Christ we know is the Door. He says so Himself (Joh_10:7; Joh_10:9). But who is the Porter? An old Father of the Church writes, “Christ is the Door of the fold, and the Keeper of the Door, as well as the Shepherd of the sheep He is the Truth, and opens Himself and reveals to us His Truth.” But in spite of this--all very beautiful--all most true in a certain sense, yet not the whole truth, we must seek elsewhere for a satisfactory explanation of this difficulty. I say difficulty, because a distinct personality is ascribed to the Porter. He opens the Door. “To him the Porter openeth.” It is through His instrumentality that both the true shepherds and the sheep enter into the fold. No! The only satisfactory explanation is to see in the Porter the office and work of God the Holy Ghost. Our understanding is darkened, our hearts are sealed, our ears are closed, unless the Porter openeth. Even the fold of Christ’s Church is closed against us unless the Porter openeth the Door in holy baptism. The presence of the Lord is real in the blessed Sacrament of the altar, but unless the Porter openeth, His presence is not real to us. Many thronged around Him, but only one poor woman touched Him and was healed; so at the altar the virtue to heal is there, but the power to draw it into our soul’s health is to the heart touched by the breath of the Spirit--to him the Porter openeth! So it is with the words of absolution--they pass along with a sound and leave no blessing behind unless the Porter openeth. And so it is with the Bible--we read our Bibles, but unless the Porter openeth, the voices of the evangelists and apostles are but as a pleasant tale: listened to, but soon forgotten, or they are like “the idle wind that we regard not!” And then there is that other book--the book of Nature--which lies open before us. But we hear no sounds in the noisy brook, we see nothing in the opening buds and flowers of early summer; but once the Porter opens the door, then suddenly--“Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God.” Or if we look upon the pages of history. To the natural man they contain only a record of battles lost and won, a long succession of kings, some good, some bad, of dynasties set up or hurled to the ground; but when the Porter opens wide the door, and the light falls upon the pages, then we seem to read between the lines. We see how evil haunts the wicked person to destroy him and his seed forever, we see men sowing the wind and in after years, long after the sowing has faded from the memory, reaping the whirlwind! To read history without the illumination of the Holy Spirit is like looking at a beautiful landscape by the pale light of the moon. We see indeed the dark forms of the hills standing out; we note the trees in their solemn gloom; we hear and see the white foam splashing against the rocky shore; but the flowers and blades of grass, the leaves with their countless tints, the life and colour of the whole scene can only be seen by the light of the clear, noonday sun. So the manifold workings of the Holy Spirit in every successive generation can only be seen when the Porter has opened the door and enlightened our understanding, and given us a right judgment in all things. (J. Louis Spencer.)
The Advent message of the Baptist
I. WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT THE PORTER ALREADY THIS ADVENT AND HE HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME. We have seen some sitting there; we might have seen others. At one time, as we saw, it was the patriarchs who were sitting there. And they said: “Go after Him, follow Him. His promise is true and faithful: He will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” And the angels sat there and taught us the thrice holy hymn, and how the incense goes up before the throne, and the worship of the elders, and the great water rush of the Alleluias, whose spray falls in a golden mist over our worship here below; and they said: “Go out with Him, and going through the vale of misery use it as a well.” And their message was, “Worship Him.” And the Law sat there in its sternness and said, “You must,” and “You shall not,” and so braced us up. And the prophets sat there, with their messages from another world, their devotion and their calm endurance. And they said, “Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” Yes; and we might have paused to see sitting there also the Gentile world with its splendid natural virtues, its beauty, dignity, and strength, and have heard them point us to the beautiful Shepherd, and bid us aim always at the true, the beautiful, and the good. But today we must contemplate the last figure that sat at the gate of the sheep fold--the precursor of the Shepherd of His people, the forerunner of the King. Then, when the Jewish fold was about to give up its sheep, once and for all, to be merged into something higher, there sits St. John the Baptist; and his message is repentance. His message to the sheep, as they pass out to forget him, to leave him, to lose him, in another and mightier than himself is, “Repent.” “To Him the porter openeth.” The Baptist is the last and truest teacher and porter of the Jewish Church, and his great message is, “Repent.”
II. And now let us turn to St. John the Baptist, and see WHAT REPENTANCE IN HIS MOUTH MEANT AS A PREPARATION FOR CHRIST. And we are attracted at once with the dignity, the magnitude of the word. It is not quite the most popular method--Repent. And when he said this, he asked them to feel sorrow. The Pharisee must feel, “Well, I have made a false start.” This satisfaction is not a good sign; the remedies I have chosen have not been painful, but they have not touched the seat of the disease. The knife and the burning is what I need. Oh, that sore! It is a humiliating thought to remember how it came there as I tear away the covering which conceals it. And he meant more than this. They were baptized of him in Jordan “confessing their sins.” It would be easy and in perfect good taste to soften down the too striking contour of a proud individuality with a confession which does but “bless with faint blame.” But no, he wants more. He wants each to face for himself the accumulation of a lifetime, to watch the tale of sin mounting up to its deadly total, until like a spendthrift, who having had a general idea that he had been extravagant, is astonished as each bill adds its quota to the heavy debt, some forgotten, some underestimated, some put aside to another day--he faces the accumulating mass and realizes the enormity of the debt which he believed that he some day would be able to pay if God would but extend patience to him. No; repentance on any other principle would lack, I had almost said, that business-like air which should characterize all our dealings with our souls. It would lack that element of humble acknowledgment which, when it concerns ourselves, we call an apology, to an all-knowing God who, indeed, can trace far better than we can right up into the hidden springs of motive, the history of our sins, but yet waits for us with our own mouths to tell Him. And then he had for each his own method of amendment. Such is the message of that porter who held the gate at the last moment before the Dawn, such was his teaching of repentance which was to prepare the way of the Lord.
