“I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP - I AM THE DOOR” - PRESENTATION IN THE “I AM SERIES OF JOHN’S GOSPEL” PART 1
[A]. THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP
In this particular study of the I AM series, we come to chapter 10 of John where we find two of these great I AMs. One will be the Door and the other is the Good Shepherd. They are placed together because they are strongly connected, and actually form one great discourse. I am separating them because I want to hone in on two different aspects of the Lord’s ministry. This topic of course is “I am the Door,” found in verse 9 by itself, and in verse 7 with its connection to the sheep. We shall consider this passage in context.
{{John 10:1 “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, John 10:2 but he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. John 10:3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. John 10:5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. John 10:7 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP. John 10:8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. John 10:9 I AM THE DOOR. If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.”}}
The passage speaks about the shepherding methods and the true and false shepherds, and Jesus makes two claims. Because I will come back to this passage in the talk on the Good Shepherd, I will concentrate on verses 2, 7, 8 and 9. Verse 2 ? The door is the legitimate entry to the sheepfold. It was not usually a door, as we know a door, but an entry like a threshold, like an open doorway, you’d pass through. Sometimes the shepherd would sleep across the entry way. The legitimate shepherd would use the doorway but the thieves and robbers would use some other means of gaining entry to the sheepfold.
When the weather is fine such as in summer, the shepherd may rest at night with his flock on the hills or in a rough shelter. That’s how it was in the fields with the shepherds at the birth of Christ. When more permanent sheepfolds are required, such shelters are usually built by the shepherd in a valley, or else on the sunny side of a hill where there is protection from cold winds. This fold is a low building with arches in front of it, and a wall forming an outdoor enclosure, joining the building. When the weather is mild, the sheep and goats are allowed to be in the enclosure during the night, but if the weather is stormy, or the evenings are cold, then the flock is shut up in the interior part of the fold, with its protection of roof and walls.
The walls of the enclosure are about three feet wide at the bottom, and become narrower at the top. They are from four to six feet high. Large stones are used in constructing the outsides of the wall, and they are also placed on the top, and then the centre is filled with smaller pieces of stone, of which there is much in the land. Sharp, thorn bushes are put on the top of this wall to protect the sheep from wild animals or robbers. There is a gate guarded by a watchman sometimes. As spring advances, they will move higher up to other fields and greener ranges; and in the hot months of summer they sleep with their flocks on the cool heights of the mountains, with no other protection than a stout palisade of tangled thorn-bushes.
Determined thieves could devise ways of scaling the sides and creeping into the sheepfold. The thief and the robber are vile. There is a difference in these two words. The thief is kléptes, and he steals by stealth/cunning (or in secret), rather than in the open with violence, but the robber - lest?s – steals out in the open (typically with violence). He is a bandit, who also plunders and pillages – an unscrupulous marauder (malefactor), exploiting the vulnerable without hesitating to use violence. So, you see, in scripture, the thief is a bit more honourable than the robber, but both are unacceptable to God.
VERSE 7 ? The shepherd has intimate knowledge of the sheep. He loves his sheep and will commit himself to the sheep. For that reason he will guard the door of the sheep (the sheepfold) with his own body. The destroyer would have to encounter the shepherd at the door for he often, literally, is the doorway; the door of the sheep. The shepherd is deeply interested in every single one of his flock. Some of them may be given pet names because of incidents connected with them, or the physical features they have. They are usually counted each evening as they enter the fold, but sometimes the shepherd dispenses with the counting, for he is able “to feel” the absence of any one of his sheep. With one sheep gone, something is felt to be missing from the appearance of the entire flock. One shepherd in the Lebanon district was asked if he always counted his sheep each evening. He replied in the negative, and then was asked how then he knew if all his sheep were present. This was his reply: "Master, if you were to put a cloth over my eyes, and bring me any sheep and only let me put hands on its face, I could tell in a moment if it was mine or not." When H. R. P. Dickson visited the desert Arabs, he witnessed an event that revealed the amazing knowledge which some of them have of their sheep. One evening, shortly after dark, an Arab shepherd began to call out one by one the names of his fifty-one mother sheep, and was able to pick out each one's lamb, and restore it to its mother to suckle. To do this in the light would be a feat for many shepherds, but this was done in complete darkness, and in the midst of the noise coming from the ewes crying for their lambs, and the lambs crying for their mothers.
