Turn back again to John chapter
10. Four times in John chapter 10,
the Lord Jesus Christ calls himself the door. He said, verily, verily, verse one,
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 by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
We spoke last week about the wonder of those sheepfolds in
that part of the world. They had these high walls around
them and there was a door that was fixed and a good number of
shepherds would have their sheep in there and then the shepherds
would come in the morning having the sheep, having been locked
up and guarded by the porter all night and the shepherds would
come in the morning and then they would call their sheep.
And all of Stephen's sheep would go out and wander in one direction,
and Graham's sheep would go in another direction, and John's
sheep would go in another direction, and they'd all follow the sound
of the shepherd. The shepherd's voice was heard. The shepherd's voice was heard. He says down in verse seven,
he says, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. Verse nine, I am the door. If
by me any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and
out and find pasture. There is a door, isn't it? The
door to that tomb. It's called a door, isn't it?
The door to the sepulchre was opened on that extraordinary
Lord's Day morning when the Lord Jesus Christ was there revealed. And he then showed himself to
his disciples, his people for the next 40 days. The door was
opened. The door was opened not just for us to look in, but for
us to see that he has risen. All of the sins of all of God's
people were laid on this shepherd, and he entered in. He entered
in to death for us, and he was put in that tomb for us. And
not a single cell of his body was corrupted. And it's an amazing
thing to think what it must have been like that morning when he
woke up. And obviously he was in no hurry
because he took those clothes off and folded them up. And out
of that tomb came a resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Resurrected. Sin gone. Sin gone. Sin put away. And now there is
a door. And how poignant it must have
been for those disciples to know that that door spoke of their
salvation. They didn't have a clue what
was being said that day and they didn't know that night they were
living in fear of the Jews and they were wandering around And
the Lord Jesus Christ gathered those sheep together and revealed
himself. In all of these glorious pictures,
the great shepherd of the sheep, he wanders over hill and dale
to get them. He can't lose any of them. They
were given to him by his father. But he came in extraordinary
humility and he speaks of himself in extraordinary humility. He
whom the angels adored in heaven for all that time since they
were created came to this earth. And he came in extraordinary
humility, a baby born in a manger to a disgraced mother and father. and lived a life of obscurity
as a carpenter and no one knew much about him other than that
event when he was 12 years old when he went to the temple and
said, I must be about my father's business. And yet, in all of
that humility, he was God-almighty all the time, God with us. What humility, what condescension
of the Lord for him to come to where we are. to be made one
with us, sin excluded, that we might be He was humble, wasn't he? He
was humble as no other man was ever humbled. And here he is,
he uses this image of a door. He says, I am the door, I am
the door. And if you come and enter in
and go out by me, you'll have eternal life. And there's no
other way of entry into heaven. There's no other way of entry
into eternal life but by him. But it's lovely to think, isn't
it, that the door is common. And the sheepfold door was no
doubt a strong door, but it was probably the lowest and most
common form of door. All it needed to do was be perfectly
strong and perfectly fit the hole that it had to go in and
be perfectly secure. That's all it had to be. It didn't
have to be a fancy door. It didn't have to be like the
gate beautiful at Jerusalem. It didn't have to be the fancy
doors that we think of around the place these days. It was
just a common door. a number of planks of wood stuck
together. But how much we ought to be thankful of access to heaven. One of the
things that we lost sight of when we fell on our father Adam
and we sinned against God and took the poison of Satan into
our veins is that we lost sight of what it was for God to be
holy and we lost complete sight of what it was for us to be sinners
and the thieves and robbers rob God of his glory and rob us of
our need by saying that we have a free will and we can do things
and we can get into heaven on the basis of what Jesus did if
we help him along. This is not what the Saviour
is saying in John 6, 8 and 10 and all the other verses of the
scripture. He never ever says that. This
is a door. This is a door. Because of him,
because of me, by me if any man enter in, there is a door, there
is a way back for sinners into the presence of God. And we won't
know, we won't glorify the wonder of the Saviour unless we know
how difficult the entry into heaven is. We think that it's
an easy thing to get back into heaven. Look what you have to
do to get to the Tree of Life. In Genesis 3, I'll read it to
you for want of time. God expelled Adam and Eve from
the Garden of Eden. He expelled them, Genesis 3.23. If you want to know what's going
on in this world, you want to know what salvation's about,
you need to know what the fall is. You need to know who God
is. And he sent them forth from the
Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken, and
he drove the man out. He drove Adam and Eve out of
the garden, and he placed on the east side of the garden where
the sun rises, cherubim and a flaming sword, and a flaming sword which
turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." If
you're going to have life eternal, if you're going to live with
God, you have to get to the tree of life. And the picture in Genesis
3 is a powerful picture, isn't it? That sword is the flaming
sword of God's justice. And it's a flaming, flashing
sword. It's a brandishing sword. It's
a whirling sword. It whirls with such ferocity
that flames come out of it. It's a flaming sword, a whirling
sword. And it's a flashing and brandishing
sword. And it's to guard, it means to
protect. as a watchman to keep the way
of the Tree of Life. Who's the way? Lord Jesus Christ
is the way. He's the way. And this way to
the Tree of Life is guarded by this flaming sword. You have
to get past the flaming sword to get to the Tree of Life. The
flaming sword is pictured gloriously in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ in that promise. One of the last promises in the
Old Testament is that promise in Zechariah 13 where God says,
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow,
against the man that is my companion. This is God the Father declaring
what was happening on the cross. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow, sayeth the Lord of hosts, smite
the shepherd. Why? because there was sin on
the shepherd. God made him to be sin who knew
no sin. There was sin on the shepherd.
