Over the years, I have had many opportunities to travel. And in my travels, I have had numerous opportunities to visit old houses, churches, and other famous sites. I’ve been to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, and I’ve toured a catacomb in Italy. I’ve seen the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, and I’ve toured the Legislature downtown. I’ve visited old farm houses in Fort Edmonton Park. And the more I tour and visit old buildings and sites, the more I realise that I make a terrible tourist.
It’s not that I am bored with the tours; quite to the contrary, I love walking through old buildings and seeing what they’re about. I have just decided that I am not a tourist; I’m an explorer. I am not content to see only what I am shown – I’m not satisfied with just what I’m allowed access to. In many of the places I’ve visited, I’m convinced that there are many other things they’re not showing me – many other sights that they’re keeping hidden.
I remember church in Paris, called the Church of the Sacred Heart. It’s a magnificent structure that’s a few hundred years old, and there were three parts of the church you could tour. Of course, you could walk through the sanctuary. Then there was a tour of the catacombs, and finally, a tour of the towers and walkways on the roof. Well after visiting the sanctuary, Angela and I took a tour of the catacombs. And at the end of the catacombs, you could do one of two things: you could either exit through a door and go back up to ground level, or you could enter a tower and go up a spiral staircase to the roof. We’d been on our feet all day, and it took a bit of convincing to get Angela to walk up several hundred stairs from the basement to the roof of this building, but we made the trek.
The church is built on a hill overlooking the city, and the view was amazing. But what took my attention more than the view (and Angela will tell you it’s the truth) – what I was captivated by were the dozens of little doors built into the roof. I tell you, it took all that was in me not to try and open the doors. And if it wasn’t for the fear of getting into trouble, I probably would have tried to open one or two. Well, that and the security bars. The fact of the matter is, I always wonder what lies on the other side of such doors. Where does the door lead to? What does the room hold? And the more closed doors I see, the more I wonder just what it is I’m missing out on.
I remember making a comment to Angela after visiting that church, that I would give anything to have the master key to the building – the key that would open any door I wanted, that would grant me access to whatever portal piqued my interest. I remember saying how much I envied the man who had that key – how exciting it would be to be able to gain entry through any door I liked. And again, as Angela would tell you, on every tour we take, she usually has to drag me away, because there is so much more I want to explore –usually that I’m not allowed to.
There have been a couple of times in my life where I have been able to hold a master key. And there’s something exciting about seeing a locked door, and knowing you have the power to open it. I’ve done some exploring when I’ve had a master key, and I’ve solved some intriguing riddles while on my expeditions, about what actually lies just beyond the closed doors. Now, sometimes it’s nothing that interesting at all – the door leads to a broom closet or a spare bedroom. But the excitement is not in what’s on the other side of the door, so much as opening the door itself. Once a door is open, you can enter in – no one can keep you out – the barrier is removed.
I would invite you to turn with me please, to the letter God has written to the church of Philadelphia. In Revelation chapter 3, starting at verse 7, we read God’s letter to the church of Philadelphia, and it says this: (read vv. 7-13)….
Here in this passage, we find a church that has encountered some doors through which it was not allowed to pass. Doors which were barred against the church, preventing them from experiencing what was on the other side. But that has changed, we are told in verse 7, for a Man has come who holds the key of David – a Man has come who holds the Master Key. And as we study what He has done with this key, we learn from verse 8 that He has given them access to a door which they did not have access to before; but because He has opened it, they will have access to it forevermore.
The identity of this man cannot be mistaken: it is none other than Jesus Christ Himself; He whom the Scripture calls Holy and True. It is He, we are told, who holds the key of David. It is He, we are told, who alone has the right to open and close the doors for His church. And it is He, we are told, who has such power that what He closes shall never again be opened, and what He opens shall never again be closed.
Now I don’t know about you, but I want to know a God like that. I want to know just what it is that gives this Jesus the privilege to hold the Master Key. The answer is found in the first chapter of Revelation, at verse 18….
