81 Acts 14:25-27 DOORS THAT MUST BE OPENED FOR PEOPLE TO BE SAVED Introduction: In our previous text the Apostle Paul and Barnabas had reached the city of Derbe in the country that we now know as Turkey. They won a goodly number of people to the Lord in that city and started a New Testament church there. Then they stayed at Derbe for a considerable time teaching and training the new converts. They ordained a pastor and some deacons in this church and they started backtracking to the cities of Lystra, Iconium and Antioch of Pisidia. They had organized churches in those cities, but had been forced to leave before they could do any teaching and training there. So they returned to those cities and taught the new converts there in the truths of God and ordained pastors and deacons in those churches. In our text today they return to the church at Antioch of Syria, their home church. V. 25-26, “And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia: And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.” The church at Antioch of Syria was the church from which they had been sent out as missionaries. They return there to give their sponsoring church a report on their missionary work. V. 27, “And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” Before getting to the main body of my message let me say just a few things about having a Scriptural mission program. In order to have a Scriptural mission program there must first be God called missionaries. Then those who are God called missionaries must be church sent missionaries. And the missionaries that are sent must be under the jurisdiction of the sponsoring church and must give reports of their work to the sponsoring church. Associations of churches may help support a missionary, but associations were never authorized by the Lord to send out missionaries. The Biblical way to do mission work is for a local church to send out the missionary and then if other churches who can should help support the missionaries. Other churches can send their support either directly to the missionary or sponsoring church or else they can send their support through an association of churches. Let me also say that each missionary today needs to keep his sponsoring church informed about his progress and his problems on the mission field. Occasionally he should return to his sponsoring church and give them a first- hand detailed report of his work on the mission field. Yet with our modern means of communication he should not wait until he returns in person to give his sponsoring church a report on the work that he is doing. He should keep them informed regularly by letters, by phone, by pictures and by e-mail when that is possible. He should keep his sponsoring church informed of his problems and his progress in his mission work. With these things said, let me now get down to the main body of my message. V. 27, “And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” When the members of the church at Antioch of Syria gathered together Paul and Barnabas informed them about the work that they had done on the mission field and placed great stress upon the fact that God had opened the door of opportunity for Gentiles to be saved. In this message I want to speak to you about several doors that must be opened in order for unsaved people to be reached and saved. I. The door of opportunity must be opened God must be the One to open the door of opportunity. Rev. 3:7, “ And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.” God Himself opened the door to give opportunity to the Gentile people to be saved. We should be extremely glad He did, because we are Gentiles. If God had not opened the door of opportunity for Gentiles to be saved, then we would not be saved and would have no opportunity to ever be saved. But God did open this door of opportunity to Gentiles and no man can close this door. The communist world thought they had the door of opportunity for the citizens of the communist nations which they ruled to shut out the gospel message and keep their people from being saved, but God has opened those doors and the Communists cannot shut out the opportunity for Communist nations to hear the gospel. The Devil tries to shut the gospel message out of every nation out of , every city and out of every home. But he cannot shut the doors of opportunity which God Himself has opened. I must admit that there are some nations of the world to which it is still extremely difficult to carry the gospel message. But God’s people still have the opportunity to go to God in prayer about those nations and God can still open the doors of any nation to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We, as Christians, cannot open those doors, but God can. II. The door of the mouth of the Christian witness must be opened In the Great Commission the Lord Jesus instructed the church at Jerusalem to carry the gospel message to all the world. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” Mat. 28:19. In Acts 1:8 He repeated the command for His people to carry the gospel message to the unsaved. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth,” Acts 1:8. “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Rom. 10:17. In order for lost people to be reached with the gospel message the Christians must do their job of witnessing to them. Not many unsaved people will go in search of the gospel message. Saved people need to carry it to them. And one does not have to be called to be a preacher in order to carry the gospel message to others. Any Christian who is concerned about the eternal destiny of those who are unsaved can tell them about Jesus Christ. Any Christian can testify to the unsaved that when he repented of his sin and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior that Jesus saved his soul. Not only can any Christian witness for Jesus, but every Christian should do so. Preachers should. Deacons should. Sunday School teachers should. Youth workers should. Choir members should. Sunday school class members should. Christian parents should. Christian grand-parents should. Christian teens should. Christians of junior and primary ages