1723. “Knock!”

No. 1723-29:301. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Morning, May 27, 1883, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

Knock, and it shall be opened to you. {Mt 7:7}

1. I have no doubt that, taken very strictly, the three exhortations of this verse — which, indeed, are only one — were first of all intended for God’s believing people. It was to his disciples that the Lord said, “Do not cast your pearls before swine”; and perhaps certain of them who were poor in spirit might turn around and say, “Lord, we have few pearls; we are too poor to have the treasures of your grace so plentifully. You have told us not to give what is holy to dogs; but holiness is rather a thing we seek after than possess.” “Well,” says the Lord, “you have only to ask and have; you do not have because you do not ask; you only have to seek and you will be sure to find, for holy things, like rare pearls, are to be discovered if you look for them: you only have to knock and spiritual secrets shall open to you, even the innermost truth of God.” In each exhortation our Lord tells us to pray. Beloved, let us abound in supplication. Depend on it that failure in prayer will undermine the foundation of our peace and sap the strength of our confidence; but if we abound in pleading with God we shall grow strong in the Lord, and we shall be happy in his love, we shall become a blessing to those around us. Need I commend the mercy seat to you who wait before it? Surely prayer must have become such a joy to you, such a necessity of your being, such an element of your life, that I hardly need to press it upon you as a duty, or invite you to it as a privilege. Yet I still do so, because the Master does it by a triple exhortation. A threefold cord is not easily broken — do not let my text be neglected by you. Let me urge you to repeated, varied, ever intensifying prayer: ask! seek! knock! Do not cease to ask until you receive; do not cease to seek until you find; do not cease to knock until the door is opened to you.

2. In these three exhortations there would appear to be a gradation: it is the same thought put into another form, and made more forcible. Ask — that is, in the quiet of your spirit, speak with God concerning your need, and humbly beg him to grant your desires: this is a good and acceptable form of prayer. If, however, asking should not appear to succeed, the Lord would arouse you to a more concentrated and active longing; therefore let your desires call in the aid of knowledge, thought, consideration, meditation, and practical action, and learn to seek for the blessings you desire as men seek for hidden treasures. These good things are laid up in store, and they are accessible to fervent minds. See how you can reach them. Add to asking the study of the promises of God, a diligent hearing of his word, a devout meditation upon the way of salvation, and all such means of grace as may bring you the blessing. Advance from asking into seeking. And if after all it should still seem that you have not obtained your desire, then knock and so come to closer and more agonizing work; do not only use the voice, but the whole soul; exercise yourself to godliness to obtain the blessing; use every effort to win what you seek after; for remember that doing is praying; living for God is a high form of seeking, and the bent of the entire mind is knocking. God often gives to his people when they keep his commandments what he denies to them if they walk carelessly. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, “If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you shall ask what you wish, and it shall be done for you.” Holiness is essential to power in prayer: the life must knock while the lips ask and the heart seeks.

3. I will change my line of exposition and say: ask as a beggar petitions for alms. They say that begging is a poor trade, but when you ply it well with God no other trade is as profitable. Men get more by asking than by working without prayer. Though I do commend working, yet I most highly commend praying. Nothing under heaven pays like prevailing prayer. He who has power in prayer has all things at his call. Ask as a poor beggar who is hungry and pleads for bread. Then seek as a merchant who hunts for goodly pearls, looking up and down, anxious to give all that he has so that he may obtain a matchless treasure. Seek as a servant carefully looking after his master’s interests and labouring to promote them. Seek with all diligence, adding to the earnestness of the beggar the careful watchfulness of the jeweller who is seeking for a gem. Conclude all by knocking at mercy’s door as a lost traveller caught out on a cold night in a blinding sleet knocks for shelter so that he may not perish in the storm. When you have reached the gate of salvation ask to be admitted by the great love of God, then look carefully to find the way of entering, seeking to enter in; and if still the door seems shut against you, knock very heavily, and continue knocking until you are safely lodged within the home of love.

