Jesus the Door

John 10:7-10 ESV

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.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 37 through 39, Jesus told His disciples:

“…as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

“As were the days of Noah”… those words of Jesus have always intrigued me. It causes me to ask what was it like in the days of Noah? And Jesus tells us, He says that the people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.

And you know, those things in themselves are most certainly not bad things. In fact, these are normal things to do. What was bad though, is how these people lived in such a normal way despite the warnings that they had received.

Noah had preached to the peoples who lived at that time of the coming judgment of God, a judgment that would be manifested through the global flood. But though the people heard these warnings, their response was apathy. They didn’t really care, they just kept on doing the things that they always did as though the judgment of God wouldn’t ever actually come upon them. Their apathy and disregard for the truth was so strong that it was almost as though they weren’t even aware of what was coming, even though they had received ample warning.

And if that is not an apt description of the society that we live in today, I don’t know what is! Apathy, absolute apathy, they couldn’t care less! And while they are over here living as though the judgment of God will never come upon them, they are slipping closer and closer to eternal damnation.

Alas! people by and large go about being unaware, and indeed, unmoved by the fact that there is a war, a battle being waged for their very souls.

As there was one ark of salvation in the days of Noah, so is there one way to the Father: through Jesus Christ. And as we look to our reading for today, we see Jesus stressing this truth.

We look first to verse seven of our reading, to the words of Jesus, where we read:

John 10:7 ESV

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

As we begin our exposition, we see that the word “so” is the word that starts our reading for today. This indicates that what happens here, happens as a result of whatever comes prior to the word “so”.

Now, we didn’t really cover verse six in our sermon from last week, but there we read that after Jesus had spoken the words of the first five verses of this chapter, He was met with confusion. His hearers didn’t understand what it was that He was saying to them.

“So”, because this was the case, we read that Jesus said the following to His hearers “again”, that is, He relayed the same message to His hearers, but using different words, speaking more plainly to them.

Jesus says, “truly, truly” it is most certainly trustworthy and sure, Jesus says, that “I am the door of the sheep”.

Now, in order to understand this declaration of Jesus, we need to think back to what Jesus was saying in our reading from last week. We said there that in ancient Israeli culture that sheep-business was big business. And because it was such big business, individual communities had a large, centralized sheepfold in town, provided by the community.

Remember, we said that the sheepfold would be surrounded by a wall to keep thieves and predators from entering the fold. The only way that one could legitimately enter the fold would be through the door at the entrance of the sheepfold, which was operated by a hired gatekeeper.

The shepherd of a particular flock that was in the sheepfold would have the door opened for him by the gatekeeper, who recognized him as the shepherd of the sheep, and he would then go in, call his particular sheep by name and his sheep would willingly come to him and follow him out of the sheepfold.

Now, remember, the door to the sheepfold was the only legitimate way to enter the sheepfold. The only reason why one would try to enter the sheepfold another way would be because he wasn’t supposed to be there.

If one tried to enter through another way, it signified that the sheep in the fold weren’t his, and because the sheep weren’t his, he couldn’t attempt to enter through the legitimate way, because if he did, he would be detected by the gatekeeper and barred entrance and so, he sought to enter the fold through a different way.

And so, when Jesus says that He is the door of the sheep, what He says is that He is the only legitimate way to the Father.

This can be likened to John 1:51, where Jesus says:

John 1:51 ESV

51 …“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

And most popularly, we can liken this to John 14:6, where Jesus says even more plainly:

John 14:6 ESV

6 …“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So, again, when Jesus declares that He alone is the door of the sheep, He declares that as there is only one legitimate entrance into the sheepfold, so is there only one legitimate entrance to the Father, to peace with God, and to salvation from sin, and that entrance is Jesus.

Mohammed may offer an illegitimate way, Buddha may offer an illegitimate way, the new age religions may offer an illegitimate way, works-based “Christianity” may offer an illegitimate way, but the one thing that they all have in common is that they are indeed illegitimate, they don’t lead you to God, that is accomplished by and through Jesus Christ alone, by the grace of God alone.

Then as Jesus continues on to verse eight, He says:

John 10:8 ESV

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

Jesus speaks here of those who “came before” Him. And while many have wondered who these who came before Jesus are, what we do know is that He does not mean that those who taught and existed in Old Testament times, such as the prophets were deceptive. Rather, this coming “before Jesus” is an ongoing occurrence.

We need to remember the historical context that is being spoken of here. The shepherd of the sheep would rise early in the morning to obtain his sheep that were in the centralized fold. Coming before early in the morning indicates coming at night, the time when thieves and robbers commit their deeds of thievery.

