Hi, my name is Dana Congdon. I come from New York. I live in Manhattan.
It’s true in Richmond, and it’s also true in Manhattan: some very unusual things are going on this week because of the movie The Passion of the Christ. Now, you might not think so because New York seems like a pretty tough place, but right now you can’t get a ticket to The Passion. It’s completely sold out, and people are waiting in line all day long.
It began on Wednesday. Mel Gibson is a practicing Catholic, and he began it specifically on Wednesday because that was Ash Wednesday, which begins a forty-day process before Easter when Catholics contemplate the suffering of Christ.
Now, the title of the movie—just because you might not know this—The Passion of the Christ: the word passion in Latin means suffering. So that is why it is a movie specifically about suffering. You have heard some people on television talking about it. Sometimes a critic will say, “Well, I wish there was more about His life,” or something like that. But it is specifically about the sufferings that Christ went through just before He died.
Now let me ask you: how many of you have gone to the movie already? Oh, okay, a good bunch over here.
Well, I wonder if you have noticed this. Is anybody here a practicing Catholic? Do you go to a Catholic church somewhere? Okay, these guys might know this.
One of the things that you do when you go on a retreat as a Catholic is often to think about the suffering of Christ by going to the eight stations. At a retreat center, they actually have eight little places in a garden where you go and pray. The way they have worked it out is that, as Jesus was suffering and going to the cross, He went to eight stations—eight places.
If you look closely in the movie, you will see the eight places. These are places where He fell down, places where somebody washed His face, or a place where the women were crying. There was a different thing going on in each one of the eight stations of the cross.
So here again, we find a movie that is very much scriptural. It comes right from Scripture. As a matter of fact, it is all in Aramaic and Latin, just to give you the sense of the ancient days. It is all about the suffering, and it is about those eight stations that Jesus went to on the way to the cross.
Now, Mel Gibson, of course, has always been known as what—the Road Warrior, right? Not the Road Runner, but the Road Warrior. Many people know him for that, because that was one of his first famous early movies, along with Mad Max. Many people know him for Braveheart, and others know him as The Patriot.
But probably, brothers and sisters and friends, he will be known in heaven for this movie.
You know, we live in this world. We may make a million dollars, or we may do something important on this earth. We may start a new wing of a hospital or all kinds of things like that. But it is what is done for heaven that really counts.
Mel Gibson—a man of many flaws, I am sure, a sinner like every other person, including myself—has this going for him: he did this as an act of worship. He spent a long time and a lot of his own money to make this movie because he is a deeply religious man. This movie is drawing many, many people.
There is something going on today that I would like to explain in a little larger context. Tonight we were worshiping with these various songs. These songs are very popular around the country. If you go to California, Florida, New York, or here in Virginia, people are singing these songs.
If you notice the content of these songs, more and more it is like this: “Lord, I love You. I want to be near You. I want to feel in Your embrace. I want to feel Your love surround me.”
These worship songs have something in common with The Passion and with the tremendous number of people who are going to this movie. Do you know what it is?
Even though people today claim to be secular and not interested in God, everybody actually has a religious heart. They are seeking an experience with God—to somehow be clothed with God, to sense His presence.
There are many people who fly to Nepal and go up into the mountains, even up to Mount Everest and its foothills, trying to find God. People go out into nature and hope to find God at the Grand Canyon. People go to churches hoping to find God. People go to this movie hoping to find God.
Now, I live in Manhattan, in a district where I would say it is over sixty percent gay people. That is where I live. Many of them will go see this movie too, because despite all their problems, confusions, and everything else, they also have this desire to have a religious experience. It is somehow in all of us. Many people deny it, but actually it is there.
I do not know about you, but I grew up not as a Christian. It was not until I was twenty years old that I was saved and became a Christian. But I can remember, through my early youthful days, sometimes really desiring to feel religious.
For example, I was going out with a girlfriend who was a Presbyterian. So I went to her church a few times. They had a Christmas Eve bell-ringing service. They were ringing bells—ling, ling, ling, ling. It was pretty hokey in a way, but they read the Christmas Scriptures and did all of that kind of stuff.
