Sermon Tone Analysis

“Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’”[1]

The Master was compelled to explain Himself to the crowd gathered around Him.

He had presented a “figure of speech”—a */paroimía/*— which they did not understand.

The term Jesus used is close to the concept of a parable; it is a cryptic saying that requires further explanation.

What the Master had said was, “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.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” [*John 10:1-5*].

Though the crowd understood shepherding, they were unable to make the spiritual connection; hence, the need for the Master to explain His reference.

For us who have the advantage of the Word of God in printed form, the words of the Master make perfect sense.

We are generally comfortable asserting that we understand His reference.

However, there are many who do not understand.

For their sake, it is beneficial to consider again the Master’s words and how they apply to us in this day.

I present to you Jesus, the door of the sheep.

*A Brief Primer in Shepherding* — As I stated in the introduction, Jesus’ audience would have understood the reference to shepherding.

Israel, in the days our Master walked the land, was an agronomical society; shepherds were common in the land.

Throughout the Old Testament are found repeated instances where the kings of Israel are referred to as shepherds of God’s people.

When David was invited to assume the reign over Israel, the elders of the tribes said, “In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel.

And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of My people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel’ [*2 Samuel 5:2*; see also* 2 Chronicles 11:2*].

Of David, the Psalmist Asaph has written:

“[The Lord] chose David His servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

from following the ewes He brought him

to shepherd Jacob His people,

Israel His inheritance.

With upright heart he shepherded them

and guided them with his skilful hand.”

[*Psalm 78:70-72*]

When Micaiah prophesied the death of Ahab, his disturbing prophecy was, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.

And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace’” [*1 Kings 22:17*; *2 Chronicles 18:16*].

When God condemns the kings of Israel through Ezekiel, He lodges the complaint, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves!

Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill.

My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep.

No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.

I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them” [*Ezekiel 34:2-10*].

Of course, God, through His prophets and Psalmist, referred to Himself as the Shepherd of Israel.

Each of us have heard and loved the Shepherd’s Psalm, which begins with the comforting words, “The Lord is my shepherd” [*Psalm** 23:1a*].

However, less generally recognised are such references as *Isaiah 40:10, 11*.

“Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

and His arm rules for Him;

behold, His reward is with Him,

and His recompense before Him.

He will tend His flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs in His arms;

He will carry them in His bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.”

Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of the Living God, writes:

“Hear the Word of the Lord, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands far away;

say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,

and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob

and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.”

[*Jeremiah 31:10, 11*]

The multiple references give us an appreciation of the generalised understanding of the people listening to the Master when he referred to shepherding.

Shepherds were common; and everyone would have witnessed shepherds at some point tending their flocks.

Moreover, since God identifies Himself as the shepherd of the people, the Saviour’s reference to Himself as the Good Shepherd [*John 10:14*] takes on added significance, as we shall see in a future message.

In our text, Jesus identifies Himself as “the door of the sheep.”

Though we are familiar with the words, the reference may be obscure to us, but it would have been understood by those listening to the Master.

Before night fell in the desert where the sheep grazed, the shepherd would construct an enclosure for the flock to ensure the safety of the animals for the night.

Danger abounded in the desert—wild animals and brigands were about, and should a sheep wander during the night, she could fall off the steep cliffs that dot the region.

The enclosure that the shepherd would build for his sheep would back up against a cliff face or be at the end of a canyon; these enclosures would have waist-high stone walls topped with thorn bushes.

The sheepfold would have one opening to serve as an entrance and an exit.

The shepherd would either close this opening with thorn bushes after the sheep had entered the fold, or he would himself serve as sentry in the opening.

The sole purpose of the sheepfold was safety for the flock.

Without the enclosure to keep them secure, the sheep could be scattered or they would wander away and imperil themselves.

On one occasion when G. Campbell Morgan was traveling across the Atlantic on a steamer, he noticed that among the passengers was Sir George Adam Smith, perhaps the most famous Old Testament scholar at that time.

Morgan, a justly noted preacher of the Gospel, and Smith, the great Old Testament scholar, had many opportunities for discussions during the voyage.

Morgan said that among the tales Sir George told of the East was this one:

Smith was one day traveling with a guide, and came across a shepherd and his sheep.

He fell into conversation with him.

The man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night.

It consisted of four walls, with a way in.

Sir George asked him, “That is where they go at night?” “Yes,” said the shepherd, “and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.”

“But there is no door,” said Sir George.

“I am the door,” said the shepherd.

He was not a Christian man; he was not speaking in the language of the New Testament.

He was speaking from the Arab shepherd’s standpoint.

Sir George looked at him and said, “What do you mean by the door?”

Said the shepherd, “When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in the open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.”[2]

Focus on the fact that the shepherd would become the door.

No sheep could get into the fold unless the shepherd permitted it to do so.

Predators and brigands would be required to deal with the shepherd before they could harm the sheep once they were in the enclosure that the shepherd built.

Once safely inside, no sheep could exit the fold because the shepherd was the door.

Entrance and egress were only permitted by the shepherd, for he was the door.

*Outside the Fold* — Without question, the enclosure assumed by the question can be identified as the assembly of the redeemed.

It is the Family of God.

Without making the analogy so strict that we exclude all other references, it is a statement by the Master that those who are His are known to Him and that they are kept safe within the relationship into which they have entered by faith.