Title: I AM THE DOOR
Bible Book: John 10 : 9
Author: J. Mike Minnix
Subject: Jesus, The Door; Salvation; Christ Alone; Purpose; New Life
Objective:
I Am The Door
Dr. J. Mike Minnix, editor, www.pastorlife.com
Introduction
John 10:9
If I were to ask you to describe Jesus, you would use words like ...
- Lofty,
- Lovely and
- Laudable words to picture Him.
Yet, even if you had the voice of an angel, you could not do justice to the ...
- Beauty,
- Wonder and
- Majesty of Christ.
Yet, when Christ spoke of Himself, He used such earthy terms as ...
- the Bread of Life,
- the Good Shepherd,
- the Water of Life,
- the Light, and in our passage today as the
- the Door.
Such an ordinary term used to describe such an extraordinary personage! Yet, how useful for us, for thing as plain as a door is so multifarious and numerous in a daily life.
We came in this worship center by way of a door. We shall have to leave by way of a door.
You will enter your car or means of transportation today by a door.
You will enter your home by way of a door.
When you go to work tomorrow, or about your business tomorrow you will use doors, for doors are unavoidable.
Jesus is revealed as something so prevalent and something so needed in our lives – in our souls.
Doors are everywhere. Doors are amazing, when you think about them.
The largest door in the world is at the Kennedy Space Center. It is 465 feet tall and it takes 45 minutes to fully open it.
The oldest door in the world, they tell us, is in Zurich. It was found during an archeological dig and is dated to around 5,100 years ago.
No, the door in Zurich is not the oldest, for Jesus is eternal and He is the true and living Door.
I want to speak to you about this metaphor, this image, this symbol which Jesus used to speak of Himself. Jesus used this imagine because it is so common, yet so necessary. We can’t live without doors and you are not really living till you know the true Door of life – Jesus.
ELEVATOR STORY
There is a story about a hillbilly up in the North Carolina who came to Asheville with his son to take care of business. He had never been in a place so big. He went into the building where he was to settle his business and was fascinated when he saw an ornate door. He didn’t know it, but he was looking at an elevator, something the old mountain man had never seen in his life. In a moment, the ornate door opened and a little old lady using a cane went inside. The door closed and he saw some lights flashing; then a moment later the door opened and a tall, beautiful young woman stepped out of the elevator door. The mountain man turned to his son and said, “Remind me to bring your mamma over here next time, ‘cause I’m gonna put her in that thar thing.”
Would it not be wonderful if there was a door you could enter and come out brand new? There is – the Door is not a place but a person – Jesus – and that is what Christ was telling us when he used this earthly, practical, down-to-earth term to describe Himself.
Think with me about Jesus as the Door and understand just how important this image actually is. First, look at the …
I. The Necessity of the Door
First, there is an absolute necessity for a door. You cannot get into a physical structure without one. Likewise, there is a requirement of a door for a person to enter salvation and eventually the presence of God. The question is, “Where can the door be found?”
Many voices seek to suggest to people the answer to the
- Door for Peace, or the
- Door of Forgiveness, or the
- Door to a Relationship with God.
Jesus made it plain that He alone is the Door to a relationship with the Heavenly Father. That is the whole point of what He was teaching on the occasion we are looking at in the Bible today.
Think of it. What if ...
We are hungry but no door exists to the kitchen of grace?
We are sick but no door of healing exists for the soul?
We are dirty and no door to the place of cleansing exists?
Defecient souls can be filled, and
Diseased hearts can be healed, and
Dirty hearts can be cleansed,
if they are willing to pass through the correct door.
The Door is necessary and thank God, there is a Door. That Door is Jesus! He told us so.
Not only is there a necessity for a door, but notice in the case of salvation, peace and grace in our lives, we must recognize …
II. The Singularity of the Door
You see, there is but One door to God. There are not many ways but only One way to in the place of blessing and salvation.
In Acts 4:10-12, Dr. Luke clearly told us this fact:
“Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
You see what was said here. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
- No other name
- No other person
- No other door but Christ!
- There is but ONE DOOR.
The Ark that Noah entered had but one door.
The Tabernacle had but one door.
The Temple had but one door.
