Going Through The Door - [John 10]

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I was listening many months ago to a gentleman preach.
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And unashamedly, he would get up in front of his church, the pastor, and he would say, isn't the
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Lord lovely? And isn't He? We have a wonderful Savior. And I trust, as even in the
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Sunday school class, Brother Christian mentioned, one of Paul's focuses in 1
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Corinthians 2 .2, he said, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
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And this morning, if you would please turn with me to John chapter 10, I would strive,
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I would love to attempt to preach the glories and the wonder of our blessed
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Savior, Jesus Christ. John chapter 10, where we see these words, as I read from the
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King James in John chapter 10, verse 1, Verily, verily, or truly, truly,
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I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber.
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But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter open, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
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And when he put forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
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Verse 5, And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
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This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spoke unto them.
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Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, or truly, truly,
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I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
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I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.
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The thief comes not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
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I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
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Shall we pray? Father in heaven, as we come before you in prayer, we would first beg you for your mercies, that you would forgive us our sins this morning, that you would remember us in your great kindness, and that there might be great grace poured out upon us that we might this morning be favored by our
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God. We long to hear from your word that which will help us, that which will encourage us, that which will strengthen us and enable us to serve the only one who is worthy to be served, the
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Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our brother mentioned this morning that there may be some in this room that are lost.
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It is no doubt that there are many in this room that could possibly be lost.
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And how we pray that you in your favor would make this the acceptable day, the day in which they look for the very first time to the one and only
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Savior, Jesus Christ. And for those that are here that are your people, we pray that we might be so encouraged of what we hear and learn as we learn more of Jesus Christ.
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May he be exalted, may he be magnified in the midst of us here this morning. In Jesus' precious name, amen.
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The text that I have this morning is in this chapter of John. John 10, verse 9, where Jesus said,
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I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
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Jesus speaks and it blesses our souls. We need to hear his voice this morning.
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We need to hear his words and we need to understand them. Here in John 10, we have our
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Lord Jesus set himself forth in a condescending way. Here he speaks to common people using common and ordinary words.
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To make the simple wise, Jesus uses simple terms, simple yet profound.
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This chapter begins and continues with the Lord Jesus using a metaphor. And the metaphor is based upon first century sheep ranching or the rearing of sheep.
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And sheep were kept in a pen or in a fold and there was a gate through which the sheep had to enter and the shepherd would enter and the sheep would exit from and leave from.
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The shepherds, he goes on and he talks about in here how he would hire an under -shepherd or a hireling to help watch and protect and assist him.
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And the shepherd called his sheep, let his sheep. So the whole metaphor has to do with sheep and the sheepfold and particularly in this verse here, this door of the sheepfold.
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Very important for us to focus on. This was, as you know, as you see in the verse where Jesus says,
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I am the door. Many times in the New Testament, I counted about 14, maybe there are even more, where the
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Lord used this type of teaching to explain himself, to describe himself, to show who he was.
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You remember in John chapter 4 and verse 26, Jesus said, I am the Messiah. In John 6, 35,
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I am the bread of life. In John 8, 23, I am from above. In 9, 5, I am the light of the world.
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In 8, 58, I am the eternal one. I am, before Abraham was,
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I am the very name for God, the eternal one. In John 10, verses 11 and 14, our chapter here,
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I am the good shepherd. In chapter 10, verse 36,
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I am the son of God. In chapter 14, verse 6, you remember this verse.
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Most of us have memorized that. I am the way, the truth, and the life. In 15, 1,
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I am the true vine. In 11, 25, I am the resurrection and the life. In 13, 13,
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I am your Lord and master. In Revelation 1, 8, I am the alpha and the omega. In Revelation chapter 1, verse 17,
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I am the first and the last. In our text here, not only in verse 7, where Jesus says,
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I am the door, but he says it also again in verse 9, I am the door. Now, to us, a door is a common object.
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And our Lord would have us to think of him often, so he uses these terms so that we can understand what he's saying, objects like this to illustrate his truth, which makes it easier for us to remember him by.
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And here in our text, he uses the door. We all know what a door is. We no doubt used one today.
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I mean, if there were no door, no opening, no portal, no entrance, you'd all be on the outside because there would just be a building without a door and no one would be able to enter in, no passage or no entry in.
