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Chapter 64

 

“I Am the Door”

                       

“ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.  But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.  This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.  Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ”                                                             (John 10:1-10)

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great “I AM,” the one true and living God who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, and revealed himself by that name, saying, — “I AM that I am.” He is the eternal, self-existent God. In the New Testament he reveals himself with profound simplicity as the “I AM” ((John 6:35; 8:12; 9:5; 10:11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1).

           

            In all those places our Master showed himself to be the Master of simplicity. That means he was also the Master Preacher. He seldom used words with more than two or three syllables. He never once appeared scholastic. He never attempted to impress his hearers with what he knew. His intent was to be heard and understood. So he always spoke with great plainness and simplicity. He had no use for rhetoric or eloquence. He did not attempt to prove or enforce his doctrine with complex arguments. He simply declared it. And he declared it with utter simplicity. Our Savior took the most profound truths and put them in pictures that any child could see. None is more profoundly simple than the picture he gives us of himself as the way, the only way of salvation in John 10:1-10. In these verses our Savior declares that the only way we can enter into heaven is by the door. Then, he says twice, — “I Am the Door.

 

            Christ is the Door, the only door, by which we can and must enter the kingdom of God. Of all the comparisons made use of by our Lord Jesus to illustrate and set forth what he is appointed of God to be to his people, none is more simple, and yet none more profound, than this, — “I am the Door.”

 

      How merciful, how gracious, how kind! Our Savior compares himself to a door, so that every time we enter or leave any building or room we may be reminded of him. Everyone knows what a door is and how it is used. A door lets people in who want in, and shuts people out you want to keep out. And a door lets people out who want out, and shuts people in you want to keep in. Our Savior says, in verse 9 — “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

 

“In” and “Out”

 

It is easy enough to understand what he means by the words, — “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in.” But what does he mean by the last part of that sentence? — “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” If we enter into the kingdom of God, if we enter into salvation by Christ the Door, we must and shall go out of something else, and going out of that into the sheepfold of grace, we find pasture for our souls.

 

The Door Out

 

 

Christ Jesus is the only door out of death and into life. He is the Door, the only door out of our house of bondage. There are many houses of bondage in this world, from which the there is no way out but Christ. We are all by nature condemned prisoners, shut up under the lock and key of God’s holy law (Galatians 3:22). We are guilty, without excuse, debtors, criminals, under the wrath of God, condemned by conscience, condemned by the words of our own mouths, and condemned by God’s holy law. There is a worse prison to come, but this is the way to it, the beginning of sorrows. Is there no door out of this prison, no way to pay the debt, no way to make satisfaction to divine justice, that we may be discharged from this prison? Bless God, there is, and Christ is that Door; whosoever believes in him, shall not come into condemnation (Romans 8:1; Isaiah 61:1).

 

            The Lord Jesus has set many captives free (Psalm 116:16; 1 Tim. 1:13-15). As he sent his angel to set Peter and John free from prison, he sends his servants preaching the gospel, to proclaim the opening of the prison, to proclaim liberty to all who believe, to all who will go out by him (Righteously earned liberty! — Blood bought liberty! — Liberty by the cancellation of debt! — Liberty by the power of his Spirit!).

 

            As Israel came out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, by the blood of the lamb and by the power of God, passing through the Red Sea, so Christ is the Door out of our house of slavery, darkness, and bondage.

 

            As we are all condemned prisoners by nature, we are all by nature bondmen to the law. Condemnation we fear and despise; but this bondage we love. It is the bondage of legalism, the bondage of self-righteous, works religion. Oh, how men love the shackles of duty, the leg irons of ceremony, the stocks of piety, and the prison of legality! Serving the law, we were the servants of sin; and we loved that slavery.

 

            The Lord Jesus is the Door, the only Door out of legal bondage (Matthew 11:28-29). He is the Door out of Babylon. —If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Yet there are many who not only will not be free themselves, but are enraged at those who are. As Ishmael the son of the bond-woman hated and persecuted Isaac the son of the free-woman, religious legalists hate and constantly oppose those who walk at liberty. Still, Christ is the Door of liberty and freedom from cruel, legal religion.

