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.
Many well-meaning and strong Christians claim that Jesus stands at the door of every man’s heart and knocks. All the lost man has to do is to open the door and let Jesus in and he will be saved. That is wrong on a couple of counts.
First, this passage has nothing at all to do with salvation. John is recording a message from Jesus to the churches, it is not for the lost - nor is it for the lost within those churches. This letter is for Christians, for those who may be back-slidden, for those who are lukewarm in their relationship with Christ. The lost have NO relationship with Christ, they hate Him (John 3:20). Remember this particular passage was recorded for the church of the Laodiceans, the lukewarm church.
Second, within the very text Arminians claim as a soteriological passage is a “work,” a prerequisite for salvation, something man must do before he is saved - i.e. “open the door.” Sorry, for by grace are we saved through faith, not of ourselves, it is God’s gift to us. It is not of works! (Ephesians 2:8-9) Opening a door is a “work,” and according to the Arminian it is something that man must do first. The Arminian can take his pick - “opening the door” is either a work of the flesh or a work of the spirit. If he says it is a work of the flesh I will reply that Paul writes in Romans they that are in the flesh can not please God (Romans 8:8). If the Arminian will say, of course it is an action taken by the spirit, I will point out that the lost man is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, Colossians 2:13) and can do nothing in the spirit.
Third, Jesus said, “if any man hear my voice...” Among the many things the dead man (lost man) can NOT do “in the spirit” is hear. Not only is he dead but he has no ears to hear Christ. Many times during His earthly ministry Jesus said let him who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:15; 13:9; 13:43; Mark 4:9; 4:23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35). Even though he never recorded it in his Gospel, John certainly heard it many times from the lips of our glorified Lord in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22, 13:9). Jesus was obviously not referring to physical ears, but spiritual ears. The fact that He even said it at all clearly implies there ARE those who do NOT have ears to hear or eyes to see. Jesus said as much to the Pharisees in John 8:43, they could not hear Him because they were of their father, the Devil. So when Jesus told John to record for the church of the Laodiceans “...if any man hear my voice...” He is clearly referring to Christians with whom He wants to fellowship.
Bottom line - Revelation 3:20 is a passage for back-slidden Christians and has nothing to do with salvation offered to a lost man.
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