I Stand at the Door — Thaddeus Barnum

Almighty God, Almighty Father, we pray this morning that you'd have mercy upon us. I need your help. We need you, Lord, to come and do the work that only you can do in our lives, and we pray you do that for the power of your Holy Spirit.

Come, Lord, we pray. Come, Lord, attend us. Come, Lord, we need your help. In Jesus' name, Amen. Good morning. I trust you brought your Bibles with you, and if you didn't steal some from the pew around you, or just grab it from the person next to you, they won't notice.

I want you to turn to Luke chapter 2 verse 7. It is keeping with the record that we just heard from John chapter 1 verse 11. He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him, and that's not receiving him is exactly what happened on this night of Christmas.

I want to do some hard work with you this morning. If you've got some patience with me and some time, there is this wonderful verse that we hear every Christmas Eve, verse 7. She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, laid him in a manger.

Well, that's the image that we have. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She laid him in a manger. That's the whole point of it, but we very rarely see that parenthetical end to the verse. Because there was no room, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now, I want to spend the entire time right there at that particular parenthetical comment. There was no room at the inn. Now, this is a practical thing, isn't it? I mean, we already know that there was a census.

The Roman government had called for a census. Everybody had to go to their home. We know that. Everybody had to register. No wonder the inn was full. Of course it was full. Innkeeper opens the door. Go away.

No room. Closes the door. But dear friends, if he had just eyes to see, just natural eyes to see, the woman is about to give birth. Really? I mean, have you ever been stuck right there? Just open the door and like, oh, you make room.

We call it triage. I mean, do something. You don't just shut the door and say, no room. No room. Oh, but if they had the eyes of God upon him, if he had the eyes of the Magi who saw that star and followed that star, that was over Bethlehem that night.

If they had the Magi's eyes. Oh, my friends, it would have been very different that night, wouldn't it? The innkeeper would have opened the door and looked right at Joseph and said, Joseph, King Joseph, descendant of David, the rightful heir to the crown, you are most welcome.

Oh, Mary, blessed Mary, who was visited by the angel. The child, the child has come. Wonderful counselor, mighty God. There's room in the inn. There's room here. The couple has arrived. I like that version.

Instead, the door closed. No room, no room. And sometimes I, I see that and see myself straight on. How many times I've opened the door and I've seen people and I don't have time for them. I haven't seen with God eyes.

No room, no time, no place. Door closed. I want to stay at the door this morning. Just stay at the door. There's not a lot of time in the Bible that God is on the outside of the door. It is, it happens.

Some of you might remember at the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation, Jesus our Lord is standing at the door of his church. Revelation chapter 3, the door of Laodicea. He is outside. Many of you have visited churches where Jesus is not present.

Yes, sad. He's outside knocking on the door of his church. And he's saying those wonderful memorable lines, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone can hear my voice and open the door, I will come in.

I will come in and dine with him and he with me. Can you hear me knocking? Can you hear the sound of me knocking? Open the door, make room. But to be honest, that door, first of all, the door is just everything.

That door, just touch it with your hands and your mind. Just touch it and you're gonna find the entirety of the gospel is found at the door. Yes, it is. Now it's not often that God is found on the outside and we are on the inside.

Sin, Exile, and the Promise of an Open Door

But let me say that the most time, have you ever studied the doors of the Bible? We have to three o 'clock today, so we'll just go right through them all. Have you ever said, you've gone to towns, haven't you?

When you've, when you've gone to London, you've gone to Pittsburgh, you've gone to Georgetown and you see these posters. Am I dating myself? And there are the posters of the doors of the town. Well, if you've ever been to the doors of the Bible, what you're gonna find is most times it is not God on the outside, quite the opposite.

It's us on the outside, dear friends. Get with the program. He's on the inside. We're doing the knocking, not him. That's the real story. That real story begins as early as Genesis, back at the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord made us for Himself to dine with Him and tea with us.