The Bible says Jesus holds what? – the keys of hell and death. In other words, because of His death and resurrection from the dead, Jesus now has control over death. He has taken the key to the grave, and will someday use it to open the graves of His servants. He has wrestled from the evil one the keys of death and the grave, for by His resurrection, He now has the power to give life back to the dead. Friends, make no mistake about it; through His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus has taken the doors of death and the grave and slammed them shut; and for those who have put their trust in His sacrifice, the doors of death and the grave shall never be opened again.
Notice how it’s put in the second chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2, and reading at verses 14 and 15…. In other words, by His death on our behalf, Jesus wrestled the key of death out of Satan’s hand so it could no longer control. Then, through His resurrection, Jesus takes control of the grave – He now has the power to open the graves and call back the dead from their slumber. It is Jesus who now controls death; it is Jesus who now controls the grave. Oh, Friends, we can praise God this morning because He is the one who is holding the keys – He is the One who is in control. And because of this, we are told, we need no longer fear death, for even in death the faithful rest in the hands of Almighty God, awaiting the day when He will open the graves and call them back to life everlasting.
Do you have that assurance this morning? Do you fear death? Are you afraid to die? Do you know what would await you if you were to die this moment? You need not be afraid, friend. There is hope, for the Master holds the keys to death and the grave. Because of His sacrifice, because of His glorious resurrection, the door to eternal life has been opened; and it is the door through which any can pass, who put their trust in the Saviour. This is the promise given in 1st Corinthians chapter 15. Turn with me there, please, to 1st Corinthians 15, starting at verse 51 (read vv. 51-57)…. Praise God, Jesus has gotten the victory! It is He who now holds the keys to death and the grave; it is He who stands at the door of eternity, and will some day come back to usher us through.
If there’s ever been a door that I want to go through, it’s the door to everlasting life, amen? More than any other door that I have ever wanted to go through, it’s the doorway that leads to eternity that I want to be ready to walk into. How about you? Are you ready to go in?
Jesus says something important about how to make sure we get in the door. Turn back to our main passage of study, Revelation chapter 3, and read again verse 8…. Jesus says the door is held open for us why? – because we have little strength, but have held on to His word, and have not denied His name.
Now, before we go on, we need to clear up some possible confusion. There can be confusion from time to time as to how we get in the door to eternity, and we need to make sure we get these two facts straight.
The first fact we need to remember is that the only reason we have access to the door at all is because of Jesus Christ. The only reason we have any claim on eternity is because of what Jesus did on our behalf. Because of our sin – because of our rebellion against God – the door of heaven was actually closed to us; and it took Jesus coming down to this earth and dying for us to open that door again. Make no mistake about it, we did not open the door; there was nothing we could do that would open the door; only Jesus could open the door. That’s fact number one.
Fact number two, though, is that we have to walk through the door. You see, it’s not enough that Jesus opened the door. The Bible says that Jesus’ sacrifice was to save the whole world; but the same Scriptures say that not all the world will be saved. Why? – because even though Jesus did everything possible to open the door of salvation, there will still be many who won’t go in. There are many who will recognise that Jesus died for them, and maybe even say they believe, but won’t actually take that step which will put them inside the door. The difference between the saved and the lost may only be a threshold wide – it may only be a matter of a step. But if that step is not taken it can cost you everything.
The Philadelphian church is said to have had little strength, but they still made it in – they still took that step. How? How was it that they had so little, but still made it? I would propose to you this morning church, that to make it in, it’s not about how much you have, but what you do with it.
You know, I hear this statement a lot: “If I only had more faith, then….” Or, “If I only believed more, then….” As believers, we get hung up on what we don’t have; and we believe that it’s because we don’t have enough that we don’t make it. It’s because we don’t have enough faith; it’s because we don’t have enough belief. But as I read the Word of God on this matter, it becomes clear to me that how much we have has nothing to do with it. In fact, I believe that we could have faith by the truckloads and still be on the outside. No, friends, God is not concerned with what you don’t have; His real concern is over what you do have.
Let’s look at an illustration of this. In John’s Gospel, chapter 6, we encounter a remarkable story of how a little is enough, and in it we learn a couple of valuable lessons about how much faith we need to enter the kingdom. Read with me at the sixth chapter of John, starting at verse 1 (read vv. 1-7)….
