JESUS AS THE DOOR

John 10:9

Morning Meditations 11/14/17

John 10:9: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

Jesus is speaking to the Jews as a special people who had the Law, the traditions, the fathers. But they had missed the way. They had tried “some other way” (v 1) and Jesus is drawing attention to their mistake. The law was a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ (Gal 3:24) and that law had not failed but they had failed to follow their schoolmaster. So Jesus says, “I am the door.” In fact, He is the Good Shepherd, the Door and the Pasture for food. Amen!

First of all, when we think of a door we must also think of a wall, a barrier so that the door is a break in the wall. There is the wall of sin which forbids us to get into the place of safety. There is not way around it. Man cannot penetrate this wall to get to where the Good Shepherd and the sheep are. Man cannot take that wall down and he cannot penetrate that wall.

There is also the wall of God’s holiness. When man sinned against God, He drove man out of the garden and placed Cherubims, and a flaming sword which to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen 3:24). God’s holiness is a forbidding wall to keep man out of His presence.

So when we think of the door we are automatically reminded that there is a wall there. That wall is a forbidding wall. It shuts one out from what is on the other side.

Second, when we think of the Door, we are aware that the door is a means of access. This door is there as a means of access. What does the door give us access to? It gives us access to rest, security and fellowship. It is a place of safety for the sheep. They can rest in security and comfort from the enemies to those particular things. This is all provided by the Good Shepherd. The sheep did not build the door.. God built the door through the incarnation of His only begotten Son, His sinless life and His substitutionary death.

Now I have always known that the door is a means of access for the lost sinner. I have come to realize that it is also a means of access for the failing saint. Jesus talks about those who enter can “go in and out and find pasture.” Sin in my life as a saint is a barrier to the rest that is on the other side of that Door. Do you lose that peace and that sense of security and that fellowship that are found on the other side of that Door as I do? There are times when there is no peace. There are times when there at least seems to be no security and I certainly do not have rest. My soul is troubled. I ask my self, “What is wrong? Where did I go wrong?” I know I’m saved and secure because I believe that academically. I believe that theologically. But that does not help much when I find myself on the wrong side of that door. I have come to realize that the Door is also for sinning saints. There is a barrier here for men that I need to mention. One of my greatest problems here is that I try to fix the barrier that I have erected. The thing that shuts me out of that place of fellowship and rest and security is my fault. So I must fix it. But the problem is that as a believer I still have no power to bring down that wall. I am as helpless to deal with that wall as I was before I was saved. There is only one way through that wall. Jesus said, “I am the Door.” I must come back to that same Door I entered the first time. He is the one who dealt with the sin that shuts me out. I must return to Him.

Third, the door is an open door. It is available to all. But we all try to climb up some other way. It is amazing how we try to get around going through this door. Maybe it is because this door is a low door and we would rather climb than bow. Yes, this door is one I have to bow my knee and my head to get through. My proud heart would rather climb. But in doing so, I am robbing Him of His glory. And it won’t work. No matter how hard I try, there is no way to get to what is on the other side of that wall except through Jesus the Door. But it is an open door.

Fourth, one last thought. I want to emphasize once more. It is a door for the saved and unsaved alike. Paul told the Colossians in chapter 2 and verse 6: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:” Our walk in Him is a walk of repentance. Repentance is not a single act on the part of the believer. It is a state into which we enter when we are saved. I have discovered that salvation did not immune me from committing sin. I am still vulnerable. I am still responsible. I still commit sin. That sin becomes a barrier to my fellowship with Him. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” This is what David, the saint, said. This is for me. And I tell you, I have found myself on the other side of that barrier many times. But thank the Lord God used someone in my life to show me the way back to that Door. Thank God grace invites me as a sinning saint “to go in an out” of that Door and find pasture.

May God bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Earl White