III. AND STILL THE MESSAGE OF THE NEARER ADVENT IS REPENTANCE. Would that we learned more that penitence is a prerequisite to entering on the service of God! And then, lastly, “Repent” is the message before the last, the final coming of the Lord to each soul in death. And here again the Church, just about to give up the sheep into the hands of the Good Shepherd, still murmurs through the voice of the porter--“Repent.” And so the porter waits the coming of Christ to claim His own. “Repent.” His voice is stern, but the light gets brighter, the heaven is ablaze, His footsteps sound across the distance, the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet Him. (W. C. E. Newbolt, M. A.)
The conscience a porter
The moral nature does not jar at the entrance of Christ or of the “Truth as it is in Jesus.” The porter, which is the conscience and heart of man, never refuses the answer to the true voice. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The office of a true shepherd
It is not the chief shepherd who is here spoken of, but an under shepherd, a minister of Christ.
I. HE IS LED INTO HIS OFFICE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. “To him the porter openeth” (Act_14:27; 1Co_16:9; 2Co_2:12; Col_4:3).
II. HIS TEACHING IS RECOGNIZED AS FROM GOD. “The sheep hear His voice.” This can only be when it is drawn from and is in harmony with God’s Word.
III. HE FAITHFULLY ACQUAINTS HIMSELF WITH HIS PEOPLE. “He calleth His own sheep by name.” He is familiar with the names, faces, and circumstances of His flock.
IV. HE SETS BEFORE HIS FLOCK AN EXAMPLE THEY MAY SAFELY FOLLOW. “He leadeth them out.” In His teaching and life He points the way they may safely go--“allures to brighter worlds and leads the way.” Every shepherd will have to give an account for his flock to the Good Shepherd (1Pe_5:4). (Family Churchman.)
He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out
The personal love and lead of Christ
I. THE PERSONAL LOVE OF CHRIST. The parable is designed to correct the belief that while God has a real care of the Church He can have no personal recognition of its individual members. There could not be a greater mistake.
1. For the relation God holds to objects of knowledge is different in all respects from that which is held by us. Our general terms, man, tree, etc., are names of single specimens extended to species, and comes to stand for millions of men, etc., we never can know. But God does not generalize in this manner. His knowledge of wholes is real and complete as being a distinct knowledge of particulars. Whatever particulars exist were known by Him as being thought before they became fact. Holding in His thought the eternal archetypes of species, He also thought each individual in its particular type as dominated by the common archetype. This on God’s part is inevitable; for the sun can no more shine on the world without touching every atom than God can know or love whole bodies of saints without knowing or loving individuals. Being a perfect mind and not a mere spark of intelligence like us, He cannot fall into our imperfections when we strain ourselves to set up generals to piece out and hide our ignorance.
2. One of the great uses of the Incarnation was to humanize God that we might believe in His personal love. In Christ was visible one of us and was attentive to every personal want of the world. When a lone woman came up in a crowd to steal as it were some healing power He would not let her off in that impersonal, unrecognizing way. He even hunts up the youth He has healed of his blindness and opens up to him the secrets of His Messiahship. He tasted death for every man. He calls us friends because He is on the private footing of personal confidence, and promises a friendship so personal that it shall be a cipher of mutual understanding, giving us a white stone and in the stone a new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
3. Every particular work of this Gospel shows how personal it is. What is communion that is not fellowship with particular souls? We speak of the Holy Spirit as falling on communities, but He reaches the general body only through individuals, save that there is an effect of mutual excitement, which is secondary, and comes from their sense of what is revealed in each other and under the power of the Spirit in each. So with everything included in salvation, in the renewing, fashioning, guidance, discipline, and final crowning in glory; so that a Christian is finally saved not as someone led forth in the flock, but as the Master’s dear Simon, James, Martha, whose name is so recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
4. It is in this view that the Church in baptizing her children takes with a beautiful propriety the “Christian name,” in which Christ recognizes the child’s discipleship.
II. THE PERSONAL LEAD OF CHRIST.
1. Here is the glory of Christ as a Saviour that He goes always before, never behind, His flock. He begins with infancy that He may show a grace for childhood. He is made under the Law and fulfils all righteousness, that He may sanctify the law to us and make it honourable. He goes before us in temptations that we may bear them after Him. He taught us forgiveness by forgiving His enemies. He bore His cross and commands us to bear it after Him. And then He went before us in the bursting of the grave, and ascended as our Forerunner whom we are to follow even there.
2. This spirit entered into those whom He gave to lead the flock. They followed Him in the regeneration and took it upon them as their Master’s law to require nothing in which they were not forward themselves. “Follow me as I follow Christ.” We have seen it differently--teachers that lay heavy burdens on men’s shoulders, feeding themselves out of charities extorted from the poor; philanthropists publishing great swelling words of equality and tapering off in virtues they neither practise nor like. All such drive a flock.
Applications:
1. Men make a great mistake when they regard Christian life as a legal and constrained service. This image represents the freedom of the disciple. He is led by a personal influence and answers to the name by which he is called. No Christian is to go to his duty because he must, but only because his heart is in it, for his heart is in his Master’s love, and he follows Him gladly.
2. We discover what to think of that class who aspire to be specially faithful but are principally strenuous in putting forward and laying, burdens on others, and slide over their own deficiency in the very things they insist on, by extolling the modesty which does not profess to be an example to others. How much more faithful and modest should we be if we judged only as we practiced, and fortified our words by our example!
3. Consider what is true of any disciple who is straying from Christ that his Shepherd still cares for him, and calls him personally. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
The personal relationship between the Shepherd and the sheep
You are seated by your fireside on a winter night when the announcement is made--“A friend has come!” That announce ment makes you benevolently expectant; yet your state of mind is then only vague and uncertain, for there are friends, and friends. But in the next moment the name is spoken, or the face of your friend shines in the door of your room; and that face appearing, or that name uttered, in a moment calls up the proper feeling, no other face appearing there, nor any other name that could be pronounced in your hearing, would call up exactly the same feeling. Each friend has his own place in your heart, and gets his own welcome when he comes. There is a general affection which you bear to all your friends; there is a specific and differentiated affection which you bear to each. So it is with the Shepherd and the flock. The whole flock is known, and loved, and led; but each has separate and individual love and leading. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The calling of the sheep
We of the West are accustomed to give names to dogs, horses, and even to cows, and are not surprised that these animals are intelligent enough to recognize their own names. In the ancient East, it was not unusual to give names to sheep in the same way. The classical scholar will recall the instance in Theocritus, where the shepherd calls several of his sheep to him by their individual names.
