Gospel—John Bilisoly
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Welcome everyone to the Gospel meeting this evening.
I wonder if we could begin the meeting with singing together #20 in our little hymn sheet.
Behold the Savior out the door. He gently knocks, has knocked before.
Has waited long as waiting still you use no other friend, so I'll open the door. He'll enter in and Sup with you and you with him.
#20 in the hymn sheet.
Behold.
Oh, that's when I left that. I hear you, that one.
If I had to let my God have a good winter for dinner.
And all that I can learn him.
When will you be on the examining till now?
I wonder if you could turn with me tonight to John's Gospel chapter 10 to a well known verse that I would like to read.
John's Gospel, chapter 10.
And verse 9.
We know this is the Lord Jesus speaking.
And he says, here I am the door by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.
And shall go in and out and find pasture.
Well, I have it on my heart this afternoon to talk a little bit about doors in Scripture.
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And there are many portions and passages in the Word of God that talk about doors we're not going to have time to touch on, but just a few of them.
So with the Lord's help, I'd like to look at some doors that we find that.
We're open and then we're shut and then I would like to look at some doors that were are open. But before we do that, I wanted to begin with this verse here because I believe that in all that we have to say, this is the most important one that we're going to speak about in connection with doors. These words of the Lord Jesus. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
You know, doors are important to us, aren't they?
We came into this room through doors.
We leave through these doors, we enter into our homes through doors, our cars. They're in our lives every day, aren't they? And they are important to us. They're the means of access into a room.
But you know, there's another purpose for doors, and that is to keep out.
And so we have doors, we have locks, and at least in our part of the country.
We lock our doors that night. Maybe some of you don't have to do that.
That's nice if you don't have to do that.
Umm, when I was going with my wife Carmen, it was nice to be in her home and when we would leave for a meeting, the doors weren't locked and when we came home we walked right in. We didn't need a key. Well, in our home in Denver, Co, we lock our doors and we need to use a key when we come home.
The Lord Jesus uses a very simple example.
And object to convey a message. Here he refers to himself as a door, something that would not be misunderstood. Easy to understand the thought of coming in to some into a home, for example, through a door.
And I think it's interesting that when it comes to such vital things in the word of God, such as salvation.
The Lord employs such a simple object that we can lay hold of our hearts can understand. You know when you get into.
Other subjects in Scripture, like prophecy, for example, things that are going to take place in the future. Sometimes the Spirit of God will employ imagery and things that are more complicated and complex. But isn't it wonderful that when it comes to salvation?
For this lost Sinner, God uses such a simple thing as a door. I I like that the Lord Jesus here says I am the door. And so our our message tonight is is just as simple that the Lord Jesus is saying.
That man, sin, man sin, has shut him out from God, from God's presence. But the Lord Jesus came into this world.
To provide a way in which God could reach out to man and bring him back into favor bring bring him back into his presence. And so the Lord says I'm that means I'm the one that.
God is using to bring the lost Sinner to him through myself. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. You know there's a hymn on the back page of the sheet.
Let's just take a minute to sing it. It's a well known hymn, that little chorus that the children often sing when we sing with them #42 let's sing that little hymn in connection with this verse.
A little child.
And it has to be very happy to hear my heart and I'm glad.
You know, there's another little hymn that we often sing in our children's hymn book in our Sunday school, and it goes like this. And no doubt it was whoever wrote it was thinking of this verse that we have just read in John 10 and verse nine. And the little hymn goes I am the door.
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I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
He shall be saved he shall be saved and then the next stanza goes like this I am the door. The words are but 4,000,000 are yen but there's room for more the doors open wide come right inside and thou shalt be saved and therewin tonight the gospel is just that simple and so I wanted to begin with this door because, as I say, if we don't have any time for anything else, we.
Given the Gospel, the Lord Jesus is the means of coming to God as a lost Sinner. We can't bring anything that will atone for our sins, but we can accept His gift, the Lord Jesus. And we can believe the work that was done on Calvary's cross where He laid down his life, where His precious blood was shed. We've had that verse before us throughout the day. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
Are you a Sinner tonight? God's Word says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Then this message is for you, and you too can come, if you haven't already, through that open door, through the Lord Jesus.