They did it at eleven o’clock, and at midnight the bells in the tower rang, “Dong, dong, dong”—twelve o’clock. Then they all said, “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.”
I have to confess to you: I was not a Christian. I did not believe in Jesus. But when I left that building at midnight, I felt like my Christmas was much more religious. I had this feeling like I was—I do not know—religious.
Well, it did not last so long, because then I drank a six-pack of beer and got pretty sick. But still, I remember feelings like that.
Sometimes my mother would say, “Please, Dana, please come to church with us,” and I would go. When I came home on Sunday afternoon, I have to admit, I felt a little purer, like I was more religious.
In fact, as we go through this life, you may not be interested in Christianity per se, or in God, but you have a religious thing in you that would really like to touch the real thing. That is why so many people are going to this movie.
That is why I pray that when they go, they will not only come to the door, but they will enter in.
There is a religious feeling when you go to the movie. Actually, I went twice. Both times I went, there was total silence—except for one lady behind me who had a whole box of Kleenex. Every thirty seconds I heard another Kleenex, and sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. I mean, through the whole thing, this woman was releasing all of her fluids.
But other than that, it was totally quiet in the place.
If you saw the movie, there were some very touching places where everybody cried. I did not see anybody who was not crying, unless they were just goofing around. Everybody I saw was totally quiet. People even stopped eating their popcorn. That is really saying something.
The place got really quiet. There were a couple of places, especially when He was being tortured—in the whipping scene—where people were just groaning. It was really intense.
I was not at this service, but I know there was one showing where, when the movie was over, the people just sat there. The ushers could not even get them out. They just sat there. At another showing, I heard that when it was over, people just started praying. Somebody over there started praying, somebody over there.
If you go to the movie with an open heart, you will be profoundly, religiously influenced—almost brought to the door.
There were some very strong moments in the film where you could see the love of God in Jesus as He was going through His sufferings. But I want to talk about this matter of coming to the door and actually getting through the door, because that is the difficult part.
We come close to that door. When I was a teenager, I remember another time when I went with another girlfriend to another church.
That church had a guy who did chalk drawings. Have you ever seen this? He was up there talking about something in the Old Testament, drawing a beautiful picture with chalk on a big easel. It was really cool. Then, at the end, they shone what I think was a blue light on it, and suddenly the cross of Jesus came out through the chalk drawing.
I was like, “Wow.”
Then he said, “Now, everybody bow your head. Okay, who wants to raise your hand and come to Jesus?” I raised my hand. But I did not come to Jesus, because I did not know what he was talking about. It was time to raise hands, so I raised my hand.
But I was probably pretty close to the door. I just did not know how to go through the door.
There are a lot of people who get close to the door, but it is one thing to get close and another thing to go through. So I want to look at this very familiar Scripture in John 3, which talks about Nicodemus coming to the door and about the need for us to go through it.
Let’s turn to John 3, if you have a Bible. Or please look on with your friend who has a Bible, so you can see what we are talking about.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came unto Him by night, and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew.
The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Now, you remember, if you saw the film, the guys who wore those long garments and had things on their chests—those were the Pharisees. Annas and Caiaphas were the two guys with the sticks, like the lead guys. But there were a whole bunch of guys with the long garments, and Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees.
As a matter of fact, if you saw the movie, do you remember the younger guy who came up and said, “What are we doing to this guy? Nobody has any charges to condemn Him. This is a travesty. We need to stop this thing.” That was Nicodemus.
Here we find him the first time Jesus meets him. That happened later on.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came unto Jesus by night, and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus said:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
That is the first time Jesus encountered Nicodemus, who came to Him by night. Why did Nicodemus come? He was a Pharisee, but he desired to have a firsthand, real encounter with the kingdom of God. He obviously came to know more about the kingdom of God, because that is what Jesus told him about: unless you are born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
What is this kingdom of God? There is a lot about the kingdom of God, but let me make it real simple: the kingdom of God is when you know God’s presence. He is speaking to you, and you are obeying and living by His life.
It is possible to come to the edge—to the door—of the kingdom. But how do we get through the door? Many people who have a religious experience get to the door. They can sense the kingdom. But how do you enter? That is the key.