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And our loving Lord Jesus wants the lowliest of creatures to come to him and to know him and to understand who he is and to learn of him, as he said in Matthew chapter 11, and understand how he explains himself.
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The true Jesus of the Bible is not one who is hiding himself, and we need some type of documentary or television program to tell us who
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Jesus is. He's declared openly in the scriptures and presented to us. And here he is declared that he is the door.
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And in mercy and in love, Jesus shows us the way to God. He is the door.
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And I trust that as we look this morning at the necessity of the door, at the singularity of the door, at the personality of this door, as those who use or partake of this door and of the blessed promises that come to those who would partake or use this door may be blessed as we plumb the depths of this great truth of our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ.
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And I want us first to consider when Jesus said, I am the door, I want you to notice the reason why it's stated is because there is a necessity for this door.
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What if God never gave us a door where which, metaphorically speaking, of course, we could go through to get to God?
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What if there were no door? I mean, as I just said a little while ago, if there was no door to this room, none of us could have entered inside.
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And if there is no door to God, there would be no way we could enter into a relationship with God, no way to enter into his kingdom.
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We would be completely shut out from God and from heaven with no hope of ever being saved.
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We would be like all of those people who were outside of Noah's Ark in the time of the flood.
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No way to get in. No way to be saved. When that door was finally shut, they were hopelessly lost.
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But listen to Jesus's words. And may they stir our hearts this morning. Jesus says,
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I am the door. I am the door.
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Jesus is the door which, if we walk through by faith, brings us to God, by God's great grace, his mighty power.
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And through the bloodstained cross of Christ, Jesus becomes the doorway for sinners, so that they might come to God, come to peace with God, come to the truth of God, come to true salvation.
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It is our sins, our rebellion, our selfishness, our bitterness, our anger, our lying, our cheating, our hatefulness, our wayward passions, our disobedience before God.
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These have put a wall, so to speak, between us and God. And no effort that we can perform can remove that wall.
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We need a way of access to God. We need a door, an opening, and Jesus himself is that door, the only way of removing that great wall that is between us and God.
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A door of salvation is a necessity because all men have fallen short of the glory of God and are sinners before a holy
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God. And therefore, a door of salvation is a must for hopeless sinners. God in his mercy has provided his son,
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Jesus Christ, and this is the testimony concerning Jesus throughout all the scriptures, that he is the way for those who are in great need, and people need the
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Lord. And there are a number of people in this room this morning with a number this size that have not yet come to Jesus.
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And so there is a necessity of this door. Secondly, the singularity of this door.
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Jesus, if you notice in John chapter 9, it doesn't say, Jesus didn't say, I am one of many doors.
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He says, I am the door. We hear all about all kinds of supposed doors to God.
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We hear all about all kinds of other ways and other religions that we are to tolerate.
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If you were very sick, if I had found out from the doctor that I was very sick and there was only one remedy for that, only one operation, only one thing that they could do,
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I would not be looking elsewhere. I would be looking for that remedy, for that medication, for that surgery to take place.
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And we have people that are telling us there are many ways to God, but they're liars because there is only one.
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There is only one door. There is only one way. There are other ways that people try to get to God, but those man -made ways will never get that person in, for there is only one door.
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And if you feel like in your life it is pointless, it is useless, it is restless, you are aimless, you are unfulfilled, it's because you are not in.
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And by that I mean you have not come in through the door, and you are not in. Do you know what it's like?
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Maybe you've experienced this. Maybe you are not fully comprehending what it means to be a
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Christian. You've never been forgiven your sins. You've never become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and yet you might be in the company of other people who claim to be
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Christians, and they profess that they know God, and they're speaking about the things of God, and you feel like you're on the outside because you don't understand the language.
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You don't understand why they have a passion for God. You don't understand why they're not different than that young man that we saw, that they are different than that young man that we saw on the screen this morning in Sunday school who loved his sin.
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These people hate their sin. Christians, they love Christ now. They've been changed. Their hearts are different, and you don't understand.
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It's because you're on the outside. You've never entered in through the door. You've never come to Christ. You've never come in faith and looked to him, as I'm going to get at in a little bit further not to get ahead of myself, but you're not in.
