He Keeps On Knocking

And uh we look forward to the good things that God is going to continue to do.

Amen.

Uh, take your Bible out if you have it, hold it up nice and high, and let's make this declaration of our faith all together.

Ready, go.

This is my Bible.

It is my primary source of spiritual nourishment every day and become all that God wants me to be.

My mind will be renewed, my life will be transformed, I will become fully surrendered to Christ.

Therefore, I will hide his word in my heart so I can be all God has destined me to be.

Amen.

If you would kindly remain standing in honor of the word of God, we are going to perhaps one of the most famous, if not the most famous, uh text from the letters to the seven churches, and it's found in Revelation chapter number three.

It's probably also one of the most misunderstood text in those letters, and it's uh found in verse number 20, Revelation chapter number three.

It says, 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.

From this text, I want to speak to you from the subject.

He keeps on knocking.

Can he come in?

He keeps on knocking.

Can he come in?

Let's pray.

Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, speak to every heart.

Thank you for your anointing on the preaching of the word that ministers it and helps it to be life to all that hear it.

In Jesus' name I pray.

And everybody said, You may be seated.

Music has a way of saying things that stick with us.

We can remember lines for years and years and years to come.

And sometimes a song is more than just a melody.

Sometimes it's like a sermon in the music.

I hear a lot of sermons when I'm listening to different uh music from different genres.

And for instance, maybe that song I heard it through the grapevine.

Isn't that a sermon on gossip?

Or Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson.

Isn't that a sermon about getting rid of the plank in your eye before you worry about the speck in your brother's eye?

Or Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.

Isn't that a sermon about ignoring your critics?

Or fight song by Rachel Playton?

Isn't that a song about spiritual resilience?

Or God's plan by Drake?

Isn't that a song about trusting God, even when life doesn't make sense?

But there's this one line that I think is appropriate for the sermon today, and it just keeps coming up in my spirit.

Little Richard made it famous.

Remember him, little Richard?

The rock icon.

You keep on, but you can't come in.

Remember that?

You know what?

I don't sing much, but y'all get the point.

Anyway, I'm sure little Richard wasn't trying to write a line or a lyric that had a sermon.

But unintentionally, I think he wrote something that happens more often than not in our lives, and that is that Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts.

He always is, all of the time.

You know, he never stops knocking.

He's knocking on the door of our priorities and our career and our health and our dreams and our and our plans.

He knocks on the door of our relationships and our marriages and our family and our finances.

He knocks on the doors of areas in our life that we have never fully surrendered to him.

And sadly, many times instead of opening the door, we keep him standing outside.

C.S.

Lewis once described famously in his book, Mere Christianity, as a Christian's life as a living house.

And he says, oftentimes we think that we're just inviting Christ in to fix a few minor repairs, to fix a leak in the roof or to patch the wall or to caulk around the bathtub.

And maybe we think that, but when he comes in, he starts knocking on different doors.

And when we open those doors, we find out that he isn't just renovating the house, he's rebuilding it.

And walls we thought were gonna stay all of a sudden are torn down, and rooms that we thought belonged all of a sudden are reclaimed, and new wings that we never imagined are being constructed, constructed.

And Lewis says the reason is simple because God didn't come to make the house a little nicer, God came to completely take over the house.

And then here's what happens is the reason why Jesus is knocking is because there are rooms in the house that we haven't given them access to yet.

And what happens is we say to Jesus, Jesus, you can you can come in this room.

And Jesus is like, no, but I want to go in that one.

And we're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That one's not for you, Jesus.

There's still some stuff in that room that I don't want you to see, and I don't want you to have, and I don't want to surrender to you.

And Jesus, that's that's my room.

That's that's that's my man cave, that's my she shed, that that's that's the area that nobody else but me.

Jesus is like, I want into that room.

And in Revelation chapter number three, we see in the final letter to the seven churches, to the church of Laodicea, we find Jesus is is is knocking on the door of this church's heart.

He's not speaking the sinners here.

Revelation chapter 3, verse number 20, we often think is is a metaphor of how God tries to gain access into the heart of a sinner so that he can save their soul.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

And although there's truth in that, that's really not the context of the verse.

The context of the verse is God trying to gain access into rooms in believers' lives where we have shut him out.

Which means that Jesus is knocking on the door of the heart of people who already know him, trying to gain access to places, not so he can hurt them, but so that he can spiritually strengthen us.

And if you think about this, this is kind of bizarre because this is Jesus' church.

This is the place that is supposed to be built for him, this is the place that is supposed to worship him, this is the place that is supposed to revolve around him, and he is locked out of his own church.

He keeps on knocking, but can he get in?

And here's the thing about these people is they don't even realize that they have locked Jesus out.

Matter of fact, when they assess their situation, here's what they say about themselves: they say, I'm rich, I've become wealthy, and I don't have any need of anything.

And then Jesus turns around to them and they don't even realize this.

And he says, Yeah, but the truth is you're wretched, you're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked.

I mean, imagine if Jesus wrote you a letter today.

What would he say to you?

So many of us think that Jesus would give us an American gospel when he spoke to us.