I. CHRIST CALLS
1. HOW.
2. Whom.
3. Whence.
4. Whither.
5. Why.
II. CHRIST CALLS BY NAME.
1. By our worldly names; for He knows each personally and particularly.
2. By our spiritual names; for He knows our standing and destiny. (S. S. Times.)
The individualizing knowledge of Christ
It is hard to realize that Jesus has an individual acquaintance with each of us separately. The very thought is bewildering in its magnitude, in view of the myriads of the redeemed. I once heard General Grant say that when he was colonel of a regiment he knew every man of his command by name; but as he rose in command he found it necessary to diminish the scope of his knowledge of individuals, until, when he was at the head of the entire army, he gave little thought to individuals below the rank of a division commander. An army comrade of mine, who was with General Sherman’s army in its northward march from Savannah, told me of an incident which illustrated in another way the magnitude of the thought that every soldier had a personal individuality. The army was passing along sparely frequented roadway in North Carolina. A woman stood in the doorway of her cabin, and saw regiment after regiment of men similar in appearance and dress pass by, until, as the thousands upon thousands came and went, she said in wonderment: “I reckon you ‘uns ain’t all got names.” It seemed to her an impossibility that each soldier was a distinct and recognized identity. It would have seemed stranger yet to think that one man could know each soldier there by name. Yet far beyond these suggestions of human limitation of personal knowledge and of personal sympathy, there comes the assurance that Jesus knows His every disciple by name, and that He daily and hourly speaks loving words of tenderness and counsel and guidance accordingly. (H. C.Trumbull, D. D.)
The leading of the flock
We have here not a mere everyday description of the shepherd’s act, but a precise statement of a definite historical situation. The time had come for Jesus to lead His flock out of the theocracy which was devoted to destruction. He recognized the sequel of this inevitable rupture in the expulsion of the man (Joh_9:24), in the decree of excommunication which struck both Himself and His followers, and generally in the violent hostility of which He found Himself the object. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Christ’s guidance
He always comes to “lead,” never to linger and stay. If He finds one so wounded and torn and near to death as to be unable to follow, He will lay that sheep on His shoulder. If He finds a lamb faint and homeless, He will “carry it in His bosom.” But in most instances He gives from the first the strength to follow, and expects it to be used. “He leadeth them out”--“out,” of course, from the whole natural sinful life, from all its darkness and misery, into the light and joy of acceptance; “out” of infantine feebleness into manly strength; “out” of narrow views into wider; “out” of first experiences into more matured; “out” of mistakes and disappointments into wiser ways and better fortunes; “out” of dreamy indolence into those activities by which alone it can be escaped; “out” of overstrained activity into some quiet hour or time of “refreshing from the presence of the Lord;” “out” of besetting sin into waiting duty. Sometimes you think if the Good Shepherd were really leading you it would be into other fields than those through which you have of late been passing. Be careful here. I have seen a shepherd, on a bitter snowy day, gathering all his sheep carefully to the windy side of the hill. The silly creatures, left to themselves, would all take the other side; they would go straight to the most dangerous places, to the sheltered spots where the deep snow wreaths form silently, in which they would soon find at once a refuge and a grave. On such a day the life of some of the sheep depends on facing the blast. The shepherd would not let the youngest, he would not let the weakest one of the flock, lie down in the shelter. For the very love he bears it, “he calls it by name, and leads it out,” or drives, or carries--even in such an hour as that--facing the bitter wind and the blinding snow! And if we knew the personal love of Christ, we shall not be so apt to distinguish and select certain special modes for its manifestation as alone suitable and proper. One mode will seem to us almost as good as another if it be the one that He selects, and we shall hear the loving voice in the darkness as well as in the light; in the roar of the wintry storm as in the hush of the summer silence. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
He goeth before them.--This is a sight which may still be seen in the East. With us sheep are driven; with the Orientals they are led. The shepherd goes on before, and the sheep follow after, much as dogs follow their master in the West, but without the briskness and vigour of dogs. It is not unusual to see the shepherd leading the sheep thus, and at the same time carrying upon his shoulder some tender youngling of the flock.
I. CHRIST PRECEDES
1. To open the way.
2. To present an example.
3. To destroy the enemies.
II. HIS FLOCK SHOULD FOLLOW
1. Closely.
2. Obediently.
3. Courageously.
4. Hopefully. (S. S. Times.)
Christ the Leader of His people
I have read of a distinguished general who conducted an army by forced marches through a sterile as well as hostile country. They were footsore, worn, and weary; supplied with the scantiest fare, and toiling all day long, through heavy sands, and beneath a scorching sun. Yet his brave men pressed on--such as fell out of the line by day, unless shot down by the foe who crouched like tigers in every bush, and hung in clouds on their flanks and rear, rejoining their ranks in the cool and darkness of the night. Thus this gallant army, undaunted and indomitable, accomplished a great achievement in arms. And how? They were inspired by their commander. Foregoing the privileges of his rank, he dismounted from his horse to put himself not only at the head of his men, but on a level with them. He shared their hard bed; he lived on their scanty rations; every foot they walked he walked; every foe they faced he faced; every hardship they endured he bore; and with cheek as brown, and limbs as weary, and couch as rude as theirs, he came down to their condition--touched by their infirmities, and teaching them by his example what part to act, and with what patience to endure. They would have followed him to the cannon’s mouth--his cry not Forward but Follow. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
They know his voice … they know not the voice of strangers
The voice of the shepherd known
An American, who was travelling in Syria, saw three native shepherds bring their flocks to the same brook, and the flocks drank there together. At length one shepherd arose and called out “Men-ah! Men-ah!” the Arabic for “Follow me.” His sheep came out of the common herd and followed him up the hillside. Then the next shepherd did the same, and his sheep went away with him, and the man did not even stop to count them. The traveller said to the remaining shepherd--“Just give me your turban and crook, and see if they will not follow me as soon as you,” So he put on the shepherd’s dress and called out “Men-ah! Men-ah!” but not a sheep moved. “They know not the voice of a stranger.” “Will your flock never follow anybody but you?” inquired the gentleman. The Syrian shepherd replied, “Oh, yes; sometimes a sheep gets sick and then he will follow anyone.” Is it not so with the flock of Christ? (Christian Age.)
