Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] This sermon that I have for you this evening is one that I touched here.
[00:00:10] I'm going to tell you the year, and you might not remember this, you might remember the title, but I'll give it to you.
[00:00:20] I'm going to preach part of it today and then perhaps some other time. The other part, I don't think I'll be able to cover the whole thing. I'll try.
[00:00:30] And the first part is called the Open Door Message.
[00:00:36] The Open Door.
[00:00:38] And the second part is the Shut Door.
[00:00:42] The first time that I touched on this message right here, it was at the other building we used to have here was 1964. 1964.
[00:00:55] Then I preached this same sermon in Pueblo, Mexico, in 1975.
[00:01:01] I also preached this same message in Guatemala, Central America. In 1975.
[00:01:09] I preached this message at Las Cruces, New Mexico.
[00:01:14] Also in Los Angeles, California. Claremore, Oklahoma, Houston, Texas, San Fernando, California.
[00:01:23] So you might say, well, don't you have any other sermons? Yes, I do.
[00:01:27] I have literally hundreds of sermons.
[00:01:31] In fact, I have so many sermons filed, and I have them right there, that I can preach for 20 years without having to search for another sermon.
[00:01:42] I have so much material. Jonah, you might be asking, then why do you come back for the message to that you preach here about 1964 and bring it back to us? I'll tell you why. Because the Bible never gets old.
[00:01:57] The Bible never gets old. And this message is more vital now, I believe, than it was way back in 1964.
[00:02:06] Now let's talk about the open door.
[00:02:11] What do we mean by the open door?
[00:02:14] Let's turn to Revelation, chapter three.
[00:02:18] And as you might recall that the first part of Revelation chapters 1, 2 and 3, that Jesus is talking to the seven churches in Asia.
[00:02:36] And he points to each one of them individually and tells them of the good and the bad that they have.
[00:02:48] And he really points that out.
[00:02:53] And when he comes to one of the churches, which is called the Church at Philadelphia, he tells this particular church of some good things that they were doing.
[00:03:06] But he also gives a message that I believe that it is very important for us today and also for the near future.
[00:03:16] Let's turn to Revelation 3 and we begin reading at verse 7 and all the way down to verse 13.
[00:03:23] This is the message to Philadelphia.
[00:03:27] Now, I don't know if you have ever tried to find out the meaning or the definition of Philadelphia. We know that we have here in this country Philadelphia. But if you don't know what that means, then look it up. I'm not going to tell you everything. But I don't think that I should. I think that it's part of your Christian.
[00:03:51] Well, Christian duty for you to find out some of these things. I just point them out to you. Notice verse 7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia right now. This is not Philadelphia, usa. This is Philadelphia, Asia, where Jesus wrote to these churches, these things, says he that is holy, he that is true. He that hath the key of David.
[00:04:20] He that openeth and no man shutteth. And shutteth, and no man open, openeth.
[00:04:28] I know thy works.
[00:04:31] The Lord Jesus says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. I want you to notice that.
[00:04:44] That the Lord is telling this church that he has given them an open door and that no man can shut it.
[00:04:52] For thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name.
[00:05:01] Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say that they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet. And to know that I have loved thee because thou hast kept the word of my patience. I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
[00:05:36] Him that overcometh, him that overcometh will. I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name.
[00:06:05] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
[00:06:13] Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we do want to thank you, Lord, for your precious word.
[00:06:20] And we know, Lord, that everything that is written, it is written for our learning and for our admonition.
[00:06:27] And Father, we thank you that we can learn and know. What is your will, what is your plan for not only this planet and the universe, but also for our very individual lives. And Father, we thank you that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten Son and Father, you are not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Father, we thank you that we have your precious word as we have it today, that we can read it and study it, Father, and know your will and Father, we thank you also for all of your people and those that were able to come out this evening. Father, bless every heart and every home that is represented here.
[00:07:12] And those that have perhaps illnesses or sickness or disease. And, Father, those that are in the hospitals and those that need help, we pray for them, Lord.
[00:07:23] We pray for our community.
[00:07:25] We pray for our country, the United States.