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You haven't walked in through that door. I remember 36 years ago
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I met a young woman. Her name was Deborah Turner, and 32 years ago she became my wife.
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God gave her to me. And ever since that point, my search for a life's partner has been over.
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I'm sorry, guys. I got the best one. My search is over, and some of you are searching.
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Some of you have this gnawing question about what is it to be a
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Christian. What is it to be saved? What does it mean to have your sins forgiven and to be a child of God and to be changed?
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These people are talking about this, and you're probing about it, and you're wondering about it, what Christianity and religion is all about.
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And if you've been searching for a way to get rid of your guilt and to find forgiveness and peace for your soul, then praise
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God, you can stop looking now because our text declares to us that Jesus is that way, and he is the only way, the only truth, and the only life.
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John 14, verse 6, No person can come to God the Father unless they enter in through the only door that he has set before us.
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Not our doors, not what we think, but what he has set, who he has set. And salvation comes by entering in at the only door that God has provided, and that door is his
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Son, the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, wrote these words.
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Here in John chapter 10 are plain directions how to come into the fold. We must come in by Jesus Christ as the door.
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By faith in him as the great mediator between God and man, we come into covenant and communion with God.
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No one is looked upon as a member of the kingdom of God among men, but those who are willing to submit to the grace and government of the
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Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We must now enter by that door, and there is only one.
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So if you want to be saved, you must, must enter in at the door, and this door only,
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Jesus Christ. And you enter by faith, not by works, not by any effort of your own, but by calling upon the
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Lord for mercy. Luke, the apostle Luke put it this way in Acts 4 .12. He said,
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Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
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No other name, none other. You put any other name in a blank and you say, I want to be saved by this person or this religion.
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None, but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. You'll notice also in our text here, if you'll notice, look in the verse.
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John 10 .9, I am the door. By Buddha, by Mohammed, by Joseph Smith, by any other name.
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No, through Buddha, through Joseph Smith. No, but by, but through me, he says.
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He makes it very clear. It's through him and through him alone. And a person may be sincere in their belief.
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They truly are sincere in trying to hold on to a grass, some other type of religion or depend upon that.
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But they are sincerely wrong because Jesus has declared himself as the only way.
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Thirdly, I want you to consider this with me. Look at the personality of this door, and I've kind of just touched on that.
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The door given to us by God so that we might be forgiven and accepted by God is not a door of ceremony.
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It is not a door of creeds or baptisms or church memberships or trying to live a good life or your personal accomplishments or achievements.
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It's not living as a good person. It is not turning over a new leaf because the leaf is corrupted on both sides.
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It is not religious duties or self -effort. Notice the blessedness of this text, which tells us what, or in particular, who this door is.
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And as I've said already before, I am the door. Somebody said, I don't know if it was
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Pastor Mike or somebody said, when Brother Dave gets preaching, when he's done preaching and you go away from it, usually pretty much you will know what he said because he's hit that nail with his hammer many, many times over and over and over again.
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And I'll say yes, amen to that, and I say that's me because I believe that I'm a person who needs to hear something over and over again in order for it to sink into me and into my heart and become part of the fiber of my being.
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But there is no one as lovely as Jesus. There is no other Savior. There is no other place to go to.
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And if we're to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, if he is to be lifted up in the midst of us, if we are to be encouraged and to learn of him, as he said, because he is meek and lowly of heart, we will find rest to our souls, then we can find rest to our souls this morning as we hear of the great person and work of Jesus Christ.
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And I want to make it very, very clear. The personality of this door, Jesus himself is the door.
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Not a plan of salvation, but the God -man of salvation. Jesus has done all the work to accomplish this great salvation.
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He's the one who sacrificed himself. He's the one who shed his blood.
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He allowed himself to be nailed to the cross to die for our sins. He was the one who was raised from the dead.
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You will see that in our text. He is the one who gave himself for us. Verse 11, I am the good shepherd.
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The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Verse 15, as the Father knows me, even so I know
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I the Father and lay down my life for the sheep. He lays down his life on the behalf of or in the stead of.
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As our substitute, he has died for us. Verse 17, therefore doth my Father love me, because I, what, lay down my life that I may take it again.