If you want to see God's holiness dealing with sin, you just need
to go to the cross. If you want to go and see God's
justice, that flaming sword of God's justice, you need to go
to the cross. It's one place to go to see who
we are, to see who God is, and to see how God saves sinners.
smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. That's exactly
what happened that day when the Lord Jesus Christ was smitten. And then God says, I will turn
my hand upon the little ones. It means he will turn his hand
of love and grace and mercy upon the little ones. He'll gather
the little ones in his arms again. There is a way to the Tree of
Life, and the way to the Tree of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a door that's open in heaven, there is a door, there
is an access, we have access now. Through Him we have access
to the Tree of Life, we have access into the presence of the
Holy, Holy, Holy God Almighty. It says in Ephesians 2.18, for
through him we both have access by one spirit under the Father. He's talking about the Jews and
the Gentiles. This is the fellowship that we
have in him. And the intent of that is now
in Ephesians 3.10, that now under the principalities and powers
in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom
of God. How wise, how wise is our God. How manifold is his wisdom. How
wise for our God to find a way where he could be a just God
and a saviour. Where he could honour all of
his holiness and all of his attributes. in the death of his son and in
the glorious resurrection of his son. Millions of people this
weekend are hearing about a crucified man 2,000 years ago, aren't they?
Millions of people around the world, and I've checked in all
the ones that I've had easy access to, and not one of them has told them has told me. All they want
to do is say that Jesus died for the sins of the world. Well,
if you know what that means according to the scriptures, how that Jesus
died for us according to the scriptures, then they wouldn't
say all the things that they go on to say. And then Christianity
becomes a social welfare program. We have to do the best we can
to make this society better. That's not what he came for.
He came to save his sheep. He came to save his people from
their sins, and he did it. He did it, and that's why he
can say with this manifold wisdom, according to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness
and access with confidence. with trust. We have access. We're
persuaded. We have access by the faith of
Him. This is the door, isn't it? These
promises in John chapter 10 are promises sealed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus. We have access. We have access
through that sword because the sword slayed the shepherd. It was buried into the heart
of the shepherd. And the sword of God's justice
slew everyone who was in him at the same time. We've been
crucified with Christ. We've been crucified with Christ.
And our sins have received the just and complete punishment
that a holy God requires of them. And they're gone. That's what
it is, to be justified. I have never sinned, is what
it is to be justified, because all of my sins, past, present
and future, were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ by God himself,
and they were punished. That's what the cross is all
about, and that's what the glory of the resurrection is all about.
It's finished. It's finished, brothers and sisters.
We have access now. We have access with confidence. What a wonderful thing, the humility
of our Lord to come and to be a door. He calls himself just
a vine, doesn't he? He calls himself the Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world. There is access, and
there is just one door. There's no point looking for
another door. There is only one door, and it's
a sheep door. And it's the sheep door, it's
exactly the shape of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's exactly
the tenor of His perfect righteousness and holiness. That's the door,
isn't it? He is the door. There's no salvation in any other
name. There's no point going anywhere
else to look for it. There is just one door. The door
is a narrow door. And very few, according to this
door, find that door. He says, enter ye in, at least
he says enter, isn't that wonderful there, God says enter, ye in
at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereout, because straight is the perfect shape of the perfect
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Oh, brothers and sisters, if
you found it, it's a precious door. He's a precious door of
access into heaven. He's precious. The door, of course,
is a person. He says again and again, I am
the door. I am the door, John 7. I am the
door of the sheep, John 9. I am the door. He came as one
of us to be one with us, that we might be one with him in glory. and there's no way to sneak in.
There's not a tiny gap, is there? The door is perfectly secure.
The door is strong. It's strong enough to secure
those who are inside. And the porter and the shepherd
are strong enough to prevent the thieves and the robbers coming
in. There is a door. There is a door. A door is opened. The door is opened every time
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached. The door
is opened while ever the sun shines and this earth revolves.
