The Door
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Over the last several weeks we have been studying through the “Names Of Jesus.”
Lately we have been specifically in the book of John looking at the different “I Am’s.”
Today, we find ourselves looking at a text wherein “two” different names or titles are given for Jesus in John 10.
The first section examines Jesus as “The Door” which will be our lesson for this evening.
The second section examines Jesus as “The Good Shepherd” which we will examine next week.
Let’s read John 10:1-10.
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.
Some things to keep in mind having now read this.
Traveling Shepherds:
Shepherds would travel, sometimes, long distances and would need a place to stay over night.
They would stay in what was called a “sheepfold.”
Sheepfolds:
Sheepfolds typically were large circular holding areas for sheep that were encompassed by very large stone walls and had no roof.
They could usually hold several herds, but the shepherds did not stay with the sheep but rather slept next door in what was called bunk houses.
The sheepfold had only one door and there was always a doorkeeper or gatekeeper whose responsibility it was to keep the sheep safe.
Sheep:
As you all know sheep won’t just follow anyone but only their shepherd’s voice.
They investigate and discern who is their shepherd and who isn’t.
With all this in mind one would think Jesus would say he was the doorkeeper, or the one that protects the sheep but that isn’t what Jesus describes himself as in these first ten verses.
He says he is The Door.
Doors only have two main jobs.
A doors job is to…
Open & Shut
Open & Shut
Jesus The Entrance.
Jesus The Entrance.
When one "does the will of the Father" Jesus, the door, opens.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
When one "knocks" Jesus, the door, opens.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
When one "keeps His Word and does not deny His name" Jesus, the door, stays open.
8 “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
The entrance into the kingdom of heaven is through The Door, Jesus the Christ.
A door doesn’t just open however and as such we find…
Jesus The Barrier.
Jesus The Barrier.
Most do not normally consider Jesus to be a barrier but that is exactly what he is to so many wanting to reach the Father.
Today you hear people all the time saying things like "God loves us so much he "can't" keep any away from heaven and him."
The truth is the Father doesn't have to, because Jesus is the barrier/door between God and people now.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Jesus is the barrier/door to the Father in this sense that he doesn’t allow the unfaithful or unbelieving access to the Father.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Summary
Summary
Jesus, The Door, is both the entrance into the Father and the barrier to the Father.
It is up to us whether we are willing to “do the will of the Father” as so to found acceptable to enter into the Father’s eternal rest.
What is great about Jesus being The Door is that…
This Door Leads To Good Things
This Door Leads To Good Things
It Leads To Safety.
It Leads To Safety.
When we enter through The Door we are brought safely to eternal righteousness.
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
When we enter through The Door and trust in Christ we will never fall because of the safety of Christ’s blood.
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Safety isn’t the only good thing we receive when we walk through The Door, what we also find is that…
It Leads To Substance.
It Leads To Substance.
No longer will our soul be hungry or thirsty again but will be filled with righteousness.
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Summary
Summary
The reality is that everyone that is allowed access through “The Door” will know they have eternal life (1 John 5:13) which satisfies our souls and gives us great comfort.
That isn’t to say that we will not suffer, because living for Christ does bring suffering.
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
What is being said is that even in suffering we find the “good things” or blessings of entering The Door.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Brethren for all the faithful who have gone through The Door here today let us focus on the "good things" Jesus offers and hold fast to him who is perfect in all ways.
For those that are here that have not gone through The Door I pray you seek to find and know that the door may be opened to you, and let those here help you on that journey.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.