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And verse 18, no man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself or of my own initiative.
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Voluntarily, he gave himself. It wasn't a mess -up. It wasn't God's second plan, plan
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B or plan C. It was the predetermined count from the predetermined plan and counsel of God for Jesus to be the
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Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world who would love us and give himself for us.
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It is Jesus. Upon the cross, we hear his words,
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It is finished. The work is done. And bless God, this door is not locked.
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Jesus has opened the way to God and the way to heaven, and he is that way, and he is that door.
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And everyone in this room this morning has either gone through this door by faith, so to speak, gone through this door, or has refused to go through it.
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And this is the door that God has set before all of us. And I'm going to ask you this morning, what will you do?
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It's very plain and clear. You can't get in here unless you come through that door. You cannot get into heaven.
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You cannot become a child of God. You cannot be forgiven. You can't have peace with God unless you come through that door.
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As Jesus said, I'm going to hold my place here and do what you're not supposed to do, go off your notes.
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But in Matthew 7, we hear Jesus' words, Enter in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.
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There is a huge doorway that all of mankind, because of the nature of our sin, because we've fallen in our sinfulness before God and we're blinded to the things of God, we cannot see the kingdom of God, we don't understand the things of God.
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We're going through that broad doorway, that wide pathway, that wide roadway that leads to destruction.
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It says that many there are that go that way. But, verse 14, it says, Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it.
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And Jesus says back in verse 13, Enter in at that straight gate. Enter there at the only gate.
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And that gate, that gate that will bring us back to God, reconcile us to God, is
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Jesus Christ. There's a progression of this truth in the Scriptures, and I remember this early on when the
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Lord had saved me, that I would remember that I would say, Well, Christ died for the sins of the world.
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And then I could say Christ died for our sins, but it is a wonder of wonders when we can say,
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Christ died for me, for my sins. He's my personal Savior and Lord.
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He's the one who's redeemed me. He is my all in all. And fourthly,
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I'd like to speak to you this morning about the users of this door, or that's the best
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I could come up with with that point. Those who are going to partake. Those who are going to enter in at this door.
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Notice what the text says. I am the door by me if any man enter in.
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Who are those that will go through this door? They are not those who look at the door knowing where it is.
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They are not those who analyze the door and break it down into its components.
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And they know that there is wood and glass and metal and knobs and hinges.
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And it's not those that just knock on the door and go away or just wait at the door and go away eventually.
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It's not those who analyze Jesus. They know all about him. They know where he was born and they know what he did when he was young and they know what he did when he got older.
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He died on the cross. It's just not knowing those facts intellectually. It's not just looking at and analyzing when it comes to Jesus being the door or knocking on the door and just sitting there fast and not doing anything and being idle.
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Or as James would put it, not just being hearers of this truth but hearers and doers of the truth.
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Those are the ones that will be helped. Those are the ones that will be saved. And who does he speak to, the Lord speak to in this verse?
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By me if any man enters in. Those who are saved are those who, as our verse says, enter in.
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You must go through the door in order to enter into a room and you must enter through the straight gate of repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ in order to become a child of God.
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You must enter by faith, believing upon Jesus Christ that he has died for you, entering by faith into a relationship with God.
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And if we have not called upon the name of the Lord, we've not been saved. We've not gone in through that door.
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We're not in. We're outside the ark and the flood is going to come. Judgment, that's what that flood was.
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Judgment is coming. No, the Lord is not going to judge the world with water, with a flood, but the fiery judgment is coming.
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And this world is going to be burned up and all who are outside of Jesus Christ, all as the picture in the
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Old Testament, all who are outside of the ark would be those who that judgment would fall upon.
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And all those that are outside of Christ have not entered in through the door. The judgment of God, the wrath of God will come upon them because they've refused to bend the knee to Jesus Christ.
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They've refused to call upon the name of the Lord and ask to be forgiven and for him to be merciful to their souls.
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And they've not gone through the door. And how important and vital this is.
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And yet some of you have not done that. Who is it that will be saved and receive full promise?
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That this verse declares to us to be saved, to be able to go in and go out and find pasture.
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The only qualification is that you enter in. In the Greek it means to come in, to enter in, to go in through.