Nicodemus had teaching. He had knowledge. Some people think you can enter the kingdom of God by knowledge. Strange. You can know a lot about the Bible and the kingdom of God and yet not experience it.
The amazing thing about Jesus is that wherever Jesus went, you could taste the kingdom of God. You could almost see God, because Jesus was God come in the flesh. Nicodemus did not know that, but every time Jesus spoke, it was like God directly speaking.
Once you see Jesus and see the kingdom around Him, you say, “Jesus, I want to know: how can I get into the kingdom?”
Many people stand at the edge. Many people know the words. They even understand what it means to be Christian. They have even prayed, “Jesus, make me a Christian.” But they are not living in the presence of God. They are not living in the kingdom.
There is something more here—something very wonderful. In the kingdom, everything is alive. It is the feeling of now: “I am here now.”
Life is hard to take in the now. Now is real time. As an example, now sees the devils as well as the angels. Jesus was fighting this whole time He was suffering and going to the cross in the movie. Sometimes He could see the devil. You remember? He would be walking along, fall down, look, and there was that devil—the one carrying that odd baby.
What was that about? Who was that weird-looking baby?
That was the child of death. Okay, is that what it said in the movie credits? Oh, your mom told you that. Okay—the child of death. Whatever that weird kid was.
Jesus would walk along, fall down, look, and there was this devil. You see, He was living in reality.
I do not want to scare you, but here is the truth: I know you cannot see it, but there are angels right around us right now. There are also evil beings—like that child-of-death kind of thing—invisible, but right around us now.
That is reality. We are in a fight, a spiritual warfare. Who is going to win: God’s kingdom or the kingdom of evil? Every life comes into this conflict, but most of us do not even know it is a conflict because we do not often live in the now.
We usually live in the past, thinking about the past: “Why did I make those mistakes? If only I had done this.” Some people say, “Once upon a time, I was in love.” Others say, “I remember the school I used to go to. Man, I had a lot of friends—not like this Bozoville.”
People live in the past, regretting the past, feeling bad about sins they committed in the past. A lot of people live in the past.
One of my favorite television shows is Monk. You know Monk’s problem: his wife has been dead eight years, but he is still living in the past. He cannot see anybody, cannot get married again, cannot move on with his life. He is stuck in the past.
There are a lot of people stuck in the past. You may be young enough that you are not stuck there yet, but maybe you know your grandmother, your mother, your dad, or somebody who is just really stuck, regretting things of the past. That is not living in the kingdom. That is living in the past.
Then there are other people living in the future. If it is not “once upon a time,” it is “far away in a galaxy.” People say, “I can do anything. I can be President of the United States. You know who I am going to be? The American Idol.”
Can you believe these people who actually think they are the American Idol? Some people have no talent at all; they cannot sing. But they have been living in this dream world, and unfortunately they have parents who say, “Oh yeah, Sammy, you can do anything you want.”
But here is the thing: people are living in a dream world. They are living in the future. They say, “One day I will be famous. One day I will have a lot of money. One day she will fall in love with me.”
And what happens? You do not live today.
Today is a tough thing to live in. You are here today, but I have a question for you: are you really here today?
When I went to my first philosophy course in college, the first book the professor gave us was written by a Quaker. The title was On Being Present Where You Are.
It was a whole book about how people are there, but they are not there, because they are thinking about the past or thinking about the future. Kids can be physically in class at school, but actually be miles away. Some of you are nodding your heads. Yeah, that is where you go every day.
When the teacher calls attendance, the question is: are you really there, or are you just there physically?
There are people working at a job, but dreaming about other things. That is why they saw their finger off when they are using the saw. A lot of people want to go to college now so they can sit in their kiosk with a computer and play computer games all day long. For that, you get fifty thousand dollars a year. It is amazing.
They have all kinds of clever ways of looking like they are working when the boss comes around, but most of the time they are just playing. “I’m on the web all day long. That’s my job.”
Being present where you are—the present is a harsh reality. The present is understanding that some people like me and some people do not. The present is understanding that I am going to school today, and how I do today is going to affect the rest of my life.