4. Once again, ask for what you need, seek for what you have lost, knock for that from which you are excluded. Perhaps this last arrangement best indicates the shades of meaning, and brings out the distinctions. Ask for everything you need, whatever it may be: if it is a right and good thing, it is promised to the sincere asker. Seek for what you have lost; for what Adam lost for you by the Fall, for what you have lost yourself by your neglect, by your backsliding, by your lack of prayer: seek until you find the grace you need. Then knock. If you seem shut out from comfort, from knowledge, from hope, from God, from heaven, then knock, for the Lord will open to you. Here you need the Lord’s own intervention: you can ask and receive, you can seek and find; but you cannot knock and open, — the Lord must himself open the door, or you are shut out for ever. God is ready to open the door. Remember, there is no cherub with fiery sword to guard this gate, but, on the contrary, the Lord Jesus himself opens, and no man shuts. But now I must drop this line of things, for my desire is to use the text in reference to those who are not yet saved.

5. Last Lord’s day, when we preached upon glory, we had before us the end of the pilgrim way. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1721, “Glory!” 1722} It was a very, very happy time; for in meditation we reached the suburbs of the Celestial City, and we tasted eternal glory. This morning I thought we would begin at the beginning, and enter in at the wicket-gate, which stands at the start of the way to heaven. Mr. Bunyan, in his “Pilgrim’s Progress,” says, “Now over the gate there was written, ‘Knock, and it shall be opened to you.’ ” His ingenious allegory is always as truthfully instructive as it is delightfully attractive. I concluded that this should be my text. If it is thought worthy to be written over the gate at the entering in of the way of life it must have a great claim upon the attention of those who have not yet started for glory, but are anxious to do so. May God the Holy Spirit instruct and quicken them while we hear the Lord from within his palace saying, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.”

6. I. First, then, dear friend, whoever you are, if you are desirous of entering into eternal life, I would expound to you the inscription over the gate, by saying, first, THE DOOR OF MERCY MAY APPEAR TO YOU TO BE CLOSED AGAINST YOU. That is implied in the text: “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” If to your consciousness the door stood wide open, there would be no need of knocking; but since in your apprehension it is closed against you, it is for you to seek admission in the proper way by knocking.

7. To a large extent this apprehension is the result of your own fears. You think the gate is closed because you feel it ought to be so; you feel that if God dealt with you as you would deal with your fellow men, he would be so offended with you as to shut the door of his favour once and for all. You remember how guilty you have been, how often you have refused the divine call, and how you have gone on from evil to evil, and therefore you fear that the Master of the house has already risen up and shut the door. You fear lest like the obstinate ones in Noah’s day you will find the door of the ark closed, and yourself shut out to perish in the general destruction. Sin lies at the door, and blocks it. Your desponding feelings fasten up the gate of grace in your judgment. Yet, it is not so. The gate is not barred and bolted as you think it to be; though it may be spoken of as closed in a certain sense, yet in another sense it is never shut. In any case it opens very freely; its hinges are not rusted, no bolts secure it. The Lord is glad to open the gate to every knocking soul. It is closed far more in your apprehension than as a matter of fact; for the sin which shuts it is removed so far as the believing sinner is concerned. Had you only faith enough, you would enter in at this present moment; and if you once entered in, you would never be put out again, for it is written, “He who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” If you could with holy courage take leave and licence to come in, you would never be blamed for it. Fear and shame stand in the sinners road, and push him back; and blessed is he whose desperate need forces him to be bold.

8. One thing we should remember when we fear that the door is closed against us, namely, that it is not so tightly closed as the door of our hearts has been. You know the famous picture of “The Light of the World.” It seems to me to be one of the finest sermons the eye has ever looked upon. There stands the Ever-Blessed, knocking at the door of the soul, but the hinges are rusted, the door itself is firmly bolted, and wild briars and all kinds of creeping plants running up the door prove that it is a long time since it was opened. You know what it all means; how continuance in sin makes it harder to yield to the knock of Christ, and how evil habits creeping up one after another hold the soul so firmly that it cannot open to the sacred knocking. Jesus has been knocking at some of your hearts ever since you were children; and he still knocks. I hear his blessed hand upon the door at this moment: do you not hear it? Will you not open it? He has knocked for a long time, and still he knocks again. I am sure that you have not knocked at mercy’s door as long as incarnate mercy has waited at your door. You know you have not. How, therefore, can you complain if there should be an apparent delay in answering your prayers? It is only to make you feel a holy shame for having treated your Lord so badly. Now you begin to know what it is to be kept waiting, what it is to be a weary knocker, what it is to cry “my head is wet with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.” This will motivate you to repentance for your unkind behaviour, and also move you to love all the more intensely that gentle Lover of your soul who has shown such patience towards you. It will be no loss to you that the door was shut for a while, if you only gain a penitent heart and a tender spirit.