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And if you're not in, as I said, you're on the outside. Christ is not yours and you are not his. And are you guilty?
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Are you ashamed? Are you yearning for forgiveness? Christ is the only way.
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Notice, those who are invited in the door, it's not just for the rich and famous.
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It's not just for the influential and the educated. Not the powerful.
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I mean, sometimes, don't you ever watch those shows on television? I mean, they even have shows where they go into people's yards and they kind of redo the whole back patio and all that.
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A lot of it's in California because it's always sunny and bright every time they're doing it. And all the houses that they rebuild,
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I don't know where the people get the money to do the things that they get. Somebody must be giving it to them. But it's not common for us to be able to go out to the store and to spend all this money to do these things.
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And when it comes to salvation, it's not for a higher -tiered people. It's not for the powerful, not for the religious, not for the who's who in society.
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I had a great friend of mine who's now in glory, lived in England, and he said that he would put it this way, those who can go through the door, it's not restricted for the mucky mucks.
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I don't even know what that means. I hope it's okay. The mucky mucks, you know, the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
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No, it's not restricted just for those or just exclusive for those. Who's allowed to walk through the door?
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Jesus promises in this verse, I end the door by me if any man or if any person.
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Is there anyone here this morning that is not a person? Think about it. The invitation comes to us all.
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We're all invited to enter in. Jesus invites us in, all of us, no matter what our sins might be, liars, covetous, drunkards, out of control, those who don't keep their promises, disobedient, ungodly, cheaters, sexually promiscuous, haters, thieves, murderers, rebellious, those who fight with God, ungrateful, proud boasters, and out of God's great love for fallen sinners.
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We hear it in other places in the scriptures, not just in one place, but we hear it in God's soul of the world,
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John 3 .16, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.
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Did you notice it didn't say that if the elite would believe in Him, but whosoever will believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
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Matthew 11, verse 28, Jesus said, the verse I was thinking about earlier, come unto
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Me, just the few, just the proud, just the little teeny group that I'll allow to come in.
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No, come unto Me, all you who are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.
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It is not those with self -worth. It is not those that are the self -righteous that enter. It's not those with warm feelings who have been church members for a long period of time or they have their religious activity.
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It's not those who've changed their lives and everything is okay in their lives and now they can come.
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No, the only way that you can go through this door is as a sinner. The only way that you can do this is with the dirt of our sin and the ugliness of it all.
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With our sin and our guilt and our shame, we can come in through this door and come to Jesus Christ.
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Who goes through this door? It is those who know they need a Savior that enter in. And I understand, and there are some thinking, but Brother David is
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God that does that, right? Yes, it's God that does that. And God elects and God chooses and God works.
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And if God doesn't move first, no one will move towards this door. But the message this morning is coming to those, and in particular even right now, a focus would be on those who are sitting here and you've never entered in.
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You think that everything is going to be okay someday. You think it's just all somehow going to work its way out.
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And somehow God is going to accept me because I'm good or because my parents go to church or my parents are
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Christians or I have something, I have knowledge, a biblical knowledge, and I go to Awana and everything is okay with me.
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Or I go to the Bible study and I talk the talk. But you don't walk a walk. God has never given you a new heart.
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You've never become a new creature in Christ Jesus. And that has not happened because you've never entered in.
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You're on the outside. And Jesus is the door by which by faith we turn from our sin and we believe upon the
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Lord Jesus Christ and he is the door. He is the way and the only way to salvation.
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This door does not have a sign on it that says private club members only upon it.
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Just this past week there was a, I mean, there's some places we're not allowed to go, right? I mean, can you just walk up to the
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Oval Office? Dave Jeffries is here. Please let me in. No, no, no, no, no, no.
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There's some places you just don't barge into, we don't have access to. I mean, there's some top -secret, top -notch security places and government offices that you can't go to without that clearance.
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You'll never get in. And even on a smaller scale, the company that I work at, there's a place
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I work for in the computer department at an insurance company and cars get in accidents in Massachusetts and when you get in an accident, you file a claim.
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When your claim is accepted and they process it, they send you a check. Well, there's a place at our company where they print those checks and it's behind a locked door and you can't walk in there.
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You just can't barge yourself, barge your way into that room. I've been in that room because I was invited in.