should. Every Christian of any age should witness for Christ to the unsaved. Christians should witness for Christ for Christ’s sake. Christ gets glory out of it whether or not the lost person gets saved. Christians should witness for Christ for the lost sinner’s sake. They will be eternally lost if they never trust Jesus and get saved, but they will be eternally saved and spend eternity in glory if they will repent of their sin and trust Jesus Christ. It brings a great deal of joy and satisfaction to the Christian to know that he has had a part in the salvation of a soul. If he wins a soul to Christ great will be his reward in heaven. If he gives a cup of water to a thirsty man for Christ’s sake great will be his reward in heaven. How much more so if he gives the gospel message to the thirsty soul of a lot sinner. Christians should not wait for preachers, deacons, Sunday school teachers and youth workers to tell their relatives and friends about Jesus Christ. They should be happy to have the opportunity to tell them how to be saved and go to heaven. So the doors to Christians mouths should be opened to testify about Jesus the Savior. III. The door of gospel truth must be opened This is a door that Jesus Himself has already opened. He is the one who died on the cross to save lost sinners. He is the one who extended the invitation, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” Jesus is the one who promised that if a lost sinner would believe in Him that he would be saved, he would have everlasting life and that he would be uncondemned and that he would never come into condemnation. The true gospel message was spoken by Jesus in John 14:6 when Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” That means that coming to Jesus and trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation works. If any man will come to Jesus and trust in Jesus to save his soul he will be saved. That person will go heaven. It means that no other gospel plan of salvation will work. One must either come to Jesus for salvation or he will not be saved. If one will not come to Jesus and be trust Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation he will never be accepted by God the Father. He will spend his eternity separated from God and suffering in a Lake of Fire and Brimstone. The Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:6-9 rebuked some members of the Galatian churches because they sought to change the gospel message and make it necessary for the unsaved to keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved. In the next chapter here in the Book of Acts he likewise rebukes some Christians who came to Antioch from Judea for doing the same thing. I have been talking to you about carrying the gospel message to lost souls, but I am talking about the true gospel message. I am talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am talking about the gospel message which is in keeping with the word of God. Now you listen to me: One who puts his hope of heaven in a false gospel which cannot save is no better off than one who believes in no gospel at all. The problem is that world today is filled with false gospels. What lost sinners need is the true gospel. He needs the same gospel message that John the Baptist preached. He needs the same gospel message that Jesus Christ preached. He needs the same gospel message that the Apostle Paul and Barnabas preached. IV. The door of the lost sinner’s ear and mind must be opened This is a door that the Holy Spirit must open. The Christian can witness to the unsaved person. The Christian can present to him the true gospel of Jesus Christ. But the Devil will try to blind his mind of the lost person so that he will not believe the gospel. It is the work of the Holy Spirit of God to help that lost person to understand that the gospel is true. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to help the lost to understand that God really does love him- - that God really does want to save him --- that Jesus Christ really is able to save him --- that if he will repent of his sin and trust Jesus to cleanse him of all his sin that all his sin will be forgiven and that he will be saved. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to help a lost sinner to understand that if he will trust Jesus to save his soul he will be saved and he will go to heaven when he dies. If any man, woman, boy or girl is willing to turn go God and let God show him how to be saved, the Holy Spirit of God will help him to understand what he must do to be saved. If he really wants to know what the true gospel message consists of, the Holy Spirit will help him to understand. Let me state, however, the Holy Spirit will not take away his own freedom of choice. If an individual insists that he can get to heaven by his own works of righteousness, then the Holy Spirit will let him try to be save by his own works and spend eternity in torment. But if any individual really seeks the truth of God so that he can know how to be saved, the Holy Spirit will help him to understand the gospel which is presented to him. V. The door of the lost sinner’s heart must be opened This is a door that the lost sinner, himself, must open. He must open his heart to the truth that he is a sinner and that he is lost in his sin. He must open his heart to the gospel truth that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of men. He must open his heart to call upon Jesus and to trust Jesus to save his soul. Listen! “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,” John 3:18-19. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36. Conclusion: Today there are some doors which someone should open. If there is anyone present who is unsaved, the door of salvation is open to him today. He should enter that door now while he can. There may be a saved person here this morning which should enter the door of church membership. You have already entered the door of the church building. Why not also enter into the door of church membership. Church membership won’t get you into heaven. But if you are already saved, church membership will help you a great deal in this life.