John 10: 1-11
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I am the Door for the Sheep.
I am the Door for the Sheep.
Pray
Good evening my friends, I hope and pray you are well today
Here we are, Wednesday night again and we are looking at the Great I Am’s of Christ.
Already we have looked at the passages dealing with Jesus as he proclaimed that He is the bread of life and the light of the world last week in chapter 8.
Tonight we come to chapter 10… and there are two references to the Great I Am’s in this chapter.
Jesus will teach them that he is the door for the sheep and then later in parallel topic he proclaims that he is the Good Shepherd.
So tonight lets look at the first 10 verses of the Gospel of John as we consider Jesus being the Door for the sheep.
Consider what the Scriptures say....
1 “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. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
So we look at the entirety of the passage, it will help set the stage for what the Lord is telling them in this passage.
Verse 1… Notice how Jesus begins this teaching..
He says Truly, Truly....He is introducing to them a true statement and wants them to pay attention to what he is saying...
Some translations might have Jesus saying ..I tell you the truth. It was something to pay attention to this important teaching...
Now we are not sure if this follows immediately after the healing of chapter 9… but it does appear so.
The Jewish leaders are inadequate, and they have rejected Jesus as the one they are looking to some, the Messiah.
But Jesus brings them a teaching about shepherding, one which the people would understand intimately.
Some call this a Mashal, - a symbolic illustration, instead of just a parable. Jesus cares for the sheep like God the Father does unlike the uncaring leaders of the day.
But here the Shepherd has lead the sheep into their pins, walking with them, calling them, whistling to them, bringing them to a safe place of protection.
And plainly Jesus says…anyone entering the sheepfold any other way than by the door is a thief and a robber...
The sheepfold was a safe place, it was a pen of sorts with a high wall, most likely from stones and had vines and thorns along the top to keep any animals from trying to climb over to harm the sheep.
The only entrance would be a opening, a entrance way that would have been protected by the shepherd lying down across the opening. You see the intruder would have to deal with the shepherd/watchman in order to get in unless they will willing to try and climb over and cross the walls that way
Those people who would do this are nothing more than thief's and robbers.
Verse 2 John 10:2
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
In contrast, the one who enters by the opening or the door, the correct way is the shepherd.
So it is a natural conclusion. The shepherd does the right things, the expected things. Others do not....
Verse 3 John 10:3
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
There are examples of some sheep pens being owned by families or other shepherds. If the shepherd has entrusted the care of his sheep to the owner of the sheep fold. When he returns to gather his sheep, the owner, the gatekeeper will open the way for him to gather his sheep.
The beauty of the sheep is that they know his voice. The shepherd had a distinct way of calling them or whistling to them, the sheep recognize this.. They know their shepherd.
The follow him...
Can you imagine when Jesus calls and we follow, from the graves and from the streets, the cars, the planes etc… we will know His voice and it is a sweet voice.
Verse 4 John 10:4
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Now we have just talked about the sheep following him, but I love the part of this verse that says He (the shepherd) goes before them.
When I read this verse again, I thought of the 23rd Psalm.
Listen to these verses with me again...
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
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And again, Jesus says they know His verse…
Verse 5 John 10:5
5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Sheep will not come to or follow the call of a strangers voice. They trust the one whose voice they have heard from the beginning.
Can you imagine the voice they heard from the moment they were birthed… the shepherd has called, loved and cared for them..
They will not follow anyone else...
Verse 6 John 10:6
6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
This symbolic speech that Jesus used was not understood by them, we understand this because they were spiritually blind.
These were the one who claimed they could see...
The miracles and teachings of Jesus should have registered with them that He was the Messiah.
The blind man in John 9 heard and came to Jesus and he followed him. One person said that Jesus is gathering his flock from the pen of Judaism, they may have stayed in another pen but they followed him.
And then we come to verse 7 John 10:7
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
Since the religious leaders did not understand what He was saying, Jesus takes a different approach an tells them this truth a different way. “...I am the door to the sheep...”
So what is Jesus telling them there?
He is saying very matter of fact this…Jesus is the only way by which one can become part of the people of God.
Listen to Psalm 118 verse 20
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
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He is the way for the people to be satisfied, nurtured and taken care of, there is no other way.
Remember that picture that we talked about earlier…The pen is made of rocks and stones, a few feet tall, with vines and thrones alone the top of the wall.
There was no gate in place, only a opening in which the shepherd laid himself in to protect the sheep.
Hence the shepherd become the door to the safety and protection, literally the salvation of the sheep. The sheep enter the pen, the sheepfold, through Jesus. He is the passage way into the place prepared for them.
Wow..
15 Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation 17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
The sheep have the ability to have life, come in and go out because of the shepherd.
And listen to Psalm 121:8
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
So Jesus says I am the gate, He is the one through him we come in and go out and have peace.
Remember we talked about, he makes them to lie down in green pastures and leads them beside quite waters. Ps 23:2....
Verse 8 John 10:8
8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
What does Jesus mean by this?
There were those who came before Jesus who were pretenders, they pretended to satisfy the expectation of what they knew about the coming one form prophecy.
The had pretended in the past to be what the religious types of the pharisees and saduecees desired. They offered themselves as those who would end the suffering of the people under the rule of others and set them free, to be like a type of Moses.
But they were false, they were eventually known to be false when what they promised didn’t come to pass,
Now understand Jesus is not criticizing Moses, the Prophets or John the Baptist, but these others who told the sheep they had the way to live life to the full.
These false shepherds only injured the sheep instead of helping them.
Now we come to the verses 9 and 10
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Jesus says here plainly I am the door. He likens himself to the protector, the door that keeps the sheep safe.
And in all reality the door, well it is also a who, the guardian. The one who protects the sheep and keeps them safe from every threat.
The guardian provides safe haven, literally salvation to all who travel through the door. Uniqually this word for salvation here isnt used in many places, this particular word is only used 5 times
He (the door) is the one whom the Samaritans confessed was the Savior of the world.
And the savior well he is different than the others, The theif which ultiamatlely applies to the devil is one who tries to lure the sheep away, tries to steal them away. He and his minions harm the sheep
The theif comes only to Kill, steal and destroy.
Jesus said I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest
As the protector, the guardian, he promises greater qualities to give life and life to the fullest.
He provides that which goes beyond the necessity of living, he gives it all, the very best.
The gift of life that Jesus gives goes beyond their wildest dreams
I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest,,,
What a blessing tonight>
Do you know Jesus>