He would talk to us about all the wonderful things only, but but the fact of the matter is Jesus is challenging this church, which shows us something incredibly sobering.

That it's possible to have activity, religious activity without intimacy.

It's possible to have religion without true relationship, it's possible to have prayer without his presence, worship without affection, direction without divine guidance, blessing without surrender, and success without spiritual sensitivity.

And eventually, when that happens, we discover that Jesus is standing outside of the door of our life instead of invited in.

And my prayer for us is let that not be us.

Let that not be the kind of people that we are, let that not be the kind of church that we are where we think we have everything, but we don't realize that we have nothing because we don't have a growing, thriving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Because if you have everything and not that, you have nothing.

If at the end of time you have all of that, but not a thriving relationship with Jesus, it doesn't matter how big our bank accounts are, how big our houses are, it doesn't matter how much success we have.

If we don't have Jesus, we have nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

But here's the good news that Jesus doesn't abandon them.

He doesn't walk away from them, he doesn't cancel them, he doesn't say I don't want to have anything to do with you.

You know what he does?

He keeps on knocking.

The question remains, will we let him in?

Which brings us to our first truth.

Number one, unsurrendered blessings block the knock.

Unsurrendered blessings block the knock.

Before we understand what Jesus is saying to this church, we have to understand where this church lived.

The city of Laodicea was one of the wealthiest cities in the entire Roman world.

This place wasn't just prosperous, it was overflowing with wealth.

Most cities in the region had one theater, Laodicea had two.

It had a massive stadium that could sit 60,000 people.

It had four marketplaces and 4,500 shops, which was extremely uncommon in the ancient world.

Laodicea was the banking center of that time.

It was a bustling hub for the textile industry.

It was famous for its luxurious black sheep wool, which people would travel all around to present like the mink coat of the day.

I mean, this was where you went if you wanted one of those.

I mean, it had money coming out of everywhere.

And perhaps most famous of all was the city was renowned for its medical school that specialized in eye diseases.

And from that school came a famous eye ointment that was used throughout the whole Roman world.

In other words, this city had money, it had influence, it had fashion, it had medicine, it was the kind of place that everybody wanted to live.

And so this church wasn't struggling financially.

This church was really, really, really, really, really wealthy.

And so when Jesus says in Revelation 3:17, you say that you are rich, that wasn't a lie.

Revelation 3:17

They were really rich.

The Greek word used here means wealth so vast that it cannot be tabulated.

That's how much money.

Imagine having so much money you can't even count it.

That's the word that's used to describe this church.

And it's against this backdrop that Jesus gives us this sobering truth.

Unsurrendered blessings can block the knock.

Notice the issue is not the blessings themselves, the issue is the unsurrendered nature of the blessings.

Because make no mistake about it, Jesus wants to bless his children with abundance.

And if you really look at it, he's the one that gave this church the abundance that they had.

3 John 2 says, Beloved, I pray above all things that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.

God wants to bless his children.

Psalm 35, verse 27 says, Let the Lord be magnified who takes pleasure, pleasure, pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Psalms 35:27

1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 17.

1 Timothy 6:17

We should trust in the living God who gives us all things to richly enjoy.

Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse number 2.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

All these blessings shall come on you and overtake you.

It is a scriptural fact.

I could probably read you 50 scriptures that promise us that God wants his children financially prosperous in every single way.

It's a fact.

But in the scripture, every one of those promises are anchored to surrender.

Every single one of those promises of financial prosperity are anchored to surrender.

Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

The surrender verse is verse number one.

If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, then all these blessings shall come on you and shall overtake you.

How about 1 Timothy chapter number 6?

It says in verse number 18, let them, before it promises us richly all things to enjoy, let them do good that they would be rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share.

That's the surrendered part.

3 John 2, beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health.

Watch this, here's the surrender part.

Even as your soul prospers.

Watch this.

If you go back to uh uh Psalm 35, verse number 27, let the Lord be magnified who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants.

Here's what the scripture teaches.

The scripture teaches that God wants each one of his children to be blessed, but if we don't uh if we don't tether our treasure to Christ, the unsurrendered blessings can block the knock of Christ in our lives.

We need to be very careful.

And so God has built into his system of financial prosperity, into the DNA of it, a way for us to tether our treasure to Christ to make sure that we never have unsurrendered blessings that block the knock in our lives.

And what God has built into it, it's called the tithe.

Watch when God talks about the tithe.

Matthew chapter number three.

Some of you are getting nervous, but the offering has already been taken.

We're not passing the bucket around again.

So you're in the clear, you could be disobedient for another week.

Oh my God, did I just say that?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.

Matthew chapter number three, verse number seven.

Here's the backdrop to the tithe.

What is the tithe?

It's giving God the first portion, the first 10% of all of our increase, giving it to his house in order to tether our treasure to Christ so that we never have unsurrendered blessings that block the knock in our life.

Matthew chapter 3, verse number 7 says, Return to me.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

Well, just stop there for a moment.

If God is telling you to return to him, that means that you have departed from him.

So to this people that he's speaking to, the fact that he leads with that tells us that they have strayed away from God.

And he says, And if you return to me, I will return to you.

