Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

are."come."pasture."me."up?"enter the fold. If a lamb of a neighborhas strayed into the flock it will besorted out and returned to its owner. Agoat or a calf would not be permitted toenter the fold with the sheep.Two explanations are given of the figure of the sheepfold. One, that it is theKingdom of Heaven, and the other thatit symbolizes the church. The two areclosely related. One might enter theKingdom of Heaven and not be a churchmember. However, one cannot enterHeaven and not be a member of thechurch universal. His onlyentrance isby faith in Christ the Door, who is alsothe head of the church. There is one foldand one shepherd. There is but one doorthrough which the just may enter andthat door is Christ.Men can enter the door only whenthey have personally accepted Christ. Inone sense it is an easy door to enter,for freely the invitation is given, "Whosoever will, let himBut in another sense it is a difficult door to enter for we are told that "Strait is thegate and narrow is the way that leadethunto life, and few there be that find it."(Matt. 7:14). To enter there must be achange of heart. One must lay down hisselfishness and take up Christ's largeheartedness.No one will be driven intothe fold. He must come because he iswilling to follow the Shepherd.II. Those Who Are Excluded by theDoor.The primary purpose of the shepherdlying in the door of the sheepfold wasnot so much to keep the sheep in thefold as to keep out the wild animals,thieves and robbers. We recognize thatone of the important aspects of Christ'swork is that of Judge. This thought isexpressed in many passages of scripture. Typical of these passages is Luke13:25, "When once the master of thehouse is risen up, and hath shut to thedoor, and ye begin to stand without,and to knock at the door, saying, Lord,Lord, open unto us; and he shall answerand say unto you, I know you notwhence yeThose believing in universal salvationargue that there are no restrictions asto who may enter heaventhat God inHis mercy would not exclude a singleperson from the blessings of eternity.But this is entirely contrary to the verynature of life. On every hand we findthere are doors that are open to someand are closed to others. For example.an immigrant coming to this countrywill find he cannot enter unless he haspapers to show that he has permissionfrom the government to enter. One maynot enter a baseball park unless he haspurchased a ticket which gives permis-78sion. One cannot vote on election dayunless he is registered and can provethat he is a citizen and has a right tovote.Hundreds of illustrations could begiven of open or closed doors, dependingupon the qualifications of the one whodesires to enter. It therefore seems mostconsistent that Christ, the only Door,would open the door for those who loveHim and trust Him, and that He wouldexclude from the fold those who are inopposition to Him.m. Those Who Try to Enter by SomeOther Door.From the very beginning of the human race men have tried to enter thefold by some other door than Christ.Abel brought the sacrifice of a lamb.Blood was shed which was symbolical ofthe shedding of the blood of Christ.Cain brought an offering of fruits. Itwas an offering that was contrary tothe command of God. His heart was notright and God could not accept his sacrifice. He was trying to enter by a doorof his own choosing.Some try to enter by the doors offalse sects or religions. But too latethey will discover that the door whichthey entered with confidence will leadonly to a passage which will terminatein destruction. Some turn to the realmof human philosophy and seek to enterby doors which have been fashioned intheir own minds. The atheist deniesthat there is any need for a door bywhich one mayHeaven.enter the Kingdom ofFalse Christs have arisen and announced that they were the doorthrough which men should enter. ButChrist makes it clear that He is theONLY door. In the passage we havebeen considering He says, "ALL thatever came before me are thieves androbbers: but the sheep did not hearthem. I am the door: by me if any manshall enter in, he shall be saved, andshall go in and out, and find(John 10:8, 9).For Discussion1. Is the door to membership in ourchurch too narrow? Should it be sobroad that anyone might enter at will?2. To enter a locked door we mustpossess a key. What is our key to theKingdom of Heaven?3. What do the following doors signifyto you? A doctor's office? A collegeclassroom? A theatre? A prison? Abank? A rescue mission? A church?Perhaps there are others you may wishto discuss.For PrayerPray for our public schools which willsoon reopen.Standing Where the Fire Has Been"Who loved me, and gave Himself for(Gal. 2:20).One of the first Gospel illustrationsthat ever made a real impression uponmy young heart was a simple storywhich I heard a preacher tell when Iwas less than nine years old.It was of pioneers who were makingtheir wayacross oneof the centralstates to a distant place that had beenopened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen,and progress was necessarily slow. Oneday they were horrified to note a longline of smoke in the west, stretching formiles across the prairie, and soon itwas evident that the dried grass wasburning fiercely and coming towardthem rapidly.They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to goback to that before the flames wouldbe upon them. One man only seemed tohave understanding as to what should bedone. He gave the command to set fireto the grass behind them. Then whena space was burned, the whole companymoved back upon it.As the flames roared on toward themfrom the west, a little girl cried out interror, "Are you sure we shall not all beburned The leader replied, "Mychild, the flames cannot reach us here,for we are standing where the fire hasbeen!""On Him Almighty vengeance fell,Which would have sunk a world to hell.He bore it for a chosen race,And thus became our Hiding Place."The fires of God's judgment burnedthemselves out on Him, and all who arein Christ are safe forever, for they arenow standing where the fire has been.H. A. Ironside, D.D.Prayer is an acknowledgment of faith;worry is a denial of faith. Prayer is putting my hand in God's trusting to Hisloving guidance; worry is withdrawingmy hand, and denying His power to leadme. Prayer leads through the door offaith into the presence of God; worryleads through th door of anxiety intothe darkness of loneliness and discouragement. If prayer rules the life victory results.Selected.Hate cannot destroy hate, but lovecan and does. Not the soft and negativething that has carried the name andmisrepresented the emotion, but lovethat suffers all things and is kind, lovethat accepts responsibility love thatmarches, love that suffers, love thatbleeds and dies for a great cause butto rise again. Daniel A. Poling.COVENANTER WITNESS