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They let me, they unlocked the door and let me in. I mean, there's places where there's special treatment and there's only a few can go in there, but that's not what we're speaking of here when it comes to who it is that is allowed to come and enter in through this door.
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It is all that feel their need of a savior. It is all those that feel they are undone, they're unprofitable before God.
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They are like the prophet Isaiah said, we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
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I mean, we are just nobody's and we're not deserving of the presence of God because of our sin.
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But Jesus said, even in John 6, verse 37, the one coming to me,
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I will in no wise cast out. I will never drive you away. And you might be sitting here this morning and you think, you're right,
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Brother Dave, I've never entered in. I've never believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I've never been saved.
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I've been put on a front. I don't have that new heart that I will give you as the prophet said in the
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Old Testament. A stony heart be taken out and a heart of flesh given to that person so that that heart beats for God.
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That's not my experience. I've been trying to walk through these motions, but there's nothing. There's nothing real.
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There's nothing genuine. There's no grace exhibited in my life. I bid you enter in. Believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. But fifthly, my last point, look at the promises in this verse to those who do enter in.
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Those who do come through this door, the very promises of Jesus Christ, John 10, 9,
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I am the door by me. If any man enter in first, he shall be saved. He shall go in and out and he shall find pasture.
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And I've been talking much about the first one, the very promise given to us and spoken by God himself who cannot lie, the person who comes in through this door, through this way, through Christ, he shall be saved.
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No greater gift. What an unspeakable gift. What an incredible.
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Pastor Steve can say the word well. I have trouble pronouncing it, that unfathomable.
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I think I have an extra mobile in there. But do you know what that word means? Some of you don't even know what it means.
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In the old time, mariners, sailors out in a ship, a fathom is a distance of like about seven feet.
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Am I right? Is it seven ish, six feet, six feet? It's a distance. And what they did on the old ships was they took a rope and they tied knots in it for fathom length apart with a weight on the bottom, drop it over the side and they would fathom the bottom.
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They would see how far down it is. That's what fathom to fathom means. When it comes to the unsearchable riches of Christ, when it comes to salvation, when it comes to the wonder of God saving our unworthy souls and forgiving us of all of our sins in Jesus Christ and allowing us to become his children, to take us home one day, and not only to save us, but as the hymn writer says, saving, helping, keeping and loving, he will be with us to the very end.
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You can't tie enough rope together. You can't put enough knots in that rope. And there's even a song that's written like that.
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In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love above.
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I think it's in. And can it be that the angel is trying to sound the depths or to fathom the depths and you cannot do it.
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It is unbelievable what God has done for us. The promise is first to be saved. There you have it.
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Perishing sinners need a savior. They need someone to die and pay the penalty, do their sins.
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And we read in verses, as I said, in verse 11 and in verse 15 and 17 and 18, that Jesus has laid down his life, substituted himself for us, for his sheep.
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And not only that, look what it says. God, who is rich in mercy and willing to forgive, has provided a door to enter into where we can leave our sin and shame and become a child of God.
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Jesus has paid for our sins and stands as the only door, entrance into a relationship with God.
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And so when you come to Jesus, your sins are completely washed away and you become a child of God.
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And do you long, do you desire to enter into a life and a relationship with God?
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Then come, I bid you come and enter. What must I do to be lost?
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Nothing, because you already are. What must I do to be outside of Christ, outside of the ark?
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Nothing, because you're there. What must I do to be on the inside, so to speak? And I'm not taking that in a way of it being favored like we would in our speaking today.
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But what must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, the scripture tells us.
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Saved from God's punishment upon sin. Saved from hell, which is an eternal judgment.
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And saved from spendings. Listen to this. Saved from spending an eternity the same way some of you are now living your lives without God.
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Godless. You live your life without God, you'll die and spend eternity without God. But if you turn from your sin, you turn and look to Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
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For those of you in this room and you're thinking, I'm a Christian, I've come to church, I need something from this text that's going to help me.
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If you would please just pray with me that those that are here this morning could not leave without coming to Christ.
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That we would expect great things from God, that God would save in the midst of us.
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And that he would be glorified in the saving of at least one sheep that might be found and maybe more.
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And I'll give you a little plate of something to take with you as I finish up here.
