The Door Means Salvation
The Door Means Salvation
Salvation is not a human right but a gift of God’s grace; however, what Jesus says in John 10:9 reminds me of what Thomas Jefferson wrote in the American Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Salvation means life. Here is our Lord’s promise: “Whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). We are not saved because we admire Jesus but because we repent of our sins and trust Him and Him alone as our Lord and Savior. The beggar in John 9 wasn’t saved by going to the temple but by meeting Jesus in the temple, bowing before Him, and saying, “Lord, I believe” (9:35–38).
To be saved means to have your sins forgiven, to become a child of God, and to have the assurance of heaven. It means to have eternal life (John 3:16–18) and “life … to the full” (10:10). “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (3:36). Any sinner who enters into the one flock through Jesus Christ is saved and always will be saved. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (10:27–28).
Salvation means liberty. Salvation brings to us eternal life, but it also gives us the privilege of enjoying liberty—“they will go in and out.…” Jesus leads us out of the old fold and into the new flock, and then He permits us to go in and out of the walled community because of the freedom we have in Him. Jesus said that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34, 36). Christian freedom doesn’t mean the right to do whatever we please; it means we have the privilege of following Christ and doing what pleases Him. True freedom is life controlled by truth and motivated by love.
Note the balance here: “in and out.” A timid, frightened sheep would stay in the fold day and night and never see the pastures chosen by the shepherd, but the careless, overconfident sheep would remain in the pastures day and night and be exposed to all kinds of dangers. We need the food, water, and exercise of the pasture as well as the rest and security of the fold. Prayer and meditation are important, but so are witness and service, which is why the book of Hebrews tells us to go “within the veil” to worship the Lord and then to go “outside the camp” to work and witness for the Lord (Heb. 6:19; 13:13 NASB). Blessed are the balanced!
Out in the pasture, the sheep have no walls and are free to move about, while in the fold they are confined; and both are needed in the Christian life. There are some areas of life that require walls and fences, and if we ignore them, we get into trouble. There are other areas of Christian life that are open and free and about which the saints may even disagree. Paul’s wise counsel is everyone “should be fully convinced in their own mind” (Rom. 14:5). Not prejudice, tradition, or opinion, but full conviction is the mark of maturity, decisions based on the Word of God and witnessed by the Spirit of God. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Gal. 5:13).
When you walk into some church sanctuaries, you see a sign over the entrance that reads “Enter to worship.” When you walk out after the service, the sign reads “Depart to serve.” It’s a reminder for us to cultivate a balanced life. Our zeal must be balanced with knowledge and our love with discernment (Phil. 1:9). Fellowship should be balanced with solitude (Matt. 6:5–6), and private prayer balanced with public prayer that involves other believers.
Salvation means the pursuit of happiness. Note the plural: “pastures.” Perhaps the older sheep prefer to graze in familiar territory where they know the terrain, while the lambs feel better frisking away into new places, not even caring what the shepherd has planned. Both are incomplete. The shepherd always knows what is best for his flock: “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23:1–3).
In my many years of following the Shepherd, I have learned that I need new discoveries of His grace and guidance as well as experiences in the old paths and pastures. The Hebrew word for paths in Psalm 23:3 means “deep ruts.” These paths are so important and necessary that many others have walked in them and created these ruts for us. “Ask for the ancient paths,” said Jeremiah, “ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16).
When it comes to the basics of the life of faith, Solomon tells us “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). But we need new challenges if we are to mature in our Christian walks, challenges that older saints have already encountered. Old paths and new opportunities go together. As we follow the Lord into the pastures He has chosen for us, we experience the joy of the Lord, even in the midst of trials. We’ll discover more about this when we focus on the Shepherd in the next chapter.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are what we experience when we let Jesus the Shepherd lead us in and out of the sheepfold day after day.