Text: John 10:110

Topic: How Christ can shut the door to a painful past, and open it to abundant life.

Introduction

• In the "I Am" verses of John 10, Christ tells us who he is, and we should listen.
• What does Jesus mean when he says "I am the Door"?
• The setting is the story of the Great Shepherd.
• In Christ's day, there were two kinds of sheepfolds:

1) A communal sheepfold in villages, manned by a doorkeeper,

2) A sheepfold in the wild, where the shepherd literally served as the door.

• This second kind of sheepfold is the one Christ is referring to.

Through Christ the door is shut to an old life of sin and guilt, pain and loss.

• Acknowledging that we are sinners and accepting forgiveness is the gospel.
• Psalm 51 is a cry of guilt, begging for forgiveness—a shutting of the door.

Illustration: A young couple has premarital sex; she gets pregnant and aborts. After they marry, she miscarries twice, assumes God is punishing her, and is devastated. When she meets Christ, she is overwhelmed by his mercy.

• We all need to shut the door on the pain of our past; the pain of guilt, emptiness, bitterness, or time lost (to alcoholism, workaholism).

• Christ says he is the door that can shut out the pain of those things.

We all need to open the door to a new, abundant life.

• The door not only closes something behind us, but opens to new pasture.
• The door opens us to a life of service to our neighbor.

Illustration: Washington Gladden, a preacher at the turn of the century, tried for years to experience the "feeling" of the new birth, until a wise preacher set him straight, noting it was a matter of faith, not feeling. Gladden went on to become a popular evangelist who applied the gospel to social issues, helping others.

• The door opens us to a trustful relationship with God.

Illustration: A young pastor in his first appointment is in over his head, with many doubts. But an elderly woman in the congregation constantly prays for him, encourages him. She even prays for him just before she dies, saying, "It's all right, we're going to make it." Her encouragement "made a preacher out of me."

Conclusion

• Christ is the door, but the door doesn't do any good unless we use it.