The Shut Door - Trinidad Padilla

[00:00:00] The shut door. And that's going to be the message for today. But you might be wondering, what is the shut door? [00:00:09] I would like to just go back for just a moment or two and present to you just a few thoughts about the open door. [00:00:20] And before I do this, I would like for you to turn with me, if you have your Bible to turn to. Revelation, chapter three, where Jesus our Savior is writing to the church in Philadelphia. [00:00:36] Now, if you recall that Jesus writes to the seven churches in Asia Minor, and message to Philadelphia is found in chapter three, beginning at verse seven. And we're going to read only verses seven and eight and notice what it says. [00:00:58] 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. I know thy works. [00:01:18] Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name. [00:01:32] About over two weeks ago, I presented the sermon on the Open door. [00:01:38] And I would like to just go back just for a moment for those of you that were not here, you might not remember, and then also add just a little bit more to the open door. And then we're going to come to the shut door message. [00:01:51] Now, the open door that is talking about here, remember that this is saying, Jesus is saying here that he is the one that has the key of David, the key of David, and that he openeth and no man can shut the door. [00:02:10] And he shut it, and no man can open. [00:02:14] So he is the only one that has the key. We also learned that Jesus is the door because we read from John chapter 10, verse 1, and then verse 7, where it definitely states jesus says I am the door. In other words, he plainly states that there's no one, no one can come to the Father or enter the kingdom only through the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:02:46] Now, in John 14:6, I'm going to just quote these verses if you would like to write them down. You can if you wish, but I'm just going to quote them by memory. [00:02:57] In John 14:6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and what else? [00:03:06] And life. [00:03:08] No man can come to the Father but by me. [00:03:13] So Christ is the only door, the only way. [00:03:18] And now for approximately 2,000 years, this door of the gospel that Jesus brought, the good news of salvation has been preached. And it's being preached for almost 2000 years now. [00:03:37] And you and I have heard the Gospel many, many times. So I would like to say that none of us here can tell the Lord. Well, Lord, I'm sorry, I never heard it. And I didn't know about your saving grace. I didn't know about your word. I didn't have the chance. None of us here are without excuse. [00:03:58] So I do believe that if you are lost, it is because you want it to be lost. It's not going to be the Savior's fault for anyone here being lost. I'd like to remind you also as we turn to Matthew, to Matthew chapter 16, where there is something here that the Lord tells the apostle Peter that Jesus gave Peter certain keys. [00:04:32] And we're going to show you that after Jesus preached the gospel for three and a half years and he opened the door, I mentioned to you that he is the door. He opened the door and the Gospel began to be preached. But then he also tells Peter here in Matthew 16, and we read verse 18 only just to save a little time. [00:04:59] Matthew 16 and verse 18. [00:05:04] And this is what the Lord tells Peter. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter. And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [00:05:17] Now, for a moment, I want you to notice that Jesus is telling Peter, upon this rock I will build my church. Now, he wasn't saying that the church was going to be built upon Peter, but upon the truth that Peter had received or the revelation from God that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. [00:05:39] Now notice verse 19 for just a moment. [00:05:42] Matthew 16:19. And it says, and I will give unto thee to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [00:06:01] Well, Peter was apparently chosen by Jesus Christ not to be the Pope, not to be the head of the Church. There's nothing here that indicates that Peter was to be the head of the church or that he was ever in Rome. And we have all the successions, you know, from the time of Peter up to Pope Paul and so on, that all these things were to be set up according to what we hear. [00:06:31] Now this is why we have the freedom of speech and, and freedom of religion in this country, that we can talk about this or that very freely without anyone interfering with us. But I would like to show you, and I'm just going to point these things out, how the apostle Peter was chosen by Jesus Christ and he was given the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. And it was up to Peter to use these keys. [00:07:01] Now, let me just remind you that on the day of Pentecost, on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles, after that they started speaking in the various languages of all the peoples that were represented there, that the one that stood up, the one that stood up and began to preach was the apostle Peter. And he preached a very powerful, marvelous sermons that 3,000 souls were converted. In other words, what Peter was doing, he was using those keys that Jesus gave him, the open door. In other words, now here the people could hear the gospel and they were coming in to the kingdom of God. [00:07:55] So the Apostle Peter was the one that stood up and preached on the day of Pentecost. [00:08:00] And then we