But it was us. Sin came into the world. Romans 5 12. Sin entered through the world through one man and death through sin. And because of that sin and because of death and because of the reigning power of evil, we were escorted out of the Garden of Eden, out to the east side.

Now you might not see a door there. I do. Oh, I do. We were put outside and the cherubim were guarding the way to the Tree of Life so that we could not get back inside. And there the Lord is closing the door and it's His words.

They're saying His words that are saying, no room, no room. Now if I were Him, I would have closed the Bible and started all over again. But I'm not. He sent us out with a promise. He sent us out with hope that one day that door would be open again and we would go home.

And that, my friends, begins the journey of the Bible. Oh, the wonderful journey of the Bible. All you want to hear is the door is open, come, come. And it becomes the message of the prophets straight through the Old Testament.

It becomes the message of the prophets, come, come. But you know people didn't want to hear it. So it was in the days of Noah that the world became corrupt and evil and wickedness reigned in the thoughts of the hearts of the men and women continually.

And the heart of God grieved. And it came the time of judgment and the Lord showed mercy. He showed mercy. He built an ark. He called Noah. In come the animals. And there's that great preacher standing at the door, standing at the door.

And he's preaching, come, there's room, come. Not for all of you. You better hurry. Get your tickets. Come, come. Before the judgment comes, come. This is the preacher, Noah. This is what he's doing. He's inviting people into the ark.

He's inviting people where it's safe. And he's saying what should be heard everywhere. The door is open. The door is open. The time is now. The animals got it. And the people played and the people had their parties and the people did what they did.

And only eight people in that day passed through the door, passed the door. And in Genesis 7 verse 16, the Bible says that the Lord closed the door of the ark himself. And when that door was shut, the door was shut.

My friends, we don't want to be outside the door. It's the very same imagery when the Lord brought out the people of Israel from the land of bondage and slavery. Yes, he parted the Red Sea. Yes, he did miracle after miracle.

Plague after plague, calling the Egyptian to himself. Plague after plague. Don't you know judgment's coming? Until the final judgment came. And the final judgment, guess where it happens? It happens at a door.

Passover and Salvation Under the Blood

Of course it does. Doors are everything in the Bible. Yes, they are. Go and take the blood of a lamb. He was teaching us that the way and the path for the forgiveness of sins only happens through blood.

There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. You'll find that in Hebrews 9 22. It's under the record of all the scripture. And there the men and women of the Old Testament, there before they came out with the blood of the lamb, and they put it on the lintel and on the doorposts.

I just think, name of the father of this anyway. But there it is, the blood of the lamb. And what would they do? They went inside. So when the time of judgment came, they passed through the door under the blood of the lamb where they are safe.

And what was the message to everyone? Come. Come through the door. Come. Come and be. You don't want to be outside when the destroyer comes. No, you don't. You don't want to be outside. You want to be inside.

Always the message has been a message of mercy. People say, ah, you're a fire and brimstone preacher. Well, it depends what side of the door you want to hear the I tend to preach on the inside. Come. You don't want to be outside.

Oh, I wish we had time for all the doors. There's so many of them. Rahab's door with the scarlet thread. The shepherd's gate pen. Oh, there's so many beautiful images in Old Testament. And of course, the one the Lord taught us the most was through Moses.

Moses, who was to set up the place of worship where there would be inside the Garden of Eden, the Holy of Holies, the presence of God, the Shekinah glory of God. And in order to get in, you couldn't get in because there was a veil.

You couldn't get in. The doors closed. There was a veil. The doors closed. That's the message. The doors closed. But Moses, he would go out and Moses had access. And when Moses went out, he went out to speak with the Lord as a man speaks with his friend.

That's the relationship he's calling us to. That kind of communion, that kind of intimacy, that kind of majesty. And after the time of Moses, as you know, what he instilled and brought and taught to the people is that Aaron his brother, the high priest, would be allowed to come in through the door, the veil, one time a year with the blood of the offering, with a shedding of blood for the forgiveness of our sins, once a year, all done well.

