Welcome to the new edition of the Weekend Sermon. Thank you for joining me today. I hope that this day finds all of you doing very well.
Work seems to be going fairly well right now. Thank you for all of your prayers on this matter. I have been doing more writing work lately, and I am happy to have this work. It may be possible to go back to writing full-time in the near future. I am still trying to save up for an expanded ministry, so please be in prayer about this.
In prayer this week, please pray about the situation with the fires in the western part of the United States. These are very devastating this year, and several firefighters have lost their lives battling this menace. Let us also pray for the refugees around the globe who are facing hardship.
We have been praying for nations of the world that do not have a significant witness of the gospel in them. Lets us continue to pray for Comoros, Maldives and Brunei. And let us also pray for North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen that the gospel would make inroads in these places as well.
As you know, we are currently in a series of messages on the "I Am" statements of Jesus that are found in the Gospel of John. Last week, we examined Jesus' statement that He is the Light of the Word. Today we move our attention to John chapter 10 were Jesus proclaims, "I Am the Door."
John 10:7-9 states, "Jesus said to them again, 'Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All those who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.'"
First, let us look at the context of this statement. In John 10, Jesus is giving a discourse about sheep and shepherds. He speaks about sheep knowing His voice, and who the true shepherd is in contrast to those who do not really take the welfare of the sheep to heart.
In this context of sheep and shepherds, Jesus makes the statement that He is the door. What does this statement mean for us? First of all, let us examine what the function of a door is. One of the main purposes of a door is to provide access to a building or home. Jesus is the door of the sheep fold in this passage. His sheep go in and out of the sheepfold through Him.
In some of the sheepfolds used years ago, the shepherd was literally a door. At night, after all of the sheep had been gathered in, the shepherd would lie down and sleep in the entry way so that no sheep could get out, and no predators could get in.
This is an apt description of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus is the door that provides access to the Father's house in Heaven. In the Upper Room, Jesus told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them that where He was, they could be there as well. He was preparing a place for His sheep in the Father's sheepfold.
The way that a person receives entry into the Father's House is through the door of Jesus Christ. Only those who enter through Jesus will be saved. But what does this mean?
What Jesus did for us on the cross provides access to the Father. All have sinned and offended the holiness of God. God in His holiness must judge sin. However, God is also a God of love. Therefore, He made a way to bring redemption to fallen humanity. He provided His Son the Lord Jesus to fulfill the demands of justice and the demands of love.
Jesus lived a perfect. holy and sinless life. He then went to the cross where He bore our sins in His body. He was holy and without sin, yet He took for us the punishment for sin that we rightly deserved. If a person accepts what Jesus Christ has done and turns to Jesus in repentance and faith, Jesus will provide access to the Father's House for that person. Eternal life is only available through Jesus.
This is one of the meanings of Jesus' statement that the one's who came before were thieves and robbers. All of the false gods and false religious teachings and hypocritical religious teachings that preceded Jesus cannot bring truth and salvation. Only Jesus who is God incarnate can provide salvation.
I believe that the statement "I Am the Door" has other meanings as well. A door not only provides access, it also hinders access. As the door, Jesus provides protection from the adversary that would attempt to do us spiritual harm and separate us from the Lord.
There is a beautiful illustration from Scripture that demonstrates our spiritual safety. Those who trust in Jesus are sealed by the Holy Spirit. We are then safe in the hand's of Jesus, and Jesus is in the hands of the Father. No one can snatch us away from the Lord. We are sealed to the day of redemption, and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Jesus is also the door in the sense that He provides access to good pasture. We will see more about the role of the shepherd in next week's " I Am" statement. But for now, let us just say that the shepherd lets the sheep out of the fold to find what is good. These has a spiritual and a physical aspect for us.
The Bible says that every good and perfect gift is from above. All that we receive that is good and nice in this life comes from Jesus. We receive our food, clothing and physical blessings from the hand of the Lord. Our friends, family and animals that we love are a blessing from the Lord. Those little things that come along to brighten our day are gifts from the Lord.
Just the other day, I just happened upon a series of cat videos that have brought to me an incredible amount of happiness. This wasn't just by chance, I believe that Jesus brings these good things in our lives to make us happy just as a shepherd lets the sheep out of the sheepfold to find good pasture.
However, the truest sense of this is in the spiritual realm. Everything that we need spiritually, Jesus provides. Jesus provides forgiveness of sins and atonement with the Father. Jesus is the comfort of our souls. He is with us in times of heartache and struggle encouraging us and helping us to make it through each day. Jesus is our everything. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is the one we can cast all of our cares upon because He cares for us. He is our guide, healer and helper. All that we have is from the Lord Jesus.
Everything I am is because of Jesus. Everything that I have that has been good in my life has been provided by Him. I now look to the ultimate good that Jesus will bring when I see Him at the end of this life. Then, Jesus who is the door will let me into the Father's House. This won't be because of anything that I have done, It will because of the grace and mercy of the Lord poured out on Calvary and confirmed when Jesus rose on the third day.
For some reason that I haven't quite figured out, whenever I have a series of messages about Jesus, the readership of the sermons goes done substantially. When I have messages from the Old Testament or a book of the Bible, readership goes way up. I don't understand this, because Jesus means so much to me. He is what the faith is all about. There is nothing if it wasn't for Jesus.
I am going to keep talking and writing about Jesus even if no one wants to read the blog, because Jesus is worthy of praise. He is the one who can transform people's lives.
When I started these sermons four years ago this summer, it was my hope that people would hear about the love of Jesus and turn to Him for salvation and find Jesus as their friend. If you are reading this blog today, and you have never trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, I plead with you to turn to Jesus now. The one who is the door will let you in to His love and change your life forever.
Next week, we will continue with our series on the "I Am" statements. On Wednesday, I hope to have a review. Monday, I will be posting verses for the week. May God bless you all. Amen.
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