February 24

Jesus is standing at the door and knocking; “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone should hear My voice and should open the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me”(Revelation 3:20).

We must put ourselves in a place where we can hear the voice of Jesus and to hear Him knocking, and when we do, He undertakes to do two things, not necessarily at the same time.

Firstly, He will open the mind to understand the scriptures as He did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:45). The holy scriptures give authority to Jesus, and only Jesus, to open the mind; only He can do it; it is a supernatural thing.

Secondly, He will open the heart to give heed to the scriptures (Acts 16:14). This critical step is routinely ignored in today’s religious teaching; but while it is a beautiful and marvellous thing to understand, if obedience is not added to that understanding, it serves no eternal purpose. He gives us understanding that we might obey; understanding and not obeying puts us in the same position as rebellious Israel and will lead to the same judgement.

These things, understanding and obeying, are the free gifts of the Good Shepherd but, while they are promised, they can only be given to us as we ask Him for them. Like all the gifts and promises of God, opening of the mind to understand and opening of the heart to obey are dependent upon our seeking them from the Giver; He says “if you should ask anything in My name I will do it” (John 14:14).

Christian doctrine has so degenerated in these days that it is widely understood to mean that, as long as we declare ourselves to be Christians, we are eternally saved, irrespective of our manner of life. This is nonsense of a high order. The divine Creator, has so ordained matters that we are able to hear His voice and we should praise God that He desires us to hear His voice for how else would we know how to live? That is His purpose in giving us the Holy Spirit; that we can hear Him speaking and so know how we should live.

It is an absolute travesty to suggest that, having received justification through the Blood of Jesus, we can then live our lives as we wish; that this is the sole purpose behind the Son of God being humiliated and crucified. Such thinking must inevitably lead to disaster and yet it is common coin in religious circles. Because there is no fear of God in the Churches, there is no knowledge of God in the land.