find that in chapter eight of Acts, in chapter eight, I'm not going to turn and read it, that the gospel went to the Samaritans. [00:08:13] Now, Philip went to Samaria and he preached the gospel and he baptized a lot of people. [00:08:19] But the Holy Spirit was not given. [00:08:23] You might recall when you read Acts chapter 8, the Holy Spirit was not given. [00:08:28] But then they sent for Peter and John to come to Samaria. And after they had laid their hands on those that were baptized, they received the Holy Spirit. But Peter had a lot to do with it. And then Cornelius saw a vision. [00:08:44] Cornelius was told in this is Acts chapter 10 now, that Cornelius was told by the Lord to send men to Joppa and to call for a man called Peter. Now, Cornelius was a Roman centurion. Roman. And so he was a Gentile. [00:09:05] But now notice how Peter plays an act here. The different Acts in opening the doors, that the apostle Peter came to the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. And he began to preach to the Romans, to Cornelius and to his household. And how that they were converted and the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they were baptized. And so the door was opened from that time on and the gospel was preached to Israel as well as to the Gentiles. [00:09:42] Now the Gospel has been preached. The Holy Spirit has also been given to the Gentiles from the time of the day of Pentecost and all the way through until now. [00:09:55] Now I'm coming to the shut door. [00:09:58] The time is coming now. It is not for me and it is not for any preacher. And I don't care who the preacher is that will set a date for the second coming of Christ. Because no man knows when Jesus is coming back. [00:10:18] In fact, I'm going too far as to say that not even Jesus himself knows. When he's coming back. [00:10:27] Did you know that not even the Lord Jesus knows when he's coming back? He said only the Father, only the heavenly Father knows. [00:10:37] When the time is just right, the Heavenly Father is going to say to his Son, go. [00:10:43] And then Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven with all his mighty angels. [00:10:50] And believe me, brethren, as I'm going to show you now some scriptures, the door will be shut. [00:10:57] And just before the Lord comes, that door is going to be shut. And then it will be shut more when the Lord will come back to where those people that had the chance to repent, to be converted, to be the bride of Christ, when people had a chance to really be in the kingdom with Jesus Christ and to reign with him, they will not have a chance because they refused. [00:11:28] They did not want to be with Christ. [00:11:31] They thought that perhaps the things of this world were a lot better. They thought that perhaps earning money and possessions and all these things were a lot better than being in the kingdom of God. And so the door is going to be shut and a lot of people that could have been in the kingdom are not going to be there. [00:11:51] Now let's go to the Scriptures and I'm going to show you from the Bible, the shut door. [00:12:01] We turn to Revelation chapter 15, and I want you to notice when we turn to Revelation, chapter 15, verses 7 and 8, what's going to happen. [00:12:21] Revelation 15, the entire chapter is speaking about the wrath of God and the seven plagues. If you will read chapter 15 in verse one, it is talking about the seven last plagues. [00:12:41] And it says that in them is filled up the wrath of God. If you read the entire 15th chapter of Revelation, but let's read verses seven and eight, notice what's going to happen. [00:12:55] And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever. [00:13:08] And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no man notice this very carefully. And no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. [00:13:29] Now please notice that when these seven plagues are falling upon the earth and it is the church of God's seventh day belief, and it sits in our doctrinal booklet that we have that we believe that these seven plagues are yet future. [00:13:47] Because we don't believe that the wrath of God has fallen yet. [00:13:52] We don't believe that the wrath of God is here yet. But if it is coming, the wrath of God is coming because the world has become like it was in the days of Noah and like it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. And God had to intervene. Now we have come to that point now where we are living like it was in the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah. But here it tells us that when the plagues are falling, it says that no man was able to enter into the temple of God. And to me, this signifies that no man is able to be saved. No man is able to reach out to the Lord Jesus. Because the time has come when the wrath of God is being poured and the seven plagues of the seven angels are being fulfilled. [00:14:45] You might say, well, is that all you have? [00:14:48] No, that's not all. Let's turn to Matthew 25. [00:14:53] How many of you have read and have heard about the 10 virgins? [00:14:59] Have you heard, have you read about the 10 virgins? Oh, I tell you, I've heard so much about the ten virgins in Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins. How that here were ten virgins, and five of them were wise and five were foolish. [00:15:20] And then the story here of the parable goes that the wise took oil, and they had enough oil in their vessels and they took their lamps, but the foolish virgins did not have sufficient oil. Now we might