Being present is being very aware of our environment. There are ways we suddenly sense that presence as we go through our daily life, even in a secular way. I want you to understand this, because it has to do with the kingdom of God as well.
What is the greatest safeguard against realizing we are present? Routine. We go through a routine, and it makes us feel safe. “I’m safe. I go to the same bus stop. I get on the same bus. I eat the same lunch. This is my routine.”
Then suddenly one day you get off the bus, you are walking home, and two guys come up and beat you up.
What happens when you get beat up—besides getting mad and getting your nose broken? Suddenly you find yourself in the now. You are feeling the thing. You have adrenaline rushing. You realize this is life and death, and you start fighting back. You are so aware of everything at that moment.
Something pulls you right out of your routine. It is like, “La, la, la, la, la,” and then boom—something hits you. “Whoa, what is happening? What is going on?”
Real life is always there, but we hide behind routine. We need routine. It is kind of like a buffer in our lives.
Nicodemus had a religious routine. He thought that because he knew about the kingdom, he was in the kingdom. Then Jesus said, “No. You have not gone through the door yet. You are still outside.”
Religiously, this has application for us as well. This sense of being in the present is a very important thing. I want to tell you about three moments when we come to the door of the reality of the kingdom.
I define the kingdom of God this way: the kingdom of God is where Jesus Christ is Lord now.
When Jesus Christ is Lord now, you know you are a sinner. Nobody has to tell you that you are a sinner. You know you are a sinner.
When Jesus Christ is Lord now, you sense His love and forgiveness. You know it. Nobody can rob that from you. It is a wonderful thing.
When Jesus Christ is Lord now, you feel that not only does God love you, but you can serve God. Oh, it is wonderful to be in that kingdom and to sense Him now.
But the devil always tries to get you out of that, so you do not feel His presence. You do not know the kingdom. You do not know the life. You are like Nicodemus on the outside, unable to get on the inside.
Let me tell you about three things that bring us to the door of the kingdom.
The first thing that brings us to the door of reality is often tragedy.
Many people live a pretty shallow life, but when difficult times, great tragedies, and great sorrows come, suddenly you are very aware of the present.
I am a man, I serve God, I love God, and I am a Christian. I am very thankful for that, because one day, twenty years ago, my oldest son was nineteen years old, and he was killed in a car accident.
That kind of tragedy—suddenly you are aware of every breath you take. You are aware of how short life is. You are aware of the importance of loving people while they are still here.
You are aware that life is risky, that there are chances you take. You have to be careful, but you have to love while you can. I was suddenly in this place where I felt like I touched real life.
You can go along and take each other for granted. You take your mom and dad for granted, and then my mom died. I had always taken her for granted. She was always praying for me. She always called me on the phone: “Dana, how are you doing? I love you, Dana.”
You take that for granted. But when my mom died, suddenly I realized, “Boy, I sure miss my mom.”
The things we take for granted become real when tragedy comes. That is often when somebody realizes how much they need the Lord Jesus. Many people get saved in that time of tragedy.
That is why I am always very careful whenever there is a funeral and somebody dies. When somebody dies in New York, for example, and I go to the funeral, there may be work associates who knew them while they were alive. Those people usually come in and stand in the back—even the president of the company, the CEO, some big-shot people.
They are dressed real nice. They come into the back of the funeral, but they are afraid to go up and even see the body. They are very nervous.
You wonder what they are nervous about, but when you go to a funeral, you face the reality that life only lasts so long. Many times, when a person faces a tragedy or problem, they say, “Oh Lord, I need help. I need help.”
Tragedy brings us to the door.
One good thing about the movie is this: there are many Christians in name. “I’m a Christian.” “Why are you a Christian?” “Well, because I’m not Jewish and I’m not Muslim.”
That is why I used to think I was a Christian when I was not. My mom was Protestant, so I thought I was a great Protestant.
But when somebody goes to this movie and sees how much Jesus suffered physically, you realize something. Sometimes we say, “Jesus died for me,” almost like, “La, la, la, la, la—Jesus died for me.”