There is a door opened. There is a door opened. The door
secures. Just like Noah's Ark. There was
a great door in Noah's Ark. And who shut the door? God shut
the door. God shut them in. And then having
shut them in and secured them in there and sealed that ark
with the pitch that represents the blood and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they were safe and secure and all the wrath
of God fell on them in that ark. But it was all absorbed. It was
all absorbed by the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're safe. If
you're inside the sheepfold, you're safe. So how is the door
used? It's not used by those who simply
look at it and admire it. The Jews saw the wonderful works
of the Lord Jesus Christ and all it did was make them more
responsible for their wickedness in rebellion. It's not used by
those who walk by and admire it. and look at it, and know
all the details of it, and know all the details of the sheepfold,
it's only those, it's only used by those who enter in by faith,
enter in by Him, into that love and into that experience of communion
with Him. There is just one qualifying
need, isn't it? They enter in. I love what he
says in John chapter 10 verse 9. He says, I am the door, if
by me, because of me, if any man, do you fit that demographic? Any man, any woman? Are you a
whosoever? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord, a whosoever. I am the door, whosoever. Just listen to the privileges
of those who enter in by the door. There is salvation. Listen to it, listen to what
our Lord promised. This is why the resurrection
is so glorious, isn't it? Because all of these promises
are signed and sealed in His blood and triumphantly proclaimed
in His resurrection. If any man, if any man, if by
me, if because of me, if any man enter in, enter into heaven,
enter into the tree of life, enter into glory, enter into
the presence of God, he shall be saved. He shall be saved. Not that he'll save himself and
help me to save himself by something he does. He shall be saved by
him. All of salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He shall be saved. And then there's
a glorious liberty, isn't it? He shall be saved and shall go
in and out. He shall go in and out. There's access, isn't it? There's
continual access into the presence and me, nothing between, nothing. He shall go in and go out. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth even for evermore. We have access. They shall go
in. We can go in to beg with Him and to plead with Him and
to have fellowship with Him, to receive instruction from Him,
to enjoy communion with Him. And we can go out into this world
in service. We can go out into this world
in the very presence of Him. And one of my favorite verses
in the scripture is in John 12, 26, and I'll read it to you.
If any man serve me, Let him follow me, and where I am, there
shall my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honour. You cannot, child of God, walk
a step in this world for a millisecond outside of the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In him we live. in. And listen to what else you'll
do, and you shall find pasture. You'll have nourishment. Our spiritual food is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's through the Lord Jesus Christ, it's in
fellowship with Him, and it's in fellowship with those who
are in Him as well. The doll says, come ye blessed
of my Father. Come ye blessed of my Father. Come, come is the call of the
gospel, isn't it? Come now, come now and don't
move a muscle, come now. The great door of that tomb was
opened, not to enable the Lord to leave, but to see that he
was perfectly resurrected. And he came and met with those
disciples that night, And they could eat with him, and they
could walk with him, and they could talk with him, and they
could be taught by him, and they could have conversation, and
he revealed himself to them. He revealed himself to those
two on the road to Emmaus with the breaking of bread here There were lots of Marys in Israel
at the time. Lots of Marys in Jerusalem. It's
the name of Moses' sister Miriam. There were lots of them. There's
only one. There's only one that heard that word that day. Other Marys did in time. but
it was always, the call of our Lord is always personal, it's
always particular and it's always powerful. He rose, that door
was opened and he rose. Death couldn't hold him any longer.
The only reason for death removed is now removed and it can never
come back again. The sword of God's holy justice
The sword of God's holy justice demands our salvation, brothers
and sisters in Christ. The very attributes of God which
terrify the sinner are the very attributes of God which give
God all the glory and us all the comfort. God's holiness and
God's justice means that he cannot punish sin in his Son and ever
punish it again, which is why are perfectly fit recipients
for a holy God to live in them, to nourish them, to cause them
to come in and go out and to find pasture. He comes, and I love what we
read earlier about what he said to Mary. The risen Lord says,
I go to my father and your father. When you come in to the sheepfold
by the door, we are joined heirs with Christ and we come in him
and we are loved as he is loved and we are cherished as he is
cherished. There is nothing in us that causes
the Holy God to do anything other than embrace us and warmly regard
us as his own. My Father and your Father, said
the Lord Jesus Christ, my God and your God. They must, they
must enter in. They must enter in. They enter into the sheepfold,
they enter into the tree of life, they enter in by a great and
glorious shepherd. He says, wherefore brethren, Peter,
2 Peter 1.10. Wherefore, rather brethren, give
diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you
do these things, you shall never fail. For so an entrance shall
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters,
there is a door. There is just one door. welcome the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a door which he speaks of,
a door which he promises. They shall come in and go out. They shall be saved and they
shall find pasture. Heavenly Father, please bless
your words and please cause us to rejoice that there is a door
and help us, Heavenly Father, to be those that just enter in
by that door. Through the body and the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have perfect access into heaven.
Seated now in heavenly places, our Father, we pray that we would
rejoice in the glorious things the Lord Jesus Christ has won
and established forever for his people.