I Am the Door

Christ the Door

Bible Passage: John 10:1–10

Good morning Church.

Go ahead and grab your Bibles and make your way to John Chapter 10.

And welcome to Week 3 of our I Am series of Christ, were we are walking through the 7 I am Statements of Jesus.

When Andy Griffith, star of the classic television program that bore his name, entered his fifties, he found it increasingly difficult to find work in Hollywood, and his personal finances became tighter and tighter. He wrote in Guideposts that finally he and his wife Cindi decided things would be easier if they moved from Los Angeles back to Andy’s home state of North Carolina; so they put their home up for sale and waited for a buyer. Unfortunately the real estate market was down, and no one gave them a decent offer for their home. Months passed, and Andy grew depressed.

Then one day the Lord gave Cindi an insight. “Maybe it’s a good thing we couldn’t sell the house,” she said. “Maybe it was God showing us grace. If we moved to North Carolina now, you might indeed never work again. What we need to do is stay here and stoke the fire.”

And stoke the fire they did. Day after day they went together to the office of the talent agency that represented Andy. They sat in the lobby, chatted with agents, and went with them to lunch. Eventually the work started to come in: four TV movies that year, including the pilot for Matlock, a show that ended up running for nine years.

Sometimes a closed door is a signpost from God. He has a better way for us to go.

I can remember being a student in the youth ministry and listening to Pastor Micah talk about going through the doors God has opened for. He would say and still says go where the peace of God takes you.

Those other doors lead to sin and sin is not fun.

and in my head, I would always think “you ain’t doing it right then.”

Know I knew what he meant. Sin will keep you longer than you wanted to and it will make you go further than you wanted to go.

And as long as we are on earth and awaiting for the Lord’s return, we will continue to deal with sin.

There will be no sin in heaven, for those who are in heaven will not have it in them to sin any more.

J. I. Packer

And Christ makes one of the most profound exclusive claims about Himself in John 10 when it comes to having a relationship with the Father and being with Him in Heaven.

Just as Jesus is the bread of Life, Just as Jesus said He is the light of the World. Jesus is also the door.

Listen to this quote by Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, and what he had this to say about the the implications of Jesus saying He is the door.

You may knock at a thousand doors; you may cry and pray and groan and agonize and sweat, even to drops of blood, but there is only one door to heaven, and that door is faith in Jesus Christ. If you will not enter by that door, God himself will not open another.

Charles Spurgeon

There is only one door in which man can have salvation and that door is Jesus. Its Christ who is the door and its Christ who opened the door when He died on Calvary.

Understand, In John 10, Jesus is speaking primarily to the Pharisees and a crowd that includes His disciples and other Jewish people.

The context is set at the end of John 9, where Jesus healed a man born blind. The Pharisees questioned this man about Jesus and were divided on whether Jesus was truly from God.

And Jesus is telling them He is the door.

God’s covenant promises found in the Old Testament find His fulfillment in Him.

Jesus is God’s yes to ever promise ever made.

Christ is the end to which the Old Testament points, the goals towards which it moves. And there is only one door in which those can receive the prize- in Him.

To be in Christ is the source of the Christian’s life; to be like Christ is the sum of his excellence; to be with Christ is the fulness of his joy.

Charles Hodge (American Presbyterian Theologian)

We are going to read John 10:1–10 then dive deeper into God’s Word and see what He has in store for us today.

John 10:1–10 ESV

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Let’s pray.

I am the door.

door meaning theeyla-ra. Thryra meaning door entrance.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Ten: The Good Shepherd and His Sheep (John 10))

The sheepfold was usually an enclosure made of rocks, with an opening for the door.

The shepherd (or a porter) would guard the flock, or flocks, at night by lying across the opening. It was not unusual for several flocks to be sheltered together in the same fold.

In the morning, the shepherds would come, call their sheep, and assemble their own flocks. Each sheep recognized his own master’s voice

The word used for door is the same word when Jesus was speaking to the Church in Philadelphia when he said in Revelation 3:8

Revelation 3:8 (ESV)

“ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Jesus is telling them there is an open door for them. That door is the entry into God’s presence.

Jesus is that open door.

1. Pathways to the Pen

John 10:1–3 (ESV)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Micah 2:13 prophesies concerning the second/ new exodus and return from exile: “He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the LORD at their head.”

At the exodus from Egypt, Israel was liberated following the Passover, when their homes were covered by the blood of the lamb.

They crossed the Red Sea on dry land, and then the Lord provided manna from heaven and water from the rock in the wilderness following the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.

Moses went up the mountain to receive the law, and the pillar of fire and cloud led Israel to the Land of Promise.