And he would come back out, that high priest representing us, showing us, telling us we have access to the presence of God. And that's the Old Testament promise. That's the Old Testament hope that one day the high priest himself would come.

One day the sacrifice, the real sacrifice, would be offered. One day we could go home and the door would be open. One day. One day. Isn't it amazing that when our Savior came on the night of his birth, his mom and his dad stood at a door, innkeeper, boom, no room, boom.

Jesus Christ as the Door to Salvation

Oh, I wish he could have talked. You don't have room for me? Well, I've come to make room for you. Oh, there's got to be an amen somewhere in this church, doesn't there? That's why he's come. It's why he's come.

We might not have room for him, but he's come to make room for us. He's come to look at that closed door and say, that's me. That's why I've come. When he took to the ministry, he took the voice of the prophets.

He did the hard work all the prophets would do. He showed us the door. In fact, what he said in Luke chapter 17, verse 26, he actually articulated the words as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man.

What does that mean? Well, it means this. The last days before our Lord and our Savior comes, the earth is going to be filled with corruption and violence again. Do you see it? The thoughts of the hearts of men and women are going to become evil continually.

Do you see it? The world is going to spin into a darkness. Do you see it? A just like it was in the days of Noah. And the preachers will stand up, and they will preach about the door, and they will say, it is open!

It's open! Come! Come! It's open! Turn from the things of the world! Now is the time! Now the door is open! Come! And the world continues to turn the music up louder, the noise of what's going on. They put their little earphones in and spin in their world, and the preachers are getting less and less heard.

The good news is going away. And finally, our Lord said these words in Luke 13, verse 24. Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, Lord, open to us.

He will answer, I don't know you. I don't know where you've come from. It's just like the days of Noah. One day that door is going to be closed. You'll want to be on the inside. You don't want to be outside.

Our Lord stood in the same prophetic strain of the Old Testament voice. My dear friends, do not go outside. Pass through the door with the blood of the Lamb and be rescued. But what our Savior did, nobody else could do.

He brings this whole teaching straight into a culmination that is just stunning. It's beyond imagining. It's fulfilled in the person of our Lord Jesus. He's talking about the sheep. He's talking in John 10 about the shepherd.

He's talking about the sheep coming in. He's talking about those who can hear his voice and those who can hear his voice to come in, and then he says the words himself. Do you want to hear it? He said, I am the door, not just the one who will open it.

I am it. Oh dear friends, the door is the entirety of the gospel. It is our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the one who is the door of Eden and will break it down. He is the door at the ark, of course he is.

Pass through him and you will be saved. John 10 verse 9. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. He is the Passover door, of course he is. It's the blood of the Lamb on the door.

He is the door of the veil, is he not? This is why the triumphant moment, this is why all of it climaxes at the moment of the cross. This moment like no other moment when our Lord and our Savior, he's giving his life.

The blood of the Lamb is being poured out. He's come to bear our sins. He's come to forgive us our sins. He's come to die as one of us and as us, and as he gives his last breath, what happens down at the temple?

What happens to that door the moment he dies? What happens to the door? The veil, what happens to it? Rents from top to bottom. What's been the message down through the age? The door is open by the blood of the cross, the blood of the Lamb.

He's got the power to be able to say it's done. You've got access to the Father. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. The door, the door, the door. And so the New Testament writers, they tried to grab it and they would say such as Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19, therefore brothers, sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, the door, the veil which is his flesh, come let us worship and be grateful.

Come let us sing and be glad. He has given access into his presence. This is the work of our Lord Jesus. This is why the Christians went out and all they could, they called themselves the way, they called themselves the way, the way through the door into the presence of Almighty God.

This is why the good news erupted. It erupted. The door is open. We have access with the Father. He who believes in the Son has eternal life now and will not perish, will not be outside. This has always been the good news.

Standing at the Door for Those Outside

And so there was a preacher back in the last century, 1900s. He died in 1963 by the name of Sam Shoemaker. He said these words in a poem that's called, I stand by the door. If you don't believe me, Google it.