9. Let me, however, warn you that the door can be closed and kept shut by unbelief. He who believes enters into Christ when he believes: he who comes in by the door shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture; so our Lord says in the tenth chapter of John. “He who believes in him has everlasting life,” there is no question about that; but we read on the other hand, “So then they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Forty years the tribes were in the wilderness, going towards Canaan, yet they never reached the promised land because of unbelief. And what if some of you should be forty years attending this means of grace? Coming and going, coming and going, hearing sermons, witnessing ordinances, and joining with God’s people in worship: what if after all the forty years you should never enter in because of unbelief? Souls, I tell you if each one of you lived as long as Methuselah, you could not enter in unless you believed in Jesus Christ. The moment you have trusted him with your whole heart and soul you are within the blessed portals of the Father’s house, but however many years you may be asking, seeking, and knocking, you will never enter in until faith comes, for unbelief keeps the chain on the door, and there is no entering in while it rules your spirit.

10. Do you, however, complain that you should have to knock? It is the rule of the Most High. Am I addressing any who have been earnestly praying for several months? I can sympathise with you, for that was my case, not only for months, but even for years: through the darkness of my mind and my cruel misapprehensions of the Lord, I did not find peace when I first began to ask for it, although I also sought with much earnestness, going to the house of God every time I could, and reading the Bible daily with a burning desire to know the right way. I did not enter into peace until I had knocked long and heavily. Listen, therefore, to one who knows your trouble, and hear from me the voice of reason. Ought we to expect to enter into the glorious house of mercy without knocking at its door? Is it so with our own houses? Can every straggler carelessly saunter in? Is it not God’s way in the world to give great blessings, but always to make men knock for them? We need bread out of the earth but the farmer must knock at the door of the earth with his plough and with all his instruments of agriculture before his God will hand him out a harvest. Is anything gained in this world without labour? Is it not an old proverb, “No sweat, no sweet: no pains, no gains: no mill, no meal?” And may we not expect in heavenly things that at least these great mercies should be prayed for with fervency before they can be bestowed? It is the usual rule with God to make us pray before he gives the blessing. And how could it be otherwise? How could a man be saved without prayer? A prayerless soul must be a Christless soul. The feeling of prayer, the habit of prayer the spirit of prayer are parts of salvation. Unless it can be said of a man, “Behold, he prays” how can there be any kind of hope that he knows his God, and has found reconciliation? The prodigal did not come home dumb, neither did he enter his father’s house in sullen silence. No, but as soon as he saw his father, he cried, “Father, I have sinned against heaven.” There must be speech with God, for God does not give a silent salvation.

11. Besides, to make us knock at mercy’s gate is a great blessing to ourselves immediately. It is a going to school for us when we are set to plead with God for a while without experiencing success. It makes a man grow more earnest, for his hunger increases while he waits. If he obtained the blessing when first he asked for it, it might seem dirt cheap; but when he has to plead long he arrives at a better sense of the value of the mercy sought for. He sees also more of his own unworthiness as he stands outside mercy’s gate, ready to swoon away with fear; and so he grows more passionately earnest in pleading; and, whereas he only asked at first, he now begins to seek, and he adds cries and tears and a broken heart to all the other ways of his pleading. So the man, by being humbled and aroused, is receiving good by means of his sorrow while he is kept for a while outside the gate. Besides that, he is increasing his capacity for the future. I believe I never could have been able to comfort seekers in their anguish if I had not been kept waiting in the cold myself. I have always felt grateful for my early distress because of its later results. Many men, whose experiences are recorded in books which are invaluable in the Christian library, never could have written those books if they had not themselves been kept waiting, hungry and thirsty, and full of soul travail, before the Lord appeared to them. That blessed man, David, who always seems to be — 