Prior to Israel’s exile from the land, Isaiah was commissioned to stop ears, blind eyes, and harden hearts until the exile (Isa. 6:9–13).

The Lord also promised through Isaiah that when he worked the new-exodus salvation, the lame would be healed and the blind would see as the Lord once again liberated his people and led them to the Land of Promise.

John presents Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies. John the Baptist announces Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36).

In chapter 2, Jesus, the Lamb of God, drives animals of sacrifice out of the temple; he will replace them.

In chapter 3, Jesus speaks with Nicodemus about the new birth (cf. Ezek. 36:25–27).

In John 4, Jesus offers living water, is recognized as Messiah and Savior of the world, and heals the sick.

In chapter 5, the lame walk.

In chapter 6, the multitude is fed, the water crossed, the mountain ascended. Then Jesus reveals that he is the fulfillment of the manna from heaven- The Bread of life.

In chapter 7, Jesus asserts that he is the fulfillment of the rock from which the water flowed, but he gives something better than water: the Holy Spirit.

In chapter 8, Jesus is the pillar of fire, the Light of the World.

In chapter 9, the blind see.

If the people of Jesus are to reach the river Jordan to cross over into the Land of Promise, they need not only to be liberated, made alive, healed, given sight, and provided with bread and water. and the only that happens is through God and God alone.

Only God can provide all of those things and in chapter 10, he is making that perfectly clear- there is only one path. only one way in. Through the Door.

And its important to understand who Jesus is speaking to in theses verses. He is speaking to Jewish leaders. People who know the Scriptures, the prophecies, how the Messiah was to come. They know all the things.

The sheepfold is actually the nation of Israel

John 10:16 “

16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

The Gentiles are the “other sheep” not of the fold of Israel

When Jesus came to the nation of Israel, He came the appointed way, just as the Scriptures promised.

Every true shepherd must be called of God and sent by God.

If he truly speaks God’s Word, the sheep will “hear his voice” and not be afraid to follow him. The true shepherd will love the sheep and care for them.

Since the people did not understand His symbolic language, Jesus followed the illustration with an application (John 10:7–10).

Twice He says, “I am the Door.”

He is the Door of the sheepfold and makes it possible for the sheep to leave the fold (the religion of Judaism) and to enter His flock.

Last chapter, the Pharisees threw the beggar out of the synagogue, but Jesus led him out of Judaism and into the flock of God!

But the Shepherd does not stop with leading the sheep out; He also leads them in. They become a part of the “one flock” (not “fold”) which is His church.

He is the Door of salvation (John 10:9).

John 10:9 ESV

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Those who trust Him enter into the Lord’s flock and fold, and they have the wonderful privilege of going “in and out” and finding pasture.

When you keep in mind that the shepherd actually was the “door” of the fold, this image becomes very real.

As the Door, Jesus delivers sinners from bondage and leads them into freedom. They have salvation! This word “saved” means “delivered safe and sound

Some modern preachers want to do away with the Old-fashioned term Saved.

They replaced it with salvation, received, redeemed.

They don’t like the term Saved but here’s the things- Jesus used it.

6372 Christ is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is he the best of several ways; he is the only way.

A. W. Tozer

Not all roads lead to Heaven. Buddha is not a door, Muhammed is not a door. Shiva is not a door.

It is astonishing what some people will believe when they get going. They properly hold it a sin to doubt the Bible, so they refuse to doubt anything that is served up along with the Bible, however ridiculous and unscriptural it may be. If the story has a flavor of wonder about it, these uncritical friends will accept it without question and repeat it in an awed voice with much solemn shaking of the bowed head. Multiply such people in any given church, and you have a perfect soil for the growth of every kind of false teaching and fanatical excess.

We need to cultivate a healthy skepticism toward everything that cannot be supported by the plain teaching of the Bible. Belief is faith only when it has God’s revealed truth for its object; beyond that it may be fully as injurious as unbelief itself.

Acts 17:11; Acts 20:28–31; 1 John 4:1

We Travel an Appointed Way, 3, 4.

A. W. Tozer

It is astonishing what some people will believe.If the story has a flavor of wonder about it, these people will accept without questions and repeat it in an awed voice with solemn shaking and a bowed head.

You see this in our country and in our government today. And its all a move to get away from the Christian foundation of this country. Trying to create division.

Just look at the news and all the propaganda they have put forth to divide and conquer.

and its all intended to get people to move further and further away from God.

You’re homophobic if you believe marriage is only between a man and a woman.

You’re transphobic if you believe that putting on a dress and make-up doesn’t make you a woman.