Well, to begin with, I wanted to look at the first mention of a door in Scripture. I think it's very remarkable and interesting what God gives us in His Word in Genesis chapter 4 in connection with two young men.
Abel and Cain that are brought before us there and we're just going to touch a little bit on this. We're not going to read the whole portion, but we know that these two boys brought something to the Lord in the way of an offering. And it tells us that Abel brought the first slings of his flock and of the Father of in verse four. And the Lord had respect unto Abel unto his offering. He accepted Abel's offering.
This little lamb that was slain, his blood was shed, and Abel brings that to the Lord, and the Lord accepts it. Cain brings something too. He brings of the fruit of the ground in verse 3.
And.
An offering unto the Lord also from the fruit of the ground, that which uh, he had produced through his efforts. And no doubt nice, whatever it was, whatever produce it was, I'm sure Cain picked out the choicest want pieces to offer to the Lord. But it says that on verse 5 unto Cain unto his offering, he had not respect.
The Lord could not accept Cain's offering. There was number bloodshed with connected with Cain's offering and the Lord could not accept it. And it tells us that Cain was wroth and his countenance fell. And so the Lord says to him in verse six, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Well, I know there's been different.
Umm, opinions as to how to actually interpret this? It's, it's a little bit difficult to English here. And, uh, you look at a more critical translation like Mr. Darby's and it, it helps a little bit and he has a footnote that helps too. I don't know exactly what is being said here, but I think it's something along this line that the Lord, as it were, is saying to Cain. Cain, if what you have done, if what you have offered to me.
Is good and acceptable to me, then you could look up with confidence in what you have brought to me. But if it's not, then I'm going to provide something for you. I'm going to provide an offering that I can accept. And I believe that perhaps, maybe that's the thought here where the Lord says if thou doest not well sin or a sin offering Mr. Darby has on a footnote in a footnote of his.
Lieth out the door and you know, I thought about that very first mention of Dora in Scripture and it's in connection with approach unto God and.
Man Cain represents man that tries in every imaginable way to approach God. And if you were to ask the average person on the street how do you approach God today, you would get a variety of answers, no doubt. Well.
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None of those are going to avail.
God's offering is all that can be accepted and His offering.
Is that which is a substitute for the one that is is offering the offering and so in the thought that we have here, the Lord, as it were, says to Cain, I'm going to provide you something that I can accept. I'm going to provide an offering for your sin. You are a Sinner, Cain, and I cannot accept what you have brought me. It's not going to avail. It cannot atone for.
You're the fact that you are a Sinner. So I've provided something and I'm reading a lot into this and we know that all of this points on to the work of Calvary's cross. But that's the point that when Abel offered that lamb, God could look at that lamb and he could see in that lamb that which would remind him that which would point to a coming sacrifice that would, as it were, satisfy God and has satisfied God for all eternity.
His beloved son and so.
Abel, I mean Cain, has provided a lamb and all he has to do is that we're as open his door, open his door. God has provided something, a remedy for him.
Whereby he can be accepted. But oh, how tragic and sad. We know the story. Cain turns away from God and from God's offering, as it were, and he in wrath and anger kills his brother and he becomes a fugitive and a Vagabond in the earth. He becomes one that is fleeing and one that has no home, no dwelling place. He's on the run, as it were, and man in his sin is on the run.
From God tonight man cannot in reality stop and face that question of eternity without his conscience being affected. Man is on the run from God and does not want the remedy that God has provided. Well, I thought of that as the very first mention of door in Scripture, that God would be, as it were, anxious to bring before our thoughts His beloved Son.
The one in whom is all his delights, and the one who has.
Satisfied him for all eternity concerning the question of sin.
Well, let's just go a few pages further in our Bibles to the 6th chapter of Genesis, and we're going to look at a door here that was open and then was shut. And I am referring to the ark, as you probably have already surmised. So in chapter 6 of Genesis, I'm just going to make a few comments here, starting at verse 14. Make thee an arc of Gopher wood. These are God's instructions to a man named Noah.