   “Not one, but all mankind’s epitome”

 — the history of all men wrapped up in one — how he pictures himself as sinking in the miry clay! Lower and lower did he go until he cried out of the depths, and then at last he was taken up out of the horrible pit, and his feet were set on a rock so that he might tell to others what the Lord had done for him. Your heart needs enlarging, dear sir. The Lord intends to prepare you to become a more eminent Christian by expanding your mind. The spade of agony is digging trenches to hold the water of life. Depend on it, if the ships of prayer do not come home speedily it is because they are more heavily freighted with blessing. When prayer is long in the answering it will be all the sweeter in the receiving, like fruit which is well ripened by hanging longer on the tree. It you knock with a heavy heart you shall yet sing with joy of spirit; therefore, do not be discouraged because for a while you stand before a closed door.

12. II. Secondly, A DOOR IMPLIES AN OPENING.

13. What is a door meant for if it is always to be kept shut? The wall might as well have remained without a break. I have seen certain houses and public buildings with the form and appearance of doors where there were none; the sham doorway being made for architectural purposes; but nothing is a sham in the house of the Lord. His doors are meant to open: they were made on purpose for entrance; and so the blessed gospel of God is made on purpose for you to enter into life and peace. It would be of no use to knock at a wall, but you may wisely knock at a door, for it is designed for opening. You will enter in eventually if you knock on, for the gospel is good news for men, and how could it be good news if it should so happen that they might sincerely come to Christ and ask for mercy, and be denied it? I fear that the gospel preached by certain divines sounds rather like bad news than good news to awakened souls, for it requires so much feeling and preparation on the sinner’s part that they are not cheered nor led to hope by it. But be sure that the Lord is willing to save all those who are willing to be saved in his own appointed way. A dear brother beautifully said in prayer on Monday night — “You, oh Lord, are perfectly satisfied with the Lord Jesus, and if we are satisfied with him, you are satisfied with us.” That is the gospel put into a few words. God is satisfied with Christ, and if you are satisfied with Christ, God is satisfied with you. This is a glad news for every soul that is willing to accept the atonement made, and the righteousness prepared by the Lord Jesus.

14. Dear friend, this gospel must be meant to be received by sinners, or else it would not have been sent. But one says, “I am such a sinner.” Just so. You are the kind of person for whom the news of mercy is intended. A gospel is not needed by perfect men; sinless men need no pardon. No sacrifice is needed if there is no guilt: no atonement is needed where there is no transgression. Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but those who are sick. This door of hope which God has prepared was meant to be an entrance into life, and it was meant to open to sinners, for if it does not open to sinners it will never open at all; for we have all sinned, and so we must all be shut out unless it is by free grace for those who are guilty.

15. I am sure this door must open to those who have nothing to bring with them. If you have no good works, no merits, no good feelings, nothing to recommend you, do not be discouraged, for it is to such that Jesus Christ is most precious, and therefore most accessible, for he loves to give himself to those who will prize him most. A man will never have Christ while he has enough of his own; but he who is consciously naked, and poor, and miserable is the man for Christ’s money, it is he who has been redeemed by price. You may know the redeemed man, for he feels his bondage, and acknowledges that he must remain in it unless the redemption of Christ is applied for his deliverance.

16. Dear friends, that door of hope will be opened to you though you may be ignorant, and weak, and quite unable to fulfil any high conditions. When the text says, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you,” it teaches us that the way of gaining admission to the blessing is simple, and suitable for common people. If I have to enter in by a door which is well secured, I shall need tools and knowledge. I confess I do not understand the art; you must send for a gentleman who understands picklocks, “jemmies,” and all kinds of burglary instruments: but if I am only told to knock, fool as I am at opening doors, I know how to knock. Any uneducated man can knock if that is all that is required of him. Is there a person here who cannot put words together in prayer? Never mind, friend; knocking can be done by one who is no orator. Perhaps another cries, “I am no scholar.” Never mind, a man can knock though he may be no philosopher. A dumb man can knock. A blind man can knock. With a palsied hand a man may knock. He who knows nothing at all can still lift a hammer and let it fall. The way to open heaven’s gate is wonderfully simplified for those who are lowly enough to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and ask, seek, and knock believingly. God has not provided a salvation which can only be understood by learned men; he has not prepared a gospel which requires half-a-dozen folio volumes to describe it: it is intended for the ignorant, the short-witted, and the dying, as well as for others, and hence it must be as plain as knocking at a door. This is it, — Believe and live. Seek for God with all your heart and soul, and strength, through Jesus Christ, and the door of his mercy will certainly open to you. The gate of grace is meant to yield admission to uneducated people since it shall be opened to those who knock.