[00:07:29] Because, Father, I believe that to our country we have been given an open door. So help us, Father, to preach while we can. I thank you for all of these favors in Jesus holy and righteous name. Amen.
[00:07:44] There are many things that I can pinpoint or go on to tell you about this church message to Philadelphia.
[00:07:54] One of the main things is concerning the open door and to all the churches that Jesus wrote to, the seven churches.
[00:08:05] He doesn't mention anything to them that they had an open door.
[00:08:09] But I do believe that the door was opened at one time not only to these seven churches or to the Church of Philadelphia.
[00:08:20] But I do believe, brethren, and I'm going to get a little bit ahead of my sermon here to tell you that I believe that when Jesus Christ of Nazareth came, that he came.
[00:08:34] And of course, he was born, as we all know, he was born in Bethlehem of Judea.
[00:08:39] And at the age of 12, we find him in the temple coming to celebrate the feast of the Passover. And then from there we don't hear anything about him until he's about 30 years old. And he comes into the scene of action. And there he comes to the River Jordan to be baptized of John the Baptist.
[00:09:01] From there, the Lord, right after he is baptized, he gets out of the water and God talks from heaven and says, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
[00:09:16] And immediately, According to Matthew 4, Jesus goes right into the wilderness. And there he is tempted of Satan, the devil, who for 40 days and 40 nights and all that time, Jesus did not eat anything.
[00:09:31] What this means to me is that Christ was now preparing himself.
[00:09:38] And the first thing that he had to do, that he had to go out there and be tempted by the prince of this world, by Satan, and to overcome him.
[00:09:51] And he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And then the devil comes to him in Matthew 4:4. And he says, if you are the Son of God, if you are, you see that dot was put in there. If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
[00:10:11] And you know the answer that Jesus gave to Satan. He said, man shall not live by bread, bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth. Of God, every word. And remember that the New Testament wasn't even written yet.
[00:10:29] But what I'm getting to is this and that is that Christ, right at that moment when the devil attacked him and tempted him and he overcame Satan. And the Bible says that angels came and ministered to Jesus.
[00:10:44] Then right there, he began to open the door and he said, the kingdom of God is at hand. He said, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, he says, and believe the Gospel.
[00:10:59] That was the beginning of the open door to the kingdom of God.
[00:11:05] And you and I, brethren, you and I, believe it or not, you and I, if we are Christians, if. If we belong to Jesus Christ, we are inside of the spiritual kingdom of God because Jesus opened the door for us. And when he opened the door, we accepted it and we walked right in through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:11:31] And this, brethren, I believe that you and I belong to the kingdom. So I'm going to use the term that we are kingdom people.
[00:11:46] That's right, we are kingdom people.
[00:11:49] Because you and I, in case you have never thought about it, you and I belong to the kingdom of God. When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we are also accepting the kingdom of God. And the Gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God. So you and I are actually already in the spiritual phase of the kingdom of God.
[00:12:16] Now, let's read the Bible. To confirm what I'm saying, let's go to Colossians chapter three.
[00:12:24] In the book of Colossians, chapter one, chapter one, and of course, chapter three, it's another verse that I can use also.
[00:12:35] But in Colossians chapter one, we find that the Apostle Paul, writing here to the Colossians, he mentions, beginning at verse 10, to these brethren. But remember that when Paul is writing these letters, he's not only writing just to a group of people in Colossae or the Colossians or the Ephesians or Philadelphia, or because he writes to a certain group, I believe that the Bible is for every one of us. But notice in Colossians 1, beginning at verse 10, he says that ye, in other words, you Christians might walk worthy of the Lord unto all, pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering, with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
[00:13:53] Notice verse 13.
[00:13:55] Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and hath hath not will. Or perhaps and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
[00:14:12] Did you notice that?
[00:14:14] That the Apostle Paul, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, is saying that we have been delivered from the power of darkness and that Christ has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
[00:14:29] You see? Then we are inside of the kingdom already, you might say. Well, we have only one foot inside. No, we don't have one foot.
[00:14:38] God doesn't want for us to have one foot.