So, as Jesus likens those who attempt to enter the sheepfold another way, a way other than the door, as thieves and robbers do, so here does Jesus speak of such thieves and robbers coming before Him.

But the wonderful aspect is found in the second half of this verse when Jesus says that though thieves and robbers, those who “come before Him” come into the fold by stealth and thievery, still, when they call out to the sheep as the shepherd calls out to the sheep, they will not listen to them nor follow them, but will, as back in verse five tells, flee from them.

These are Jesus’ sheep, therefore, when religious shysters come and try to tell Jesus’ sheep, the elect people of God about an alternative way to the Father, they don’t give them the time of day, for they follow Jesus, their Shepherd, and Him alone.

And as we move on to verse nine, we see Jesus saying:

John 10:9 ESV

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

So, we see that here again, Jesus emphasizes that He alone is the door. And in this verse, we see what exactly that means for His sheep, those who came into the sheepfold by Him, the door.

Jesus says that if anyone enters into the sheepfold “by Him”, that is, if anyone seeks to base his or her eternity solely in Jesus, in His life, His works, His death, and His resurrection, that person will be saved.

Man has ever sought to be saved from the eternal condemnation that he instinctually knows is hanging over him by some other way than the only legitimate way, but if God pleases to humble a man, reveal to him how lost he is and how he can, in no way, save himself apart from the gracious intervention of God, then that man truly becomes a saved man.

He becomes a saved man because, having been enlightened concerning his weakness and inability, he comes to trust the only One Who can actually make a difference, namely, Jesus Christ, Who interposes His precious blood to the elect sinner, placing it between the elect sinner and God Himself. Imputing His righteousness to the believer to not only make the believer acceptable in God’s sight, but to even make the believer pleasing to God, taking the one who naturally came into this world at odds with God, and making such a one the object of God’s love.

Therefore, Jesus says that for such a person, he or she will “go in and out and find pasture”.

You see, a legitimate shepherd in this historical context would lead his sheep into the fold through the only legitimate way of entrance, and he would lead his sheep out of the fold in the same way. They are rightfully his sheep and so, he has no reason to go in and out of any way but the legitimate way.

And as they are led in and out of the fold, Jesus says, they find pasture. They find what is good for them, for their Shepherd leads them to what is good for them.

And thus, Jesus says that those who come to the Father through Him, through the door of the sheepfold, through Jesus, can confidently trust that where their Shepherd leads them will be good for them. They will be able to figuratively go in and out of the fold, because their Shepherd is there to meet all of their needs.

And so, having said these wonderful words, Jesus contrasts Himself as the Good Shepherd with the thieves who come “before Him”, the religious shysters, in verse ten, when He says:

John 10:10 ESV

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

As it was in the historical context, the thief who would climb over the wall of the fold, came not for the good of the sheep within the fold, but came only to steal, kill, or destroy the sheep in the fold.

And in the same way, any religious doctrine that veers from the orthodox doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, found within the holy scriptures alone, serves the purpose of only eternally destroying the practitioners of such a religion.

But again, looking at the historical context, the one who comes into the fold through the only legitimate way, the shepherd, care very much for his sheep and he does everything that he can to promote their welfare.

And as Jesus is the Good Shepherd, He gives His sheep what is supremely good. The thieves, the false religions of the world promise what is good but deliver only eternal destruction. Jesus, on the other hand, gives life, His life to His sheep. He promises them life, and unlike the false religions of the world, Jesus follows through on His promise, effectively giving them abundant, eternal life.

You see, this is why Christianity is so offensive to the world. Our faith claims to be and indeed is the only legitimate faith in the world. And the world absolutely hates that!

But I mean, it’s the truth, and if it’s the truth, why does the world hate it so much? Why are those of the world so fine with the teachings of Jesus until He says something like this? So many in the world claim to think that Jesus was a wonderful Man, an excellent Teacher, but when they hear things like, “I am the door”, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me.” they turn on us and call us bigots, even though it is the same Jesus that they say is so great Who said it.

But why? Because they cannot tolerate the reality that God is God, and they are not. They cannot tolerate the fact that the God Who they were born hating is the one true God, and it is He alone Who determines how one must come to Him. And because they hate God so, they look for some way, any way to convince themselves that they can obtain salvation other than the only legitimate way. And then, they rest on that way, even though, that way will lead them to eternal destruction.

How utterly foolish! Indeed, that is the very height of all folly!

And therefore, beloved, may we comfortably rest in the arms of our Good Shepherd. He has bid us to come into the fold through Himself, the door of the sheep. We have come into the fold through Him, and now, He leads us in and out of the fold, leading us to good pasture.

Worship Jesus, the door, our Good Shepherd.

Amen?