And if you read the whole contents of Malachi chapter number three, they have gotten to a place where they bring as their offering maimed sheep, blind sheep, skinny sheep.

Imagine going to pick out your own cow.

Right?

Imagine you're going, you know, you know back in the day before they before they butchered it for you, before you go to the grocery store and and get any meat you want.

But imagine yourself, and I have a friend who does this with goats, by the way, he goes and picks out his own goat.

And and because goat meat, by the way, is some of the best meat that you'll ever taste in your life.

I don't know if y'all ever had goat meat, but it's lean, it's powerful.

I mean, you will you'll like they eat the cartilage and everything.

I don't like the cartilage portion of it.

But anyway, he goes and picks out his own goat.

So, but imagine you going and picking out your own cow.

And imagine you go and pick out your own cow to feed your family.

You say, I'll take that skinny one right over there, right?

That skinny one right there.

That's the one I want.

You know, you don't want no skinny cow.

You want the cow that's buff, you want the cow that's got some muscle, you want the cow that's got some fat.

Why?

Because you want some good steaks.

And here's what this this people was doing to God.

They would say, uh, see that blind sheep over there?

We can't use that, give it to God.

See that real skinny sheep over there?

We can't use that, give that to God.

See that that sheep that that's walking, dragging their leg behind them like this?

We ain't we can't we can't do nothing with that sheep.

Give that sheep to God.

And it's against that backdrop that God says, return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

But you said, in what way shall we return?

And God answers the question in Malachi chapter 3, verse number 10, he says, Bring all the tithes, the first 10% of all your increase, into the storehouse and try me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I'll not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out such a blessing that there will not be room enough for you to receive it.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

What God is basically saying is listen, the reason why you've drifted is because you've allowed unsurrendered blessings to block the knock.

You've you've you've you've seen the goodness that I've given you in your life.

You you have these houses that you haven't built, and you're living in a good land, in a promised land, it's overflowing with milk and honey.

You're blessed.

We're coming in, you're blessed going out, you're blessed when you wake up, you're blessed when you're right, and you forgot.

You forgot it was me.

And and and so now I'm knocking, I can't get through.

Now I'm knocking, I'm on the outside of the church.

Now I'm knocking, I'm on the outside of the house.

And God says, But but I want you to to tether your treasure to me.

So this one area that that the world revolves around doesn't become a blocking point in your life.

And and if you if you study scripture, you'll find that there's at least 10 reasons why tithing treasure tethers our treasure to Christ.

Here's number one, it provides for God's house.

Number two, it tells God that we trust Him.

Number three, it reminds us that we are not our source.

Number four, it creates margin in our life for God to fill.

Number five, it connects the money God has given to us to a kingdom purpose.

Number six, it gives our job eternal significance.

Number seven, it turns our money into a seed.

Number eight, it breaks greed and self-reliance over our life.

Number nine, it lets everything in our life know God is first, that money is not our master, but Jesus is.

And number ten, tithing is not an act of generosity, it is an act of obedience because we are indebted to Christ for his radical generosity toward us, and the least we can do is honor him with what he's entrusted to us.

That's why God says, tether it.

You see, when we don't tether our treasure to Christ, blessings can begin to blind us.

Notice Revelation chapter 3, verse number 7.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

This is where this church is living.

Because you say, here's what you say about yourself.

You say I'm rich, you say you're wealthy, you say you have need of nothing.

And by the way, here's what uh really gives it away.

This phrase, you say you are rich, in the original language.

Here's how it reads You say you made yourself rich.

You say you made yourself, well, well, I work hard.

You know, I've been at this for a long time.

You know, I I went to college, I got some skills.

I I stay up with the CPE credits or the the the this credits or the that credits, and and you know, because I'm I'm good at all of this, this is what?

Can I just ask a question?

Who do you think made you good at all those things?

Who do you think gave you natural proclivities to be good in certain areas of your life?

Who do you think made your hands to work like they work?

Who do you think made your mind to work like it works?

Who do you who do you think opened doors that no man can shut?

Shut doors that no man can who do you think did that for you?

He said, You say you made yourself rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing.

Hey, what an affront to God.

When we begin to think it's by our power, by our strength, by our brilliance, by everything that is good about us that we have enriched ourselves.

James reminds us not to stray in this way.

He says, Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom there's no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

In Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse number 18, he says, You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

If we don't tether our treasure to Christ with the tithe which makes God first in our finances and material blessings, we run the risk of locking Christ out of our lives.

We become materially blessed but spiritually bankrupt.

And we can deceive ourselves into thinking God approves of us because of the stuff we have.

Here's what God told me to tell you.

Don't let the blessings fool you.

A lot doesn't mean aligned.

Having doesn't mean your heart is right.

Success does not mean you are surrendered.

Prosperity does not mean proximity to God.

He had everything power, influence, wealth.

He was spiritually bankrupt, though.

Jesus offered him a way to have both eternal life and true purpose.

He said, Go sell everything you have and give.

Go sell and give.

And give.

What was Jesus saying to him?

Listen, there's a block in your relationship.

The reason why you have everything and still feel unfulfilled is because you have not tethered what I have blessed you with to me.