[00:14:42] God wants for us to have all of Trinidad, Padilla, all of ll Christiansen, all of Brother Holt, all of Pruitt, Forrest Pruitt. He doesn't want just part of us in there.
[00:14:59] Christ came to save all of us.
[00:15:02] In other words, completely as we are. He came to save us. And here the Bible tells us that we have been translated already. We have been translated into the kingdom of his dear Son. Now let's read verse 14 and notice what it says.
[00:15:22] Verse 14 says, in whom we have redemption. And the word redemption here, it means that we have been set free, we have been redeemed, we have redemption through his blood.
[00:15:37] Even what? Even what?
[00:15:40] The forgiveness of sins and brethren. I tell you what. When the Lord Jesus Christ has forgiven you and me of our sins, that we have been cleansed, we have been forgiven, and Christ has made us white in his precious blood, then we are translated right into the kingdom of God. And so we are not living inside of the kingdom.
[00:16:09] We should perhaps not really call ourselves church, but we should be called. Be called kingdom people.
[00:16:17] Let's turn to Revelation 4.
[00:16:20] In Revelation, chapter 4, I want you to notice what it says.
[00:16:25] And I was speaking about the open door that Jesus tells the church in Philadelphia.
[00:16:35] When he tells the church that he's going to open the door, he said, I'm going to open the door, and no man can shut it. And then when I shut the door, he says no man can open it. You know what that tells me?
[00:16:50] That all power is given to the Lord Jesus Christ that He can open and no man can shut it. Not only that, but he says, I have the Key of David. That's what he says right here when he speaks to the church of Philadelphia in verse seven. And the scripture reading that I read chapter three and verse seven.
[00:17:15] And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write these things, saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth. And shutteth and no man openeth.
[00:17:28] Now, what is that key of David?
[00:17:32] You know, we have a lot of Preaching, a lot of churches, a lot of teaching in the world today.
[00:17:42] One belief is, and I'm not trying to criticize or down anyone, one belief is that when you die, you go straight to heaven. That's one belief. Another belief is that when the Lord Jesus comes back, you'll be asleep if you have died, and so on. But he's going to take you to heaven up there in the blue sky somewhere, and you're going to have mansions up in the blue sky in heaven.
[00:18:09] You know, the Bible nowhere teaches that at all.
[00:18:13] Now, to have the key of David, it means that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to sit on the throne of David. And. And the throne of David was right here upon the earth. It was in Jerusalem.
[00:18:29] Now let's turn to Revelation 4. And we read verse 1, Revelation 4 1.
[00:18:40] After this I looked, and behold, it says, behold, a door was opened in heaven.
[00:18:51] Can you imagine that? That a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
[00:19:09] Never in the history of the world, from the time of Adam and all the way through, have we ever heard a message where it said that there was a door open in heaven. May I ask you the question? Who opened that door to heaven?
[00:19:30] Who was the one that opened that door? So that you and I can go directly through that door and we can be there with the Heavenly Father even right now.
[00:19:43] I'm not talking about you jumping up there in person. I'm talking about the great privilege that we have of going through that door. And we can go directly to the Heavenly Father through our prayers, through our prayers, through our petitions, and what we do when we pray to God that we have this open door.
[00:20:09] Now let's turn to John chapter 10, John chapter 10.
[00:20:17] And we read beginning at verses one and two, first of all, John chapter 10.
[00:20:29] But now the question that I would like to ask before we read these two verses from John 10, how many doors are there to heaven?
[00:20:40] How many doors?
[00:20:42] 1, 2, 3.
[00:20:45] Do we have many doors?
[00:20:50] Here in John chapter 10, verses 1 and 2, Jesus makes it very clear how many doors there are. And also he also tells us, who is the door.
[00:21:02] Let's read it verily. Verily or truly? Truly. In Spanish it says, de sierto, de sierto tedigo. I remember reading that all the time. And when I preach, it says, verily, which means truly, truly or surely? Surely the sierto de sierto Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door, by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and what?
[00:21:38] And a robber.