But when you go to the movie and see how Jesus died for you, it makes you cry and say, “Oh Jesus, I am such a sinner. Such a sinner. You had to be tortured because of me.”
In one sense, it was you, not just that crummy Roman guy, who was whipping Him, scourging Him, and beating Him as He walked down the road. It was because of our sins. The Roman guy was doing his job, but it was because of our sins that Jesus was tortured so much.
One thing this movie can do is make a person realize how much Jesus suffered for my sins.
Everybody here has probably heard this saying: if you were the only person in this world, and you sinned, Jesus would have come and died for you. It is true, because He wants all people saved.
You remember, in the garden at the beginning of the movie, the devil said, “You can’t carry all the sins of the world.” Jesus was suffering. He was shaking and breathing hard. Then He said, “Father, not My will, but Yours be done.”
Then the devil came out as a snake, and Jesus stepped on its head with His heel. That is from the Bible: the seed of the woman will come and step on the devil’s head, though His heel will be bruised.
Then He went through that incredible suffering. People cried throughout the movie because when we see the tragedy of why He died, it brings us to reality.
There were people in the movie—Roman soldiers, citizens of Jerusalem, people mocking Him—who were laughing at Him. But by the end, they were crying. They looked at Him, saw the way He died, and saw the way He loved everybody.
When Jesus died on the cross, there were two thieves on either side. One thief was mocking Jesus, but the other thief said, “Wait a minute. What are you mocking Him for? What did He ever do?”
The high priest came up and said, “Yeah, You’re the Messiah. Come down from the cross if You’re the Messiah.” As he walked away, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive him. He does not know what he is doing.”
The thief on the other side said to the high priest, “Listen to Him. Listen to Him. He is praying for you.” The high priest was shaken to the core. “How could I just curse Him, and He prayed, ‘Father, forgive him’?”
The depth of the tragedy of Jesus was that He did not deserve any of it, but He took it all on for you and me. That is one thing so wonderfully clear in this movie.
Now, some of it is Hollywood. Some of it is overdone. People ask me, “Was He physically tortured that much?” I think maybe not that much physically, but more spiritually. We will never know how much He was tortured inside.
You remember, He looked up and said:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
This was a greater torture than what they could do by whipping His back and hurting Him—the torture He went through to die for our sins.
I speak to people in my building in New York City. Most of the people I have talked to about religion are Catholics coming back from Mass or something like that. A number of them are going to see this movie because they have this religious hunger.
When they see how much Jesus suffered for them, it touches them to the core. We take Christianity too easily. Protestants and evangelicals often do not talk about the suffering of Jesus. They say, “Jesus died on the cross for you,” but you do not really realize all that means.
I am praying for my Catholic neighbors and for people who go to church only once a year or something like that. I pray that when they see this movie, they will realize how much Jesus was tortured in order to die for our sins.
Tragedy brings us into reality.
When you see this movie, I hope you realize this was a tragedy: Jesus died. It was a victory, of course, because He was doing the will of God and He was raised up. But the first thing that brings us to the door of the kingdom is tragedy.
What will you do with this? Now you can see you are a sinner. Now you can see the tragedy. Now it is all clear before you. What will you do? You have come to the door.
The second thing that brings people to the door of reality is something that will come later: the time of judgment.
The Bible says there will be a time of judgment when we will come to the door of reality and suddenly realize that the door closes and it is too late.
According to the Bible, there are three last signs, perhaps, that a person will see before the door closes. Sign number one: people who have mocked, who have been unconcerned, who have not wanted to become Christians, who have stalled or made excuses—one day, their true Christian friends are going to disappear.
I do not know if you have read the Left Behind series, but it is true. Just before judgment comes, a lot of people are going to vanish from this earth. When you see that happening, you know the door is closing. You need to ask Jesus to come into your life.
The second thing is this: God, who has been holding back evil in this world, is going to take His hands off. Then, for three and a half years, this world is going to become chaotic, tragic, sinful, and terrible.
People do not realize this because they cannot see what is going on in the unseen world. But right now, God is holding back the devil, evil, and even evil people from doing a terrible work.
There are always bad things going on. Evil is being added, but it is not being multiplied, because God is holding down evil. He is full of mercy. He says, “Won’t you come through the door into My kingdom?”
