June 1, 2003
John 10:7-10
“The Door”
INTRO
No beating around the bush this morning; let me give it to you straight. If by some chance today were your last day on earth (and we must admit that possibility, however remote it might seem), and you were called to stand before God, and He asked you, “why should I let you into my Heaven?”, what would you answer? “It is appointed to man once to die, and after this, the judgment”; if that is true, then we will one day stand before God, as individuals, to give an account. I don’t believe necessarily that that is the question God will ask, nor will He necessarily phrase it that way; still, the question is valid, and one which, if you believe the Bible to be true, we need to have the right answer to. So I ask you again—personally, not so that you can give me some textbook definition, but personally—if you were called to stand before God and answer Him, as to why He ought to let you into Heaven, what would your response be? I’m going to actually pause for a few moments, while some quiet music plays, for you to get firm in your mind what your answer would be. I’ll even go so far as to encourage you to consider writing down that response somewhere on a piece of paper, or else finding some other way to burn it into your memory. (Quiet music in background; wait; then, PRAY)
MESSAGE
John 10 begins with three different “shepherd stories”, if you will; this is our focus of the morning, as we find, in the latter two of these “shepherd stories”, a pair of metaphors which Jesus uses to describe Himself. Our main focus for this morning is verses 7-10. Prior to getting there, let me set the stage just a bit. Jesus has been debating with the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day, and in 10:1, He likens them to thieves and robbers, those who would mistreat the sheep for their own selfish gain. He likens Himself, on the other hand, in a theme we will study together next week, to the true Shepherd. The shepherd in this figure likely referred to one who would have charge over the combined flocks belonging to several families in a village. This shepherd would come to the gate of a home each day for the purpose of taking the sheep out to pasture along with other sheep. On hearing the familiar call of this shepherd, the one inside the home who would tend the gate would open the gate. Each such shepherd would either have a distinctive call that would signal to the sheep his arrival, or he would have a distinctive tune he would play on his flute. The sheep would not congregate to go with someone playing a different tune, but, trained to recognize that particular tune played by their shepherd, the sheep would eagerly assemble—much like my little dog, the incredible Swee’Pea, comes when I call out, “want to go car, Swee’Pea?” So the gatekeeper—and the sheep—would only respond to the voice or the call of the true shepherd. Which is exactly the point that Jesus is making in the first six verses: those who are His sheep respond to Him, and not to the call of the thieves and robbers.
That understood, let’s move on to the text of the morning; would you stand with me as we read together John 10:7-10?
In Jesus’ second story, He pictures the open pasture lands where sheep are taken to graze and, in the warm summer months, are sometimes left to sleep overnight. Left, but not without security, of course, because constructed out in the countryside would be circular walled enclosures with one opening. Thick clusters of thorns would line the tops of these enclosures so as to guard against predators who would seek to steal sheep away in the night. Once the sheep were safely inside this pen, the shepherd would serve himself as the door, if you will, positioning his body to sleep at this lone entrance to the sheep pen. At one time, this same man could be said to be both the shepherd and the door—solving for us the puzzle of what might seem like a mixed metaphor Jesus employs here, for He says, in succeeding sentences, “I am the Door” and “I am the Great Shepherd”. Jesus, the Door, is man’s entrance into security and abundant living! Notice first that
Jesus is
I. The exclusive Door
Jesus’ picture would again be familiar to the people of His day, since they understood such customs as we do not. The sheep pen had but one door; there was one way for the sheep to get in and out, and it was through this exclusive opening, this exclusive door. Jesus, the Master Teacher, chooses His metaphors on purpose, and uses an economy of words to pack a potent spiritual punch, and when He says, “I am the Door”, we are given to understand that He is the only door by which the sheep may make their way into the fold. If the sheep don’t enter through that door, they stay outside for the evening!
Similarly, Jesus is the One Door by which we must enter—or remain outside the Kingdom of God. Religion doesn’t work; we can be as religious as can be, but religious devotion which seeks to demonstrate our own goodness or our own worthiness is devoid of eternal benefit. Jesus is the only Way!
Now that is highly unpopular today, downright intolerant, of course, which is the worst thing that one can be in our politically-correct culture of the day. Tolerance can only be the supreme virtue in a society which has lost the will and the means to distinguish right from wrong, truth from error—but doesn’t that describe contemporary American culture? And if tolerance is our chief value, then when it comes to matters of a spiritual nature, sincerity comes to be our chief requisite.
Now “sincerity” is a fine word; no one values its antonym, hypocrisy, a quality universally despised, though universally displayed, I fear! And yet be assured of this: naked sincerity is not much of a virtue, for one can be sincere in belief and be sincerely wrong! This afternoon at lunch, chances are good that you will enjoy some type of dish which involves a vegetable sincerely thought to be poisonous by many as late as a century ago. In fact, George Washington Carver took to public stages to eat this particular “dangerous” vegetable thought to be deadly by so many people; he would lustily bite into a plump, juicy…tomato.