There is only ONE DOOR and that door is JESUS.
The Ark, Tabernacle and Temple foreshadowed the Savior – the one place of safety from the storm and the one place for cleansing from sin.
WRONG HOUSE STORY
One day a salesman came to a home and found a little boy sitting on the front steps. The salesman, with his best smile displayed, asked the boy, “Son, is your mother at home?” The little fellow said, “Yeah, she’s home. Why?” The salesman stepped past the lad and rang the doorbell. No one came to the door. The salesman rang again. No one came. He turned to the boy and said, “I thought you said your mother was at home.” The little boy answered, “She is at home, but this is not my home. I don’t live here.”
You can ring all the door bells on earth but you can’t go through the door if you’re at the wrong house. Jesus is the only DOOR – there is a singular way to God and redemption.
In John 14 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father except through me.”
Understand this truth: Jesus is not A DOOR - Jesus is THE DOOR!
So, we note the necessity of the door and the singularity of the door, but now let’s consider …
III. The Availability of the Door
A door you can’t get into is of no use to you at all. If it is locked and you don’t have the key, you are out of luck. If entrance to a door requires money that you don’t have, you must remain outside. If a cost is demanded and you fail to meet it, you are denied entrance.
Jesus said, “Whoever enters through me …” Not every door on earth is available to you or to me. Some doors read
“Keep Out!”
“Employees Only”
“Authorized Personnel Only.”
I read a door one time on a military base that read, “No Entrance – That Means YOU!”
The door to eternal life and a meaningful life is available – that is exactly what Jesus was saying that day was He spoke of Himself as the Door. Jesus invited you and me saying, “Come unto me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Jesus tells us to enter the Door. This Door is not just for the rich, nor is it just for the poor.
This door is not just for the good, nor just the evil.
All have need of this door and all who repent of sin and have faith in the Lordship of Christ have access to the Door.
Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist from a few years back, issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in short order. One time something went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. He was bathed in sweat, panting in exasperation, but he could not pick the lock. After laboring two hours, Houdini collapsed in against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all! But in his mind it was locked, and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell. (story of Houdini from Zig Ziglar, James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 225.) The door is open to those who will come.
So, let me share this thought as well …
IV. The Generosity at the Door
Behind some doors there exists incredible wealth. In fact, some people have gone to incredible lengths to get into doors behind which gold, money, art or other items of value are to be found. Train doors, banks doors, armored truck doors, museum doors and even the doors of homes have been cut open, shot open, blasted open or in some other manner opened in order for thieves to get their hands on the wealth to be found there.
I suppose one place that has some of the most secure doors on earth are found at Fort Knox. It is said that the gold reserves of the United States are held there. I would not try to break in there, if I were you. After all, if you get into the vaults where the gold is said to be stored, you are likely to find a great, big note pinned on the wall. It likely contains just three letters. “I. O. U." After all, we’ve borrowed so much money in America that there may not be any gold left at Fort Knox.
Let me assure you that the greatest wealth in all the world lies behind one door – that door is the Jesus. Behind that door is the price paid at the cross for all the sins of the world. Behind that door is the price paid for your soul and mine. Behind that door is the gate to heaven and all the joys of eternity with God.
Years ago, Monty Hall was the host of a television game show entitled, “Let’s Make A Deal.” He would offer a contestant in the audience a chance to choose one of three doors on the stage. Beforehand, however, he would give the contestant a small amount of money. “Now,” he would say, “you can keep the money or trade it for what is behind door 1, door 2 or door 3. But, I must tell you that there is a goat behind two of those doors but a new car behind one of them.” Watching the program created tension as the audience yelled out different options for the contestant. Of course, the contestant usually chose a door and got a goat, a bag cat litter or six boxes of detergent.
God doesn’t ask you to guess between different doors. He offers you the only DOOR to heaven – His Son, Jesus.
Paul wrote it like the following in Ephesians 1:7-8, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
Note the generosity of God resting in Jesus – the Door.
A. Salvation
Jesus said that those who receive Him are saved! Saved from what? From sin! From death! From hell!
Someone has said that man's life is made up of ...
- 20 years of his mother asking him where he is going,
- 40 years of his wife asking him where he has been and
- 1 hour at his funeral when everyone wonders where he has gone.