The Bible says God waits. He does not want anybody not to enter His kingdom. He holds down evil and says, “Please, come to the door. Please.”
One day God lifts His hand, and this place will become evil so fast. Evil will rise up. The Bible talks about an antichrist. The Bible talks about evil people. The Bible talks about many, many people in this world being killed for no reason at all, along with plagues and chaos.
Suddenly, this world that we thought was such a beautiful place will be seen for what it really is.
You remember in the movie when Judas had taken the money and betrayed Jesus. The devil started attacking him. Remember the two little children who came around in the marketplace? Judas was going crazy. He saw those children, but behind those children who were mocking him, he saw the devil. Their faces changed, and suddenly these children became evil-faced people.
There is a reality in this world behind the mask that everything is nice. There is a terrible reality about how evil things really are.
One of the signs of the very end will be when God lifts His restraining hand and evil begins to spiral this whole world into chaos.
The third thing is simply living in the reality of an evil world. I have had a great opportunity: about once a year for the last three years, I have gone to Russia.
In Russia, you do not have to tell people about evil in life. They know evil. Many people are alcoholics. Many people are drug addicts. The world is evil there. There are not nice people; there is not compassion. Children who are deformed are just thrown into the streets to die. It is a very terrible world.
That is why, when people go out and preach the gospel in Russia, many people get saved. Why do many people want to run through the door of God’s kingdom when they hear the gospel? It is because they know the reality of the evil world.
We are living in a wonderful false sense that everything is good. The reality is that there is a lot of evil in the world.
The door will close, and judgment will come. We will all stand before a reality that will be too much for us to take. We will face our real life.
We thought we were so nice. But when God says to Gabriel, “Okay, Gabriel, roll the videotape,” and I see what my life was really like—oh man, I will be so embarrassed. I will say, “God, I thought I did good things.” When I see the videotape, I will see how bad they were.
Then I will say, “But God, I just didn’t know.” And He will show me the times people came to me and said, “Come on into the kingdom. Come through the door. Get saved. Ask Jesus into your life.” And I said, “No.”
Everything will be shown. That will be the most terrible reality. There is nothing covering you, nothing hiding you, nothing false. It is only truth. You are standing naked in the light, and you see that you are a sinner and that you rejected God.
That is when the door closes. You come close to the door in tragedy. You come to the point where the door closes in judgment.
But there is a third time, and that time is now. We are not at that judgment yet, but we are right now. Right now there is a door of the kingdom that is open. Those who go through the door experience this new life, just as Nicodemus was told.
In John 3, Jesus says, “Nicodemus, you want Me to talk to you about the kingdom? I am not just going to talk to you about the kingdom. In order for you to enter the kingdom—to go through the door—you have to be born again.”
Nicodemus started arguing: “What do You mean? I am an old man. How do I get born again?”
Jesus was saying, “You do not even understand. You think you can go through the door just by knowledge? No. You have to give up your knowledge and come as a babe and be born again.”
There is a door standing open right now.
That is what the Gospels are all about—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. At the very beginning of the Gospels, John the Baptist comes. For four hundred years, God had not spoken since the Old Testament. Suddenly John says, “The kingdom is here. It is time to repent and prepare.”
The words were electric. People came from all over the place to the Jordan River because they heard living words. They heard reality: “The kingdom is here. The door is opening. You have to go through.”
John said that you go through by repenting of your sin. That is the beginning of the coming of the kingdom.
Then Jesus came, and He said, “The time is now. The kingdom is here. The door is open. Repent and believe.” That is the way we enter in.
Jesus walked around from place to place. Here is the wonderful part: whenever somebody came close to Jesus, they sensed that presence. The kingdom is here.
When they saw Him loving the children, they said, “Wow, look at kingdom love.” When they saw Jesus healing, they saw the kingdom helping people. When they heard Jesus speak, they said, “Those are really true words.” They felt close to the kingdom.
But people came close to Jesus, and that did not mean they went through the door. Many people came close, got blessed, and ate bread that Jesus broke and gave them. But that did not mean they entered the kingdom.
