SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). A door lets people in.
(2). A door keeps people out.
(3). A door excludes people.
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Doors Quiz illustration.
• (Photos available in the PowerPoint).
• Door #1: 10 Downing Street
• Trivia: The London home of the British Prime Minister.
• The Georgian-style glossed-black door features a lion’s-head knocker.
• This secure entrance has been made from steel,
• Since the IRA’s Downing Street attack in 1991.
• The door can only be unlocked from the inside!
• Door #2: 221B Baker Street
• This door belongs to one of the most well-known detectives in fiction history,
• Sherlock Holmes created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
• When the series was originally written, Baker Street only went up to number 85,
• But in the 1930s the road was extended further and 221b was added.
• Door #3: Kennedy Space Centre
• The largest door in the world is at the Kennedy Space Centre.
• It is 465 feet tall, and it takes 45 minutes to fully open it.
• Door #4: Tom’s Mouse hole door (of Tom & Jerry Fame)
• Since 1940, this is one of the most best-known doors from TV & movies,
• Is the entrance into the home of Tom the mouse from Tom & Jerry.
• Each cartoon shows the two characters getting into comedic fights or chases,
• In which they often get hurt cartoon-style.
• Door #5: The oldest preserved door
• In 2010, during some construction work on a parking lot in Zurich, Switzerland,
• Builders uncovered this door.
• According to archaeologists that dated the door,
• It was probably built as far back as 3063 BC.
• About the same time that the construction of Stonehenge began.
• TRANSITION:
• 2,000 years ago, Jesus claimed to be ‘the door’ or ‘the gate.’
• Now I am going to stick with the word “door” instead of the word “gate,”
• Both are valid.
• The Greek word “Thura” (???a) simply means door or entrance.
(1). Background of the image.
• Now because you are looking at, ‘Jesus the Good Shepherd’ next week,
• I will be very disciplined and not steal his thunder!
• But I do need to say this…
• The door in these verses relates to the sheepfolds or pens.
• At the time of Jesus, there were two kinds of sheepfolds or pens.
• One kind was a public sheepfold found in the cities and villages.
• It would be large enough to hold several flocks of sheep.
• This sheep pen would be in the care of a doorkeeper,
• Whose duty it was to guard the door to the sheep pen during the night,
• And to permit the shepherds access in the morning.
• i.e. Think of dropping your car off at a secure multistorey car park.
• You park, you go home or shopping.
• You come back, pay a fee and take your car with you.
• That is one kind of sheepfold in the city or village.
• The second kind of sheep pen was in the countryside,
• where the shepherds would keep their flocks in good weather.
• This type of sheep pen was using what was available.
• You looked for a wall or bushes or a cave with a small open space to enter.
• The shepherd would keep the sheep between him and the wall or bush or in the cave.
• The shepherd would lay down in front of his sheep,
• He would sleep there, by doing this he literally becoming the door to the sheep.
• TRANSITION: This image was well known,
• And everyone from children to old men would understand it.
Question: What point is Jesus teaching from this imagery?
Answer: Let me suggest 3 points.
(1). A door lets people in.
ill:
• I wonder if you are one of those people, whose door has a door?
• If you have a cat or a dog, you may well have a cat flap or mini doggie door.
• The one purpose of that door is to give your pet access to the house or the garden.
• e.g. Likewise, everyone entered this building today, via a door!
• (or surprise me, did anyone come in via the window?)
• We entered by a door, and we shall have to leave by way of a door.
• e.g. If you came to Church today in a car,
• When you leave to go home,
• You will enter your car by a door, and you will exit it by a door.
• e.g. When you arrive home,
• You will enter your home by way of a door.
• e.g. At home as you go from room to room,
• You will enter and exit that room through a door!
• e.g. When you go to work tomorrow,
• You will enter your workplace by way of a door.
• e.g. If you go shopping tomorrow,
• You will enter those shops by way of a door.
• TRANSITION: Doors are unavoidable.
• Doors are everywhere and without them we will not get very far!
• Jesus is claiming to be the door of salvation.
• If we enter through him, we can be saved!
• Quote: verse 9:
“I am the gate; whoever ENTERS through me will be saved.
They will come in and go out and find pasture.”
Jesus said, “whoever (that’s a pretty broad invitation) enters in…”
• Notice all are invited but not all are saved,
• Not everyone enters in!
• There are many who admire the “door” but, but they do not enter in.
• They talk about the “door,” but they do not enter in.
• They sing about the “door,” but they do not enter in.
• They argue about the “door,” but they do not enter in.
• Question:
• What about you this morning?
• Have you entered in?