When you have entered the Door, Jesus Christ, death is simply a step into the presence of God.
B. Supplication
Jesus is the Door by which we enter in and have communion with our Lord while we live on this earth. He is the door of entrance for the child of God to meet with the Heavenly Father. We go in through Him, not just in salvation, but in supplication – in prayer. We have the right to full fellowship with God. He calls us His friend! Imagine that, an audience with the Creator of the Universe, because you have received His Son by faith!
C. Service
We not only can go in through Him, but Jesus tells us that we go out. What does He mean by that? It means that we have a purpose – God’s purpose for our lives. We don’t live useless, selfish and regretful lives as Christians. Our purpose is to serve God. We have a reason for living here.
As Jesus spoke about being the door, He was speaking in terms of a shepherd and his sheep. A sheepfold, a place where sheep were kept safe overnight, was a square or round enclosure made of rocks piled on each other. One place was left open so that the sheep come enter and exit. At night, once the sheep were inside, the shepherd would lie down in the doorway. No sheep could leave without the shepherd stopping it, and no beast of prey could enter without getting by the shepherd. Jesus was clearly saying that He is the Shepherd fo the sheep. He is the door. Once we are in Him, we have peace, protection and purpose. The sheep went out each day to graze and feed. In doing so, they grew wool for the shepherds use. At night the sheep had rest and peace. In Christ I am secure. I have Him guarding the door of my life. And, I have purpose, for He leads me out to work for Him. One day, I will enter my heavenly home - the one Jesus has prepared for me. That is the picture here. Till then, I want a life of purpose and meaning - that is what Jesus gives me.
You remember Steve Jobs, the late founder of Apple. Jobs wanted the 38-year-old whiz named John Sculley to leave his place as President of Pepsi-Cola and become President at Apple. In offering Sculley the position, Steve Jobs asked this question, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”
Jesus has a greater challenge than that. Do you want to live in this difficult, sad, painful, sinful world, only to die a mournful death? Or, do you want to know that you belong to God, that you have a purpose for living, and that God saves the best for last?
Conclusion
The story is told by a minister of a church Moody visited years before. The fame of Moody was far and wide and when it was announced that the well-known evangelist was coming, thousands came to hear. One evening a little boy came alone to the door of the large church. The usher at the door stopped the small dirty ragged boy and told him that he should go home and be in bed. When the boy explained that he wanted to see Mr. Moody the usher refused to let him come in. The little boy, downcast and disappointed, walked to the side of the building and began to weep. Just then a carriage came to the church entrance and Moody moved toward the door. He heard the crying and saw the little boy leaning against the wall. Moody walked over to him and asked his trouble. The boy looked up and explained how he wanted to hear Mr. Moody but wasn't allowed inside. Moody smiled and said, “Do you really want to hear Mr. Moody?” The boy said, “Yes, Sir!” Moody said, “Well, I know how to get you in, but you have to do exactly what I tell you to.” So, putting his coattails in the hands of the boy, Moody told him to hold on to them and not let loose until he told him to. Moody entered the building and walked to the platform. Reaching the pulpit, he said, “Well done. I told you that if you would only hold on you would get in. Now, my boy, you sit there.” Moody put him on the chair reserved for himself and for the evening the boy listened to the great preacher. The minister who told the story said, “I know the story is true for it happened in my church. Yes, I know it's true because I was that little boy. I heard the great D. L. Moody preach, but little did I know when I clung to his coattails that someday I would become the minister of that same church.”
Just as that boy got in the door through Dr. Moody, we get in the door of salvation and every blessing of God through Christ alone. He is the door to redemption and the door to the seat of joy with our Lord in eternity. Today it is my prayer that some soul in this place would trust Him as Savior.
God is calling you to come to Him today. He is calling you to walk through an open door. There is no admission price, for He has already paid it! You can’t work your way in. You can’t pay your way in. You must come by faith. Come like that little boy who walked in with Mr. Moody. Take hold of Jesus and the door opens!
Then, some of us need to serve Him more faithfully, because they door swung open to let us in to the kingdom also swings out so that we can take the gospel to the world. Let me close with a story.