Sheep will not follow strangers
A man in India was accused of stealing a sheep. He was brought before the judge, and the supposed owner of the sheep was present. Both claimed the sheep, and had witnesses to prove their claims; so it was not easy to decide to whom the sheep belonged. Knowing the habits of the shepherds and the sheep, the judge ordered the animal to be brought into court, and sent one of the two men into another room while he told the other to call the sheep. But the poor sheep not knowing the voice of the stranger would not go to him. In the meantime, the other man in the adjoining room growing impatient gave a kind of a “chuck,” upon which the sheep bounded away towards him at once. This “chuck” was the way in which he had been used to call the sheep, and it was at once decided that he was the real owner. (W. Baxendale.)
False teachers not trusted
This verse justifies true Christians in not listening to false teachers. For leaving their parish church, perhaps under these circumstances, many reproach them. Yet the very men who reproach them would not trust their worldly affairs to an ignorant and dishonest lawyer, or their bodies to an incompetent doctor I Can it be wrong to act on the same principles for our souls? (T. Scott, M. A.)
False teachers shunned
Placilla, the Empress, when Theodosius (senior) desired to confer with Eunomius the heretic, dissuaded her husband very earnestly; lest, being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into heresy. Anastasius II, Bishop of Rome (497), whilst he sought to convince Acacius the heretic, was seduced by him. A little leaven soon soureth the whole lump. One spoonful of vinegar will soon tart a great deal of sweet milk, but a great deal of milk will not so soon sweeten one spoonful of vinegar. (J. Trapp.)
Satisfaction only in following Christ
It is said that man is a religious animal. He must have some religion. To any Christian it must be the religion of Christ: that or none. We cannot go back to paganism. We cannot return to Judaism. Judaism is nothing but a promissory note. If Christ is not the Messiah, that note is two thousand years past due, and daily becoming more worthless and more hopeless. We cannot go to Mahomet, riding armour clad and blood stained, leading us to a life of revenge and a heaven of sensuality. We cannot accept Brahmanism, with its vedas and its Hindoo gods, with its metaphysical quibbles and its social tyrannies. Every woman, and every man with wife and sister and daughter says, We will have no Brahmanism. We cannot be atheists, and say, “There is no God!” for then would Nature’s heart cease to beat, and we could only stand orphaned by its mighty corpse, and wait without hope till we are buried at last in the same eternal grave of rayless night. (R. S. Barrett.)
I am the Door of the sheep
The connection between the two similitudes
The picture (Joh_10:1-5) which described the forming of the Messianic flock, and its departure from the theocratic fold was a morning scene. This, which describes the life of the flock when formed and led by the Messiah, is taken from a scene at midday. The sheep go at will in and out of a fold situated in the midst of the pasture. When they desire shelter they enter it: when hunger urges them they leave it, for its door is constantly open to them. They thus possess both safety and abundance, the two essentials to the prosperity of the flock. In this new image the shepherd disappears, and it is the door which plays the chief part. The fold no longer represents the ancient covenant, but Messiah’s salvation, and that complete happiness which believers who have accepted Him enjoy. In the former parable, God caused the porter to open the door to the shepherd; in this the Messiah Himself is to His sheep the door of a constant and daily salvation. (F. Coder, D. D.)
The door and the shepherds
I. THE DOOR.
1. Of the sheep--the entrance through which a soul passes into God’s fold. This Christ claims to be
(1) Personally. “I,” not My teaching, example, propitiation.
(2) Exclusively. “The.” As a Saviour Christ stands alone, shares His honours with no colleague, not even with a Moses, far less with a Zoroaster, Confucius, Mohammed, angel, virgin, priest, or pope.
(3) Universally--“any” (Heb_7:25).
(4) Certainly--“Shall be saved.”
(5) Completely: Salvation
(a) The most desirable in quality; perfect freedom.
(b) The most abundant in quantity; ample satisfaction.
2. To the sheep--the entrance by which the shepherds find access. This also Christ claims to be, and therefore no one has a right to be shepherd who does not
(1) Derive such an office from Christ (Eph_4:11).
(2) Approach men through His own personal acquaintance with Christ 2Co_4:13).
(3) Seek to lead men to a believing acceptance of Christ (1Co_2:2).
(4) Devote himself to the spiritual edification of those who have believed on Christ (Eph_4:12; 1Ti_4:6; 2Ti_4:2).
II. THE SHEPHERDS.
1. False.
(1) The time they appeared - “before Christ.”
(2) Their character - “thieves, etc.”
(3) Their objects - to steal, kill, etc., for their own enrichment (verse 10).
(4) Their experience (verse 3).
2. The true Shepherd.
(1) Whence He came: from above, from heaven, from God.
(2) When He appeared: in the fulness of the times.
(3) What He sought: the welfare of God’s flock
(a) That men might have life.