17. I am sure this door will open to you, because it has been opened to so many before you. It has been opened to hundreds of us now present. Could you not, dear brothers and sisters, stand up and tell how the Lord opened the gate of his salvation to you? That door has opened to many in this house during the last few weeks. We have seen people coming forward to tell how the Lord has been pleased to give them an entrance into his mercy, though at one time they were afraid that the door was shut, and they were ready to despair. Well, if the door has been so often opened for others, why should it not turn on its hinges for you? Only knock, with faith in God’s mercy, and before long it shall yield to your persistence.

18. It is for God’s glory to open his door of grace, and that is one reason why we are sure he will do so. We cannot expect him to do what would be derogatory to his own honour, but we do expect him to do what will glorify his sacred attributes. It will greatly honour the mercy, the patience, the love, the grace, the goodness, the favour of God if he will open the door to such an undeserving one as you are; therefore knock. Knock since God delights to give; knock at a door which every time it turns on its hinges unveils his greatness; knock with holy confidence at this present moment, for “it shall be opened to you.” It is a door, which seems closed, but because it is a door, it must be capable of being opened.

19. III. Thirdly knock, for A KNOCKER IS PROVIDED.

20. When people can be admitted by knocking, a knocker is usually placed on the door; and if not we often see the words, NO ADMITTANCE. Before bells became so common the habit of knocking at the door was almost universal, and people were accustomed to make the door resound with their blows. There was a nailhead for the knocker to drop on, and people used to strike it so heavily that it became remarked that such blows on the head were killing, and hence arose the mirthful proverb, “as dead as a door-nail.” It indicates a hearty kind of knocking which I would have you imitate in prayer. Knock at heaven’s gate as earnestly as people knocked at doors in the olden times. Have you not had knocks at your own doors which could be heard all through the house? Some of our friends are vigorous, and knock as if they meant to come in. It may be that gentle folks give such tender taps that they are not heard by the servants, and so they have to wait; but these I am speaking of never fall into that error, for they so startle everyone that people are glad to let them in, for fear they should thunder a second time. In this manner let us pray: let us plead in downright fashion, and never cease until we gain admission.

21. I have said that the Lord has provided a knocker. What is this knocker? First of all, it may be found in the promises of God. We are sure to prosper when we can plead a promise. It is good to say to the Lord, “Do as you have said.” What force resides in an appeal to the word, the oath, and the covenant of God. If a man presents to another a promissory note on the day on which it is due he expects to receive the amount stated in it. God’s promises are bills of exchange, and he will duly honour them. He was never known to dishonour a bill yet, and he never will do so. If you can only quote a promise applicable to your condition, and spread it before the Lord in faith, and say, “Remember this word to your servant upon which you have caused me to hope,” you must obtain the blessing. Pleading the promise gives such a knock at the gate of heaven that it must be opened.

22. The great knocker, however, is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If a person were to call upon you in the name of some dearly beloved son who is far away, if he brought you due credentials, and a letter, saying, “Father treat the bearer well for my sake,” you would be sure to show him kindness; and if the aforesaid person was authorized to receive a promised amount in the name of your son, would you not hand out the money? Now, when we go to God and plead the name of Christ, it means that we plead the authority of Christ, that we ask from God as though we were in Christ’s place, and expect him to give it to us as if he were giving it to Jesus. That is something more than pleading for Christ’s sake. I suppose the apostles at first pleaded with God for Christ’s sake, but Jesus says to them, “So far you have asked nothing in my name.” It is a higher grade of prayer, and when we get to pleading Christ’s name with the Father, then we gloriously prevail. At a Primitive Methodist meeting a person was trying to pray, but did not get on at it, and presently a voice was heard from the corner of the room “Plead the blood, brother! plead the blood!” I am not very fond of such interruptions, yet this was to be commended, for it gave the right note and set the pleader in his right place. Plead the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and you have knocked so that you must be heard.

