{"id":670,"date":"2019-06-28T07:38:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T12:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=670"},"modified":"2019-08-18T19:19:38","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T00:19:38","slug":"the-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/28\/the-door\/","title":{"rendered":"The Door"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Something has happened in my lifetime. When I was a young person growing up in church, everything was about Jesus. Jesus loved me. Jesus died on the cross for my sin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned that disobedience to any of God\u2019s commands was sin. And that sin separated me from God. In church, I learned that that separation from God could be restored \u2013 but only by Jesus\u2019 death on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. Once I heard this, I wanted to have that relationship restored. I didn\u2019t want to be separated from God for eternity. Once I recognized that I had sinned, and wanted God to forgive me of that sin, I trusted Jesus was the only One who could take that sin away (see John 14:6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But something has happened in most churches. What Jesus did on the cross to take away sin is only mentioned once in a blue moon. Now the focus has turned to the thought that God loves everyone. He wants us to love everyone. The way to show the world that we love them is to bring them into the church, just as they are, and the church will minister to them. The church shows love by meeting any physical or emotional need they may have. Meeting those needs is a wonderful way to show the love of God \u2013 but only if one has first showed them that Jesus<\/em><\/strong> is that love of God. Remember \u201cBut God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us<\/strong>\u201d (Romans 5:8). God\u2019s love is revealed in the death of Jesus on the cross to pay the penalty for individual\u2019s sin in order to restore that broken relationship. By not making this the primary message in the churches today, many churches have in essence pushed Jesus out of the door and closed it. It\u2019s almost as if many churches have made their own door (good works, meeting people\u2019s needs) and replacing Jesus as the Door of the sheep. That is the condition of the church in the final church age, portrayed in Revelation 3:14-22.  They are doing so well, doing works, that they don\u2019t even realize they are in need. Because the churches as a whole are so busy doing good works, they have forgotten to share the message of Jesus and His death to take away individual people\u2019s sin as the Only Way to truly help anyone. Remember what Paul wrote: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God<\/strong>” (Romans 10:3). Remember that the “righteousness of God” is Jesus. This is a picture of what is happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as we see in Revelation 3:20, Jesus is still available to any one who will open the Door (for Jesus is the Door, see John 10:7) to allow Jesus inside. He will come inside, and there can be sweet fellowship. \u201cBehold, 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<\/strong>\u201d (Revelation 3:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you someone who has allowed\nJesus to be pushed out, forgetting why He came?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will you be willing to open the\ndoor and let Him back in? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure that you find a church that still faithfully presents the Gospel message of Jesus, the only way to be saved. Make sure that He is the primary focus of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches<\/strong>\u201d (Revelation 3:22).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something has happened in my lifetime. When I was a young person growing up in church, everything was about Jesus. Jesus loved me. Jesus died on the cross for my sin. Sin? What sin? I learned that disobedience to any of God\u2019s commands was sin. And that sin separated me from God. In church, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[230,189,281,80,262,118,203],"class_list":["post-670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-with-verse-and-blog","tag-church","tag-disobedience","tag-door","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-relationship","tag-sin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}