A Promise of Salvation

GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES Series

  TEXT:  Revelation 3:20

TOPIC:  A Promise of Salvation

Pastor Bobby Earls, FBC, Center Point, Alabama

July  19, 2009

(Message adapted from John Maxwell’s message from his series “Precious Promises from God’s Word.”)

Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)
 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,

 I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

            A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his members. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door. When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this  message, "Genesis 3:10." Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in laughter. Of course Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door And knock." Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked, and hid myself."

            While the most accurate interpretation of Revelation 3:20 understands our Lord’s invitation to be to Christians and members of the Church at Laodicia, it is appropriate to make application of this important text to anyone who has not yet allowed Christ access to his heart and life.

            Revelation 3:20 tells us three things:

I.  The Truth about our Savior,  “I stand at the door and knock”  “I will come in”

A.   Jesus is a Seeking Savior,  “The Son of man has come to seek and save that which is lost”

B.    Jesus is a Persistent Savior, “knock”  a persistent knock.   A persistent voice.

ILLUSTRATION:  A nurse on the Pediatric Ward before listening to the little ones’ heart beat would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts.  Their eyes would always light up with awe, but she never got a response to equal four-year old David's comment.

Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart.  "Listen," she said..........."What do you suppose that is?"

 He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap-tap-tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin and he asked, "Is that Jesus Knocking?"

There are several ways He knocks on your heart’s door.

1.     Through the Bible, the reading of God’s word.

2.     Through music

3.     Through a personal desire to better ourselves

4.     Through prayer

5.     Through our stinging conscience

6.     Through the memory of a better day in our past

7.     Through misfortune and tragedy

8.     Through the good providence of God

9.     Through our disappointments and discouragement

10. Through church services

11. Through the teaching and the preaching of God’s word

12. Through the faithful witness of a caring Christian

II.  The Truth about our Situation,   “at the door and knock”

ILLUSTRATION--Holman Hunt’s picture of Christ knocking at the door.  Christ is pictured outside the human heart.  Appropriately Hunt also paints the door without an outside door latch.  Why?  Because the latch is on the inside.

That I am in need.  That I need a savior.  That it is up to me.

A. We are all sinners by nature and by choice, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

B.  We cannot save ourselves, not of works lest we should boast, (Ephesians 2:9)

C.  We deserve death and hell, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a)

III. The Truth about our Salvation,

            Beautiful pictures of salvation:

A.   It’s like opening a door,  Revelation 3:20 and John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (KJV)

B.   It’s like taking a drink of water, John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (KJV)

C.   It’s like receiving a gift, Romans 3:23, The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ

D.   It’s like coming home, Luke 15  The Prodigal Son, “I perish with hunger.  I will arise and go to my Father…”

E.   It’s like accepting an invitation, Matthew 11:28, (NKJV) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

F.   It’s like putting money in the bank,  2 Timothy 1:12, (NKJV)
For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

G.   It’s like eating a meal, John 21  “Come and dine”

I John 5:13, (NKJV)
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.