The Absent Christ Outside — E.A. Johnston

Christ Shut Out of the Church

This Sunday, in the majority of the churches in this land, there will be church services that will include some time of worship, some time for prayer, some time dedicated to the preached word, and in some cases, the receiving of the sacrament.

But an important figure will be absent from these proceedings, and his absence will be unnoticed by the majority. That's because this figure is not inside the church building, but rather, he is shut out of the church, and he stands outside its doors, and he is knocking, but nobody seems to be paying any attention.

Today, in this country, Jesus Christ stands outside his church, and his absence is terrifying to me. It's a great judgment upon the land. Let me ask you, friend, when was the last time you felt the power of God in a meeting?

Our young people today don't know what it's like to go to church and actually encounter God there. Rather, today, we have the withdrawn presence of God, and in his absence, we make a lot of noise, and sing real loud, and stomp our feet, and clap our hands, in an attempt to work up something every Sunday, in what is called church as usual.

The title of my message today, friends, is The Absent Christ Outside, and my text can be found in the book of Revelation, in chapter 3. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verse 20.

Revelation 3:20 and Its Misinterpretation

But before we begin, I want to put the record straight on Revelation 3 .20, because this text has been hijacked through the years by evangelists who have taken it out of context, and a verse taken out of context is a pretext.

You'll hear many preachers say today, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, friend, and he's knocking. Won't you let him in? All you have to do is open the door and let Jesus into your heart, and that's the main problem with our modern-day evangelism that has shrunken the Lord of Glory down to man's size.

We portray him as an impotent little Jesus, who stands outside the door of your heart, like an insurance salesman with his hat in his hand. Won't you let him in? That's an injustice to the living Lord, who sits with all authority at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross.

No, he's not some little helpless Jesus, standing there powerless, or waiting on man to allow him to make a move. No, friend, if Christ saves you, it is because you have heard his voice as it comes to you through his word in all majesty, power, and authority.

But this verse from Revelation has nothing to do with Jesus knocking on the door of your heart. That's a misrepresentation of the very book that has a dire warning to anyone who messes with its meaning.

Christ's Fellowship With His Church

Listen to me, friend. This verse is a sad and tragic picture of our churches today that operate in the absence of Jesus Christ. We have grieved the Spirit of God right out of our sanctuaries with all our worldly and fleshly nonsense that we call church on Sunday morning.

Hear now is our text, and may God have mercy on us all. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

That's what the word of God declares, friends. Christ wants to come into his church and have fellowship with his saints, but we don't need him anymore because we can get the job done quicker with money and manpower rather than waiting on God through prayer and relying on the Spirit of God to bring us transformation.

The deadness in our churches is a standing testimony to our own lack of power. The absence of Christ in our midst is a great judgment from God upon us for our disobedience to him. O friends, how we have grieved the Spirit of God away from among us.

Amos and the Withdrawal of God's Presence

Listen to these words from the Book of Amos, which describe how the backslidden Jews grieve God away from their midst. Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them anymore.

God withdrew himself from them because of their disobedience and sin, and God has withdrawn himself from among us today for the same reasons, friends. And it's no accident that this text, in the context of the Laodicean church and revelation, is the very age in which we are in today.

The Lukewarm Laodicean Church

Listen to how the risen Lord describes the sad spiritual declension of this church. I know thou werts, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. That's old English for, you make me sick to my stomach with your lukewarm atmosphere.

So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. That means the average church service today makes Christ sick to his stomach. I try to make it through some church services myself, friends, and I'm ashamed to even be there.

The lack of reverence in the pulpit, the lewd humor, the perverted gospel, the loud rock music, it really makes me sick. We wanted to reach the world, so we let the world into the church, and where has that gotten us?

It's only corrupted the house of God. I was in a rich Southern Baptist church a few months ago. It was as lavish as a country club on the inside and out, and everybody was crawling over each other's back in the parking lot just to get in there.

But once you got inside, there was a great absence there, the absence of Christ. Everybody was having a good time and clapping their hands to the loud music, but God was clean gone from among that self-sufficient church.

Repentance, Revival, and the Return of Christ's Presence

Oh, friends, if the church would only do what it needs to do, and that is to repent and turn from her wicked ways and seek the Lord afresh, then he would come back into the church and reestablish his prominence and preeminence among us once again.

Let us go to God and seek his face and beg him to send revival in our midst, for that's the only hope we have in this sad day of a church that operates without the presence of Christ and believes that they are rich toward God with their lavish buildings, but in reality are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Let us turn back to the God of the Bible, the living Lord, with repentant hearts, and humble ourselves before him, and confess our sins, and turn from our wicked and prideful ways, and earnestly seek his face in desperate prayer, and then by God's mercy, Christ will reign supreme in our hearts again, and be in our churches again with his manifest presence in a transforming way.

They'll so turn us all on our heads and give us all such a sight of hell and a glimpse of eternity that we'll go out from there with a holy boldness and witness in the power of the Holy Ghost, and then turn the world upside down with our Christian testimony.

Let's do this all for the glory of God. Let's pray.