Listen. I stand by the door. I neither go too far in or stay too far out. The door is the most important door in the world. It is the door through which men walk when they find God. There is no use my going way inside and staying there when so many are still outside and they as much as I crave to know where the door is.

And all that so many ever find is only the wall where the door ought to be. They creep along the wall like blind men with outstretched groping hands feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, yet they never find it.

So I stand by the door. The most tremendous thing in the world is for men to find that door, the door to God. The most important thing any man can do is to take hold of one of the blind groping hands and put it on the latch, the latch that only clicks and opens to the man's own touch.

Men die outside the door as starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter, die for want of what is within their grasp. They live on the outside, the other side of it, live because they have not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it and open it and walk in and find him. So I stand the door. It's what we do, that those outside might come inside, that we might hear the sound of his knocking.

Hearing Christ's Knock and Opening Every Door

Such an unusual image because we're the ones outside trying to get in, but when we don't hear the message, come, come, he still pursues us, doesn't he? Doesn't he? He still pursues us, doesn't he? Doesn't he?

Until, if we don't hear, he comes knocking on the door of our own heart. Can you hear the sound of my voice? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me.

Then he will take us safely into his heavenly kingdom. Many of you might know that great theologian last century also by the name of John Stott. John Stott came to faith in Christ when he heard that verse preached.

I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, he came under such conviction, he knew it was time to let Christ in. This is how it all begins. My dear sister has been working with a colleague for 25 years who keeps looking at my sister and saying, no room, no room.

She is a devoted, this woman, my sister's colleague, is a devoted atheist, devoted against God, until in 2015 her life crumbled. And where do you think she ran to? My sister and she began to meet together and to pray together.

And my sister just grabbed her hand and watched the door open until she was able to see and in seeing confess Jesus Christ for her life. Oh, he's so kind. Of course, my trouble is that once he comes in the house and I become a Christian, there are a lot of doors in the house and some of them I have locked and some of them I didn't even know were locked.

There were points in this past year of such transition for Erlin and me, such points of loss that we went through, times I just felt so out of control and I felt anxieties just increase inside of me and I heard in my little cubbyhole, all by myself, having my own private pity party that nobody was invited to, I'm fine, I said back.

I don't need help, I said back. There are a lot of places in our life where he wants to come knocking. Things that you don't want him to be part of. Resentments and bitternesses, perhaps broken relationships, things of the past that you refuse to talk about and you hear the little knock inside.

Behold, I stand at the door here. I want to be part of this story. You're gonna let me in, aren't you? So we can deal with this, aren't you? No, no, no, I've got this. I'm fine. Until finally one day we actually opened the door and let Jesus Christ in.

My friends, if he came to let us in, if he came to do what he did for us, isn't it high time that we let him into every aspect of our life and let him reign, let him rule, let him govern? We're not allowed to have resentments, we're not allowed to have bitternesses, we must forgive as we've been forgiven.

Isn't that true? We must love as we've been loved. If you've got an enemy, love your enemy. Why? Because he says so. How do you do it? Open the door and he'll show you. He's very irritating that way, but I bear the greatest news that could ever be said.

The Open Door and the Final Call

Our Lord, our Savior, he has come. He has opened the door and one day I know, one day soon, the Father's gonna close that door and that door will be closed, period. But that day is not yet now and so we say and herald constantly and everywhere we go, dear friends, the door is open.

Our Lord, our Savior, has come. We have access into the presence of Almighty God by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants to rule over us. He wants to reign over us. He wants to have every part of our life.

Yes, he does, because he's the door, he's the way, he's the truth, he's the life, and he's given us access to his Father. My dear friends, oh dear friends, let Jesus Christ come in every aspect of your life.

Stand by the door, let him in, so that when time comes you and I can turn to those still outside and say, let me help you in. It's the greatest thing a Christian can do. Stand by the door and bring others in.

The Lord be praised. Come stand, come let us sing.