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Notice the rest of Jesus' promise. Not only those who will come in by him, and they enter in, they shall be saved.
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But they shall go in and out. They shall go in and out.
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This is a blessed promise. And here we go, to everyone who has already entered in through the door.
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Some people feel that to come to Jesus, to become a Christian, they enter into a miserable life of restrictions, and they will feel like they can't have any more satisfaction in life, or there's nothing that will be fun anymore.
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And I tell you this morning that that is one of Satan's lies. God delights to give us life in Christ, and it is a most blessed life.
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On the authority of God's word and the promise of his son, even in this verse, they'll be able to go in and out.
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No one ever really begins to live until they come to Christ. And he alone gives eternal life.
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Firstly, that's being saved. Look in verse 27 and 28. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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Notice in verse 28, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
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My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. That's the eternal security, the salvation that is a one -time gift, and forever never to be taken back.
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But Jesus says more than that in this verse. Not only saved, but there's something about the life of those people who are saved.
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They receive an abundant life. Yes, John 10 .10, at the end of that verse, Jesus has come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
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But God does something with our lives. You may have heard me say this in the past before. When I was a young boy,
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I was a junk collector. I'm an older man. I'm a junk collector. My wife knows that.
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My family knows that. It's difficult for me to get it going and to go through a purge and get rid of all those things.
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I can remember as a young boy, I grew up in Westboro, Massachusetts. There was a field behind us. In the old time, in the small towns, there were just these dumps that they put out in the woods.
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I mean, they were out in the woods now, but I don't know where they were back then. But we'd go out in the woods, and you'd find a mound or something, and just take a shovel, pitchfork, and start digging.
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I'd find all kinds of cool stuff. One time, I found this little metal baby carriage.
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The rubber wheels had all decayed, but it was a little metal baby carriage, and I worked on it.
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I mean, it was useless, worthless, sitting in that pile, and I worked on it to get all the dirt in it that was in it and buffed it up.
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We had it in the house for a while, and eventually we sold it. It became worth something.
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And isn't that a great picture of what God does with us? We're worthless sinners sitting on the dung heap, as the psalmist would say, and God is the one who raises us up to sit in his palace.
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So like Mephibosheth, to be able to be around the master's table and to feast with him.
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And that's this idea of this going out and this coming in. If you enter in to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you shall go in and out.
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You are no longer trapped in sin's prison. The Son of God has made you free. There are no more prison doors but a door for the flock to come in and out of the sheepfold.
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You can come into the fold where Jesus, our good shepherd, as he explains himself in this chapter, who is mighty to save, not only saves but guards us and keeps us and protects us.
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We come into the fold for safety and for security and for shelter and for protection and for instruction from our master, from fellowship with him, for enjoyment.
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He comforts the weary, does he not? He talks to his sheep. We even hear this in this, my sheep hear my voice, verse 27, and I know them.
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He intimately, in a close way, he knows us and we follow him. Not only when we're outside but when we're inside.
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He forgives us when we go astray. He takes care of our cuts and our sores.
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He's a wonderful savior and we are allowed to come into the fold where he will take care of us. Aren't you glad about that?
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He takes care of us. What does Dr. Jeremiah say? Do I have a witness? People say amen.
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It's okay to say amen. Think about it. What we've been given, the spiritual blessings that we have in Jesus Christ to be able to come in.
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And then we can go out to serve our shepherd, to follow him. He's not sending us out there on our own but we follow him as the text tells us, this chapter.
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For service, for growth, for witnessing to a lost world, out to make a difference in this troubled society we live in and then to be able to come back because our shepherd is there waiting to comfort and to care for us.
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The hireling will flee and go away but Jesus will stay true to us all the days of our lives and do us good all the days of our lives.
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And then lastly in this verse we'll find pasture to be fed, to be nourished.
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How? When we enter in the door, if we come to Christ, he becomes our shepherd and he becomes the shepherd and bishop of our souls, the overseer, the guarder.
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He will give us our daily spiritual food as we read the word of God and learn more about Jesus and our souls will be satisfied.
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Spurgeon wrote, the sheep enters the fold first by the door and it remains in the fold because the door shuts it in.
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When the flock goes forward they go through the door and when they return to the united rest it is by that same door.
