Robin Hardy Online
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(Gen. 3:24 and Rev. 21:25)
The two scriptures represent two extremes in life. One is taken from the first book and the other from the last. The first represents our loss, the other represents our recovery. One stands for despair, the other for hope. What lies between these two doors are all degrees of tragedy and triumph.
I. Let Us Consider the Closed Gate
1. The expulsion of Adam from the garden of Eden was the first tragic consequence of sin. Many have interpreted the story as fiction, or allegory, or fable; but no sadder truth was ever recorded by the pen of any historian.
2. And that was not the last gate sin ever closed in the face of man. Nor the last flaming sword sin ever stationed at the entrance of life to forbid man from entering.
3. Sin has closed the doors of society in the face of many outcasts. It has snatched liberty from many a freeman, and has closed the homes and lodges and all industrial life in the face of some.
4. A man in middle life came to see me, he was just out of prison, he told me the sad story of how every door was shut in his face. Nobody wanted him, no man would hire him, no society would admit him. How many there
are like him in the world. How many doors of blessing, of joy, of peace, of usefulness, sin has closed in the face of men.
II. Let Us Consider the Open Door
1. The story of mankind began with despair, but the records end with a ray of hope. If justice has put an angel to prevent man from re-entering, then Mercy has put another angel there to keep the door open that man might enter.
2. After sin has excluded man until he is unfit for society, for fellowship, and for companionship; Christ can remake him, and restore him. After a man has been rejected by society, by our homes, by our lodges, by our churches; yet Christ will receive him.
3. The mercy of God will open the door of hope for all men. There is no darkness that His Mercy will not illumine. There is no burden but that this Mercy will bear. There is no sorrow but that this Mercy will dispel. Christ is the gateway to eternal life, to purity, and to heaven.
from Sermons in the Making by W.W. Melton; posted Aug. 29, 2007
