I AM...The Gate

Opening:

I was a children’s pastor for nearly 20 years. I quickly discovered that working with children there is no such thing as a simple question. They have a way of answering with anything but what you expect and are often smarter than we give them credit for. Here is a great example I found this week.

The Reverend Maurice Bowler, a children's minister, was talking in Sunday School at St Jude's, Southsea, about the 23rd Psalm.

Maurice told the children about sheep, that they weren't clever and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd's job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off and doing dumb things that would get them hurt or killed.

Maurice pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance. Then Maurice put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, 'If you are the sheep then who is the shepherd?' He was pretty obviously indicating himself.

A silence of a few seconds followed. Then Martha, a young pupil, exclaimed, 'Jesus! Jesus is the shepherd!'Maurice, obviously caught by surprise, said to the youngster, 'Well then, who am I?'

Martha frowned, thinking hard, and then said with a shrug, 'Well, I guess you must be a sheep dog.'

Well, this morning, I, your sheep dog, am going to help you to see that Jesus is not only the true shepherd, but also the door by which one enters in order to be called Christians. Open your Bibles to .

John 9:35–10:10 NIV

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Pray

I love animals! There really are very few that I do not warm up to rather quickly. When I was growing up on the farm we used to get bummer lambs for free from local farmers. We would raise them and use them around the barns. They were our weed-eaters long before I heard of a mechanical weed-eater.

When we first brought them home, they were at risk of perishing during the night. We would fix up a small room in front of one of our barns for their care. We would make a pile of straw and dad would hang a heat lamp low enough to give warmth to the little lambs. I used to love feeding them. I would sit in the pile of straw with one on my lap and feed it from a bottle. I used to want to sleep out there, but mom was never willing to allow that. So I would sit out there with my lamb as long as I could until mom made me come into the house for bed.

Now I do not know how much you all know about sheep. They are rather skittish. It doesn’t take much to make them bolt away, especially when people approach them. However, if you are the one who feeds them, they do not run from you, but toward you. They will even try to climb up on you! Sheep would not willingly harm you except by accident, just ask my brother about his broken arm. :-)

The next couple weeks, we are going to be talking about sheep and shepherds as we look at our next two “I am” statements by Jesus. We will look at the first one this week and the second one next week.

This next I AM statement by Jesus comes just shortly after His declaration that He is the Light of the World. As we saw last week, it was just after the Feast of Tabernacles with all its bright lights when Jesus said He was the Light of the World. The Pharisees challenged Him on that statement and after much discussion, Jesus boldly says, “Before Abraham was, I AM...”. Ego eimi…I exist. The same name God gave for Himself to Moses at the burning bush. The Pharisees were so angry they picked up stones to kill Him then and there, but somehow He slipped through their midst and out of the temple.

After leaving the temple He heals a man born blind by placing mud on his eyes and sending him to the pool of Siloam to wash the mud from his eyes revealing the healing. The man does so and is taken before the Sanhedrin to give testimony of how he has gained his sight for the healing of a man born blind was deemed a Messiah miracle. Only God was believed to be able to heal a man born blind. Medicine was not able to as it was believed that a man born blind was blind due to a curse from God.

After much extensive interrogation, the Sanhedrin is unwilling to accept the man’s testimony that Jesus did it and they are unable to get the man to change his story so they excommunicate him from the Temple.

That is where our text began today and we see that Jesus equates the blind man as having found true sight, but signifies that the Pharisees are blind. When the Pharisees take exception to Jesus calling them blind he shares a parable found in about a shepherd, his sheep and those who would try to gain access to them through unlawful means. Listen carefully as I read these few verses again.

John 10:1–5 NIV

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

To understand this parable, you need to understand the shepherding methods for Palestine, which I understand are quite similar even today.

In the field, a lone shepherd may have a pen.

Community pen (Explain fold vs flock)

Parable of the true shepherd:

Parable of the true shepherd:

A. The true shepherd...

1. Enters by the door (vv 1, 2)

John 10:1–2 NASB95

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

a. Lawful entry -

Jesus sent by the Father comes to the house of Israel.

a. Lawful entry

b.: Unlawful entry -

Jewish leaders misguiding people to serve their own purposes

2. Is acknowledged (v 3)

John 10:3 NASB95

“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

John 10

2. Is acknowledged (v 3)

a. By sight by the watchman

a. By sight by the watchman

John the Baptist was the watchman for the Israel. He pointed to the true shepherd of the sheep.

b. By voice by his sheep

Those among the Children of Israel who heard and acknowledged the truth of what Jesus was saying.

3. Knows his sheep by name (v 3)

Luke 19:5 NASB95

When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

Luke

4. Leads his sheep and they willingly follow him (vv 3-5)

4. Leads his sheep and they willingly follow him (vv 3-5)

John 10:3–5 NASB95

“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

When a shepherd came to retrieve his sheep, he would call to them and he sometimes would call them. In hearing his voice, his sheep would surge forward from out of the other flocks to him. He would then precede them through the gate and they would follow him to the pasture he wished to take them to that day.

John 10:3-5

However, sheep run from those they do not know.

I am sure there were many Israelites that were tired of the rules and games of the Jewish leaders. The priests took unfair advantage of the common people. There would be those who truly loved and worshiped God, but did not know how else to do right by God without the priests. Jesus would provide the way for them.

Now Jesus used this illustration to demonstrate what He was saying, but the Pharisees did not understand. I have provided a basic understanding as I shared it, but now lets look at the deeper understanding that Jesus provides and we will see even more...