23. “Alas!” one says, “I see the knocker, for I know something of the promises and of the person of our Lord, but how am I to knock?” With the hand of faith. Believe that God will keep his promise; ask him to do so, and thus knock. Believe that Jesus is worthy, whose name you are pleading, and so knock in confidence that God will honour the name of his dear Son. “Alas! my hand is so weak,” you say. Then remember that the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities. Ask him to put his hand upon your hand, and in that manner you will be able to knock with prevailing vehemence. I beseech you to knock with all the strength you have, and knock often. If you are not in Christ, my dear hearer, do not give sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids until you have found him. If you have prayed once, go and pray again; and if you have prayed ten thousand times, yet still continue in prayer. Knock with all your might, with all the vigour of your spirit; plead as for life; knock at the door as a man would knock who saw a wolf ready to spring upon him. Knock as one would knock who found himself ready to die of cold outside the door. Throw your whole soul into the work. Say to the Lord, “I beseech you have mercy upon me and have mercy upon me now. I faint, I die, unless you reveal your love to me and take me into your house and heart, so that I may be yours for ever.” “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” There is the knocker.

24. IV. Next, to you who are knocking at the gate A PROMISE IS GIVEN.

25. That is more than having a door before you, or a knocker to knock with. The promise is above the gate in plain words. Read it. You are growing faint and weary; read the promise, and grow strong again. “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Observe how plain and positive it is with its glorious “shall” burning like a lamp in the centre of it. In letters of love the inscription shines out amid all the darkness that surrounds you, and these are its words, “It shall be opened to you.” If you knock at the door of the kindest of men you see no such promise set before you, and yet you knock, and knock confidently; how much more boldly should you come to the door of grace when it is expressly declared, “It shall be opened to you!”

26. Remember that this promise was freely given. You never asked the Lord for such a word, it was uttered by spontaneous goodness. You did not come and plead with Jesus for a promise that you should be heard in prayer. Far from it — you did not even pray. Perhaps you have been living in the world forty years, and have never truly prayed at all; but the Lord out of his overflowing heart of generous love has made this promise to you, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Why do you doubt? Do you think he will not keep his word? A God who cannot lie, who was under no necessity to promise, freely, out of the greatness of his divine nature, which is love, says to a poor sinner. “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Oh, be sure of this, that he means it; and until heaven and earth shall pass away his word shall stand, and neither you nor any other sinner who knocks at his door shall be refused admittance.

27. This inscription has encouraged many to knock: when they have been ready to faint and give up all further seeking, they have read again the cheering lines, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you,” and they have taken heart and made the gate resound again. Now, do you think God will tantalize us, that he will make fools of us, that he will arouse hopes in poor sinners, for the mere sake of disappointing them? Will he induce you to knock by his promise, and then laugh at you? Did the God of mercy ever say, “I called and you came; I stretched out my hands and you drew near to me, and yet I will mock at your calamity, and laugh when your fear comes?” Why, a bad man would scarcely speak like that: such an act would be more like Satan than God. Do not tolerate the thought that the God of all grace could treat a seeker like this; if it ever crosses your mind, thrust it away and say, “He who taught me to pray has by it bound himself to answer prayer. He will not invite me to knock in vain! Therefore, I will knock again, only this time more vigorously than ever, relying on his word and his truth.” Oh, that you may never stop your knocking until salvation’s door is entered by you! The promise of the Lord was given freely, and on the strength of that promise we knock, therefore we are sure that the Lord will not deny his trusting servants.