Just because you feel religious sometimes, or just because you feel Jesus sometimes, does not mean you are in the kingdom. No, no—there is a door that has to be gone through.
When somebody came to Jesus, saw Jesus, saw what He did, and came close to the kingdom, Jesus said, “Will you believe in Me? Will you ask forgiveness for your sins? Will you come to Me?”
When a person does that, they enter into the place where Jesus Christ is Lord now—the kingdom, His presence, His love, and His forgiveness.
I became a Christian almost forty years ago, and it is still like it happened yesterday. Do you know why? I had heard of Christians, and then I met some Christians who brought me right toward the door.
I saw that they loved people. I saw that they prayed earnestly. I saw that they loved God. I even saw what I thought was beaming from their faces. I said, “This Christian thing is wonderful. I like being around these people.”
But the only problem was that when I left them and went back to college, I was nothing like them. Immediately the warmth wore off, and I was back to my old sinful ways, cursing in terrible ways.
Whenever I got around Christians, I sort of warmed up. I said, “This religious business is nice.” They would join hands around a circle and pray, and I joined hands too. Of course, I would not pray.
But I knew what to do when it came my turn to pray. I just squeezed the hand of the guy next to me, and he knew, “Oh, this is good. I feel religious. I am really close to God.”
It was because I was singing in a choir, and the choir always joined hands and prayed. But I was not in the door. I was not a Christian. I felt good, but when I went away, I just felt like myself again.
Something had to happen to me. It happened on the night of April 1—April Fools’ Day.
This is when I came from being on the outside, hearing about it, to going inside and being there. I was studying for an exam the next day at college.
While I was studying, I remembered a sermon I had heard. A preacher had preached about the love of God. I was not really studying. You know how you can read words while thinking of something else? I was thinking, “What did that guy say? If you want to come to Jesus, you have to pray to Him.”
Then I remembered what another guy told me. He told me I was a very proud guy. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of pride.
He said to me, “God will not hear your prayer until you get down on your knees and pray.”
Now, I had never gotten down on my knees and prayed before. I could be standing in the circle while others held hands, and I would think to myself, “Oh God, You are a wonderful God,” and all that kind of stuff. Nothing ever worked. I never felt inside.
This guy said to me—I am not sure he was right—but he said, “You cannot become a Christian until you get on your knees and pray.”
So I am studying with my chemistry book, not getting much out of it, thinking about this message. I hear this voice inside me saying, “You have to get down on your knees. You have to get down on your knees.”
I tried to read some more. “Where was I? Oh yeah, right back here.” I started reading the underlined sections, but I still heard that voice: “You have to get down on your knees.”
I was just about going crazy that night. I was all alone. I remember sitting in this big red chair. I looked around and said, “Okay. I guess I have to do this.”
I got down on my knees. I was twenty years old, but I had never done this before. I closed my eyes, which I was not really into, and I said, “Dear God.”
That is all I said, and that changed my life.
All I could say was, “Dear God.” Then my throat choked up immediately, and my hands started sweating. I said, “What is going on?”
I did not hear a voice, but it was like this: “Do you know what your problem is? You are all alone. You have gotten down on your knees to pray to the God who created you, and you are embarrassed at yourself.”
How much pride is that? It is one thing to be embarrassed because twenty people are sitting around, or two people, or three. But nobody was sitting around. It was just me, and I was embarrassed looking at myself.
I saw how much pride I had. I cannot describe the moment to you, but there I was on my knees. I stopped praying, my heart started beating, and I started crying.
That was my moment when I saw what a sinner I was. The God who loved me, cared for me, and kept me for twenty years—I had never gotten down on my knees. I had never prayed out loud to Him before. I was too proud.
I said, “Please forgive me.”
Then I remembered the song the choir always used to sing:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
I thought about that. Then I heard the song again: “Turn your eyes.” I began to whisper the song. The second time, I sang it. The third time, I sang it louder.
Now I was crying and singing this song. But I am telling you what was happening inside: I felt free. I felt God’s love. I felt I had been forgiven.
That was the beginning of how I got through the door into the kingdom of God. I repented of my sins. I asked Jesus to be my Lord.