And he tells him to make an arc of Gopher wood because God had told Noah that he was going to judge this earth by a flood and all flesh was going to be destroyed. But there was a remedy. There was a place of safety.
And God is giving Noah instructions on preparing that place of safety.
Make the Anarch of Gopher Wood rooms shalt thou make in the Ark, and shall pitch it within without with pitch, and this is the fashion of it which thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. I understand that would be about 450 feet by 70 feet umm L in length and or width, and uh 40 feet 45 feet high.
Someone has estimated that to be somewhere around 42,000 tons in weight. If you take a vessel that size and create it out of wood as they would have had in that day, and then you add the pitch and so on, umm, you're looking at a fairly heavy vessel.
So he's told to make this. Now we know that this.
Is a picture to us, isn't it, of shelter from judgment? And we can apply that to our what we're speaking about tonight to the gospel that God is going to judge this world. And yet he has provided a means of safety from that judgment. And men are being told to flee from the wrath to come. There is wrath that's coming on this world because they have taken his Son and have cast him out. They crucified him.
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And God is going to hold man accountable not only for that act, but for every sin that man has committed.
There will there will be just recompense for each of those sins, but God has provided a way.
Of safety and this arc is a picture to us of that and we won't take the time, but we know that the Gopher would might speak to us of the Lord Jesus, his humanity and he was here as a man. Wonderful to think about that. I understand that the pitch might bring before us the thought of atonement. And so we have this arc that was covered within and without with pitch. But what I wanted to really concentrate on.
Was the thought of the door in verse 16 a window shalt thou make to the ark?
And in a cubit shalt thou finish it above.
Umm, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. With lower, second and third stories shalt thou make it. Well, I wanted to think and focus a little bit just on this door. Now this door was set in the sight of the Ark, and we know that it was through this door that the animals.
Entered that were preserved from the flood and Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives 8 souls was all that entered in through that door. But there was a period of time when this ark was being prepared. And we know that God had told Noah in verse three that his spirit would not always strive with man. And then he said, yet his days shall be in 120 years. So we know that Noah was 120 years.
In preparing this arc and there was lots of time and ample opportunity for those that lived in that area to see that something was going on that Noah and his sons were doing. They were building this ark. Now, we're not told a lot about the the reaction of the others, but one thing we know is that no one else entered in through that door. That door was open for a period of time.
We know it was because we're told later when it was shut, and we're going to look at that in just a minute. But I like to think of that door there in that, the sight of that arc as Noah was building this ark, and people could see the size being put up, and then they could see this door, perhaps that was cut out of that as an opening.
There was an opening there, and that opening was for anyone to enter in that wanted to. Well, I thought about that and I thought about this. That door was located in the site of this ark. And you know, it reminds me.
Dear ones, this this evening or this afternoon of the ribbon side of the Lord Jesus, you know we have that read to us twice and we'll just read it again.
In John's Gospel chapter 19, then came the soldiers and break the legs of the 1St and of the other, these two thieves that were crucified on either side of the Lord Jesus, which were crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs.
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
And he that saw it fair record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe, for these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him.
Whom they pierced, Well, I believe that we can see perhaps in this door that Noah was instructed to put in the sight of an ark, the ark, a little picture of the ribbon side of the Lord Jesus. And we know that as we're told there in John, that when that soldier plunged that spear into his sight, forthwith came there out blood and water. You know, we have the same imagery in another place and I'm just going to read it. You don't need to turn to it. But it's in the Song of Solomon where Solomon kind of employs similar imagery, he says.
And Speaking of in type, the bridegroom here or the bride and the bridegroom speaking, uh, the bridegroom says, Oh, my dove referring to his loved one, his, his bride, that art in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs. This is chapter 2 and verse 14. Let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice, for sweet as thy voice and thy countenance is comely that part again, O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock.
In the secret places of the stairs, you know we have in Isaiah chapter 32. I'll just turn to it. You don't need to. In the very beginning of that chapter, it says here in verse two. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from The Tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary or thirsty land.