You are living apart from me and you are looking for fulfillment in stuff that never promised to give you fulfillment in life.

That's why you can see actors and actresses and sports stars, and you name it being filthy rich, but committing suicide in hotel rooms because money cannot fill the gapness in your heart.

Can't do it.

And see, when we do this, it's a foolish thing.

He went away sorrowful because he loved money more than God.

And it's foolish because one day we'll all stand before God.

Which reminds us of the story of the rich fool, a man whose fields produced abundantly.

He built bigger barns, he had more wealth, he had more possessions, he had more security.

But that night God said to him, You fool, this night your soul will be required of you.

Here's the lesson: don't let the blessing fool you.

Don't let it lull you.

Don't let it lie to you.

Truth is, unsurrendered blessings can block the knock.

And when that happens, it changes our spiritual temperature.

When that happens, our spiritual temperature begins to shift.

And this is the next thing that Jesus talks to this church about.

Laodicea was set between two famous cities.

One was Colossae, known for its refreshing cold mountain waters.

And travelers went there just to get refreshed.

On the other side was Heropolis.

And Heropolis was famous for its hot mineral springs used for healing and restoration.

Both waters were wonderful.

Cold waters refreshed, hot waters restored.

But Laodicea sat right in the middle.

And by the time the waters reached the city of Laodicea, by the way, through expensive aqueducts built.

So instead of them having to go travel to those cities, they were so rich they said, let's just bring the water to us.

And so what they did is they got their engineers and they paid all sorts of money and they built aqueducts to get the cold springs to come from Colossae and the hot springs to come from Heropolis.

But by the time, but because they sat in the middle, by the time the water reached them, guess what it was?

It was lukewarm.

So they would need a cold plunge nor sauna.

It was lukewarm water to them.

And Jesus is talking about the danger of a middle position.

That a middle position in Christ is never a God-glorifying position.

That Jesus never called us to stand in the middle.

And so they were just lukewarm.

Lukewarm coffee in the morning, lukewarm iced tea on a hot summer day, lukewarm lasagna after church on Sunday.

None of it is good.

It all is horrible.

Because here's what happens when we have unsurrendered blessings.

It changes our spiritual temperature.

And we become lukewarm spiritually.

We lose our purpose for existence, which is to let our light so shine so that people can see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

What an opportunity for the spiritually, I'm sorry, let me say it this way, for the financially wealthy who are spiritually on fire to bring people to Christ, but then to use their wealth to do good things.

In the name of Jesus.

What a way to let people see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

But that wasn't the case with them.

They became lukewarm, middle positions, and Jesus said, This makes me want to vomit.

Can I tell you what is really sad is when people are blessed and cheap.

Uh-oh.

Say, well, you're not talking about me, Pastor, because I ain't that blessed.

Well, just read about how blessed we are as people who live in America.

Just read about how blessed we are compared to the rest of the world.

And what makes God sick, he said it, not me.

Don't get mad at me.

I'm just a messenger.

Don't shoot the messenger.

I don't have anything to do with what I say on Sunday morning.

I just use the word as the guide and whatever the word says I say.

And then when it's over, I just duck out like this saying, I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it.

He said, What makes me sick is people who are blessed but cheap.

He said, because that's not the heart of God.

What's he telling us?

He's telling us that anything that is unsurrendered, it's listen, it's not just money.

It's any area of blessing in our life that is unsurrendered to Christ, it blocks the knock.

And when it's not surrendered, a successful career can block the knock.

A busy schedule can block the knock.

A relationship that is unsurrendered can block the knock.

I can't tell you how many times, and I think I shared this last week, people will tell me over the years, they start getting, you know, a little long in the tooth and they're not married yet.

They'd be like, Pastor, just pray.

I'm praying for a spouse.

I'm praying for a relationship.

And in comes a relationship, but it's not a godly one.

And you know what happens because it's unsurrendered, they go after the relationship and they leave Jesus.

Because if they think the relationship is worth Jesus, they think the money is worth Jesus.

They think the job is worth Jesus.

Can I tell you when it when you find out it's not worth Jesus when you stand before the pearly gates?

Because for this moment you might think, this is good, this is better than Jesus.

This is better than Jesus.

First of all, you don't really know Jesus if you think that's better than Jesus.

Because if you could taste and see the Lord is good, you don't want nothing else.

But all of a sudden you stand before God and say, This really wasn't worth it.

This really wasn't worth it.

Anything, even ministry that is unsurrendered to Christ can block the knock.

I have to be careful of this in my life.

I get around ministers where where ministry is is is just about the stage.

It's just about the next thing to conquer.

It's not about loving people, it's not about caring for people, it's not about discipling people, it's about configuring a message and a service so as to you know attract people.

Can I tell what I learned?

I learned the gospel is attractive.

I learned that if you lift Jesus up, he said, I will draw all men onto me.

You don't need tricks, you don't need gimmicks, you don't need all of that kind of stuff.

But even people who are in ministry have to watch because unsurrendered ministry can block the knock of Christ in our life.

So the next question is this how does he knock?

It's point number two.

