John 10:9

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 life.

(a) Security. ‘He shall be saved.’ Salvation placed in the forefront as the very beginning of the Christian life, from which all else in it must start and find its guarantee of permanence.

(b) Freedom. Safety is not dependent on isolation or close confinement to the fold; on physical separation from the world out of which men come; on a vigorous system of restraints and prohibitions. The believer has the run of God’s house, freedom to come and go, the right of access and exit as a child or friend. This does not imply oscillation between the Church and the world, but does imply freedom under Christ’s care. There is no real liberty till a man enters the fold of Christ and becomes a sheep of His pasture. Genuine independence lies in dependence on Christ. Out of Christ men are slaves, in peril, hampered by guilty fears, mechanical rules, and suspected dangers; are creatures of mere petty details, instead of having to rule themselves by great principles.

(c) Sustenance. The exercise of freedom gives pasturage. Not only within, but also without the fold, the saved soul, acting out freely its new instincts, derives nourishment from all worldly things, learns to extract the good, to refuse the evil, to turn all things to spiritual profit. The visible becomes a parable of the invisible, full of rich suggestions of Divine truth. He has not only safety and freedom, but sustenance; not only life, but abundance. Finding implies seeking. Seek, that you may find what you need. Despise nothing that can give pasture.

II. The fullness of the Christian life is open to all.—There is a door of entrance and egress; but the door is open, open for ‘any man’ who chooses to enter. No class of society or race has a monopoly. Christ has no favourites, places no restrictions, makes no exceptions. No one, then, need think regretfully that this fullness is beyond his reach.

III. The sole condition of possessing this fullness is entrance into the Fold.—Christ lays down no other. This entrance is not merely into the visible Church, but into the invisible Church, the mystical body of Christ, in living communion with Him. It is to come out from the world and be separate from it; to enter into Christ by faith. Very simple is the condition. The open door invites you to comply with it.

IV. The entrance into the enjoyment of this fullness depends on Christ alone.—He is the Door. There is no use climbing over the wall or breaking through the fence. Christ has the exclusive right of giving access. There is no other door admitting to the privileges of the fold. Men try to fashion doors for themselves when they do not care to climb the wall, such as the door of their own merits, their religious observances, their charities, etc.; or they make doors of the under-shepherds, and think that they have entered rightly, if these have not barred their passage. But personal dealing with Christ is essential.

Illustration

‘ “He shall go in and out.” What is the meaning of this expression? In the literal interpretation of the allegory of the Good Shepherd there is no doubt on this point. We see the fold reared in the midst of the pasture. Into it the sheep enter, and from it they go forth, according to the desire of each; nothing bars their going out or their coming in. But what is the interpretation of this image in spiritual life? Very many answers have been given to this question, and yet I cannot but think that the meaning is plain when we remember that the expression, “to go out and to come in,” is one of very frequent use in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha. You will find it, for instance, in these passages: Numbers 27:15; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 28:6; Deuteronomy 31:2; 1 Samuel 18:13; Psalms 121:8; Jeremiah 37:4; Zechariah 8:10; 1Ma_15:25. It is also used by St. Peter of our Lord’s public life in Acts 1:21. If you will refer to these passages, you will see that in every instance they point to us one living in the peace of liberty, for they show us one who is either able or unable to live before men a life freed from all conditions, physical or spiritual, which hinder men from living the life of obedience to duty. In other words, they show us a condition of life in which men can live true to conviction, aspiration, and resolve, as they live in the glorious liberty of the children of God. Hence our Lord says that as the sheep is free in life, as it passes from fold to pasture, and from pasture to fold, so they who are living under His care in His Church are set free to live a rightly regulated life.’