There are a couple of things I discover right away as I begin to read this story. Jesus sees the multitude, which we are told is about five thousand men. Now, when they say “men” they mean just the men, that is, just the males; this five thousand isn’t counting the women and children. So here we have perhaps between seven and ten thousand people surrounding Jesus and His disciples. And it’s getting close to dinnertime. Seeing the crowd, Jesus turns to His disciples and asks them,”Where will we buy bread so that these people may eat?” to which Philip replies, “Lord, there’s no way we could buy enough food for all these people.”
Now, there’s something that strikes me here. First of all, did Jesus say anything about buying “enough”? No, He just said, where can we buy something for them to eat. You see, we are told in verse 6 that Jesus already knew what He was going to do. He wasn’t asking for enough – just for something. But the disciples interpreted His question to mean He was expecting a large quantity of food, not knowing this wasn’t what He was meaning at all.
In the same way, friends, we have come to the erroneous conclusion that Jesus expects us to have “enough” faith. Yet the Scriptures tell us in Romans 12, verse 3, that God has already given to each one of us a measure of faith. And so His concern is not that we have “enough”, but that we realise what we have in our possession right now.
We’ll understand more about why this is so in just a minute, but first we must carry on with our story here in John 6. Picking up at verse 8, we read (read vv. 8-9)….
Now, I don’t know about you, but I find it rather hard to believe that out of almost ten thousand people, only one boy actually brought food along with him. Maybe I’m the only one, but I can’t see these people travelling from miles around to the seaside to hear Jesus preach for the better part of the day, and not bringing anything to eat with them. I mean, they came to hear Jesus speak knowing it would be a full-day event, but only one small child actually had the good sense to pack a lunch? I mean, what was up with the rest of them? No, as I look at this story, I must conclude that there were many others who had food with them that day.
On the other hand, there must have been many who didn’t have food with them, for there was obviously a need. Or maybe most of the people only planned for one meal, and more time passed than they had anticipated. I don’t know exactly what the circumstances were, but I cannot bring myself to believe that out of ten thousand people, this little boy’s lunch was all they could find.
So why were his five barley loaves and two fishes (small fishes, no less) the only food brought to Jesus? The answer, I believe, is found in Andrew’s statement to Jesus: “Here is some food; but there is so little, what good is it among so many?” You see, I believe that even though there had to have been others there with food, they thought what they had was too little to make a difference. And since the disciples themselves didn’t think it would be enough, they didn’t do anything with it.
But one boy with his five loaves of bread and two small fish – one small child with just a little food – was willing to give what he had. And as we read on in the next few verses, Jesus took those five loaves, and He took those two fishes, and He gave thanks to God for that little boy’s gift, and with it He fed a multitude.
It is here that we find the answer to the question of faith. Is it a matter of how much we have? Is it a matter of how much we believe in something that will make the difference? NO! Not at all. What matters to God is not how much we have, but what we are willing to do with what we do have.
I believe that there were others among that crowd who had much more to offer than five loaves and two small fish. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people there who planned for a pot-luck, and brought two or three casseroles. But when they saw the multitudes, they concluded that they didn’t have enough to go around, and so didn’t offer it at all. But somehow five loaves of bread and two fish, when put in the hands of Jesus, not only fed ten thousand people, but we are told in verse 13 that there were twelve baskets of food left over. And when the people saw what Jesus had done, I can imagine they didn’t even want the casseroles; they wanted to eat the bread and fish that Jesus multiplied.
Friends, it’s not in how much you have; it’s in what you do with it. You may be facing some obstacle in your life, some great challenge that’s weighing you down, and you don’t think you’re gonna make it. Well you may not feel like you’re gonna make it, but don’t you even dare think for a moment that it’s because you don’t have enough faith. And don’t you even dare for a moment think that having more faith would make the difference. What’s going to make the difference, friend, is taking what little faith you have, what little strength you have, and putting it in the hands of Jesus.
You want to know how to make that step? You want to know how to make sure you’re in? Don’t go around saying it won’t happen until you get “enough” faith. Don’t go around saying it hasn’t happened because you don’t believe enough yet. Don’t believe the lie that somehow having “more” will make the difference. Instead, take what faith you have – the faith God says He’s given you – and put it in the hands of Jesus. And when you do that, watch what He does in your life.
(Appeal & Prayer)