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Well, we have that expression there a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covered from The Tempest. You know, that's the again, isn't it? A little picture to us of the ribbon sight of Jesus. And I would ask you tonight, are you sheltered beneath the precious blood of Christ as a Sinner before God? You are unfit for his presence.
But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. And I would ask you, are you sheltered?
Have you found in the Lord Jesus a hiding place from The Tempest? There's judgment coming on this world. Are you hiding in Him, as it were? Are you like the dove that's in the cleft of the rock?
In the secret places of the stairs. Well, I've enjoyed that and connecting it with the thought here.
Of the ark and the door that was in the sight of it. But then it says in the very next chapter, verse 7.
Chapter 7 and verse 17.
Umm are actually the verse before that I'll read verse 15. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, Speaking of the animals. And they that went in went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him, and the Lord or Jehovah shut him in. I think that's important because as we said.
This door of this ark was open, but now we see and we read here.
That God, once they were in all that were going to go in God and patience waited all those years allowing man the opportunity to come in. But once that time was up, it says the Lord shut them in. And I think that's important because, you know, if Noah would have shut the door of the ark and then there came those that wanted in Noah and pity might have opened that door. But you know, dear ones.
God's patience will not always continue. God is extending his patience.
In this day of grace, perhaps for over 2000 years now, God has impatience waited for man. Maybe He's waiting for you tonight to come in.
God wants you to come in to that place of safety from judgment.
But there is a time coming when the door is going to be shut. There is a time coming when this gospel that we are sounding for tonight will no longer be sounded forth, not in this room, not in anywhere else in this world. The Lord Jesus will have come and then it will be too late. It will be too late for those that have spurned and turn to deaf ear to the gospel. Come tonight. Come through the open door before it's shut forever.
God shut them in.
Well, let's, uh, go on a little bit further. We have another, umm, very familiar portion in Exodus chapter 12, and we're just gonna touch again on our subject without developing these, these very instructive accounts for us.
We know that God was delivering his people out of Egypt, His earthly people, Israel.
And he sent these plagues to force, as it were, the Egyptians, to let, to force Pharaoh to let the people go, the children of Israel. And this last plague was the death of the first born.
And the children of Israel are told for in each of their households to take the lamb.
And it says umm in umm first.
Six of Exodus chapter 12. And ye shall keep it the Lamb up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door posts of the house, wherein they shall eat it.
And so on. Well, I want to again emphasize to stay on track with our subject. What I wanted to bring before us here was this blood that was to be applied at the top of the door and on the side posts so that when the destroying Angel came through and saw that blood, he would not come in and take the life of the first born in that home. And so they were told in verse 13.
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And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses wherein ye are. And when I see the blood, I will Passover you.
Hence the name Passover I will Passover you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.
Well, God was going to send judgment, but if the blood had been applied as they were told to do.
They were safe, but the houses that didn't have blood applied to the outside of the house.
The destroying Angel came in.
And so again they were told in verse 22, And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the base. And they were to slay that lamb and capture some of that blood in a basin and apply it with this hyssop to the outside of the door.
And take a bunch of hits, hyssop and di dip it in the basin, and strike the lentil in the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the house, the door of his house, until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians.
And when he seeth the blood upon the lentil, and on the two side posts, the Lord will Passover the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in.
To your houses, unto your houses, to smite you. Those children of Israel, they had to go out of their houses and take that blood and apply it. And then they had to go back in through that open door and that those doors were shut. I'm sure they were very careful to shut those doors and secure them and to make sure that that blood was on the outside of the house, on the around the door, so that the destroying Angel would not come and take the life of the first born. We can understand this. This is an easy.
Application for us to make to the gospel that the Lord Jesus is going to.
Come in judgment, and anyone who has not been washed in the blood of the Lamb is going to fall under the judgment of God.
How solemn to think about it tells us in verse 30 that there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Can you imagine? Can you imagine the cry that went forth out of that great land?
As those Egyptians woke up in their homes and the first born was dead.