Revelation chapter 3, verse number 20 says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

And most of the time when God knocks, it's not audible.

It's something that you feel in your spirit.

And the first way that Jesus tells us that he knocks, notice Revelation 3.18.

He says, I counsel you.

Jesus was standing at the door of their hearts, knocking with his counsel, with his words, with his correction, with his advice.

That's exactly what the word of God is.

It's Jesus knocking on the door of our hearts with correction and encouragement, not to punish us, but to perfect us, not to stop us from succeeding, but to prevent us from failing.

God knocks through his word, which is why the Bible says, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chasteneth.

Correction is love knocking on our door.

It's not rejection, it's keeping us from going in the wrong direction.

And sometimes that word happens as you're reading scripture in the morning.

Has that ever happened to you?

You're just reading along.

And you're reading along, and you come to that scripture in Ephesians.

Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

And the Holy Spirit says, You need to pick that up.

That's correction.

And then you keep reading a little further, and wives submit to your own husbands.

And then the Holy Spirit says to you, You need to pick that up.

And then you read a little bit further and says, Children, obey your parents.

And all of a sudden, a teenager realizes I gotta respect mom and dad a little bit more than I am right now.

And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit begins to correct you in your life as you read the word of God.

He is counseling you through his word, he is giving you encouragement through his word.

He is knocking on the door of your heart.

He is speaking to you, or you read, forgive one another, or don't let the sun go down on your wrath, or flee youthful lust, or be generous, or pray without seeking, and all of a sudden you realize God is knocking, but will you let him in?

Sometimes it happens right here in church.

You come to church and and and I or somebody else starts preaching, and suddenly you're thinking, Did my spouse send them an email?

Did my spouse pull them aside?

Did somebody tell them what's going on in my life?

And it's not the preacher, it's the Holy Spirit who is knocking on the door of our hearts.

It's God saying, I want in to that space.

And when we hear God knocking on the door of our hearts, it is imperative for us to respond like Eli told Samuel.

Do you remember that story?

Samuel kept hearing the voice of God, and he didn't know what it was.

And so he went to Eli.

He said, Eli, can I can I help you?

Can I serve you?

And Eli said, I didn't call you.

Go back to sleep.

Goes back to sleep.

He hears the voice of God again.

He thinks it's Eli.

He goes, Oh Eli, yes, sir, what can I do for you?

And he says, I didn't call you.

And then finally, Eli realizes God is calling him.

God is talking to him.

God is knocking on the door of his heart.

And so he tells him, Next time you hear, say to him, Here I am, Lord.

Speak.

And when God is knocking on the door of your heart, don't do one of these.

Because can I can I be lost?

Some of you were doing that at the first portion of the sermon.

Some of you couldn't wait for me to get beyond tethering your treasure to Christ through tithing because you would have.

See, that's not opening the door.

You're not responding like God wants you to respond.

Here I am, Lord.

Speak.

Here I am, Lord.

I repent.

Here I am, Lord.

Let me open the door.

Here I am, Lord.

Let me let you in to this area of my life.

Because when we ignore counsel, God moves to the next knock.

The next knock is conviction.

Conviction is how the Holy Spirit calls us back when we are going the wrong way.

And one of the clearest examples of this in scripture is Peter.

Peter denied Christ three times, but watch the word or how the word brought conviction so that Peter could come back.

Immediately after he denies him the third time, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

I used to preach that when Jesus looked at Peter, he looked at him like this.

Or he looked at him like this.

But I think he looked at him like this.

Yes.

Come on, Peter.

Come on.

He turned and looked at Peter.

And then Peter remembered the word of the Lord.

He remembered what Jesus said.

And so he went out and he wept bitterly.

What happened?

Peter experienced conviction.

Not condemnation, because conviction and condemnation are not the same thing.

Conviction says what you did was wrong, come back to God.

Condemnation says you are wrong.

Stay away from God.

Conviction draws you closer.

Condemnation pushes you further away.

Conviction lifts you up.

Condemnation holds you down.

Conviction leads to repentance and restoration.

Condemnation leads to shame and separation.

And Peter responded with conviction and found restoration.

He resumed his divine assignment.

He became a pillar in the church.

He preached the inaugural message on the day of Pentecost, and 3,000 people came to Christ because he opened the door when God knocked.

But Judas did not.

Judas did not.

They came to arrest Jesus in the garden.

Luke chapter 22, verse number 48.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Judas kisses Jesus on the cheek.

Jesus says, Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?

Now some of you think Jesus was just being a wise guy.

I like to think Jesus was a wise guy too.

Y'all just missed that right there.

Just moving right along.

But I don't think he really was a wise guy.

I think and I know that what Jesus was doing here was he was calling out to Judas even to the very last breath of life that he had.

Will you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?

It's the most common title Jesus used to describe himself.

It's used 80 times by Jesus in the New Testament, far and away more than anything else.

And people who like to strip Jesus of his deity tries to use this as a proof text for Jesus not being God manifest in the flesh.

But every Jewish mind knew exactly what this meant.

Matter of fact, if you read later on in the Gospels, they tried to stone him for calling himself the Son of Man.

And really what they accused him of was claiming that he was God.