You’re racist if you believe illegal immigrants are here illegally.

You’re a bigot if you don’t tolerate other peoples religion.

and here is my issue with all of those claims. They all are out of line with scripture. And you might be thinking you are doing the right thing by showing up to the gay wedding by calling the man in the dress by her pronouns and using his girl name.

But when you do that you are going against the Word of God.

Your conscience is not the rule of your duty, but God’s Word is; and if God’s Word commands it, whatever your conscience may say about it, you are sinning if you refuse to obey. Tell It All, Volume 9, Sermon #514 - Mark 5:33

Charles Spurgeon

We should not tolerate, and even worse, affirm things God called sin.

We should never keep silent because it offends people.

God’s Word is offensive. It has to be seen as offensive to a World that believes their is no true right and wrong but its all a matter of perspective.

There is one way into the Kingdom of God. There is one way into the presence of the Father and its through His son.

Jesus constantly and without apology exposes false paths and the counterfeit ways of trying to enter the sheepfold.

Jesus exposes false paths by revealing the true nature of faith and the condition of the human heart.

Look at the lives of self proclaimed Christians today, persecution and trials can expose whether our faith is genuine or merely superficial.

When trials come into our lives do we run to Jesus or run from Jesus.

How many people do you know who were regular church attenders, who were fully engaged in the life of the church only to walk away from the faith when something really bad happened.

How could God let me go through that, whatever that is, if He truly loved me?

And that is such a human thought but lets be honest, its also a satanic thought.

That thought goes all the way back to the garden of Eden when the Serpent said “Did God really say?” Did God really say?

Does God really love me?

87  One of the greatest truths of the Bible is that God loves us. And because He loves us, He wants to give us what is best for us.

Billy Graham

Answers to Life’s Problems (1994)

Billy Graham

And the Best thing He did for us was He provided a way to Himself. He is what is best for us.

He’s the door. and don’t think of door like we think of a door. I learned a lot about doors recently when he replaced the three class room doors. I learned that most businesses think very highly of there doors.

We have all types of doors but that is not the case Jesus talks about being the door.

In fact, some homes in the Ancient Near East would use curtains as doors. They were typically interior doors.

And scripture sometimes refers to doors as gates or as openings.

Like the east gate of the tabernacle or the temple- around the tabernacle and temple was a fence, a wall, and the opening was on the east side- that's considered a door.

Whats interesting about the temple and the tabernacle is that everything in the temple aligns with the 7 I am sayings of Jesus.

The entrance which was called the east gate because it faced the same way as the Garden of Eden- it had only one way in and one way out- Jesus is the door.

The first thing you would see on the grounds would be the brazen altar - were the sacrifices were made on behalf of the people for there sin. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

Then before you get into the tabernacle, the priests would need to wash themselves clean in the bronze basin every time they were to go in the temple. If a priest did not wash, they would die according to the Bible. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and the only way to avoid eternal death is to be washed in the blood.

In the Holy place- when you went through the door of the tabernacle or temple- the first thing you would have seen is the golden lampstand. the only source of light in the temple. Jesus is The light of the World

You would then see the Altar of Show beard- which always had the 12 pieces of bread on it- it was for the reminder that God provided for the people in the desert for 40 years. Jesus is The Bread of life

Also in the holy place was the Altar of Incense. The incense was to be left burning continually throughout the day and night as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

The incense was a symbol of the prayers and intercession of the people going up to God as a sweet fragrance. God wanted His dwelling to be a place where people could approach Him and pray to Him. Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

Just as a shepherd knows each of his sheep, Jesus knows each of us personally, and knows our needs. The Bible says we do not pray as we ought so Jesus intercedes on our behalf. He continuously brings our needs before the Father.

After the Altar of Incense, you would see the veil. The Veil separated the holy place and the holy of holies.

In the Tabernacle, and later in the Solomon’s temple, behind the veil, in the holy of holies, was the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant was the sacred Jewish chest that represented God’s presence with His people.

On top of the Ark was two cherubim and in between them was the mercy seat which was called the footstool of the Lord. Inside the Ark was the two stone tablets with the 10 commandments that Moses received on Mount Sinai, a jar of manna, the bread that God provided to the people and Moses’s Staff.

Only the High Priest could go behind the veil.

It is the innermost sanctuary where God's presence was believed to dwell.

Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies to offer a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people, creating a temporary covering of their sins and symbolizing the need for reconciliation with God.

The High Priest was to wear bells on there garments so the priests in the holy place could hear his movements and Jewish tradition holds that he would have a rope tied around him. Because on the High Priest could go behind the veil because the Presence of God was in the Holy of Holies, the skekinah glory of God. The only source of life, God himself.