(b) That believers might have it abundantly (Joh_1:16). (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Christ the Door
1. None can enter without the permission of Christ.
2. Without the knowledge of Christ.
3. Without the image of Christ.
4. Without faith in the blood of Christ.
5. Without sharing in the blessedness of Christ.
Christ is the door to a right understanding of nature, providence, history, the Bible. By Him alone we have access to the Father, the enjoyment of salvation, the title to heaven. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
Christ the Door
The simile is at first sight a strange one. A door is seldom a thing of beauty or impressiveness--a mere instrument of convenience. Yet upon further thought there will come to mind so many uses that admiration will take the place of surprise. A door is an emblem
1. Of separation. On one side are the passions, the driving cares of the world; on the other love and quietness.
2. Of protection. The things that are happening in the community roll up to the door and, like a wave on the beach, they break and pass away. And we can bring up our children, thanks to the Door, in the midst of temptations safely.
3. Of hospitality. To keep an open door is equivalent to the declaration that one employs it as one instrument of pleasure to others. At the door too we greet the returning children and the much prized guests. When Christ, therefore, called Himself a door no more significant symbol could well have been selected. He is the Door to the home. Christ is the door
I. FOR THE TROUBLED. There is no sound in the household sweeter than the opening and closing door when love reigns. All day long the father strives at business. The whole day has been full of care and wrangling. The head is hot and the limbs weary. But the day is over at last and he prepares for home. He draws near. The door opens. The children hear it and run. Now every wrinkle is gone and he looks round with a sense of grateful rest and thanks God that the sound of that shutting door was the last echo of the thunder of care and trouble. “I am the Door,” says Christ; opening you shall be within the circle of love. What the home is to the troubled that is Christ to those who know how to make use of Him. Speak ye that have proved it. Mothers who have been sustained in the midst of troubles that rasped the soul to the very quick: fathers who have gone through the burden and heat of the world. There are bereaved hearts who need the refuge you have found. Publish the invitation you have accepted. “Come unto Me all ye,” etc.
II. FOR THE PETITIONER. If the journey of the hearts of petitioners to the doors of men of wealth, influence, wisdom, skill, could be written, how full of pathos it would be! Who can imagine the solicitude of one delicately reared but reduced to poverty as she seeks aid that she may rescue from suffering and death her offspring. Torn between delicacy and affection how hesitating she goes to the door of the rich man for help! But it is opened, and scarcely has she seated herself before her benefactor comes and makes her sorrow his own. But have there not been those who have gone to Christ for themselves or their children with as little faith, with anguish unspeakable? And, or ever they knew it, the cloud was lifted; the door was opened; the Christ was manifest; and His bounty flooded their souls.
III. FOR THE DOUBTER. There is no experience more dreary for a noble nature than doubt. It may do for dry natures; but I would rather have superstition. Admitting that that is dead at the root, yet, like a tree covered with mistletoe, there is some life and freshness. But the doubter is dead from top to root. Or he may be compared to one lost in a snowstorm in an open prairie. The road he travels on is soon obliterated. There is now nothing by which he can direct his course. He begins to be uncertain and is alarmed. With this comes exertion, which makes matters worse. He wanders round and round, grows chilly and numb, drowsiness steals over him; and, just as he is tempted to take the fatal rest, he discerns a light, follows it, stumbles upon the door of the cottage, which bursts open, and there he sinks down as one dead. But behind that door he is safe. And so there are those who have wandered from church to church, from theory to theory, from belief to unbelief. Round and round they wander; as they are about to give up there comes the opening of a door through which streams the light of Christ. Men want to be argued out of doubt; but what men need is not more reasoning, persuading, showing, but more Christ. Only love can cure.
IV. FOR THOSE WHO IN RELIGION FIND UNEXPECTED HEART RICHES. There are many who live in a plain way, unconscious that there are great treasures near, and are brought unexpectedly into a full fruition of them. How many go to Christ as to a captain on a battlefield, a master in a workshop, expecting suffering and toil, and find Him instead to be the door to a beautiful home where they find comfort and wealth in abundance.
V. FOR THOSE IN DANGER. David represents God as a strong tower into which he may run and be safe from the victorious and pursuing enemy or the pitiless storm. Christ is the door of refuge to souls in all kinds of peril.
VI. FOR WANDERERS. There is a vagrant child who has proved the folly of his course. He hesitates about going back; but he goes and finds the door open, however long he may have been away. There is the child who has honourably wandered and is on his return. How the vision of the door haunts him! And that daughter who has wandered to the brink of hell, the door held open by a mother’s love invites her return. And what the open door of home is to the penitent Jesus is to the worst. VII. OF DEATH; but He is a gate of pearl. (H. W. Beecher.)
Christ the door
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.)
Christ the Door
Our Lord sets Himself forth very condescendingly. The most sublime and poetical figures are none too glorious to describe Him; but He chooses homely ones, which the most prosaic minds can apprehend.
1. A door is a common object. Jesus would have us often think of Him.
2. A door makes a very simple emblem. Jesus would have the lowliest know Him, and use Him.
3. A door to a sheepfold is the poorest form of door. Jesus condescends to be anything, so that He may serve and save His people.
I. THE DOOR. In this homely illustration we see
1. Necessity. Suppose there had been none, we could never have entered in to God, peace, truth, salvation, purity, or heaven.
2. Singularity. There is only one door; let us not weary ourselves to find another (Act_4:12).
3. Personality. Jesus is Himself the door; not ceremonies, doctrines, professions, achievements, but Himself.
4. Suitability. He is suited to be the communication between man and God, seeing He unites both in His own person, and thus lies open both earthward and heavenward (1Ti_2:5).
5. Perpetuity. His “I am” is for all times and ages (Mat_23:20). We can still come to the Father by Him (Joh_14:6; Heb_7:25).
II. THE USERS OF IT.
1. They are not mere observers, or knockers at the door, or sitters down before it, or guards marching to and fro in front of it. But they enter in by faith, love, experience, communion.
2. They are not certain persons who have special qualifications, such as those of race, rank, education, office, or wealth. Not lords and ladies are spoken of; but “any man.”