explain what is the lambs, or what does the. The lamb signify? [00:15:45] What does the oil signify? What does it mean? And all that we understand that the lamp here is the word of God. The oil, of course, is the Holy Spirit of God. And it represents that. Because throughout the Bible we can prove that he does. But something happens that during the dark hours at midnight, in other words, when God's wrath is being poured, and it seems that the world is in a dark condition because of the sins and all that doesn't mean literally dark, but it means because of the sins, something will happen. [00:16:24] Notice in Matthew 25, and we read, beginning at verse seven, beginning at verse seven. [00:16:35] And we read on through verse 13. [00:16:38] Then all those virgins, well, beginning in verse six, let's get the connection here. And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. [00:16:51] You see, the cry was made at midnight. [00:16:56] The bridegroom. Who is the bridegroom? [00:16:59] The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the bridegroom. Verse 7. And on down it says, then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lambs. [00:17:09] And the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil for our lambs. Are gone out. [00:17:17] But the wise answered, saying, not so, lest there be not enough for us. And you but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. [00:17:28] And while they went, notice this. And while they went to buy, the bride groom came. [00:17:36] And they that were what ready? [00:17:41] They that were ready went in with him to the marriage. And what happened? [00:17:51] And the door was shut. [00:17:56] Now notice that very carefully. [00:17:59] This is the bridegroom coming back. [00:18:01] And those that were ready went in with the bridegroom. [00:18:06] And what happened? The door was shut. [00:18:11] Let's read beginning in verse 11. [00:18:14] Afterward came also the other virgin, saying, lord, Lord, open to us. [00:18:20] But he answered and said, verily I say unto you, I know you not. [00:18:25] Now notice verse 13. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. [00:18:39] So brethren, I think that we must be ready. [00:18:44] We must be constantly ready for the coming of the Lord. [00:18:49] As I said a while ago, and I'll say it again, that the plagues have not come. The wrath of God has not come yet. [00:18:58] But one of these days the wrath of God is coming. [00:19:02] And we have seven plagues that are going to fall. [00:19:05] In Revelation 16 you can read about the seven plagues one after the other. [00:19:11] And you prove to me, or prove to anybody else, if any of those plagues have ever fallen yet upon this earth. [00:19:19] Now this is worldwide. This is not going to be just in an isolated cage like in Africa or, or Ethiopia or the United States, that the wrath of God is going to be just in a certain location. [00:19:32] No, it's going to be on the entire planet. [00:19:35] Because the wrath of God will be poured because the nations of the world have become wicked. And the apostle Paul says, when he wrote to Timothy that in the last days he says, perilous times will come for men to be lovers of their own selves, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. Heady, high minded and all these horrible things. And then the worst thing about it, that Paul says that in the last days people would have a form of godliness, but denying the very power of God. We have a lot of form of godliness. A lot of people saying, I am a Christian, I belong to a church, and I belong to this church and the other church. You can belong to all the churches in Shawnee, Oklahoma and still go to hell. [00:20:25] Brethren, that's the truth. You can belong to this church and still go to hell. I want you to know that we must be ready. And it means that we must be doing exactly and obeying what Jesus said. [00:20:39] Amen. [00:20:40] If we don't. [00:20:42] If we don't, we're not going to make it. That door is going to be shut right on our faces one of these days. And when it is shut, it's not going to be the prediction of so and so, preacher said it, or because somebody else predicted certain times and all that. No, it's going to be when the Lord gets ready. When that door is shut, it will be shut, you might say. Is that all? No, that's not all. Let's turn to Luke chapter 13. [00:21:12] Luke chapter 13. [00:21:15] And in this chapter the Lord also mentions the door being shut. [00:21:24] Luke chapter 13. [00:21:28] And if you would like to read verse 24, which I believe it is very important, sometimes we only read one verse, but if you read above and below, you find the connection here and perhaps a stronger meaning as to what one verse is really saying. [00:21:45] Luke 13. Let's read. Beginning in verse 24, he says, Strive to enter in at the strait gate. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. [00:21:58] Now why is it that many will strive to enter into the kingdom and will not be able? [00:22:06] What's going to hinder them? [00:22:08] Now notice the next verse, verse 25. [00:22:13] In verse 25 it says, when once the master of the house is risen up and has shut to the door, and he began to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, lord, Lord, open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are. [00:22:36] You see, the Lord is telling us over and over again, strive to enter in. [00:22:43] Be ready. [00:22:47] Remember the foolish virgins? [00:22:50] They went out to buy oil and then they came back and they saw the door shut and they knocked and knocked on the door. [00:22:59] They wanted to get in. And the Lord said, I don't know who you are. [00:23:04] Matthew 13 tells us the same thing, to strive to enter in. [00:23:09] Because as many will try to enter, but they won't be able to because once the Master has risen, in other words, has risen from his throne, and then he will come back. He says many are going to try to enter in, but they won't be able to because the door will be shut. This is what it says there. [00:23:32] You know, sometimes we think that we have a lot of time, especially young people, and I see a lot of our young people back there sitting and I keep an eye on them because sometimes the young people think, well, the preacher is not looking at me. And the preacher doesn't know what we're doing. Yes, I know, I know what you're doing. And I Know young people and everybody else that if you don't take heed to the word of God, and I don't care how young you are, how old you are, that if you don't take heed to the word of God, that someday you're going to have to stand before the Maker and give account for the time you were in church and for the times that we were playing church. [00:24:12] A lot of people just play church. [00:24:16] They go through the motions. [00:24:18] Oh, yeah, they. Sometimes they pray and sometime they give their tithe and sometimes they do this and that and they. [00:24:26] They play church. But in their heart, right here in their life, their heart, they're not really converted. [00:24:34] They haven't truly surrendered to God. [00:24:39] And that's the main thing. [00:24:42] Surrender completely. Now, God doesn't want half of you. [00:24:47] He doesn't want just your arm, your head, or one of your legs. [00:24:53] He wants all or nothing. He takes all or nothing. [00:25:00] I'm going to tell you a little story. And I don't like to tell stories, but this is a little humorous. [00:25:07] I'm not good at telling stories anyway, or telling jokes. I'm not good at that. [00:25:12] I'm not Johnny Carson that stands there, you know, and tells jokes. And I don't know how. I'm not the joke person. [00:25:20] But it is claimed that these two guys back in the old days, you know, they went out to a cornfield at night and they stole some corn and they put it in sacks. [00:25:39] And so they went out from the cornfield and. [00:25:51] And they were. [00:25:53] That. I think the story goes that they went to the cemetery and they were counting the corn, as far as I can remember the story. [00:26:04] But on the way into the cemetery, they dropped one. One corn. [00:26:11] When they got over there, they were counting the corn. [00:26:16] And then one was saying, one for you, one for me, one for you and one for me. [00:26:25] But it so happened that another person was going by. [00:26:29] And, you know, the cemeteries usually have a gate. [00:26:32] And have you ever wondered why the cemeteries have a fence around it or a wall around it? Have you ever wondered about that? Why they have a fence? You know why? Because people are dying to get in. [00:26:46] No joke. [00:26:48] People are dying to get in. So they have to have a fence there, see, to keep people from getting in. [00:26:54] But anyway, this. This man was midnight, of course, or night. And so he was standing there, he heard some noises. [00:27:03] One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me. [00:27:09] And then one of the guys said to the other, he said, hey. He said, what about the one that was. That that was dropped over there at the gate. [00:27:17] And the man that was standing there at the gate, he thought that it was the Lord and devil, and the Lord and the devil here were counting the souls. One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me. And when they said, what about that, that one over there at the gate over there that we dropped over there, you know, they were talking among themselves and this man thought to himself that they were talking about him and boy, he just took off. [00:27:42] But it goes to show you, brethren, that. That a lot of people, they just put it off and put it off until the Day of Judgment. [00:27:52] This it. Well, someday I'm going to really give my heart to the Lord. [00:27:59] Someday I'm really going to do it right now. I'm young, I'm working. I have. I have to go to school. [00:28:06] I have to get my BA degree, I have to get all these things ready. I have to get a nice car. I have to live it up. And I'm going to have to do this. I'm going to have to build a house, and I'm going to have to do this and that. And so we, we begin to think of all the worldly things that we have to do now. There's nothing wrong for us to try to have a good home, to try to think about a job and school. Nothing wrong with those things. But I believe, brethren, that the major point of our life or the priority, and I believe that the most important thing about our life should be that we should be right with the Lord right now. [00:28:50] That if the Lord was to come, I'm not predicting he's coming today. And I don't think he would come today or he will not come in a month from now. Because I want you to know that there are prophecies to be fulfilled in the Middle east yet. [00:29:04] And we know that Russia, and now we see Russia signing treaties with the United States. But the time is coming when the kings of the north, which is Russia, will march to Israel in the Battle of Armageddon. And there we find that all the nations will be involved, like in the Persian Gulf. Now, that's part of what's going on because Iran is Persia, and