I Am The Door Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Doors, they are one of the most common things in the world.

• There are so many kinds and types of doors.

• There are ornate doors of cathedrals, steel doors to vaults in a bank, canvas doors to tents, large and small doors in all kinds of vehicles, glass doors to greenhouses, and every other kind imaginable in homes throughout the world.

• They can be expensive or inexpensive, strong or weak, beautiful or unattractive, but they have one thing in common they are doors!

• As in a bank vault the door is designed not for beauty but for strength. Doors for our homes are a combination of beauty and strength, a combination of being inviting yet offering a level of security.

• In John 10, Jesus has a discussion with His disciples. He shares a parable in verses 1-5. Let’s look at it.

• SLIDE #2

• John 10:1-6(ESV) 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. 2But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

• This seems like a simple parable, but the disciples did not understand, so Jesus decided to spell it out in very plain terms for them.

• Most of the sheepfolds to be found in Middle East countries have no door; they have a doorway-the shepherd becomes the door, and entrance is only possible when he permits it.

• In this passage Jesus is saying He is the door to the sheep. The sheep pen is a reference to the church.

• The religious leaders were trying to make rules for people. They were acting as if they were the door. Jesus was trying to explain to the disciples that there were others who came before Him who were not the true door to heaven.

 Jesus is the door to the body, so Jesus sets the standards for that. We cannot change His standards, neither making entrance into the family of God easier or harder than the Lord.

 A door is just one of the many metaphors Jesus used to describe Himself.

• I want to look at what a door does for us so that we can see what Jesus can do for us as “The Door.”

• SLIDE #3

• John 10:7(ESV) 7So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

• SLIDE #4

SERMON

I. A door provides an invitation to enter.

• If we want to enter a place as a wanted invitee, we usually enter through a door. A door is the way invited guests enter into a home or a place of business.

• We are all invited to enter the kingdom of Heaven, but if we are going to enter the kingdom or the body of Christ, we must enter through the door.

• Jesus tells us that HE IS the door to the sheep!

• In Jesus’ metaphor He is the door through which the sheep enter the safety of God’s fold and go out to the rich pasture of His blessing. It is through Him that lost sinners can approach the Father.

• Jesus invites us to enter through Him! This is a re-occurring theme that we saw in John 14:6

• In Bible times, the shepherd would lead his sheep to a place, sometimes a cave, where he could lay across the entrance making it impossible to go in or out of the fold without going through the shepherd.

• Look at what Jesus says concerning the gate or door to heaven in Matthew 7:13-14

• SLIDE #5

• Matthew 7:13-14(ESV) 13“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

• Jesus says unless you go through Him, you will not be a part of the family of God.

• When we make it harder to enter the body of Christ than Jesus, we are a false teacher. When we make it easier to enter the body of Christ to the church than Jesus does, this makes us a false teacher.