3. They are persons who have the one qualification: they do “enter in.” The person is “any man,” but the essential distinction is entrance. This is intended to exclude
(1) Character previously acquired as a fitness for entrance.
(2) Feeling either of grief or joy, as a preparation for admission.
(3) Action, otherwise than that of entering in, as a term of reception.
4. A door may be marked private, and then few will enter. A door which is conspicuously marked as the door is evidently meant to be used. The remarkable advertisement of “I am the door,” and the special promises appended to it, are the most liberal invitation imaginable. Come then, ye who long to enter in life l
III. THE PRIVILEGES OF THESE USERS. They belong to all who enter; no exception is made.
1. Salvation. “He shall be saved.”
2. Liberty. He “shall go in and out.”
3. Access. “Shall go in”: for pleading, hiding, fellowship, instruction, enjoyment.
4. Egress. “He shall go out”: for service, progress, etc.
5. Nourishment. “And find pasture.” Our spiritual food is found through Christ, in Christ, and around Christ.
Conclusion: Let us enter.
1. A door is easy of access; we shall not have to climb over some lofty wall.
2. It is a door for sheep, who have no wisdom.
3. The door is Jesus; we need not fear to draw nigh to Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The parable of the door
Two distinct allegories in this part of the chapter; they should be carefully distinguished. The parable of the Good Shepherd is sustained at greater length, and has found first place in the popular mind; but this parable of the door has a beauty of its own. Two ideas are prominent.
I. SAFETY. “He shall be saved.”
1. The sinner pursued by grim memories of guilt that are like a pack of wolves, makes for this stout Door: as he passes in it closes upon all the fierce pursuers, and the hunted victim may breathe freely again.
2. The saint too needs shelter.
(1) He must earn money, and mammon lurks near.
(2) He must sustain himself, and selfishness is not far off.
(3) He must have recreation, and the lust of pleasure lies in wait.
(4) He must mix with men, and pride and fear alternately threaten to devour him.
(5) He must play the citizen, and the spirit of party bitterness couches near. But he too can make for this shelter when chased by these spirits of evil, and once across this threshold may leave the rabble, howling but harmless, the wrong side of the door.
II. LIBERTY. “He shall go in and out,” etc. There is a passing out through Christ into the world. The Christian life is no life of isolation; we still remain under obligation to deal with mundane affairs. But it is possible to share Christ’s view of life, to see all its duties in the light of His Cross, so that we pass in and out between the Church and the world unharmed. (Walter Hawkins.)
Christ the only Door
I. HOW TO ENTER THE CHURCH.
1. Negatively. We cannot get into it
(1) By baptism. Millions are baptized with water, but unless they come to Christ by true faith they are no better than baptized pagans.
(2) By birthright. It is a great privilege to have Christian parents, but, “except a man be born again,” etc. Your father and mother are not the door, but Christ only.
(3) By profession. A professor may prove himself a hypocrite, but he cannot prove himself a Christian by mere profession. Men do not get rich by professing to be wealthy. They must hold their title deeds, and have cash in the strong box.
(4) By admission to the visible Church. If a man leaves the door alone and climbs over the wall and gets into the outward Church without Christ, he is a thief, etc. If you have not Christ your Church certificates are waste paper.
2. Positively. By faith in Christ.
(1) If you exercise this it makes it plain that you enter by Christ, the Door, because faith leads to obedience. “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
(2) If we have entered through that Door it does not matter what priest or pope may say.
II. THE PRIVILEGES OF ENTERING BY THAT DOOR.
1. He shall be saved--as the manslayer from the avenger; as Noah and his family.
2. He shall go in
(1) To rest and peace, for there is no condemnation (Rom_3:1).
(2) To secret knowledge.
(3) To God, with holy boldness in prayer as the adopted heir of heaven.
(4) To the highest attainment in spiritual things, for a man does not tarry just inside the threshold of his home. Do not stop where you are. Go further in to get more holiness, joy, etc.
3. He shall go out
(1) To his daily business. The way to do that calmly and justly is to go to it through Christ. Do you neglect your morning prayer.
(2) To suffering.
(3) To conflict with temptation.
(4) To Christian service. It makes all the difference between success and failure whether we go on not out through “the Door.”
4. He shall find pasture (Psa_23:1-6). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Door always open
In olden times, cathedrals were regarded as places of sanctuary, where criminals and others might take refuge. Over the north porch of Durham Cathedral was a room where two doorkeepers kept watch alternately to admit any who at any time, either by day or by night knocked at the gate, and claimed the protection of St. Cuthbert. Whoever comes to the door of our house of refuge, and at whatever time, finds ready admittance. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Of all means of protection, the least trustworthy are those which are trustworthy only at times. Ship’s boats that cannot be lowered at the critical moment; fire escapes that can be swept by the rushing flames; towers of refuge that are locked and barred when the need for refuge comes;--all these inspire a false confidence, and are the more untrustworthy that they seem so trustworthy. It was a wise provision of the Romans when they instituted the office of Tribune of the Plebs for the protection of the common people, that the doors of the Tribune should stand open night and day. And so they stood; and to these wide-open doors of refuge the oppressed plebeian could flee by day or by night, sure of always finding a refuge there. Such, too, is the Christian’s privilege. (H. C.Trumbull, D. D.)
Doorkeepers dismissed
The work of the reformation was thus described by Stern, a German statesman: “Thank heaven, Dr. Luther has made the entrance into heaven somewhat shorter, by dismissing a crowd of doorkeepers, chamberlains, and masters of ceremony.”
Christ, the only Door into the kingdom of God
The old city of Troy had but one gate. Go round and round and round the city, and you could find no other. If you wanted to get in, there was but one way, and no other. So to the strong and beautiful city of heaven there is but one gate and no other. Do you know what it is? Christ says, “I am the Door.” (J. L.Nye.)
He shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.--The fulness of Christian life is exhibited in its three elements--safety, liberty, support. Admission to the fold brings with it, first, security. But this security is not gained by isolation. The believer goes in and out without endangering his position (Num_27:17; Deu_31:2); he exercises the sum of all his powers, claiming his share in the inheritance of the world, secure in his home. And while he does so he finds pasture. He is able to convert to Divinest uses all the fruits of the earth. But in all this he retains his life “in Christ,” and he approaches all else “through Christ,” who brings not only redemption, but the satisfaction of man’s true wants (cf. Joh_7:37)
. (Bp. Westcott.)
Salvation
I read a story the other day of some Russians crossing wide plains studded over here and there with forests. The wolves were out, the horses were rushing forward madly, the travellers could hear the baying; and, though the horses tore along with all speed, yet the wolves were fast behind, and they only escaped, as we say, “by the skin of their teeth,” managing just to get inside some hut that stood in the road, and to shut the door. Then they could hear the wolves leap on the roof; they could hear them dash against the sides of the hut; they could hear them gnawing at the door, and howling, and making all sorts of dismal noises; but the travellers were safe, because they had entered in by the door, and the door was shut. Now, when a man is in Christ, he can hear, as it were, the devils howling like wolves, all fierce and hungry for him; and his own sins, like wolves, are seeking to drag him down to destruction. But he has got in to Christ, and that is such a shelter that all the devils in the world, if they were to come at once, could not start a single beam of that eternal refuge: it must stand fast, though the earth and heaven should pass away. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
To go in and out
is an expression frequently used in Scripture to designate the free use of an abode into which one may enter and from which one may depart, without hindrance, which supposes that the individual so acting belongs to the house, and is at home there (Deu_27:6; Deu_31:2; Jer_37:4; Act_1:21). Jesus here uses the term “to go in” to denote the satisfaction of a desire for repose, the possession” of a safe retreat; and “to go out” to indicate the satisfaction of the need of nourishment, the enjoyment of rich pasturage. The idea of pasture is further developed in Joh_10:10 by that of life, to which is added the idea of abundance, of superfluity. (F. Godet, D. D.)
“Go in”
means entering by faith, “go out” means dying in faith and the resultant life in glory. (Augustine.)
Christian liberty
The fold of Christ is not a prison. It does not shut men in forcibly. Those who belong in it can pass and repass at their pleasure, seeking pasture everywhere in the exercise of Christian liberty. There are no persons on earth so free to gather knowledge from all sources, and to hunt out the good from all directions, as Christian scientists. And no man can know so much about any good there is in all the outside religions of the world as the intelligent disciple of Jesus who is competent to recognize truth even when commingled with error, and who therefore has power to distinguish between truth and error. The man who has not yet been inside of the Christian fold is of all men less capable of comparing that fold with the religions of the world outside of it. There is a vast difference between him who keeps outside all the time, and him who goes in and goes out finding pasture. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Christian pasturage
Many fields has He in this great pasture land of life; and He has some of the well-loved sheep in them all. There are the fields of peace, much sought after, which, however, are apt to lose their charm and stay their benefits when too long tarried in. There are the fields of toil, where the nourishment comes by working more than by eating. There are the fields of danger, where all the senses need to be in exerelse, and all the energy bent towards getting through. There are the fields of darkness, where the sheep crowd close to the shepherd in timid trustfulness. There are the fields of prospect, where at times refreshing sight may be had of the higher pasture land up to which all the flock will be led one day amid celestial light and song. And again we say that every one of these fields is as a trysting place, where the Divine lover of human souls can meet with such of them as for the time He may “call,” and where He can give them, one by one, such tokens of His love and care as their needs for the time require. Nor will it be long until He leads them through the particular field, and into the gate of some new “time” or “season” which has meanwhile arrived. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The gifts to the flock
Jesus Christ presents Himself before the whole race of man, and declares Himself able to deal with the needs of every individual in the tremendous whole. “If any man”--no matter who, where, when. For all noble and happy life there are at least three things needed: security, sustenance, and a field for the exercise of activity. To provide these is the end of all human society and government. Jesus Christ here says that He can give all these for everybody. The imagery of the sheep and the fold is still, of course, in His mind, and colours the form of the representation. But the substance is the declaration that, to any and every soul, no matter how ringed about with danger, no matter how hampered and hindered in work, no matter how barren of all supply earth may be, He will give these the primal requisites of life. “He shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
I. IN AND THROUGH CHRIST ANY MAN MAY BE SAVED.
1. The word “saved” here is rather used with reference to the imagery of the parable than in its full Christian sense, and means “safe,” rather than “saved.” At the same time, the two ideas pass into one another; and the declaration of my text is that because, step by step, conflict by conflict, in passing danger after danger, external and internal, Jesus Christ, through our union with Him, will keep us safe, at the last we shall reach everlasting salvation. You and I have to betake ourselves behind the defences of that strong love and mighty hand if ever we are to pass through life without fatal harm. For consider that, even in regard of outward danger, union with Jesus Christ defends and delivers us. Suppose two Manchester merchants, made bankrupt by the same commercial crisis; or two shipwrecked sailors lashed upon a raft; or two men sitting side by side in a railway carriage and smashed by the same collision. One is a Christian and the other is not. The same blow is altogether different in aspect and actual effect upon the two men. The one is crushed, or embittered, or driven to despair, or to drink, or something or other, to soothe the bitterness; the other bows himself with “It is the Lord! Let Him do what seemeth Him good.” So the two disasters are utterly different, though in form they may be the same, and he that has entered into the fold by Jesus Christ is safe, not from outward disaster--that would be but a poor thing--but in it.