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Take away the door from the fold and the enemy would enter in or the flock itself would go astray.
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A sheep fold without a door would in effect be no fold at all.
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And aren't you glad that there is a fold and Jesus is the door and we have safety and protection and all that we will ever need in him.
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And Jesus said in our text, well first aren't we glad about the description of our loving savior in this text and in that hymn that I quoted earlier, saving, helping, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end.
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Jesus said, beloved I am the door and thank God for this simple illustration of truth that we can all understand from the youngest to the oldest and we can all benefit this morning from the way that Jesus explains himself.
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And if you can go away this morning unaffected, then you certainly need to cry out to God to have mercy upon your poor soul because it's very plain.
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You know we as Christians are marked as being intolerant because we do not accept every fancy of doctrine, every wind of doctrine, every religion we do not accept.
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We don't accept all the different ways that people say you can be forgiven of your sins.
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And it's just because like the testimony of Martin Luther in Sunday school, he says, he was saying there that what he stood upon and what he believed was in this book and nowhere else.
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No other man's thinking, no other man's counsel, no other person, no other person who puts themselves in authority over this book.
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He would not believe that because it would not only dishonor God and it would go against the scriptures but it would violate his conscience.
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And we as a church, we as a people of God, we can preach Christ crucified.
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We can live as if these things are true in our lives and they impact us and they have such an influence upon us.
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And my desire was not only for someone here this morning to be saved and certainly
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God can do that because he is a savior by nature. And we look to him to stir hearts and to glorify his son by saving sinners in the midst of us.
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But also we who are Christians here this morning can see what it is that God has done in our lives and the access not only that we have to God to be saved, but after that God does not leave us alone and he is a tender shepherd.
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He is a loving shepherd. He is a caring shepherd. He is one who regards us, who thinks upon us, who knows our needs, who knows what we're going to pray before we even pray it.
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And he has never done anything, never done one thing to cause you to doubt his great care and his perpetual concern for you, never, and he never will.
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As I close this morning, I would say for those of you that are outside and you know you are, today is the day to enter in.
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Today is the day to call upon the Lord. Today is the day to raise the white flag of surrender and to throw down your sword and stop fighting against God and say all to Jesus I surrender.
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I look to him as my all in all and I will believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ today.
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I will enter in at the door and I will know what it means to be in Christ. Not because of my own righteousness, but through the righteousness which is of God by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
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And those of you who are my brothers and sisters in Christ, don't fear, don't fret, don't get frazzled.
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Though it's easy to do, is it not? When the things start unraveling all about us, don't be concerned because our shepherd has promised to us we'll go in and out and find pasture and all that we will ever need we will have through him.
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And he is not only a loving and a caring and a tender shepherd, and as I began early on, isn't the
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Lord lovely? Isn't he just so lovely this morning for the way he has explained himself and showed himself to us and how we can plumb the depths and the treasures of this truth and they are our very own.
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We love him because he first loved us and that's a wonderful thing for us to be able to say that not only we are beloved of the
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Lord, but we love him because he first loved us. I trust that you'll be able to go away today comforted if you're a child of God and maybe convicted to come to him if you're not.
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Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, as we come before you again, we would ask that you would do that which you do best.
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Would you please, as the psalmist said, arise and scatter our enemies? Would you please not allow the wicked one to pluck this seed from the heart of anyone who has heard this morning?
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But would you please work so mightily as you work to make the call of the gospel be effectual this morning and may someone here be saved to the glory of Christ.
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And may they be able to testify that I am the Lord's and he is mine forever.
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And I've called upon him and he saved me. I'm a new creature. And for the hurting one, for the bleeding sheep that are here this morning, for those that are lost, stuck in a thicket, maybe just wayward, would you please bring them in?
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Would you please help them and direct them and guide them? And those that are cut and have sores, please comfort them.
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You are the balm that we need. You are our all in all. And we are so very grateful,
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Lord, of what you've done in our lives and what you've done in this church. Please continue to keep your hand upon us, put a hedge about us, and may we in some way be able to visualize or personalize this idea of the sheepfold and you being the door and you being the one who cares for our very souls.
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No one ever cared for us like Jesus. We thank you in his precious name.