The subject of our message is the title of a very familiar African American Spiritual. The title of the song and the words that follow give us some information concerning the deep religious convictions of our foreparents. They believed that no matter how sinful a person might be, somebody was still knocking at the door of his or her heart. They felt that even though a person might be “low-down” and doing what we sometimes call wallowing in the mud, they could still expect somebody to be–knocking at their door.
And then, they went on to identify the Caller, the Guest, the Visitor, the Traveler, or however you might label him. They said that the person who keeps on knocking at the door of sinful hearts has a knock, which sounds familiar.
It’s not a hard knock. It’s a gentle knock. It’s not a demanding knock. It’s a requesting knock. It’s not a hateful knock. It’s a loving knock. Now, when they put these qualities together, they had a pretty good idea who was standing outside the door, so they said, “Knocks like Jesus.”
And then they made an appeal. It wasn’t enough to inform sinners that a caller was at the door and that His name was Jesus. They followed the giving of this information with a passionate plea: “O sinner, why don’t you answer somebody’s knocking at your door? You know, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that Jesus Christ God’s only begotten Son is so concerned about each of us that He stands outside the door of every human heart and constantly knocks in the hope that we will open up our hearts and let Him come in. O’ somebody’s knocking at your door, knocks like Jesus!
Sometimes, we fail to open the door because we don’t recognize His knock. You see, Jesus has a whole lot of ways in which He knocks at the door of our hearts. Sometimes, when disappointments come into our lives, we wonder why this happened to us. It could be that Jesus is just knocking at your door.
O’ When heartaches and heartbreaks cause you to shed a few tears, it could be that somebody’s knocking at your door.
When you are rebuked and scorned,
When you are criticized just as sure as you’re born,
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
When you are tempted and tried,
When you are discouraged on every side,
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
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