From the October-December 2009 Issue
Knocking at the gates of hell and pleading at the throne of Grace
Evangelos and Georgia Sikoutris
“... I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). These words of our Lord Jesus are easily misinterpreted by many of the people of God. Even in the Greek New Testament text a quick reading gives the impression that the Church of God is on the defence. But praise God it is not so. The Church is knocking and attacking the gates of hell to rescue perishing sinners by the power of Christ, and not the opposite.
Another text of the Bible that is also misinterpreted by many, and by me in my early Christian life, is the very well known verse, “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” (Revelation 3:20). This is a picture of our Lord standing at the door of the church in Laodicea and knocking. However, it is not wrong to use it evangelistically, as our Lord Jesus standing and knocking at the door of people’s hearts. But then comes the wrong interpretation by many; namely that the outcome of this knocking depends on the human response from inside only. Even painters in their pictures give this impression. They say the key to open the door, (man‘s heart) is on the inside.
That was my view, until I discovered in the Word of God that there is a hole in the door (the human heart) that only the Lord Jesus knows and He is able to put in his gracious and mighty hand (the conviction of His Spirit) and have a positive response from inside and the opening of the door. “My beloved (Jesus) put in His hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved for Him. I rose up to open to my beloved” (Song of Songs 5:4, 5). So it is biblically plain that the Church of Christ together with Him is knocking at the doors of people’s hearts, by all means. Nevertheless, all things depend on Him and Him alone. So our duty to get a positive response according to His promise, is also to plead at the throne of grace. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
The twofold work
This is what for nearly 25 years we have persevered in doing by the grace of God in our pioneer gospel work here. This twofold glorious work (knocking at doors and pleading at the throne of grace) is for me the most challenging, humbling and surprising spiritual exercise. And this is due to our human weakness and the depravity of the human heart, “...the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. However, despite our weakness and shortcomings, the Lord blessed us with the establishment of a small church and the need to move to larger premises to continue to bring the light of His gospel to the spiritually dark city of Patra. Using mainly our bi-monthly evangelistic paper Times of Refreshing, we are knocking (one or two of us each time), at the doors of single houses or flats, on the streets or squares, trying to share the good news with those who open the door, or leave a copy of our paper if no one appears. The responses are varied and exciting. Indifference, ridicule, religious and fanatical opposition and the threat of shooting for proselytism, are some of them. A few by the grace of God respond positively and some of them are pleased to receive our paper regularly. Then the Lord opens the way for us to visit them again from time to time, to have another chat and invite them to our meetings.
This is why we need your prayers to plead with us at the throne of all grace, and we thank God so much for your sharing in this glorious task. One fruit of this knocking and pleading is the personal testimony of our sister Demetra, the wife of our elder Nikos. May our gracious and sovereign Lord continue to bless us and build His Church by raising new workers, to continue this glorious task, for His glory.