"Behold, 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," REV 3:20.

 Our text begins with the word "Behold." The word "Behold" in our text is taken from the Greek word "Idou" [id-oo], which means, "To see--to know--be aware, consider, perceive, be sure." What do we behold or see as the evidence that Jesus is standing at our door knocking?

Consider the context in which Jesus spoke these words to the church of the Laodiceans. He addressed them in verses 14-16 saying, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Jesus said, "Behold," i.e., consider your lukewarm condition! You are in a state of complacency, i.e., self-satisfaction. Your wealth has become a snare unto you! Jesus said in V:17, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods."

JOB 21:7-13 teaches the sad result of such self sufficiency. "Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?"

Jesus' saying "Behold" in our text is calling the Church to see the dreadful result of its ignorance! V:17 says, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art [Spiritually] wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Oh, beloved, ignorance of our spiritually "wretched and miserable" condition leads to destruction.

HOS 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee." What is the first thing we "Behold" when Jesus begins to knock at our door? We see our depravity through the call of the gospel.

Jesus said in V:18, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." Until we learn to see our spiritual nakedness, we will see no beauty in the white remnant of Christ's imparted righteousness.

ISA 53:2-3 so plainly describes man's view of Christ when in a self-sufficient, lukewarm condition. "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

Jesus said in V:19-20, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Jesus is saying, "Behold...As many as I love I place in the furnace of affliction to melt their hard and stony hearts until they become zealous and repent." When they learn true remorse over their sin, they will, "hear [God's] voice, and open the door," of their heart for the gospel. Then, "I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Amen