And think too of those that were outside of that ark when the floodwaters, when the rain began to descend, rain was not known in that that day. And the rains came down and the floods began to the creeks became swollen and so on and lakes and so on, and the floodwaters began to rise. Can you imagine the terror of those souls and perhaps an attempt to try and enter that arc, but no God.
Had shut the door. These doors were shut and those that were not in homes that had the blood on the outside.
Death and destruction came into those homes. Let's look at one more Old Testament example here that's so vivid to us in Joshua chapter 2. These are all well known stories. We know that when the children of Israel had umm, left Egypt and were coming into the land, they had enemies there that they had to confront and the cities that had to be taken. And so we have that story of.
Of Rahab the Harlot and how she hid those spies because she feared God.
And they told her that they were going to come and they were going to destroy that city of Jericho. But there was something that she could do. She could put a scarlet line outside of the window of her home, which was built on the wall of that city. And when they came to destroy that city, the children of Israel, when those armies marched around to take that city, they would see that scarlet line in Rahab's window, a picture again of the precious blood of Christ that was shed at Calvary's cross.
They would see that scarlet line and those that were in Rahab's house were safe from judgment. The soldiers of Israel were instructed to not destroy those inside of Rahab's house.
And so it says in verse 19 of this chapter 2 of Joshua.
This was the word that was given to Rahab. And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street.
His blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless. And whomsoever shall, whomsoever shall be with thee in the house, His blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. Here's the message. Here's the gospel again, dear. 1:00 tonight.
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That.
Safety from coming judgment is only is only in the shelter of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so if you are in your sins tonight, you need to flee from God's wrath.
You need to work, as it were, enter by faith into that place of safety that God has provided.
In the Lord Jesus. Well, we have a little picture of that, don't we, in Rahab's house here. And no doubt Rahab was earnest with those that were of her kindred come into my house. This is the only place that's going to be preserved in God's judgment. And so those that came in were delivered from that judgment. Well, let's go now to the New Testament, to Matthew 25.
And just look very briefly at another account of.
The door that was opened but then it was shut and this is in connection with the.
The story, this account that the Lord gives us of the virgins that went out to meet the bridegroom, and it tells us in chapter 25 that five of them were foolish. There were ten of them and five were were wise. And we know that they all had lamps and the foolish didn't have oil in their lamps and their lamps eventually went out.
And, uh, so they asked those that were wise to give them of their oil and they said, no, there's not enough, but you need to go and buy for yourself. And it says while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. So let's just pick up the story from.
Maybe verse 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Oh, how solemn. Another shut door here.
That door had been opened, but they waited too long. The invitation had gone out.
The, that the bridegroom was coming go ye out to meet him, but they waited too long. How sad. You know, Uh, sometimes, uh, we wait too long, don't we, uh, to get on to something. I ride the bus quite a bit in my work and uh, there's a shuttle bus that runs along and when they're getting ready to close the doors, they will announce it. The doors are closing and, uh, so people know that they need to step on quick. Well, occasionally.
People will wait too long and you'll see people running and they're trying to get on the shuttle and they don't get there in time and the doors close and it's interesting to see the expressions on people's faces, you know, uh, missing a bus is not too serious of a consequences connected with that. You can just wait for the next one. But I remember one time when this man tried to get on and he actually kicked his foot.
At the door and he got his foot in and the door pinched shut and there's these, uh, these rubber sleeves on the side of the door so that they don't shut real tight. And he got his foot in the door and the door shut and the bus started going and people were yelling at the bus driver and, and finally he was hopping along there trying to, as the bus was, was starting to pull away from the curb and, and the bus driver stopped right away and the door opened and he got on. He almost didn't make it.
But he got on. But dear ones, we're not talking about something that is minor in consequence. If you miss this open door that God is offering and it shuts like we have in these different accounts, it's too late.
It's too late for the the people that missed the bus, you know, they some of them would get angry and they would kick the bus or you hit it with their fists, but they get the next one.
But here God is offering you tonight salvation. What are you going to do with it?