So how is calling yourself the Son of God the same, the Son of Man, the same as declaring that you are God manifest in the flesh?

Because it was the prophetic utterance of Daniel from back in the Old Testament, which described the coming Messiah as being somebody who would be born of a human but yet be a hundred percent divine and set up his kingdom here on the earth, everything that the Jews were waiting for.

That's what was the sign of the Messiah.

And so here comes Judas, and he is about, he has betrayed Jesus, and Jesus says, Stop, Judas, do you betray the Son of God?

With a kiss, Judas, you know who I am.

Judas, stop.

Judas, don't continue.

Judas, repent even at this late hour.

Can I tell you it's never too late to repent?

It's never too late to repent.

It's never too the thief on the cross, it's never too late to repent.

Repent, repent, repent, repent.

Open the door of your heart, swing it open and let the King of Glory come in.

Don't keep him standing on the outside.

Let him come in.

Judas didn't.

And instead of experiencing conviction, which led to redirection, he experienced condemnation, which led to rejection.

Don't block the knock.

Because when you block the counsel, when you block the conviction, then you deal with the third way God knocks.

Coincidence and consequence.

Let me say this carefully.

God's preference is not to use consequence as a way to knock on the door of your heart.

It's not his way to for us to get us to allow him to come in.

But remember Jonah.

God told Jonah, go and preach to Nineveh.

Jonah didn't want to preach to them because he didn't think they deserved repentance.

Who's on your list that don't deserve repentance?

Who's on your list where you don't wish that they repent?

You just wish that they die.

You just wish that they get caught.

You just wish that something happens to them.

I did a podcast with Pastor Ronald recently on the Epstein Files.

I said, you know what the message of the Epstein files in?

It's not let me see my political opponent get caught.

Say law.

Because here's what y'all were listening for.

Oh, I want to see if they in it.

I want to see because I knew it was them Democrats.

I knew it was them the Republicans.

I knew it was them.

I want to make sure they get caught.

You know what the message is?

Sin will take you further than you want to go.

Keep you longer than you want to stay.

Cost you more than you're willing to pay.

That's the message.

That's the message for every one of us.

That's the message for every uh man, woman, boy, and girl.

Don't let sin keep taking you further because it can distort every aspect of your life.

It can distort your power.

It can distort your perspective.

It can distort your morals.

It can take everything from you.

And you can't deliver you from sin.

Consequence, go preach to Nineveh.

Yeah, but I don't want to preach to Nineveh.

I don't think they deserve repentance.

I mean, there are enemies.

We don't like them.

And God says, go.

And Jonah says, no.

And so God sends a storm.

That's a knock.

God uses sailors to speak to him.

That's a knock.

God prepares a great fish.

That's a knock.

It probably was a whale.

After Jonah preaches, he then goes outside the city and he sits underneath a tree and he pouts.

You know why?

Because they received the message.

I don't know if I should say this.

Depending upon your political persuasion, imagine you walk into the convention.

Democratic Republic Convention, Republican Convention, whatever one you want to choose.

And you preach Jesus.

And the whole place comes to the altar.

You know how some people will leave?

I don't like the fact that they received the message of Jesus.

But that was Jonah.

That was him.

He went back underneath the tree.

The whole enemies, they got saved.

They gave their life to Jesus.

Jonah says, I don't like this.

You know what God did?

He sent a leaf to give him shade.

That was a knock.

And then he sent a worm to eat the leaf so that he wouldn't have no shade.

That was a knock.

And so you know what I learned from the story?

God keeps on knocking.

But will you let him in?

And God will knock with counsel and God will knock with conviction and God will knock with consequence.

And God will just keep knocking and keep knocking and keep knocking and keep knocking.

Will you let him in?

That's the question.

Now, we learned that unsurrendered blessings can block the knock.

We learned how he knocks, but now I want to talk to you about, I want to close with this.

Why does he knock?

What's the reason why he knocks?

Revelation chapter 3, verse number 20.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

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.

To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with the Father on his throne.

This verse doesn't just tell us that he is knocking, it tells us why he's knocking.

But before we can understand why he's knocking, we have to understand who is knocking.

See, because what's this, what's this?

If a bad guy is knocking on my door, I ain't letting him in.

If a crazy person is knocking at my door, I ain't letting them in.

By the way, see that what people do today, by the way, you're at home, evening time.

Somebody rings the doorbell, you're like, who could that be?

Could I call off all the lights?

Right?

Start hiding.

If a bad guy's out there, if a crazy guy's out there, I'm not open up.

But if a good person's out there, if a person that can bless my life is out there, it modern day, if somebody famous is out there, wait, wait, oh yeah, open.

Come on in.

Come on, please.

Come on in right here.

Have a seat.

Sorry for the mess right here.

Just let me get this off the couch right here.

Can I get you a cup of coffee?

Can I get you a piece of cake?

Can I get you some lukewarm lasagna?

See, in order to understand why he knocks, the first thing that we have to understand is who it is that is knocking.

Who it is that is knocking.

Notice what Jesus says He says, I am the faithful and true witness.