28. The mercy is that this promise is meant for all knockers — “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” The Lord has not denied to you, my hearer, the privilege of praying, or declared that he will not answer your requests. You may knock, and you may expect to see the door open. I know the blessed doctrine of election, and I rejoice in it; but that is a secret with God, while the rule of our preaching is, — “Preach the gospel to every creature.” I would, therefore, say to each one here, “Knock, and it should be opened to you.” The Lord knows who will knock, for “the Lord knows those who are his.” But knock, my friend, knock now, and it will soon be seen that you are one of God’s chosen ones. Remember the story of Malachi, the Cornishman. When a Methodist friend had some money to give him he smilingly said, “Malachi, I do not think I shall give you this money, because I do not know whether you are predestinated to have it. Will you tell me whether you are predestinated to have it or not?” Malachi replied, “You put the money in my hand, and I will tell you.” As soon as Malachi had the sum in hand he knew that he was predestinated to have it; but he could not know before he had it in possession. So the secret counsel of the Lord is revealed to our faith when it gets Christ in possession, and not before. Knock at once. If you are predestinated to enter, I know you will knock, and knock until you are admitted, for so it stands, and no exception is made to it — “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” It is a rule with the Lord that to him who knocks it shall be opened.

29. Blessed be God, this text of mine shines out as if printed in stars, and it continues to shine from the dawning of the day of life to the setting of sun. As long as a man lives, if he knocks at God’s door, it shall be opened to him. You may have been long a rebel, and you may have heaped up your sins until they seem to shut out all hope from you, but still knock at Christ, the door, for an opening time will come. Even if it were with your expiring hand, if you could knock at mercy’s gate it would open for you; but do not put off your day of knocking because of God’s longsuffering mercy; rather knock today, knock now while sitting in the pew and if you are not answered immediately, as I trust you will be, yet go home, and there in secret cry to the Lord, “I will not let you go unless you bless me. I am lost unless you find me; I am lost unless I find my Saviour and Lord, I am not playing at prayer now, my very soul means it; I must have Christ or else I die just as I am; I cast myself upon him, and trust his atoning sacrifice. Oh reveal yourself to me as a pardoning God!” I will be bound for God as a hostage that he will answer you. I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and since then I have never doubted concerning any living soul that if he too will seek the Lord through Jesus Christ he will certainly be saved. Oh, that you would try it! May the Lord have you do it by his own blessed Spirit.

30. V. So I close with one more point. When the door opens IT WILL BE A GLORIOUS OPENING FOR YOU. “Knock, and it shall be opened.”

31. What will come of it then? Immediately you who have knocked will enter. If you have knocked in sincerity, the moment you see Christ as a Saviour you will accept him as your Saviour. Enter into Christ by faith. Behold, he sets before you an open door, and no man can shut it. Do not hesitate to enter in. So far you have thought there were many difficulties and obstacles in your way, but indeed it is not so — Believe and live. When, in answer to your knocking, you see the door move, then arise, and do not wait.

32. Remember that the opening of that door will not only give you entrance, but it will ensure you safety. He who once enters into Christ is safe for ever. Only pass beneath that blood-sprinkled portal, only rest in the house of the Well-Beloved, and you shall go out no more for ever. The life which he bestows is eternal, therefore you shall not die. The destroying angel, whenever he may take his flight, must pass you by. Only believe, and you are saved; only trust Christ with your whole heart, and soul, and strength and salvation has come to your house, and you have come to the house of salvation.

33. But then there shall come to you more of blessing yet, for yours shall be the adoption. Once you enter in you shall live in the mansion of grace, no more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home. You shall sit at the Father’s table and eat and drink as a son, an heir, a joint-heir with Christ. Yours shall be the liberty, the plenty, the joy of the great house of love. At God’s right hand there are pleasures for evermore, and these shall be your inheritance. Yes, and more than that; when you have once entered into the house of love you shall have access to its inner rooms. Even the vestibule of God’s house is a place of safety, but afterwards the Master of the house shall take you into exquisite rooms, and show you his treasures, and open to you his storehouses, so that you shall go from grace to grace, from knowledge to knowledge, and glory to glory, by continued progress. All this can only be understood by experience, and that experience can only be obtained by knocking.

