel, I feel. What's good for you's what I want. In other words, two people who love each other and who are looking out for each other's best, that's, listen, Jesus wants a relationship with you that is more intimate, more powerful, and more all-encompassing than the relationship of two people who genuinely love each other in the best way possible. He says, "I want to come in to you". He says, look at this, he says, for example, in 2 Corinthians 5, he says, "Therefore, if any be in Christ, he is what? he is a new creation".
Now, that means that life changes, and when I think about that I think about one of the most powerful passages in 2 Peter. A powerful passage of Scripture that when you first think about you think how can it be possible? But it can. So I want you to turn to 2 Peter for a moment, and I want us just to look at two or three verses in this first chapter because, you see, this is what happens. When you open your door to Christ, He comes into your life and forgives you of your sins, saves you. Here's what He says. He says, chapter 1 of 2 Peter, He says, verse 3, "Seeing", now, watch this carefully, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of this world by lust".
Now what is He say? Something very important. He says when you let Him in, Jesus stand at the door of your life, when you let Him in, His He, watch this carefully because most believers they don't live with this concept. When you let Him into your life, do you realize that you are allowing into your life the divine nature? That is the nature of God. Because the Holy Spirit comes into your life. And He seals you as a child of God. And He's there to enable you, help you, strengthen you. Everything that God wants to do in your life, that's where it all begins. When you allow Christ in, He says, "I will send the Holy Spirit". He will seal you until the Day of Redemption as the child of God. He will strengthen you and help you and enable you. He interprets the Scripture for us.
Listen, He's grieved. It grieves Jesus when we turn Him away. It grieves Jesus when we disobey Him. It grieves Jesus when we refuse to listen to His knock and His voice in our life. He says we become partakers of His divine nature. Now watch this, why this is so important. A divine nature is a Holy nature, it's the nature of God. And here's what the Bible says. The Bible says that God is light and in Him there is no sin at all, there is no darkness at all. So think about this: You have you have the nature of God within you. That's what happened.
You say, "Well, I don't feel like it". That has nothing to do with it. You have the nature of God within you. The Holiness of God within you. Therefore, do you not understand then that you cannot tolerate sin in your life when it comes? You confess it, you repent of it, you move on. Because here's what happens. It's against, it's you're, watch this, you're acting out of who you are. You trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. Now He's on the inside of you, living out His life in you. So this Holy, divine nature that is within you.
You say, "Oh, well let me tell you something, Preacher. I don't feel that. Nobody ever said that to me before". Well, it's time you woke up. Listen, you have the divine nature of God within you, that's what the passage says. If it if it isn't true, we just forget the whole thing. It is true. He says, "When he, the Holy Spirit comes, He will be in you, with you, and upon you forever". So, who is the Holy Spirit? A person of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit that makes up the Godhead, which is One. Now this is how awesome He is. When He comes into your life and my life, it's as if He brings the very nature of deity within us. Why? Because He loves us. Open the door. He says let Him in. He says, "Because what I'm going to do is I'm going to change your life. Your life will never be the same again once Jesus comes in and takes His place".
Jesus, think about this, He loves you enough to be willing to place within you part of His divine nature so that we could live a godly life, a righteous life, a holy life. Not sinless, but holy. And so, when we are tolerating sin and what we are trying to do, we are mixing holiness with sin, which they don't mix. You can't mix those two anymore than you can mix light and darkness. Did you get that? Say amen. You cannot. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if you'll just hear My voice and if you'll just open the door here's what I'm willing to do. I'm willing to come into your life, change your life, give you my Spirit". He says, "Come in and dine with you". You know what He's saying? I want to have fellowship with you. Think about this. That God desires to have fellowship with us. Listen to what He said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock".
This is God. Stand at the door and knock. "If you will just listen to Me, if you will just hear My voice, and be wise enough to open the door, here's what I'll do. I will come into your life and I will transform it. I will forgive all your sin. I will clean up your life. I will change the things that need to be changed. I will provide fully what needs to be provided. I will love you in a way that you've never been loved before, nor could ever be loved any way to match it. I will build a relationship with you that is matchless. I will do for you what no one else could possibly do. I will be to you what no one else could possibly be. You will never regret the day that you allowed Me into your life, for I will show you life like it's never been seen before. And, remember this, what I began with you will never end, for our relationship is eternal". How could you resist that kind of love?
And Father, how grateful we are, awesome Jesus that You are. In Your humanity and deity You walked this earth and showed us all about it. And now seated at the Father's right hand, speaking through Your Spirit within us, giving direction and guidance, keeping Your every promise, to be to us what our heart needs. To fellowship with us when we know we don't deserve it, but that's just who You are: the unconditional, loving Jesus. We just want to say thank you. Amen.
Well, if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, you've missed it. You can settle that issue right now. Whoever you are and wherever you are. If you're willing to say to Him:
Lord Jesus, I don't understand it all, but I'm accepting by faith that your death on the cross paid my sin debt in full. And that if I accept you as my Savior, which I do. I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins and to save me at this very moment.
You're not trying to promise Him anything, you're not saying you're going to do this, you're going to do that. Your works, He says, are like filthy rags. He wants you to open your heart and let Him in. By confessing and repenting of your sins and surrendering your life to Him. You can pray a simple prayer like this:
Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. Forgive me of all my sin. Not because I deserve it, but because You promised to do it. I do believe that You went to the cross in my behalf. At this moment I surrender my life to You, to follow you all the days of my life.
If you're willing to say that to Him with all of your heart, your life changes immediately. And then He will guide you and lead you and develop you. And you need to listen and to watch and to read, to grow in your Christian life.