THE DOOR TO ABUNDANT LIFE
John 10:9-11
There three classes of people here today, 1) People who have existence, but no eternal life, 2) People who have life, having been saved by Jesus, 3) People who have been saved by Jesus and have abundantly life.
Some are saved, they have life, they have hell’s fire insurance, and that’s all. But some had not only that, but they have heaven already in them, for they have abundant life in Jesus.
I heard the story of a rich Texan who was buried by his wife in BMW automobile. A by-stander said man that’s real living. But the fact was that he wasn’t living, he was dead. Sometime we see people who seem to have everything, and we say they got it made, but the Bible says if they are lost the are dead in their sins.
Somehow we believe the Bible is true, but yet don’t believe we can have abundant life like Paul and Peter and others in the Bible.
Sometime people try to make the Bible fits their lifestyle rather that their lifestyle fits the Bible. They are like the lady who went to a Bookstore looking for a Bible. She wanted a purple Bible to match her purple dress.
I-NOTICE JESUS IS THE DOOR TO ABUNDANT SALVATION: V-9A
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
Someone asked me one time, what is the secret to abundant life, abundant salvation? I replied, that not the question you should ask. For it no secret. What you should ask is what is the source of abundant life.
There are two types of sheepfolds in the New Testament. One in the towns with a real door, and the others in the field where the shepherd is the door. This is the message to us; Jesus is the door and the only door to salvation.
A-JESUS IS THE ORDAINED DOOR:
God has ordained Jesus as the door. Before God ever put a star in the heavens, before He ever flung this world from His fingers, God ordained that Jesus Christ, His Son, would be the ordained door.
I Peter 1:18-20- Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
The leading citizens had gathered at a luncheon to pay tribute to one of the city’s first businesses, which was celebrating its one hundredth anniversary. Its top executives were the guests of honor. The toastmaster extolled the history and contributions of that firm to the community. He finally pointed out that the many years had proved the soundness of this particular business and the fine worth of its products. Then, looking around the tables, the master of ceremonies asked, "Is there any other member present who represents a firm which has been in existence that long?" A minister quietly arose and said, "I have that honor, Sir." There was a moment of silence, followed by a burst of applause, as the men realized that the church on the corner was the oldest institution in the city and a part of the Christian fellowship organized over nineteen hundred years ago.
Although the Church is over 1900 years old, Jesus is the one slain from the foundations of the world.
We need to remember salvation is only possible, Heaven is only possible because Jesus ordained of God came form Heaven and laid down His life on the cross for you and I.
B-JESUS IS THE ONLY DOOR:
John 14:6-Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Not just a door, but “the” door. There was only one door in the Ark, there was only one door in the tabernacle, and Jesus is the only door to Heaven.
I read the following story about a preacher who went to Gettysburg College who said when I studied at Gettysburg College;I had a decided dislike for mathematics. I dropped the subject in my sophomore year. However, it was a requirement that I must satisfactorily complete that course to graduate. Nothing was said about it until two months before I was to graduate. I was advised that unless I completed that subject, I would not be awarded my diploma. I took it up with the faculty, petitioning them that they allow me to take another subject in its stead. But it was no use. They were adamantine in this requirement.
There is a narrow requirement to go to heaven and that is through Jesus our Lord. I had a man tell me once, he thought he was going to heaven because he kept his mother’s grave clean. I told him that was his thought, but the Bible plainly says Jesus is the only way.
Help us to see that He is the ONLY DOOR. There is no other hope for you and your children. There is no other way for people to be saved.
C-JESUS IS THE OPEN DOOR:
John 6:37- All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
The door is always open for the rich or poor, white or black, the up and out or the down and out, learned or unlearned, wise, or unwise, sick or the well.
Dr. H. A. Ironside, in his Lectures on Acts, recalls the story his mother told about his own dear father’s dying hour. The mother said, "Your father had this passage running through his mind. He kept repeating it constantly. ‘A great sheet and wild beasts and-and…’ He could not seem to get the next word but went back and started over. Once more he came to that same place. A friend bent over and whispered, ‘John, it says, "creeping things."’ "‘Oh, yes,’ he said, ‘that is how I got in, just a poor, good-for-nothing creeping thing, but I got in-saved by grace.’"
No matter how low and vile or utterly useless and corrupt or unclean, the soul that trusts Jesus is in the sheet let down from Heaven and will have a place in Glory by and by.
D-JESUS IS THE OPTIONAL DOOR:
Revelation 3:20- Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Prebendary Wilson Carlile founded the Church Army, an organization inside the Church of England working in the slums and with the poor. When King Edward was in his last illness, Dr. Carlile was invited to call on him at Buckingham Palace. Just before that, the king had decorated him for his work with the poor and the outcast. When the clergyman entered the bedchamber and approached the king, His Majesty called out faintly, "Well, Carlile, how are your tramps?" Before Carlile had time to reply, the king continued, "Never forget, Carlile, that tramps and kings need the same Saviour." Jesus said, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
"God is no respecter of persons."-Acts 10:34.