34. I want to say this, and then I am finished. Some people think if they have begun to pray, and are a little in earnest that this is enough. Now, praying is not an end, it is only a means. Knocking is not the ultimatum: you must enter in. If any of you are seeking, I am glad of it; if you are knocking, I am glad of it; but if you say, “I am perfectly satisfied to stand outside the door and knock,” then I am grieved for you. You are foolish to the nth degree, because you are resting in the means as if they were the end. You must enter by the door or else knocking will be labour in vain. Would any of you be content to visit a friend, and merely to stand for an hour or two outside of his door knocking? Did you ever say, “I do not need anything more: I shall sit down comfortably on the door-step, and then get up and have another knock or two?” Knocking would not give you a dinner, nor do your business for you. Knocking is only the way of entrance, but if you do no more than knock it is poor work. The most earnest praying is only a way of getting to Christ: the gospel itself is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” Come, then, to Christ. If you find the door shut, knock. But oh, remember, the door is not really shut; it is only so in your apprehension! Heaven’s gate stands open night and day. At once believe and live. Trust in the merit of Jesus Christ, and you are clothed with it: trust in the blood of Christ, and you are washed in it. Faith saves in an instant. It touches Jesus, and the healing power pours out from his garment’s hem: faith steps over the threshold, and the soul is safe. May the Lord grant that you may enter in at once, and then it shall be our joy, and the angels’ joy, and the great Father’s joy, for ever and ever, to see you rescued from destruction!

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Mt 7]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 5” 5}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — ‘Let Us Return’ ” 605}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Contrite Cries — ‘Bless Me, Even Me Also, Oh My Father!’ ” 607}
{See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3564, “Publications” 3566 @@ "Farm Sermons"}

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 5
1 Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear
      My voice ascending high;
 To thee will I direct my prayer,
      To thee lift up mine eye.
2 Unto the hills where Christ is gone
      To plead for all his saints;
 Presenting at his Father’s throne
      Our songs and our complaints.
3 Thou art a God before whose sight
      The wicked shall not stand;
 Sinners shall ne’er be thy delight,
      Nor dwell at thy right hand.
4 But to thy house wilt I resort,
      To taste thy mercies there;
 I will frequent thy holy court,
      And worship in thy fear.
5 Oh may thy Spirit guide my feet
      In ways of righteousness!
 Make every path of duty straight,
      And plain before my face.
                  Isaac Watts, 1719.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
605 — “Let Us Return”
1 Come, let us to the Lord our God
      With contrite hearts return;
   Our God is gracious, nor will leave
      The desolate to mourn.
2 His voice commands the tempest forth,
      And stills the stormy wave;
   And though his arm be strong to smite,
      ‘Tis also strong to save.
3 Long hath the night of sorrow reign’d;
      The dawn shall bring us light;
   God shall appear, and we shall rise
      With gladness in his sight.
4 Our hearts, if God we seek to know,
      Shall know him and rejoice;
   His coming like the morn shall be,
      Like morning songs his voice.
5 As dew upon the tender herb,
      Diffusing fragrance round;
   As showers that usher in the spring,
      And cheer the thirsty ground.
6 So shall his presence bless our souls,
      And shed a joyful light;
   That hallow’d morn shall chase away
      The sorrows of the night.
                     John Morrison, 1781.

The Christian, Contrite Cries
607 — “Bless Me, Even Me Also, Oh My Father!”
1 Lord, I hear of showers of blessing
      Thou art scattering, full and free;
   Showers, the thirsty land refreshing;
      Let some droppings fall on me,
                                 Even me.
2 Pass me not, oh gracious Father!
      Sinful though my heart may be;
   Thou might’st curse me, but the rather
      Let thy mercy light on me,
                                 Even me.
 3 Pass me not, oh tender Saviour!
      Let me love and cling to thee;
   I am longing for thy favour;
      When thou comest, call for me,
                                 Even me.
 4 Pass me not, oh mighty Spirit!
      Thou canst make the blind to see;
   Witnesser of Jesus’ merit,
      Speak the word of power to me,
                                 Even me.
 5 Have I long in sin been sleeping,
      Long been slighting, grieving thee?
   Has the world my heart been keeping?
      Oh forgive and rescue me,
                                 Even me.
 6 Love of God, so pure and changeless,
      Blood of God, so rich and free,
   Grace of God, so strong and boundless,
      Magnify them all in me,
                                 Even me.
 7 Pass me not, this lost one bringing,
      Satan’s slave thy child shall be,
   All my heart to thee is springing;
      Blessing other, oh bless me,
                                 Even me.
                        Elizabeth Codner, 1860.