Well, there's others, like I said, that we could, umm, touch on, but I just want to speak for a few minutes about open doors and then, umm, we're gonna close a little early, but let's just go over now, umm, to a portion in the New Testament and let's go to, uh, umm, Matthew Chapter 28, just a few pages over from where we're at here.
I just love this one because you know, we've had the Lord Jesus saying I am the door. Uh, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. But here we have another door that's brought to us before us in Scripture. And this is in connection with the Lord's tomb that he was placed in. And so we're told in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 2.
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Well, we'll read verse one. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre and behold.
There was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
And his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became his dead men. And the Angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which is crucified. He is not here, for he is risen.
As he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay.
Well, I just have enjoyed this here, that here was this tomb and we know that there was a, a great stone that was rolled into the mouth of that tomb. Umm, it's referred to here as a door. And, uh, the Lord's body was placed there by two disciples, uh, Nicodemus and, and, uh, Joseph of Arimathea and tenderness. They took that body and they placed it in that tumor and never a man had laid.
And then we know that the Lord rose from the dead. What a wondrous thing, resurrection. We don't have time to turn to other scriptures that develop that. But we know that the grave could not hold him, but that he rose from the dead as he said he would. And so the Angel is telling the women that they expected to find him here. And he says, no, he's not here, He's risen, but you can come and see where he lay. And so that stone was rolled away, you might say, so that they could go and they could look in and they could see an empty tomb.
And what a glorious thing this evening to be able to tell you that the Lord's tomb is empty.
He has risen, He is no longer in the grave and the door is open and you can see that He's gone. He's in the heavens now and he's waiting to come for us. He's waiting for the Father to tell Him to come for us.
Are you going to be among the number? Do you believe that the tomb of Jesus is empty? That he has risen from the dead?
Well, I want to touch on one more in closing. It's at it's at the end of this book and it's in Revelation Chapter 3.
Revelation chapter 3.
And, uh, we're just going to read umm.
One verse here, verse 20.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
Him knocking, I think is another translation. Is he knocking on your heart's door tonight? Do you feel that? Do you hear that? Are you in your sins and the Lord is knocking?
What are you going to do about that dear one tonight? Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will Sup with him, and he with me.
Well, this is an invitation. The Lord Jesus is standing, as it were, at your heart's door, and he's knocking. I'm going to apply this in this way. And he wants to come in and it says Sup with. He wants to Sup with you and you with him.
And I so I thought of that as fellowship. And you know, the Lord doesn't just save us to save us from the lost eternity and to save us from the wrath that is coming upon this world. That's wonderful in and of itself. But he wants fellowship. He wants.
Fellowship for his heart and he wants it with you and I and isn't that wonderful that he would desire to have fellowship with us? And so I take this too as an appeal to us, perhaps just a word to us in closing that know the Lord as our Savior. Do you feel at times like the the bride and the Song of Solomon that the Lord has been knocking, as it were, and you haven't opened to him?
And.
Perhaps you aren't comfortable in being in his presence, but he wants to come in. He wants us to open up to him in that account that in the 5th chapter of the Song of Solomon, he comes, as it were, to her, and he wants fellowship with her.
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And she is too. It's too much of an inconvenience for her to get up and to open to him. But she finally does. But when she opens, he's gone. He has withdrawn himself. It's a kind of a touching scene there. And then she realizes how much she misses him. Well, the Lord wants fellowship with us, and he's knocking, as it were, at our hearts door, and he wants us to open up.
And He wants to come in so that we might Sup with him and he with us. Oh, what a wonderful Savior we have. What a wonderful salvation we have. And it's available to you tonight. The door, by God's grace, dear one, tonight, at this moment anyway, is still open. Will you come in? Will you come in and accept the Lord as your Savior tonight? You know, we're going to sing a hymn in closing #17 in our hymn sheet.
And.
Just I trust that you will listen to the message that this hymn has, that you will swing the heart store widely open and let him enter while he may. You know there's a time coming when he's not going to enter.
He won't be available.
Even if you call, there won't be an answer. You can knock and he won't open, but won't you come tonight? Let's sing #17 in closing.
Have you in the morning?
I mean, I'm a friend of the day.