[00:21:40] Notice that the Lord makes it very clear that we must go in through the door into the sheepfold. But if you climb up some other way, then you are a thief, thief and a robber. And you know what? There's no way in this world that you can climb some other way, because there is no other way.
[00:22:05] There is only one way.
[00:22:07] And here it is. Now let's read verse two.
[00:22:11] Verse two says, but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
[00:22:22] Now let's read verse seven, verse seven.
[00:22:26] It says, then Jesus. Then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, or truly, Truly I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
[00:22:45] I am the door. He said so. The one that opened heaven for us, the one that gave us the right to talk directly to the Heavenly Father.
[00:22:58] And I believe, brethren, that that is one of the greatest privileges that we have as human beings.
[00:23:05] Imagine us human beings created from the dust of the earth, nothing but a lump of clay. And now we have the privilege, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that he made the way for us to go directly to the throne of God and talk to Almighty God.
[00:23:24] You know how he did this?
[00:23:27] You know how he did how Jesus did this so that you and I could go in there. You know how he did it. Let's turn to Matthew, chapter 27.
[00:23:37] Let's turn to Matthew 27.
[00:23:41] And we begin reading.
[00:23:48] As Jesus was hanging on the cross here in Matthew 27.
[00:23:57] And just about every writer of the Gospel, they write about the crucifixion of Christ.
[00:24:02] But Matthew tells us something that happened.
[00:24:08] Let's begin reading about, beginning in verse 46 from Matthew 27.
[00:24:16] And about the ninth hour, which is three o' clock in the afternoon, about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, eli, Eli.
[00:24:31] In other parts of the Bible, the writers, they write Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthanai.
[00:24:38] You might be wondering what is the difference? And if you have never known or tried to analyze what is the difference between Eli, Eli and Eloi? Eloi, you might say, well, they're contradicting themselves. No, it is because one writer writes it one way, another writes it the other way. But it all means the same.
[00:24:58] And here the interpretation to that is to say, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
[00:25:07] That is the interpretation. Verse 46. Now let's read on, beginning in verse 47. Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calleth for Elias.
[00:25:21] You see, El El means him Elo him in Spanish we have, when we say about God, we say El El. Where we're. We're talking about God, like you will be saying him.
[00:25:40] Elohim El Shaddai, El Adonai. This is the Hebrew meaning of the Almighty, the omnipotent one, the Great One. They never wanted to use the name of God because as I will show you next week, I'm going to show you how that the name of God is so reverent.
[00:26:05] Now let's read on. Beginning in verse 48. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and and gave him to drink. The rest said, let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, meaning that here he died.
[00:26:30] He gave up the ghost, meaning he gave up the spirit, the life.
[00:26:38] Now notice verse 51, what happened when he gave up the ghost.
[00:26:43] And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom.
[00:26:51] And the earth did quake and the rocks rent.
[00:26:56] What happened when Jesus died? The veil that separated the holy from the most holy place in the temple of the sanctuary, the veil that no one could go in within the veil into the most holy place. And only the high priest could go in there once a year on the day of atonement.
[00:27:22] That was the time that the high priest would have the breastplate. Here were the 12 precious stones that are found in Revelation, chapter 21 of the Holy City.
[00:27:33] The 12 tribes of Israel represented the 12 stones.
[00:27:37] And he was dressed with special garments.
[00:27:41] Once a year the priest, the high priest would go in there within the temple on the day of atonement.
[00:27:49] And there he would take all the sins of Israel.
[00:27:52] And remember that on the day of atonement two kids were sacrificed.
[00:27:57] One was to be the kid to be sacrificed and his blood to be sprinkled within the veil. And then the other kid was to lay all the sins upon him and turn him loose in the wilderness.
[00:28:12] But what happened here, the main point here that I want to bring about is that he rent the veil.
[00:28:21] Meaning that through the death of Christ, through his supreme sacrifice that he made on the cross, that Jesus made a way and he opened heaven for us.
[00:28:36] So that you and I, brothers and sisters, you and I are so privileged that we can come and kneel and The Lord taught us to pray. He said, when you pray, pray.
[00:28:53] Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:29:02] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
[00:29:09] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[00:29:18] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:29:23] For thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever. Amen.