 

            Who among the saints in the household of faith has never been in the bondage of affliction? Some of you endured great afflictions. I know many who seem to spend much of their lives in trouble and sorrow, in days of woe and nights of weeping, ever struggling with sickness and pain, domestic trouble and financial crises one after another. God’s saints, as long as we live in this world, are engaged in warfare in themselves, warfare between the flesh and the spirit.

 

            Spiritual trouble shall not cease until we cease to live in this body of sin and death. — “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). And Christ is the Door, the only Door out of our trouble. There is no other (1 Peter 5:6-7; Psalms 27:8-10; 73:21-28). — Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

 

            Soon you and I must take our place in the grave, where our bodies will rest, and rest in hope, because Christ is the Door, the only door, by which we shall escape that prison (John 11:25; Revelation 20:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Christ is the Door out of condemnation, bondage, legalism, trouble and the grave!

 

The Door In

 

As Christ is the Door out of bondage, so our Lord Jesus Christ is the Door, the only door into the sheepfold. When our Savior says, “I am the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture,” he is talking about entering into the kingdom of God, the sheepfold of grace.

 

            There are many who enter into the kingdom outwardly, by climbing up some other way into the church of God, refusing to trust Christ. But those who enter in by Christ the Door, believing on him, shall be saved. Being saved, they go out of the house of bondage, and walk at liberty. Christ is the way in. He says, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” He is the Door; and the Door is open. All who enter in by the Door are welcome.

 

            Christ is the Door, the only door by which sinners may come in unto God himself (Ephesians 2:13, 18; 3:12; Hebrews 10:19-22). Our Savior died that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). He alone is the Door of atonement and reconciliation (Romans 4:25-5:11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). The Lord Jesus Christ is both the Ark of Salvation and the Door into the Ark. The Son of God is both the Treasury of all good things and the Door into the Treasury. All the fulness of God is in Christ. All the fulness of grace is in Christ. All the fulness of glory is in Christ. All the promises of God are in Christ. All things are his and he is ours! All fulness is in Christ!

 

Twofold Promise

 

In John 10:9 the Lord Jesus makes a twofold promise to all who enter in by the door. He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” In John 10:9 he says, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

 

            Here is the first part of the promise: — “They shall be saved.” Christ pledges his word for it that those who enter in shall be saved. Those who do not enter in shall be damned. If you are not in Christ, you are without; and “without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation 22:15). But those who enter in “shall be saved.” — Immediately saved! — Fully pardoned! — Completely justified! — Saved from all the evil consequences of sin! — Eternally saved!

 

            Here is the second part of the promise: — “and find pasture.” Come to Christ and find in him pasture for your soul. What luscious pasture there is for his sheep in his gospel! What great pasture we find for our souls in the ordinances of divine worship!

 

Any Man

 

I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” —The Word of God makes many sweet promises of grace to sinners. But none is sweeter than this: — “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Our Lord called the thirsty in Isaiah. — “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (Isaiah 55:l). In John 7:37 he said, on the last day, that great day of the feast, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink” (John 7:37). Near the end of the Book of Revelation he says, “I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (21:6). In Matthew’s gospel he addresses those who labor and are heavy laden. — “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (11:28). In Zechariah he calls prisoners of hope. — “Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope” (9:12). But here he says, “If any man.” That is peculiarly precious. It is not said if any thirsty man, if any weary man, if any laboring man, if any heavy laden man, but “if any man enter in he shall be saved.” That means any man: rich or poor, old or young, male or female, high or low, you or me. — “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”

 

Shuts In

 

Christ is the Door that shuts us in. When Noah entered into the ark, the Lord shut him in; and once we have entered into the Ark of God, Christ is the Door that shuts us in (John 10:28; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5).

 

“Jesus is our God and Savior,

Guide, and Counselor, and Friend:

He will never, never leave us,

Nor will let us quite leave Him.”

 

“The work which God’s goodness began,

The arm of His strength will complete;

His promise is yea and amen,

And never was forfeited yet.

 

Things future, nor things that are now,

Not all things below nor above,

Can make Him His purpose forego,

Or sever my soul from His love.

 

My name from the palms of His hands,

Eternity will not erase:

Impressed on His heart it remains

In marks of indelible grace.

 

Yes, I to the end shall endure,

As sure as the Earnest is given,

More happy, but not more secure,

The glorified spirits in heaven!”

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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