Sermon Central
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"Jesus Is The Door” Series
Contributed by John Hamby on Dec 11, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: # 28 in series. He presents an exclusive claim, he makes a glorious offer and he extends unsurpassed benefits.
A Study of the Book of John
“That You May Believe”
Sermon # 28
“Jesus Is The Door”
In John chapter ten Jesus makes two “I AM” Statements in which He clearly states for the people in general and the Pharisees in particular what a “true” Good Shepherd should look like. He states that “I AM The Door of the Sheep” (v. 10) and “I AM the Good Shepherd” (v.11). This morning we want to just examine his statement that He is the door of the sheep, and leave the examin-ation of the Good Shepherd for next week.
“Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. (8) All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear 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 does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
You may remember early in chapter nine when the blind man was confronted by Jesus Christ, that Christ became the deciding factor and the turning point in the blind man’s life. In the process of being healed the blind man believed and worshiped Jesus Christ. He had discovered that Jesus Christ was the doorway into eternal life.
Jesus begins his conversation with the solemn words “most assuredly” or “truly truly” or “verily verily” in KJV which emphasizes what he is about to say is really serious.
Today some two thousand years after Jesus delivered the words in John chapter 10 they still as hard for some to accept as his original audience. The message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone was hard for them too.
When Jesus heard that the rulers of the temple had kicked the blind man out of the temple because he would not denounce Jesus, Jesus came to him. And this is where the story picks up in Chapter ten. Jesus now stood with the former blind man who had been driven from one fold and received him into another.
I what to share with you today three truths…
First, He Presents An Exclusive Claim (10:7) “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
The whole point of this story is that there are two kinds of sheepfolds – the first type was large enough to hold several flocks, it was fairly substantially built, and was cared for by a porter or gate keeper. The second kind was often little more than a rough circle of stone and the shepherd himself lay down across he opening and entrance into the sheepfold. The shepherd was the door. No sheep could get out and no enemy could come in except over his body. In a very literal sense, the shepherd was the door. There was no way in or out except through him.
Exclusiveness of the Door
There is a certain exclusiveness about “the door.” In our world it is not politically correct to maintain that there is but one door into the kingdom of heaven. The world does not like these words of Jesus that say, “You must enter my way or say outside! You cannot just demand another door!”
Jesus is not suggesting the there are several doors to salvation and that he is but one of them. He says that he is “the” door. We are not to think of many ways of coming to God. Jesus is saying He is the one way, the door by which all the sheep enter.
There is only one door. There are many things that men may think are the door to the kingdom of heaven. But no matter what men may think religion is not that door. Baptism is not that door. Works is not that door.
This point is evident from the very nature of the sheepfold that Jesus had in mind if it had more than one door it would have been useless.
Verse eight says, “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.” Jesus tells us that you can tell a lot about a man’s business by how the way he gets into such an enclosure as the sheepfold.
Some members of the congregation may not be aware of where my wife, Debbie and I live but we live just north of the church. We do not have a large place, just eight acres, but we do live on the edge of someone else’s much greater acreage. In fact the allure is pretty hard for some hunters to resist. Right at the bottom of the hill on which our house sits is the gate giving access to all of this vast property. Now I want to let you in on a little secret, if I come down the hill and someone is dismantling the gate or tearing down the fence I can generally conduced that they have not gained the property owners permission. By the same token Jesus is saying, if the man does not use the door, but climbs over the fence or the wall then he has no right to be there.