• Are you on the outside or the inside?
(2). A door keeps people out.
Ill:
• Most doors come with locks.
• Today, with have door chains, doorbell cameras, spy holes.
• We want to keep unwanted visitors out and to stay safe.
• The locked door is simply a barrier,
• It provides security, keeping out intruders and protecting valuables.
• TRANSITION:
• To be on one side of a door means to be separated,
• To be cut off from those on the other side.
• Seldom is a door used as an ornament.
• Doors are meant to be used!
• Note: You cannot be on both sides of a door at the same time!
• You are either in or you are out.
• By claiming to be, “The door.”
• Jesus is claiming to be the divider of mankind!
• People either belong to him (inside) or against him (outside).
Ill:
• One of the most best-known stories in the Bible,
• Has to do with a door,
• (Exodus chapter 12).
• Moses & the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt.
• Pharaoh refused to grant them freedom,
• God sent Pharaoh plague after ten plagues, but he refused to let God’s people go.
• The last of the 10 plagues was the death of the firstborn in every house.
• Let’s watch it to reminds ourselves.
• Video clip: Friends & Heroes Cartoon: Passover
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/clh7to-SiH4
• The Hebrew people were to put blood on their doorposts and lintels,
• When they entered in through the door, they were safe,
• God had said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you!”
• TRANSITION:
• Jesus is the fulfilment of the Passover,
• He is the Lamb of God, sacrificed to set us free from bondage to sin.
• The message of the 10th plague is that God is holy and just.
• God will punish sin, “The wage of sin is death”.
• (Romans chapter 6 verse 23).
• But the message of Passover is that God is also merciful.
• Whoever is covered by the blood, shall be saved!
• Quote: john chapter 10 verse 11.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Quote: The old hymn put it this way.
“Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?”
• Christ shed his blood on the cross,
• So that you and I can be forgiven and set free,
• From the curse of sin, death and the devil.
(3). A door excludes people.
• An open door is an invitation.
• A strong door promises protection.
• But a locked door is something to be feared!
Ill:
• Whenever I have gone into prison.
• (don’t panic - not as a convicted criminal but a preacher taking services).
• One of the horrible sounds that sticks with you,
• Is the sound of opening and closing of doors.
Ill:
• In the sermon on the mount.
• (Matthew chapter 7 verses 13-14.)
• Jesus used this illustration.
““Enter through the narrow gate/door. For wide is the gate/door and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate/door and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
• Jesus emphasizes that there are two doors and only two paths.
• Every person will either take the path toward destruction or the path toward life.
• Jesus urges people to enter, to strive,
• To make every effort to go through the narrow door.
• For this path and this door leads to life.
Notice it is a narrow gate.
• Narrow because the door to enter through is Christ Himself.
• Narrow because out of every human being born into the world,
• Only one is the eternal Son of God.
• Narrow because he alone could bear the sin of the world!
• Quote: The old hymn. “There is a green hill far away.”
“There was no other good enough.
To pay the price of sin,
He only could unlock the gate.
Of heav’n and let us in.”
The previous verse goes…
“He died that we might be forgiv’n,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heav’n,
Saved by His precious blood.”
• It is only through Christ and his work on the cross,
• That we can be forgiven and find life.
• Narrow because the door to enter through is tight.
• In other words, you can squeeze through,
• But you are not taking anything with you.
• You leave the baggage of good works and self-effort behind.
• Narrow and few find it.
• How ironic, the invitation is to everyone, to ‘whosoever.’
• Yet, “only few find it.”
• Because this way requires repentance and faith.
Ill:
• It was a nice surprise in November to bump into Naomi in Moldova.
• Maybe she noticed that Moldovan Christians don’t ask the question,
• “When did you become a Christian?”
• As we often do in the UK.
• Instead, Moldovan Christians ask the question,
• “When did you repent?”
• TRANSITION: That is why it is a hard way,
• That is why it is a less travelled path,
• That is why few find it!
• But the good news this morning is,
• You can find it, you can enter the door,
• You can be saved!
• And if you have yet to receive Jesus Christ as your saviour, then do so now.
• I often say it’s as easy as A.B.C.
• A = Admit – Like Adam I am a sinner by nature and by practice.
• And I know my sin is an offence to a holy God.
• B = Believe – that the last Adam Jesus bore your sins when he died on the cross.
• Put your faith and trust in him and his finished work and not your good works.
• C = Consider – am I willing to make Jesus Christ Lord of my life,
• Am I will repent, turn from living for self and start to live for him?
• D = Do – will you do that now as I lead you in a short prayer of commitment to Christ.
• Let’s pray.
