David said in Psalm 51:6, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:..” Have you ever heard anyone say, “What’s gotten into you?” II Timothy 5:5 describes a group of people that only have “a form of godliness,..” Something is missing on the inside…in the heart! In the message of Jesus in Matthew 23 to the “religious” leaders of the day, He said in verse 27, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” What’s on the inside is important. God spoke to the Prophet Ezekiel in chapter 33:31,32, “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” “And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.” A mother repeatedly told her little boy to sit down. The boy continued to stand, disobeying his mother. Finally, the mother went to him, and plopped him down in a chair. Fuming, the boy said, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing on the inside.”
How do you get the Bible from the outside to the inside? How do you get the truth of God from the outside to the inside? I Thessalonians 2:13, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” Woodrow Wilson said, “I am sorry for men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and the pleasure.” “Unto you which believe he is precious:..” I Peter 2:7. The Bible speaks of precious promises, precious faith and the precious blood of Christ. Why is it precious? It got on the inside…by faith, by believing. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” John 1:12.
When Holman Hunt had finished painting “The Light of the World”, he invited a fellow artist into his studio and asked his opinion of it. The artist looked long and carefully at the painting and his experienced eye noted the wonderful expression of tenderness and patience on the face of the Savior, the light shed by the lamp He carried, and the tangle of thorns about the doorway. “It is almost perfect”, he said, “but you have forgotten one thing – a handle on the door.” “Ah!” said Hunt, “you have missed the significance of my picture; the handle is on the inside!
Revelation 3:20, “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.”