This week I am in Minneapolis for the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference. I have limited internet access and limited time to write, so I’ve scheduled the next three days posts in advance. I thought in my absence you might benefit from a couple of devotions from Charles Spurgeon.
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 KJV)
Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church and the way access to God Himself. He gives to the man who comes to God by Him four choice privileges.
- He shall be saved. Entrance through Jesus into peace is the guarantee of entrance by the same door into heaven. Jesus is the only door, an open door, a wide door, a safe door; and blessed is he who rests all his hope of admission to glory upon the crucified Redeemer.
- He shall go in. He shall go in among the divine family, participating in all their honors and enjoyments. He shall go in to the chambers of communion, to the banquets of love, to the treasures of the covenant, to the storehouses of the promises. He shall go in unto the King of kings in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- He shall go out. We go out into the world to labor and suffer, but what a mercy to go in the name and power fo Jesus! We are called to bear witness to the truth, to cheer the disconsolate, to warn the careless, to win souls, and to glorify God.
- He shall find pasture. He who knows Jesus shall never want. Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden and as a well of water whose waters fail not.
This godly pastor was well acquainted with hardship. He endured personal and family illness, as well as the enormous task of leading a church whose congregation also faced numerous difficulties. Spurgeon did not merely instruct his listeners to ask God for the power to withstand adversity, however; he was a living testimony of one who relied on God to be his strength. Missionary David Livingstone once inquired, “How do you manage to do two men’s work in a single day?” Spurgeon answered, “You have forgotten that there are two of us.” (Strength for Today, Barbour Publishing Co)
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