John 10:3-5 To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.… I. A DOOR SUGGESTS ENTRANCE INTO AN ENCLOSURE — either a home or a sanctuary. The enclosure of which Christ is the Door is — 1. The Church, to which He affords entrance by His atonement. 2. Heaven, of which He is the Door, because He is the Door of the Church; for both are in the same enclosure, the one being the vestibule of the other. "He that believeth...hath eternal life." II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOOR: breadth and narrowness. One class of Scriptures disclose the Door as wide as the world in the light of the ample provision made for salvation. But when viewed in its attitude towards sin it is so narrow that the smallest sin cannot enter. The rich moralist found it too narrow with his single sin, but it was broad enough to admit the penitent "chief of sinners." III. THIS DOOR IS BOTH EASY AND DIFFICULT TO OPEN. There are doors so arranged that the pressure of a child's finger on a spring will cause them to swing wide open, when otherwise the strongest force could not move them. The Spring of this door will yield to the weakest touch of faith, but the Door will not move by the mightiest other means. See this illustrated in the case of the publican and Pharisee. IV. CHRIST IS THE ONLY DOOR. "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." "Neither is there salvation in any other." True, John saw twelve gates. One door into the Church, many into heaven. Each gate is some beautiful pearl of Christ's grace — His love, wisdom, faithfulness, etc. But they are all one in Christ. V. THIS DOOR IS A SURE DEFENCE TO THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN REFUGE WITHIN IT. No enemy shall be able to force an entrance. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (M. W. Hamma, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. |
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