Sometimes sincerity has worse consequences, though; many passengers on the Titanic were no doubt sincerely convinced that the ship was unsinkable. Sincerity alone was impotent to save many from a watery, icy grave. Sincerity, to have practical value in life and in eternity, must be grounded in truth. When the sincerity of those passengers met with the truth of a massive iceberg, truth won! Jesus said, “I am the Door”—He is the means whereby we can be reconciled to God.
II. The narrow Door
In Matthew 7, Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” When we see a door, we understand that it is an access point, the place to enter the building. And Jesus says, “Enter”.
Now, when you are remodeling a house, like we are (well, like my father-in-law is), you do a lot of looking in places like Lowe’s and Home Depot. We’ve looked at everything there is to look at, more than once. You name it: showers, tubs, toilets, cabinets, countertops, appliances, the list goes on and on. We’ve looked at doors as well, of course. And some of the doors are beautiful, with etched glass and all sorts of nice trim. That’s fine, but doors aren’t made for admiring; they are made for entry. It is not enough to stand and look at the door; we must enter. And yet, there are plenty of people, I think, who seem to remain content to “admire” the Door, Jesus. Count them in as “fans”! They like the uplifting feeling they get when they attend a worship service, or they like good old gospel music, or they enjoy other trappings of Christianity. Others admire Jesus as an ethical teacher. I’m finding that people are enjoying hearing me tell about my ongoing talks with atheists. Well, there’s another fellow now that is in the mix who is not an atheist, per se, but rather a Deist. He has the belief, more or less, that there is a God Who sort of kicked things off, got the ball rolling with the universe and all, but who now has been vacationing for some time. This fellow doesn’t mind the idea of Jesus at all—so long as Jesus is understood as a moral teacher, nothing more. You could say that this fellow has a solid admiration for Jesus—but the idea of entering through the Door, Jesus, is an idea he can’t yet abide. But Jesus says, “Enter”. He describes in Matthew 7
Two possible doors from which to choose:
Let’s call the first one
A. The Door of Human Achievement
He tells us that this is a broad door, that most people walk through this door. Most people, if they give any thought to spiritual things at all (and many do, to be sure!) think in terms of doing those things which will qualify them morally to be good enough to achieve their version of nirvana. For some, that would be some version of heaven on earth; my atheist friends, without any belief in anything after the grave, are trying to find happiness and self-esteem. For others, some version of heaven is in their thinking—but they try to get there by walking through the gate of human achievement.
Mormons – Seek to become gods by exalting themselves toward godhood through certain means. They believe that Jesus was simply a man who became God, that God the Father was once a man like us, and so they try to do the same.
Jehovah’s Witnesses – Try to make themselves worthy by their good works to be one of the 144,000 that will be in heaven (well, that’s what they think). I say, “pity poor number 144,001.”
Secularist – Tries to achieve his version of heaven on earth through his human reasoning.
New Agers & Buddhists – Try to stimulate their inner godhood.
Muslims – Engage in all sorts of religious activity in order to appease Allah.
Truth is that all of these various approaches can ultimately be rolled into one, under the caption, “what can I do to earn my way into my understanding of heaven?” But there is a second door; let’s call it
B. The Door of Divine Accomplishment
Jesus tells us that this door is narrow; not many find it. It is unattractive to our human pride, because those who do enter cannot claim that they deserve what they find when they walk through. Those who enter this gate can boast no self-achievement, because the salvation that is found through Jesus rules out our good deeds as a contributing factor. Instead, the salvation that is found through the door of divine accomplishment is wrapped up in what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. He paid the price that we could not possibly pay; He did for us what we could not possibly do. His death was a propitiation for our sin; it satisfied, in one fell swoop, both the righteous wrath of a holy God and the requirements of love as well, for it was God Himself Who paid the price for our sin. “Jesus paid it all” is a hymn we ought to sing more often! It encapsulates this truth about salvation: the price has been paid, and there is nothing more we can add.
Question: is it easy or difficult to enter the narrow gate? Ponder that for a moment. Best answer? “Yes!” It is in one sense easy, and in another sense very difficult. To enter into that gate involves me turning away from any self-effort and putting all of my trust in Jesus Christ as the One Who has paid the price sufficient to secure my salvation. That happens apart from any good deeds done on my part. It can happen this morning for you, no matter how rotten a life you have lived. In this sense, it is an easy thing to enter that gate: you don’t have to go out and do a bunch of good stuff, or make amends, or turn over a new leaf, or join a church, or anything. You right now can say to God, “God, I know I’ve made a mess of my life because of sin, and sin is an affront to your holiness. But I know that Jesus Christ is God, that He came in the flesh and died for me, and then rose again from the grave, and He died for me, taking my sins on Himself and taking my punishment in my place. I accept by faith the free gift of eternal life that You offer on the basis of what Jesus has done. I turn away from serving myself and I place myself in the position of your servant now. Forgive me, Father, and change me into a new person.” And if from the depth of your being that is your prayer, I believe on the basis of Scripture that God will save you in an instant. In that sense, it might be said to be easy.