they will go with the Russians one of these days. In fact, they're already with the Russians. But that's the whole story about the Middle East. So that's not going to happen within just a day or two. [00:29:41] But I do believe that the time is coming, that all of these things will be fulfilled. [00:29:49] And it could be a lot sooner than what we think. And The Lord is going to come back, and many of us that could have been in the kingdom are not going to make it for one simple reason. [00:30:04] And that is because we thought that this world had more to offer than the Lord has to offer us. [00:30:15] Now I'm going to show you something. [00:30:18] Let's turn to Genesis chapter seven. [00:30:23] Genesis chapter seven. [00:30:26] You might recall the Lord looked down upon the earth. [00:30:34] That's recorded in Genesis chapter six. [00:30:37] But the Lord looked down and he saw first of all the sons of God, which are his children, the church. [00:30:47] In Noah's day, the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair. They began to choose wives. In other words, swapping wives and having more than one wife. [00:30:59] Polygamy. Practicing polygamy. That the sons of Cain were already doing that. So they started practicing polygamy. [00:31:09] Monogamy, that's another word for it. But I don't have to use that because I think that we understand more about polygamy. [00:31:16] And also, the world became so corrupt. There was violence upon the earth, and God told Noah, build an ark. [00:31:27] Now, why do you suppose that all the people around thought that it was silly for Noah to build an ark? [00:31:35] Like, right now? The Lord will tell us, get ready. The church must be ready. That's silly. Why get ready? [00:31:43] What is there to get ready about? [00:31:45] Well, the Lord told Noah exactly what to do. [00:31:48] Let me tell you, brethren, that the Lord is very precise in what he says. [00:31:53] He says, get ready. [00:31:55] You better be ready when I come, because when I come, the door is going to be shut. [00:32:01] And when it is shut, God only knows if that door will be open to somebody else at another time. He only knows that. And who will be able to enter in after that? I don't know. [00:32:17] But it so happened that Noah made the ark, completed the ark. And then we find that Noah was commanded by the Lord to go in and all the animals came. [00:32:36] They came and they entered the ark. The clean and the unclean. [00:32:41] How in the world did Noah know about the clean and unclean animals? [00:32:47] How did Noah know that? [00:32:50] Because it is very obvious that God had already told Noah. And all the people before are the clean and unclean animals. [00:33:03] And the people who fight a lot about the unclean. [00:33:09] And I'm just going to say this on the side, and I'm not. I'm not going to charge you for it, but a lot of people that they argue for the unclean meats, that everything was clean and you can eat this, that Jesus died for the unclean animals. [00:33:25] They're only arguing for one thing, they're arguing because of the pork. That's why. But I can guarantee you that if you were to fry a rat or a mouse, if you were to fry a cat or a dog and say, this is going to be a dog party, we're going to fry some cats, we're all going to have a cat and put a little a cat in each plate, I'm sure that all of us will vomit and all the people will vomit and nobody would eat it. But when becomes a pig, the pork, then that, that, that's all right. And yet the most filthiest animal that we can have is a pig. And that's what people want to eat. [00:34:04] Now, what happened to Noah? [00:34:06] Chapter 7, verses 15 and 16. I'm going to close with this. [00:34:13] Genesis, chapter 7, verses 15 and 16. [00:34:20] And they that went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh were in. [00:34:36] Wherein is the breath of life? [00:34:40] Notice verse 16. [00:34:43] And they that went in, went in, male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. [00:34:53] And the Lord shut him in. [00:35:00] May I ask you the question? [00:35:02] Who shut the door to the ark? [00:35:08] Who shut the door? The other day on television, they had a quiz program. [00:35:15] They were asking the question, who shut the door to the ark? You know, the people were there, they didn't know who shut the door. [00:35:23] And I guarantee you there's some people here that perhaps you never knew or you didn't know who has shut the door. You might have thought that, well, Noah, when he got all the animals in there, he got a hammer and he just shut the door and that was it. No, the Lord shut him in. Why? [00:35:41] Because nobody else could get in. [00:35:45] No one else. [00:35:46] And I can guarantee you, when the rain started falling, and then from the bottom of the earth, it says the Bible that from the bottom of the earth the water came. And in Spanish it says the cataracts from heaven. The cataracts. Las cataratas, he says in Spanish, were open, and the water was coming from the top, and it was coming from the bottom. And for 40 days the water was upon the whole earth, and the ark began to go up. [00:36:15] Can you imagine? Can you just imagine the people that were there standing all around in the ark, beginning to go up, and the waters beginning to come up, and they wanted to get in, and they were not able to. [00:36:30] Well, the Bible tells us, brethren, that when the time will come, Jesus is going to shut the door again. [00:36:38] The question is, are we ready? [00:36:41] God bless you and God help us all.