Jesus Christ is the Door by which each one of us must enter to come to God but He does not force us, it is up to you and your will.
G. Campbell Morgan said that at a great meeting in Manchester, England, Holman Hunt’s beautiful picture of "Christ Knocking at the Door" was thrown upon the screen. "Why don’t they let Him in?" a twelve-year-old boy excitedly asked his father. "I suppose they don’t want to," his father answered. But that did not satisfy the boy. "Oh no, it can’t be that! Anyone would want to let Him in," he said, then added, "Oh, it must be because they’re living in the cellar." About the only reason people don’t let Christ in is that they are living in the cellar of their lives.
In an English churchyard is an inscription on the gravestone of a woman who lived in the eighteenth century. After the dates of her birth and death there are these words: SHE WAS A COUSIN OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD. It is little use putting that on a tombstone. Certainly it would carry no weight with the eternal God. Were we to think of that woman standing at the pearly gates and an angel crying out before her, "Make way for the cousin of the Duke of Bedford," we are sure that it would carry no weight with the One who sits upon the throne.
II-NOTICE JESUS IS THE DOOR TO ABUNDANT SERVICE: V-9B
And shall go in and out,
“In and out”-This statement indicates the daily activities of the sheep. Service is not a way to Jesus, but Jesus is the way to service
Some think if your heart is cold, get busy in service, (OLE Bob is losing interest, give him a job?)
But Jesus is the door to service. Before Jesus send them out in the book of Acts, He told them to tarry. In other words, in that ten day praying meeting, they got full of Jesus before they went out.
A-NOTICE THE MOTIVE FOR SERVICE:
The motivation for getting person to serve Jesus is to get them to love Jesus.
Looking back over the years in my preaching ministry, I have done a lot of preaching in 31 years. But sometimes I wonder if my messages have got through to the people. I had tried to get people to get faithful in their Church attendance, in their giving to the Lord, in their praying, and in their service toward the Lord. It seemed I have failed many times to do this. But then I realized people don’t do these things because they don’t love Jesus like they should.
Jesus first asked Peter, did he love him, and then secondly He said, if so, feed my sheep.
Painting of the Lord’s supper in which the artist was asking people how did it look? They replied, if you really loved Him, you would have painted Him better. Also if you and I loved Him more, we would serve Him better.
B-NOTICE THE MANNER FOR SERVICE:
Col. 3:23- And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
What made two men take the heart out of a dead man and bury it beneath a tree in Africa, and then carry his body 200 miles to the coast to be turned over to the proper authorities? Because the man was David Livingtone, a missionary to Africa. They saw in him, his great love and zeal for the Lord. A man who when he died, was in a praying position by his bed.
Someone asked John Wesley how did he the crowds to come hear him preach? He said, I just set my-self on fire with Jesus and the people come to see me burn for Him.
The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. I want to run all the way with the flame of my torch still lit for Him.
III-JESUS IS THE DOOR TO ABUNDANT SUPPLY: V-9C
And find pasture. Psalms 23:1-“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shalt not want”
Once when Caesar Augustus had bestowed a princely gift upon one whom he wished especially to honor, the recipient was so overcome with the gift’s magnitude that he exclaimed, “This is too great a gift for me to receive.” “’But it is not too great a gift for me to give,” Caesar replied, pleased with his own bounty.
A-HE SUPPLIES STRENGTH IN SORROW:
After my wife’s Uncle died, his wife told me, as you know, I used to not serve God, I didn’t have time, but now in my sorrows I serve Him. I have found Him to be strength in my sorrows.
B-HE SUPPLIES SECURITY IN SALVATION:
The story is told of a monastery in Portugal, perched high on a 3,000 foot cliff and accessible only by a terrifying ride in a swaying basket. The basket is pulled with a single rope by several strong men, perspiring under the strain of the fully loaded basket. One American tourist who visited the site got nervous halfway up the cliff when he noticed that the rope was old and frayed. Hoping to relive his fear he asked, "How often do you change the rope?" The monk in charge replied, "Whenever it breaks!"
One of the Airlines boast that they are 99% safe when it coming to flying their airlines.
But that is not 100% safe, but the our Salvation is 100% safe because it is secured in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I like what Preacher Bud Robinson said after he was saved. As he got up, he said, I can read my title clear to the mansions in glory.
CONCLUSION-One of our great evangelists said, "You can die and go to Heaven without health, wealth, fame or honor; but you can’t die and go to Heaven without Jesus Christ."
I read the following account about a preacher who went to see a dying man: Years ago I went to see a man thought to be dying of pneumonia. I wanted to say something that would get his mind off himself. I began talking about the latest book of fiction. Receiving no response, I referred to the upturn in business. Still no response. I talked to him about the latest news in the field of politics. It was no go. Finally, he looked up toward me and said, "Pastor, I’m not interested now in literature or business or politics; tell me about Jesus." That man taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. When a man stands face-to-face with death, there is nothing he needs more than Jesus Christ. He is indeed the only Door.