And yet, recognizing that we contribute nothing whatsoever to our salvation—unless you count the awful sin that God forgives—cuts against the grain of our natural pride and self-reliance. It is a blow to our egos to admit that we are helpless, hopeless, and not the good people that we’d like to think we are. It isn’t easy to admit that, “I’m NOT OK, and you’re not either!” It isn’t particularly easy to abandon the belief that “you get what you pay for”, but abandon it you must, because in salvation, you get what Jesus paid for—that’s called “grace”! If you got what you paid for, you’d get eternal separation from God in hell. In this sense, it is difficult to humble ourselves and come through the narrow gate, but that is what we must do, because our baggage of pride and self-reliance won’t fit through that narrow gate.
Now back to my opening question: if you stood before God today and He asked you why He ought to let you into His heaven, would you point to your human achievements? What did you write down when I asked you that question? “I’m a good, moral person”? “I worship at FCC regularly”? “I’ve been baptized” or “I’m a member of _______ church”? If your answer was anything like these, pointing to some accomplishment you’ve done that you’d like to present to God as sufficient evidence of your worth for His kingdom, then you’re trying to go through the wrong door. And let me remind you again: there are lots of “religious” people who try to enter through that broad gate—but Jesus says that it is the door that leads to destruction. Now notice a third thing:
III. The Door of security
“If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved” (v. 9). Saved from experiencing the wrath of a just God. Notice down in verses 27-30 what Jesus says. There is security in Jesus. Now, I appreciate that there are Christian friends who see things differently on this point, but to me it is clear: once a person has truly put his faith/trust in Christ, he is secure in Christ. And there is the immediate objection: “doesn’t this give people a license to sin? I mean, if our salvation cannot be lost, then can’t we just live as we please, sin up a storm, so to speak?” Well, no! Just because I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield doesn’t mean that I ought to feel the freedom to chew on razor blades or step in front of trains!
Look, any Christian can fall into sin; all Christians at one point or another do sin. And I’d go one step further and say that it is the experience of some of us that, in a very short period of time, we can get a long way away from God. If “saved” means anything; if vv. 27-30 mean anything, they mean that the grace of God covers all of my sin. Now…if a person makes some sort of profession of faith in Jesus, and then yet lives a lifestyle of continued unrepentant sin, seemingly with little conviction about that sin, we might wonder if he ever truly came to faith in the first place. I’ve said this before—and either wake all the way up, or go all the way to sleep here—that the person who is truly saved, I believe, cannot lose his salvation, but the person who is truly saved and then backslides away from God may lose the assurance of it. In other words, if today there is a person who made some profession of faith in Christ, but is living in unrepentant sin, that person ought not to assume that his profession was real in the first place. A lifestyle of sin will not lose one’s salvation, but ought to give a person pause to consider strongly the reality of that salvation in the first place, because salvation in Christ will change you! And one of the ways it will change you is our final point this morning:
IV. The Doorway to abundant living
That term “abundantly” in our text is a bit archaic, not a word we use everyday; listen to Eugene Peterson’s take on that term in his paraphrase, The Message: “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” “More and better” life; that’s what Jesus is the Doorway to.
True love in a world of hatred.
Inner peace in a world of turmoil.
Joy in a world where happiness comes and goes.
Purpose in a world that doesn’t make much sense.
Wisdom in a world that is “ever learning, but never coming to truth.”
Soul prosperity in a world that measures prosperity by such silly things as bank accounts, IRA’s, and net worth.
Oh—and a great retirement plan to boot!
Jesus says to us, “I am the Door”. Have you entered through Jesus?
A man of great wealth did what Jesus said was a difficult thing to do: he humbled himself and came to Christ, found salvation through faith in Jesus. He tried and tried to share his faith in Christ with his friends, trying to explain to them that salvation was to be found by the grace of God alone. To illustrate this, he devised a plan: out of his many millions, he wrote checks to several friends, checks for a million dollars. And he tried to give those checks away to illustrate grace. But none of his friends would take the checks from him—because they would in no way have earned them. Now, once you get past the thought that it’d sure be nice to have a friend like that yourself—consider what they were saying: my pride is so strong that I won’t take your free gift, no matter how large it is.
But that’s how God’s salvation is: amazing in its value, absolutely free for the taking, unable to be earned, but only accepted when we do so in simple faith alone in Jesus alone. So…how did you answer my opening question this morning? Let’s pray together (reiterate plan of salvation).