And this is a phrase that the Scribes, somebody who is called to a courtroom to testify to the truth, even while others want to suppress the truth because they want somebody to be proven guilty.

And so when this person is called to the courtroom to testify to the truth, they do it at great personal expense.

Because in Bible days, just like sometimes in modern days, the court systems and the this systems and the that systems were often rigged.

And so there would be pressure on people in order to testify a particular way in order to get a desired outcome instead of getting the true outcome.

And so oftentimes you might even have somebody who is truly guilty who is let off because somebody would falsely testify.

And when Jesus says, I'm the faithful and true, you know what he's saying?

He's saying you were really guilty.

But I came in, guess what I did for you?

I testified.

I testified with my blood.

I testified at great personal expense to myself.

I testified that even though you're guilty, you're really innocent.

I testified that even though you should get death, you're gonna get life.

I went into the courtroom at great personal expense.

And I testified.

And again, you know, people ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Got y'all Christians, y'all crazy Christians trying to tell me Jesus is God.

He is the beginning of the creation of God.

Like they're the first ones that have ever pointed this out in the history of mankind.

Can you know?

Can I just tell you that the Bible has withstood scrutiny for thousands upon thousands of years?

And nobody yet has been able to prove it wrong.

You know why?

Because it is the truth.

And what it means if you just look back, do a little research.

It's amazing how many how quickly people spout off at the mouth without ever doing any research.

You know, it's like those things that come across on Instagram, that fake stuff, you know.

I just saw this morning, cowboys sign um uh Stephon Diggs to a three-year$96 million contract.

People, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm like, y'all stupid.

Y'all like that's fake news, y'all.

That's not real.

They're not signing Stefan Diggs.

They're trying to start sign George Pickens.

We just got rid of his brother, we're not signing him.

He's washed up.

We don't need him right now on our team.

Just do a little research.

Take ten seconds.

And if you go back to the original language, the phrase, the beginning of the creation of God is arche.

And it means the origin or the source of all of creation.

And so what Jesus is telling this church is check this out.

He's saying, I stand at the door, I'm the faithful and true, and I am the origin and source of all things created.

I who is standing at the door and the one whose words spoke this world into existence.

I who is standing at the door of your life, your situation, your this, you're that.

I'm the one who flung the stars into the sky.

I'm the one who put the sun where it is, who put the moon where it is, who told the sea not to go any further.

I'm the one, I am the beginning of the creation of God.

I am the source of life.

I am God manifest in the flesh.

I am God who is speaking to you.

And you're leaving me on the outside.

Watch this, watch this.

You stupid.

You dumb?

You moronic?

Say, why?

Why would I leave him outside of the door of my money?

Why would I leave him outside of the door of my marriage?

Why would I leave him outside of the door of my career?

Why would I leave him outside of the door of my relationships?

Why would I leave him outside of the door of my dreams?

Why would I leave him outside of the door of my plans?

This is God.

This is he who sees the beginning from the end.

Who can open doors?

No man can shut, shut doors, no man can open, make a way where there seems to be no way.

Put a road through the ocean and a river through the desert.

This is why would I shut him?

Jesus is saying, first thing you need to understand if you're going to open the door is is who is he that's knocking?

And the best way I can describe this to you is, and I want to close with this illustration.

It's the illustration of Elisha and the Shunammite woman.

Shunim! And the story is found in 2 Kings verse number 4.

Shunim was a place where the prophets of God would go to rest to get a word from God.

And so prophets were passing through Shunam on a regular basis.

And the Bible says that Elijah was passing through there.

And check this out, watch why this works with Laodicea.

And there was a really, really, really, really, really, really very, very, very wealthy woman in Shudah.

Just like the Laodicean church.

And she was there.

And one day she said to her husband, because they would they would feed Elijah every now and again.

Elijah would pop in, just have a meal over there, and then he'd go on outside.

And she she said to her husband, look what she said.

2 Kings chapter 4, verse number 10, please let us make a small upper room on the wall and let us put a bed for him there and a table and a chair and a lampstand.

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

So it will be whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.

In other words, he's been stopping by sometimes, but I want to leave the door open for him permanently.

I'm glad you got it.

He's been stopping by occasionally in my life, occasionally into a room, occasionally into a surrounding.

I just want to leave the door open all the time.

I want him to be able to come whenever he wants to come in, leave whenever he wants to leave.

I want him to know he doesn't even have to knock to gain entrance into my life.

I want him to know open door policy.

Come in and bother me whenever you want to, Jesus.

See, open invitation because she wasn't foolish.

She knew every time this man was around, some good things happened.

She knew every time this man was around, some good things happened.

Rivers parted and poisoned waters were drinkable, and armies received water in the desert, and oil multiplied.

And she understood good things happen when the man of God is around.

So she said, We can't leave him outside.

We've got to invite him in the house.

And if the woman knew that it was wise to keep the door open for the prophet who carried the power of God, how much more should we leave the door open for the one who is the power of God personified?

Because good things happen in my marriage, in my finances, in my dreams, in my plans, in my education when Jesus is around.

She said, Can can we build them a room?

But watch this, watch this.

They didn't have room in the house.

There was no room in the house.

