_‘THE PORTER OF THE DOOR’_ ‘To him the porter openeth.’ John 10:3 Who is the Porter? Christ we know is the Door. The only satisfactory explanation is to see in the Porter the office and work of God the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the Porter. He opens the Door, and when once we grasp this idea,... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE FIRST DAYS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE_ ‘To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice.’ John 10:3 The personal ministry of the Jewish shepherd to his sheep began each day at the early morning. All through the night the sheep dwelt in the sheepfold under the porter’s care; but when the morni... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CALLING OF THE SHEEP_ ‘He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.’ John 10:3 The Good Shepherd, meeting us in the Sacrament of Baptism, carried us in His arms, and placed us in His fold in the night of infancy, ere the day of consciousness had dawned. After the morning of consci... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE SHEEP AND THE SHEPHERD_ ‘He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.’ John 10:4 (R.V.) That is a parable, and a very beautiful one. For in our text Christ drew His own Portrait and the portraits of His sheep too. I. THEY FOLLOW HIM.—Of course, this means self-de... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD_ ‘They know His voice.’ St John 10:4 In one respect this parable is given to show how we may know that He is our Saviour. But it also shows how we may know that we are His sheep. How is it with _ us?_ I. HAVE I LISTENED FOR HIS VOICE?—Do I know His Voice? A man says, ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
_CHRIST THE DOOR_ ‘I am the Door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.’ John 10:9 It is an open question whether the text refers to priests only, or to priests and people alike. The latter seems preferable. I. THE FULLNESS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIF... [ Continue Reading ]
_MOTIVES OF WORK FOR GOD_ ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ John 10:10 We are living in a day that will be remembered for the nobility of its aims. From the student in our colleges to the working-man in his club the world is pulsing with high aims... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE GOOD SHEPHERD_ ‘I am the Good Shepherd.’ John 10:11 When our Blessed Lord called Himself the Good Shepherd, and spoke of His loving care for His sheep, those who heard Him felt the full force of the beautiful and original allegory. He spoke to men who came of a shepherd race. He appealed to... [ Continue Reading ]
_INDIVIDUAL KNOWLEDGE_ ‘I am the Good Shepherd, and know, My sheep, and am known of Mine.’ John 10:14 Few things come more closely home to true Christians than the shepherdly love which the Lord bestows upon them. His word to us is this: ‘I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known o... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOURFOLD KNOWLEDGE_ ‘I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father.’ John 10:14 The important word in this sentence is the word ‘known’—the fourfold knowledge of Christ and His people, which forms a chain, a chain essential t... [ Continue Reading ]
_‘ALL SOULS ARE MINE’_ ‘Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall bear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.’ John 10:16 When our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of Himself as a Shepherd and His people as sheep, He was not giving a new idea... [ Continue Reading ]
_NOT PEACE, BUT A SWORD_ ‘There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.’ John 10:19 We see what strifes and controversies our Lord occasioned when He was on earth. We read that ‘there was a division among the Jews for His sayings,’ and that ‘many of them said He hath a de... [ Continue Reading ]
_A CLUSTER OF GRAPES_ ‘I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My Hand.’ John 10:28 Here we have an illustration of the vast privileges which the Lord Jesus Christ bestows on true Christians. He uses words about them of singular richness... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE EVIDENCE OF THE MIRACLES_ ‘If I do not the works of My Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.’ John 10:37 Observe the importance which our Lord Jesus Christ attaches to His mirac... [ Continue Reading ]