2. In our union with Jesus Christ, by simple faith in Him and loyal submission and obedience, we do receive an impenetrable defence against the true evils, and the only things worth calling dangers. For the only real evil is the peril that we shall lose our confidence and be untrue to our best selves, and depart from the living God. Nothing is evil except that which tempts, and succeeds in tempting, us away from Him. Real gift of power from Jesus Christ, the influx of His strength into our weakness of some portion of the spirit of life that was in Him into our deadness is promised, and the promise is abundantly fulfilled to all men who trust Him. Oh, brother, do not trust yourself out amongst the pitfalls and snares of life without Him. And so, kept safe from each danger and in each moment of temptation, the aggregate and sum of the several deliverances will amount to the everlasting salvation which shall be perfected in the heavens.
3. Remember the condition, “By Me if any man enter in.” That is not a thing to be done once for all, but needs perpetual repetition. When we clasp anything in our hands, however tight the initial grasp, unless there is a continual effort of renewed tightening, the muscles become lax, and you have to renew the tension if you are to keep the grasp. So in our Christian life it is only the continual repetition of the act which our Master here calls “entering in by Him” that will bring to us this continual exemption from, and immunity in, the dangers that beset us. Keep Christ between you and the storm. Keep on the lee side of the Rock of Ages. Keep behind the breakwater, for there is a wild sea running outside; and your little boat, undecked and with a feeble hand at the helm, will soon be swamped. Keep within the fold, for wolves and lions lie in every bush. Live moment by moment in the realizing of Christ’s presence, power, and grace. Only so shall we be safe.
II. IN JESUS CHRIST ANY MAN MAY FIND A FIELD FOR UNRESTRICTED ACTIVITY. That metaphor of “going in and out” is partly explained to us by the image of the flock, which passes into the fold for peaceful repose, and out again, without danger, for exercise and food; and partly by its frequent use in the Old Testament, and in common conversation, as the designation of the two-sided activity of human life. The one side is the contemplative life of interior union with Jesus Christ by faith and love; the other the active life of practical obedience in the field of work which God provides for us.
1. “He shall go in.” That comes first, though it interferes with the propriety of the metaphor, because the condition of this “going in” is the other “entering in by Me, the door.” That is to say, that, given the union with Jesus Christ by faith, there must then, as the basis of all activity, follow very frequent and deep inward acts of contemplation, of faith, and aspiration, and desire. You must go into the depths of God through Christ. You must go into the depths of your own souls through Him. It is through Christ that we draw near to the depths of Deity. It is through Him that we learn the length and breadth and height and depth of the largest and loftiest and noblest truths that can concern the Spirit. It is through Him that we become familiar with the inmost secrets of our own selves. And only they who habitually live this hidden and sunken life of solitary and secret communion will ever do much in the field of outward work. Remember the Lord said first, “He shall go in.” And unless you do you will not be “saved.”
2. But if there have been, and continue to be, this unrestricted exercise through Christ of that sweet and silent life of solitary communion with Him, then there will follow upon that an enlargement of opportunity, and power for outward service such as nothing but the emancipation by faith in Him can ever bring. Howsoever by external circumstances you and I may be hampered and hindered, however often we may feel that if something outside of us were different the development of our active powers would be far more satisfactory, and we could do a great deal more in Christ’s cause, the true hindrance lies never without, but within; and is only to be overcome by that plunging into the depths of fellowship with Him.
III. IN JESUS CHRIST ANY MAN MAY RECEIVE SUSTENANCE. “They shall find pasture.” The imagery of the sheep and the fold is still, of course, present to the Master’s mind, and shapes the form in which this great promise is set forth. I need only remind you, in illustration of it, of two facts, one, that in Jesus Christ Himself all the true needs of humanity are met and satisfied. He is “the bread of God that came down from heaven to give life to the world.” Do I want an outward object for my intellect? I have it in Him. Does my heart feel with its tendrils, which have no eyes at the ends of them, after something round which it may twine, and not fear that the prop shall ever rot or be cut down or pulled up? Jesus Christ is the home of love in which the dove may fold its wings and be at rest. Do I want an absolute and authoritative command to be laid upon my will; someone “Whose looks enjoin, Whose lightest words are spells?” I find absolute authority, with no taint of tyranny, and no degradation to the subject, in that infinite will of His. Does my conscience need some strong detergent to be laid upon it which shall take out the stains that are most indurated, inveterate, and engrained? I find it only in the blood that cleanseth from all sin. Do my aspirations and desires seek for some solid and substantial and unquestionable and imperishable good to which, reaching out, they may be sure that they are not anchoring on cloud land? Christ is our hope. For all this complicated and craving commonwealth that I carry within my soul, there is but one satisfaction, even Jesus Christ Himself. Nothing else nourishes the whole man at once, but in Him are all the constituents that the human system requires for its nutriment and its growth in every part. So in and through Christ we find pasture. But beyond that, if we are knit to Him by simple and continual faith, love, and obedience, then what is else barrenness becomes full of nourishment, and the unsatisfying gifts of the world become rich and precious. They are nought when they are put first, they are much when they are put second. I remember when I was in Australia seeing some wretched cattle trying to find grass on a yellow pasture where there was nothing but here and there a brown stalk that crumbled to dust in their mouths as they tried to eat it. That is the world without Jesus Christ. And I saw the same pasture six weeks after, when the rains had come, and the grass was high, rich, juicy, satisfying. That is what the world may be to you if you will put it second, and seek first that your souls shall be fed on Jesus Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The privileges of the sheep
Jesus names three privileges accruing to those who accept Him as Shepherd and Door, and by Him enter into the life of God.
1. First, they have safety. “They shall be saved.” This is a great word, and implies all that God has to give to men. Especially, though, they shall be saved from sin and death, also they shall be saved from thieves and robbers, and from the wild beasts of sin, even from Satan himself, however he may try to get them.
2. Second, they have freedom. “They shall go in and out.” The salvation which Jesus gives is not bondage but freedom. “He hath not given us the spirit of bondage, but the spirit of adoption.” The Christian is not bound by rules and statutes as a slave is, but as a son he has the liberty of God’s house. He comes and goes as a son comes and goes, being always guided and governed by parental love, and not by hard rule.
3. Third, they have a sufficiency of all things. “And find pasture.” “All thin