Jesus, our ultimate High Priest, fulfilled and surpassed this role. By offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice, He entered not just an earthly Holy of Holies but heaven itself to bring us into God’s presence. Unlike the High Priests of old, who needed to make sacrifices repeatedly, Jesus' sacrifice was once for all, cleansing us fully and forever. Because of Jesus, the veil of the Holy of Holies—once separating God from humanity—was torn, symbolizing direct access to God through Him.

As the True Vine, Jesus connects us directly to the life and sustenance of God, inviting us to abide in Him and bear fruit.

All of the I am Statements point us to Jesus and point us to the temple. and He is our great high priest and as our Great High Priest grants us confidence to approach God, knowing that He has made a way for us into the Holy of Holies, where we can live in communion with our Creator.

So we can walk through the door with complete confidence.

but also notice that the enemy is around.

2. Presence of the Enemy

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

Jesus was referring to the religious leaders of the Jews as the “thieves and robbers”

Merrill C. Tenney

The Jews were putting laws on top of the laws.

If this background is primary, then in the context of Jesus’ ministry the thieves and robbers are the religious leaders who are more interested in fleecing the sheep than in guiding, nurturing and guarding them. They are the leaders of ch. 9, who should have had ears to hear Jesus’ claims and recognize him as the revelation from God, but who instead belittle and expel the sheep.

D. A. Carson

Thieves are those who take what does not belong to them, and robbers are those who use violence in doing so. The Pharisees were thieves and robbers.

William MacDonald

In our day and age. Thieves and robbers are false teachers, thieves and robbers are people who come to you in the name of Jesus but preach a different gospel. They teach works based, or a prosperity, or a cheap grace gospel. These people are cause people to believe the lies of the enemy. The true people of God will not be misled by charlatans.

AW Tozer had this to say about the cheap grace movement.

The Best of A. W. Tozer, Book Two Chapter 32: I Call It Heresy

The truth is that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures

In the 16th century, the Reformation stirred many hearts, yet even then, some embraced grace as a mere ticket to heaven, neglecting the call to live righteously. Martin Luther passionately argued against indulgences, highlighting that cheap grace was robbing believers of the true meaning of Christ's sacrifice. His struggle reminds us of the timeless challenge: to cherish grace, not as a blanket for our sins, but as a powerful call to live in obedience and love.

Salvation is not a get out of hell free card and we can just do what we want and nothing about our lives change.

 4   People today simply do not believe that there will be a day of judgment.

R. C. Sproul

And because they fall into this idea of cheap grace. God loves me just the way that I am. God died for sins so I can just keep living how I want to live.

and here is the thing- God does love you. But does the way you live your life reflect that you love him?

A God of love who has no wrath is no God. He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved him out of stone.

R. C. Sproul

We don’t get to define God in our own terms. God defines us, and refines us so we can be molded to live a life that demonstrates the love of God to a lost and dying world.

When we experience the love of Christ and come to salvation everything about everything changes.

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 34: Belief

Robert Chesebrough believed in his product. He’s the fellow who invented Vaseline, a petroleum jelly refined from rod wax, the ooze that forms on shafts of oil rigs. He so believed in the healing properties of his product that he became his own guinea pig. He burned himself with acid and flame; he cut and scratched himself so often and so deeply that he bore the scars of his tests the rest of his life. But he proved his product worked. People had only to look at his wounds, now healed, to see the value of his work—and the extent of his belief

The world should be able to see how much we love the gospel and the evidence should be how we live our day to day lives.

We don’t have to live a life that reflects the love of God to a lost and dying world. We get to live a life that reflects the of God to a lost and dying world.

and the problem is we live in a day and age where people don’t understand the difference.

JC Ryle said

300 Quotations for Preachers Inability to Discern Doctrinal Differences

Inability to distinguish differences in doctrine is spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is “clever” and “earnest,” hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully “narrow and uncharitable” if you hint that he is unsound!

and we can fall prey to false teachings because we aren’t in God’s Word.

False teachers may use what appears to be a Christian vocabulary, but they do not use a Christian dictionary.

And what people don’t need- is a Christian TED talk. They don’t need a motivational speech disguised as a sermon coated with a few christian buzz words.

We need real nourishment. We need the bread of life.

Brother Elmer says it daily, “Get in the Word, so the Word can get into you.”

A lot of people talk of knowing the Bible from cover to cover, but all they know is the cover.

Some of us are like Christopher Columbus when it comes to our understanding:

He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know where he was when he got there. He didn’t know where he had been when he returned.

The necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will, but is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws.

Wayne Grudem

See, we have an enemy who wants to kill, steal, and destroy, everything have.

John 10:10 (ESV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

He comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy.

He is okay with you knowing God exists, he maybe even knowing God’s character and moral laws.

but he doesn’t want you to know the true gospel, he does not want you to maintain spiritual life, or knowing God’s will.

Satan has no constructive purpose of his own: his tactics are simply to thwart God and destroy men.

J. I. Packer

And the way to avoid the schemes of the enemy is to be behind the door.

But doesn’t it always seem, at least at first glance, like the people not in relationship with the Lord, outside the will of God, that don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior, have better easier lives.

Like Blair and I, without fail, will say “who ever said easy like Sunday morning never got up and got ready for church.”

And when I came across this quote from Corrie Ten Boom, it makes complete sense why it would feel that way.

Satan wastes no ammunition on those who are dead in trespasses and sins.

Corrie Ten Boom

All, All, All, his ammunition is used on people who are doing the work of the ministry, who are in the will of God.

Because if you aren’t in the will of God, that means you are in the will of Satan.

If I were not a child of God, Satan would not be my enemy.

A soldier takes an oath to protect his nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Similarly, as followers of Christ, we have an enemy that is both real and relentless. The enemy seeks to kill our dreams, steal our hope, and destroy our relationships. By recognizing this battle and committing ourselves to the fight, we arm ourselves with God's word and the fellowship of believers, ensuring we stand firm against all tactics of the adversary.

Thats why Ephesians 6:13–18 says

“13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

When we are in Christ and are equipped with the whole armor of God, we are prepared for the schemes of the devil. We are ready for the one who wants to kill, steal and destroy.

And that’s why at the beginning next year, we are going to walk through Ephesians 6:13-18 and do a series on the Armor of God so we can be ready.

17  People who truly desire God’s blessing must resist the devil and his schemes. That means before we have a right to expect God to bless us, we must turn away from the evil that hinders that blessing.

John MacArthur

Can God Bless America? (2002)

John F. MacArthur

and the only way for God to bless us is to be found in His son, Jesus.

We have seen He is the only way in, there is an enemy that wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything we hold dear but we also see the beautiful promise of the door.

3. Promise of the Door

John 10:10

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

When we go through “the Door,” we receive life and are are saved.

As you go “in and out,” you enjoy abundant life in the rich pastures of the Lord. His sheep enjoy fullness and freedom. Jesus not only gave His life for us, but He gives His life to us right now!

Consider Psalm 23, the Psalm of David.

Psalm 23:5–6 “

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Imagine a cup overflowing with water—this is how Jesus describes the abundant life.

It is not a life that's merely filled to the brim but one that overflows to bless others.

In our walk with Christ, we encounter grace that spills into our relationships, generosity, and compassion.

He transforms our lives and the lives around us, which creates a ripple effect of abundance.

and He is doing all of that in the presence of our enemies.

As you read the scriptures, consider how many times God made promises to His people - from Adam to Moses and the prophets. Each promise carried a hope, a future.

With the coming of Jesus, these hopes found their fulfillment. He is the Lamb promised in Genesis, the Deliverer in Exodus, and the King foretold by the prophets. Just as flowers bloom in spring, God's promises blossom in Christ.

We must recognize that all we hope for is anchored in Jesus, the ultimate promise keeper.

We are secure in God’s Hands.

The “hand of Christ” (verse 28) is beneath us, and the “hand” of the Father is above us. Thus are we secured between the clasped hands of Omnipotence!

Arthur Walkington Pink

This world is not in the hands of the politicians; it is in the hands of this living Jesus, this risen Christ. This is the message: God the eternal Father, the Creator, the Owner of all things, has handed over the business of this world and its redemption to His Son. And He has “all power … in heaven and in earth.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

As I am wrapping up this sermon, let me ask you- Have you ever come to the door of salvation?

We are the sheep, He is the door.

He is the only entrance to life eternal. He is the only way. Every other way this world tries to distract us with is a lie from the pit of hell.

He is the only way.

I have had many things in my hands and have lost them all. But whatever I have been able to place in God’s hands I still possess.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)

Are you secure in the father’s hands?

If you aren’t, let today be the day for your salvation.

We are going to pray, then we will enter into a time of invitation and consecration where we say however the Lord is calling you to respond, may you respond. Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Whether you want to surrender your life to the Lord, want to pray at the alter or with someone, become an official part of the church family, whatever it may be, may we be obedient to his voice.

Because His sheep hear his voice and follow him.