[00:29:28] You see, the Lord taught us to pray that now he was going to open the door so that we could go straight to the heavenly Father.
[00:29:38] Because Jesus knew that when he would ascend to heaven, he would be on the right hand of God. And he will be the intercessor, and he will be the one that will be interceding, the advocate for you and I. And every time that we would pray that through the Lord Jesus Christ, God would hear our prayers.
[00:30:00] Brethren, that is the open door that he's talking about, also the door of the gospel, of the kingdom of God, that Jesus Christ came to open that door and that now we do not have to go through a priest. We do not have to go through Brother Padilla. You don't have to come to me.
[00:30:21] You don't have to go through Brother Christensen and say, brother Christensen, you have been a minister for many years. I want to approach the throne of God. I want to go and pray to God. I want to. For you, Brother Christian, to pray so that I can go through, you know, to God, through you.
[00:30:42] No, you can't.
[00:30:43] Because there is only one way you can go to God, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:30:51] You see? And also salvation.
[00:30:53] The kingdom of God is only given when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:31:03] And this is how we get into the kingdom.
[00:31:11] There are many, many scriptures about the open door.
[00:31:16] And one thing that I want to stress, because I can see that I don't have time to go into the other part, the shut door, that right now we have the privilege of accepting Christ, of accepting his blood.
[00:31:34] We have the privilege of prayer. We have the privilege of telling our friends and neighbors and loved ones that they can be saved because the door is still open.
[00:31:46] This door of mercy and compassion is still open and available for anyone who would like to come and be saved.
[00:31:59] Let's turn to the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. And the apostle Paul, he was reminding the Ephesians beginning at verse 11 through verse 14, he was reminding them that they were now special people.
[00:32:21] Like, if the Apostle Paul will be writing to the church at Shawnee, Oklahoma, writing to us like he wrote to the seven churches in Asia. And Paul was writing these letters. And I mentioned this morning about why Paul had to write certain things to certain churches and rebuke them and exhort them about their divisions and about their troubles that they were having. Bickering and one thinking that Paul was bigger than Apollos and Apollos was bigger than Cephas, and they were all squabbling as to who was the greatest.
[00:33:03] And Paul, he said, look, don't look at any man. Nobody is great here. There's only one great, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:33:11] And so here In Ephesians chapter 2, beginning at verse 11, the apostle is reminding these brethren and also all of us here in Shawnee, Oklahoma. And notice what he says, Wherefore remember that you, ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called on circumcision by that which is called a circumcision in the flesh, made by hands that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Can you imagine our state?
[00:34:00] Can you imagine how we were?
[00:34:03] The Bible says here that we were as people that were called. We were called. First of all, we were strangers, were strangers from all the covenants and having no hope and without God in the world, we were lost and undone. We didn't have anything.
[00:34:26] Now notice verses 13 and 14.
[00:34:28] But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh.
[00:34:36] By what?
[00:34:39] By the blood of Christ.
[00:34:42] By the blood of Christ.
[00:34:45] For he, Jesus Christ is what he is, our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
[00:35:01] You see, Christ not only opened the door, but but he broke down the middle wall of partition between Israel, Jews and the Gentiles.
[00:35:12] Now there is no more difference.
[00:35:15] God is not catering or saying Israel is my only people. No, God is saying all those that will come and will come to Jesus Christ and will accept him, they are also my children and brethren. That is the blessing of the open door message.
[00:35:36] But I want you to know that one of these days, and I'm going to preach it one of these days too. There's coming a day when the door is going to be shut.
[00:35:48] And believe me, that door is going to be shut right in our faces. And many of us that could have been saved, many of us that could have had the right to be in the kingdom of God and have a crown of glory and have eternal life, we're going to be crying and gnashing our teeth. And we're going to be saying, we could have been there. We heard the message, but we thought that this world was better than the kingdom of God.
[00:36:15] Oh, what a sad day that will be.
[00:36:18] We sing that song about what a sat day that will be, don't we?
[00:36:27] But the day that is coming, people that are not ready.