B. Jesus is the True Shepherd (vv 6-10)

John 10:7–10 NIV

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:7-10

Jesus says, “I am the gate of the sheep.” In thinking of a single flock, who becomes the gate of the fold? The shepherd. Who are the sheep he is talking about? The Children of Israel. The sheepfold they are currently in is that of Judaism, but it has been mismanaged and misdirected. As the true shepherd, Jesus has come to deliver his sheep out of that fold and into the proper fold. So we see that...

1. Jesus is the gate for the sheep to exit Judaism and enter to true fold (v 7)

1. Jesus is the gate for the sheep to exit Judaism(v 7)

The thieves and robbers He is talking about are the Sanhedrin (priests) who have become corrupt and political to benefit themselves. It also includes the Pharisees who are the teachers of God’s word. They are self-righteous and have made the law a bondage to the people. Once again, they are serving themselves, not God.

John 10:7 NASB95

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

It also consists of the Pharisees who are the teachers of God’s word. They are self-righteous and have made the law a bondage to the people. Once again, they are serving themselves, not God.

The things they are teaching and practicing, are leading the people to destruction and that can be in two ways, the first to come in A.D. 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem as well as eternal destruction by misleading them spiritually.

Then Jesus broadens his context and says...

John 10:9 NIV

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

This is the BIG “I AM” statement we have been watching for. Now he is not only the gate of the sheep of Israel leading them out of Judaism, but now He is the gate/door of salvation of all His sheep; both Israel and Gentile alike.

a. Jesus leads people into a relationship with God

b. the Jewish leaders lead people into a religion that served no purpose before God

The Jewish leaders had built a religion, but God desired a relationship with His people and the Jewish leaders were obstructing that.

So God sent His Son into the Jewish realm. His Son was born into a common Jewish home. He was raised in a common Jewish society. Then He taught truth in a society that had so perverted it with their own ideas and desires.

John 3:16 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 10:9 NASB95

“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

But Jesus did more than just teach truth. Jesus provided the means to enter the presence of God. You see...

2. Jesus is the gate by which all the sheep enter the presence of God (v 9)

“whoever enters through me will be saved.”

a. Salvation comes through Jesus alone

There is no other entry. No other means to enter the heavenly domain of God but through the Son.

John 3:16 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 10:9 NIV

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

Acts 4:11–12 NASB95

“He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

b. Freedom

Jesus brought freedom to the Children of Israel who truly sought God. He freed them from the bondage of Judaism. They were now able to come and go and not be hindered by the rules imposed upon them by the Judaic leaders.

It took awhile, but they eventually learned that they were no longer Jew or Gentile. The were Christian. It took them a little time to realize that Christian did not mean Judaism, but was a whole new thing and it was freeing.

This was a difficult concept for them and it caused struggles along the way as they tried to get Gentiles to be circumcised in order to join the church, but were told this was not necessary. We are in the season of Epiphany and I wonder how many Epiphany moments they had. Circumcision was no longer required that was one. They were not limited in what they could eat, that was another. Peter was taught that one in a dream. Dreams can bring epiphany moments in our life.

a. Salvation

When we enter through the door/gate we find salvation, we find freedom and we also find...

b. Freedom

But they also found...

c. Satisfaction/contentment

John 10:10 NASB95

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

It is no longer “thieves and robbers” but it is now “thief”. Who is “the thief?” Satan is the thief. The Sanhedrin and the Pharisees thought they were in control. They thought they had power. However, the truth is that they were instruments of Satan to destroy God’s people. His purpose? To kill and destroy them. To forever separate them from God.

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

But then Jesus came to provide us an entrance into life and not just a mediocre life, but abundant life. Life brimming to the full. My cup runneth over with God’s mercy and grace giving me full satisfaction and contentment. It is experienced here and now, but even more in the life that follows this one.

Conclusion:

We are not in bondage to Judaism, but we can be at risk of turning our denominations into another Judaism. Do not get me wrong. I am not against denominations. I believe the various denominations have a purpose. We all have strengths that help us to reach more people. However, we may be from various folds, but we are one flock. It is the flock called Christian. It is important we never forget that.Especially in a small community like Elgin. We stand stronger and bolder together than we do apart. I am so thankful that we have times when we worship together!

Contrary to the belief of many, Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with a person. That person being the Lord Jesus Christ making us a child of God and allowing us to be nurtured by the Holy Spirit.

However, there are many religions around us. The world today would have us declare that they are equal. However, God’s word makes it clear that they are not equal. There is only one door to God and it is named Jesus.

Have you stepped through that door yet? It is open to all who earnestly seek God. All you have to do is believe in and follow the true shepherd.

1 John 1:9 NASB95

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Once that is done, we can enter that door and are welcome before the throne of God.

Have you heard the voice of the shepherd calling you by name? Even now as we are about to close this sermon, do you sense God is speaking to you saying, “it is time child, that you enter my flock.” Do not wait another day. Enter that gate named Jesus and enter God’s family. The sooner you enter, the sooner the Holy Spirit can begin to provide you a new life. A life of healing and abundance. Direction for the choices that come in your life. Healing from the past issues in your life. And a sense of peace even in the difficulties that enter our lives here on planet earth. Do not wait a moment longer as it is all available to you right now.

Pray

Close with poem

The Lamb by William Blake

Little Lamb I'll tell thee;

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb:

He is meek and he is mild,

He became a little child:

I a child & thou a lamb,

We are called by his name.

Little Lamb God bless thee.

Little Lamb God bless thee.

Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee Gave thee life and bid thee feed, By the stream &and o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing woolly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice; Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb I'll tell thee, Little Lamb I'll tell thee; He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek and he is mild, He became a little child: I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by his name. Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God bless thee.

God bless each and everyone of you this day. If you prayed to receive Jesus as your personal saviour this morning, please take a moment to tell me before you leave so I may be in special prayer for you.

God bless, you are dismissed!