The next night, the church had a prayer meeting. I got up and went down to the front of the church and said, “I have accepted Jesus as my Savior.”
I had been in that church for a year. When I said that, everybody started crying. I thought, “Did I say something wrong?” I was the only guy there not crying. Even my wife was crying. My father, my mother-in-law, and all the people at church were crying.
For one year they had been praying for me to get saved, but I did not know that. When I said, “I asked Jesus into my life,” they all cried, came up, and hugged me. I thought I was in the kingdom again.
Now listen. You are still young. You have many things to experience. I hope you do not have much tragedy in your life. But if you do, remember that Jesus is very near. You can come to Him.
I hope you do not come to the day of judgment and have never asked to come into the kingdom and asked Jesus the King to be your King.
But now there is a door of opportunity. You can ask Jesus to be your King.
How do you know if it is your time? I want you to be very quiet now. I know you have been here a while and can get distracted. Just pay attention another minute, and I am through.
How do you know if it is your time? I will tell you: you can sense His presence right now, bringing you to the door.
I do not know what you sense—whether there is a warmth in your heart, nervousness, or just some sense that it is time for you to do something. Sometimes there is a little voice saying, “It is time for you to accept Jesus.” Sometimes it is just a sense of God’s presence.
Just like in that movie, there were moments where everybody was totally quiet in the auditorium because it seemed like God’s presence was very near.
When God’s presence comes, He comes to bring you through the door. You can resist Him, but do not resist Him. He is trying to bring you in while there is time.
If this movie has any value, it is to bring you into one of those moments where you sense how much God loves you. Here we are at a time when we are thinking about that.
Are you through the door? Some people think they are Christians because they have been going to a church somewhere. No, no, no—it does not happen like that. You do not become a Christian by going to church.
You become a Christian by going through the door. You come saying, “I want to be born again. I want to enter the kingdom. I want Jesus to be my King. I want Him to forgive my sins.”
There is a door there. You have to go through that door yourself. Your mom, your dad, your brothers, and your sisters can all be Christians, but you have to go through the door yourself.
Do not be fooled into thinking somehow you become a Christian by osmosis. Some people are fooled because they sometimes feel very religious, sometimes feel very close. Maybe we were singing songs tonight, and you got very mellow and said, “Oh wow, this is really beautiful.”
But that is not enough.
Jesus, the King who is now resurrected and sitting on the throne, wants to begin to help you in your life every day. He wants to lead you and talk to you. By the Bible, He wants to help you grow as a Christian. But only you can go through the door—not by tragedy, but because you sense His kingdom here.
That is why I want to have a moment of prayer.
Okay, would we all bow our heads here? You have been very attentive. I am very thankful you are here.
Whether you have seen the movie or not, the fact is that Jesus died for your sins. He suffered and died for you and for me, to give us a door—that we could fall down underneath the cross, be covered by His blood, and call Him our Lord and our God.
He comes near us. Some people come through tragedy. Some people sense His presence. Some people are very unsure. But we come to the door, and when we come to the door, He invites us to come in.
He says:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.
Through the message tonight, you hear His voice. If you open the door, He will come in. He wants to come into your life. That is why He knocks on the door. He is a living God. He is not dead anymore.
But He died for you, and now He is saying, “I want to be your King.” Will you take Him as your King?
Oh God, I pray that You come very near to the precious boys and girls, the young people here—those who saw the movie, perhaps cried a little, perhaps felt bad about how terrible it was when Jesus died.
Help them see that it was our sins that made Jesus die and go to the cross. But thank You, Lord, that You are no longer dead. You are alive to be our Lord.
May we bow down like the soldier and realize that You are the King. I pray for everybody in this room tonight, that there will be no spectators, but people who have drawn near to the door. As they hear You knocking on the door of their hearts, may they open the door and allow You to come in.
Now I want to ask you tonight: you are here. You may be here with a friend. You may have gone to the movie. Whatever it was, now is your moment to come to the door personally—to ask Jesus to be your King, to ask forgiveness for your sins.
I am going to ask you: do you want to come through the door? You say, “How do you?”