She said to her husband, I know I know we don't have a room designated for this.

Can we build one?

Can we make a room?

See, some of y'all, you don't have room for Jesus.

You know what God is saying?

Can you make some room?

Yo, you you got to go.

You you got you got to get out of here.

You taking up too much of my time.

Phone, I'm on you six hours every day.

That's too much time.

I don't got time for Jesus, but I got six hours for you.

Hobby, you're taking up too much time in my day.

You got to go.

A relationship, you're taking up too much time in my day.

You got I got to make room for the king to come in to the house.

Make some room.

Make some room, but watch this.

She didn't make room anywhere.

She didn't say to husband, can we make room in the basement?

She didn't say, can we make room in the garage?

I just wanted to sound fancy.

That's not how you say it.

Can we make room in the shed?

You know what I said?

She said, can we make a room on the roof?

Can we can we can we put a room on the roof?

Somebody say roof.

The roof.

The roof.

No, no, no.

I wasn't I wasn't going there.

Can we make room on the roof?

Why the roof?

Because here's what it means, Tad.

That everything in the house then is coming underneath the covering and the order of Jesus.

Everything in the house is gonna be submitted to the king.

My family's coming underneath the order.

My finances are coming underneath the order.

My children are coming underneath the order.

My habits are coming underneath, my dreams, everything's coming into there.

I'm making him a room, not in the basement, but on the roof.

Now watch this.

Watch this.

She didn't invite the prophet to stay because she wanted something from the prophet.

She just wanted to serve him.

Watch your motive.

Watch your motive.

God knows when you're using them.

She said, I want to do more than just give him some dinners.

We're wealthy.

That's sad.

The only thing we're doing with the wealth that God has given us is making him a dinner here and there.

We need to do more for Jesus.

Because he's done more for us.

We don't even want nothing back from.

Can we just build them?

It's gonna cost us.

We're gonna have to put some lumber into it.

We're gonna have to put a table, a lampstand, a light.

We're gonna have to make some sacrifice.

We're gonna have to live with a mess for a little while.

Because sometimes when you make room for Jesus, it's messy for a minute, eh?

Because you got to reorganize your priorities, you gotta pull stuff out, you gotta put stuff in, you gotta spend some money.

Can we make some room for Jesus?

She just wanted to have him there.

And and one day when Elijah was there and he realized what she had done, he said to his servant, He said, Uh, can't we do anything for?

See, the problem is we think we gotta always ask God to do this and that and the other thing.

Can I just tell you how to get God to do anything for you?

Just be concerned with serving him.

Because if you seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, all these things get added on to you.

She'd even ask, Elijah said to the servant, Can we do anything for him?

And so, and so they went and asked her.

You know what she said?

She said, No, I don't need anything.

Now, how I don't need nothing was different than Laodicea's.

Laodicea said, Well, we are rich and increased with goods, and we have need of nothing.

And theirs was spiritual apathy and rejection.

Hers was spiritual contentment and satisfaction in what God had already done.

Because if God has never done another single thing for any of us in our life, we ought to be grateful for what He's done.

I don't have need of nothing.

But Elijah didn't like that answer.

He said, God to do something for her.

Got to, got to, God, God, I don't want you to, God, I'm blessed enough.

God, I don't need no more.

God said, I know, but but I just enjoy blessing you because you're surrendered.

You're surrendered.

So Elijah said, Call a call, call.

And the Bible says this that when Elijah called her, it said, look at this, 2 Kings chapter 4, verse number 15.

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.

She opened the door, now she stood in the doorway.

She opened the door to the man of God.

Now she stood in the doorway.

And he said, About this time next year, you shall embrace a son.

And she said, No, my Lord, man of God, do not, do not lie to your maidservant.

There was something that she really wanted, but she was afraid to let God into this area of what she wanted.

And the reason why is because she was disappointed.

But here's what she did: she served, she served through her disappointments.

She served God even when life hurt her.

She wanted a relationship with God for God to fix everything.

She was in a relationship with God because God, and make it modern, God already fixed her soul.

God already saved her soul.

She was gonna serve God through the disappointments of life.

She wasn't gonna let a little something, something bump her out of the race.

She was like, I'm serving him anyway.

You can still come to my house, you can still have a room.

She opened the door, and the door became a doorway for God to fix even the areas of her life that she thought was going to be permanently broken.

She said, I'm gonna live with this the rest of my life.

I'm gonna have a disappointment the rest of my life.

And you know what?

God said, No, no, no, you don't understand what you did when you opened the door.

When you opened the door, it became a doorway to me to heal your disappointments.

It became a doorway to your dreams, it became a doorway to your financial success, it became a doorway to your marriage, it became a doorway to your family, it became a doorway to everything in your life.

Because when you open the door, guess what happens?

The king of glory comes in.

When you open the door, who is the king of glory?

The Lord, powerful and mighty.

When you open the door, here comes God, here comes the king, the king is in the room, the king is in the room.

When you open the doorway, the king is in the room, when you open the doorway, the king is in the room.

When you open the doorway, the king is in the room, let the king in.

Open the door, let him in and keeps on knocking, but when you let him in,