The Lord is our wonderful DOOR to the sheepfold, the One who cares for us personally, and treasurers us intimately. Jesus is the door to the sheep. He is our protection, our sustainer; our leader; and our Saviour. What a gift beyond compare to have a Shepherd as the DOOR of protection and salvation.
VERSE 8 ? We have again the mention of thieves and robbers. The statement in verse 8 is quite embracing. We know from the Old Testament that the spiritual shepherds of Israel failed – Ezekiel speaks of that graphically. The men in positions, except for a small number failed their duty to care for God’s nation. There is nothing worse than a man who has been entrusted with the care and nurture of God’s flock and he abuses that trust or is lazy or ill equipped or uncommitted except to himself. It’s an abomination. God hates it. Those of you in leadership or in a position with the Lord’s people, take heed that it is not said of you that you are no better than a thief or a robber.
There is a great need for protection of sheep from robbers and wild animals. The sheep need to be guarded against robbers, not only when they are in the open country, but also when they are in the fold. The bandits of Palestine are not apt to pick locks, but some of them may manage to climb up over the wall, and get into the fold, where they cut the throats of as many of the animals as possible and then sling them over the wall to others of their band, and all of them attempt to escape without being caught. Jesus described just such operations in verse 10: {{John 10 v 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”}} The shepherd must be on guard constantly for such an emergency, and must be ready for quick action to protect his rights in the flock. Our days are the days of false teachers of evil doctrines, and deniers of the full inspiration of the bible. Leaders, yea, all of us, must fight for the protection of the flock.
VERSE 9 ? This is the crucial verse for our topic today. {{I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.”}}
Jesus has been speaking about shepherding and the significance of the door or the entrance to the sheepfold. Then He says very clearly, “I AM the Door”. In other words He is the entry into the sheepfold. He is the Protector of the sheepfold. He is the Door of the sheep - their safety, security and well-being. Then He added an eternal truth of entry – that entry is ONLY available through Him. False teaching today is telling the world that Jesus is only one way to God. Liberal theology is destroying the church. Jesus is the only means of salvation, and Peter who heard that message that day knew it very well, for in the not too distant future he could say to the Jews with the full inspiration of the Holy Spirit, {{Acts 4 v 11-12 “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very 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.”}}
That is the second fact, for through Christ only, a person can be saved. Today there are men and women in churches who don’t believe that. They think all religions have a true path; they love the New Age, but they dismiss the inspiration of scripture that will NOT allow any other way except through Jesus Christ. There is a third fact in verse 9 of John, a beautiful one. It speaks about going in and out through that Door and finding pasture. Yes, the Shepherd has it all under control. The sheep have freedom within the parameters of the shepherd. We have freedom within the parameters of the Great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the pasture is there waiting for us.
How many of you are starved sheep? Seriously, how many of you are living on scant rations and the dry bread and the withered up meat and the sour milk. What sort of life does that reflect? Timothy was told to study the scriptures as he would be approved unto God as a workman who would not be ashamed, for all scripture has been given through the inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that as children of God, we may be equipped. How many of you don’t feed yourselves on the word of God? That is our pasture of John 10 v 9. It is a dishonourable thing to neglect the bible as your essential food for the Lord provided that for you at the cost of the Good Shepherd – His own life, that you may have life.
There is a special word used in that section and it is the word “find/finding”. God has made it all possible for you to feed on Him, and His word, but you must do the finding! It is not difficult. Go out today and start finding. A baby needs gentle milk to begin with through the provision of another, then is spoon fed for a time. During that time the baby will grasp food and try to put it into its mouth. After a while it begins to eat for itself. Isn’t there something wrong when someone who is years in the Christian life, still knows only spoon-feeding? There certainly is. Go out and find pasture! In other words, search the scriptures. It is your responsibility to do that.
Going in and out as the verse says, implies fellowship. Our fellowship is with the Son, with our precious Saviour, and therefore with each other. I love that old hymn rarely sung today in churches generally –
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.
O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
Is your fellowship with God measuring up with that, as you are expected to go in and out finding pasture? There is no food as good and rich as that provided by the Lord in His pasture. Go out and eat!
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“I am the Door,” the only access true.
By Me, My sheep redeemed, can all pass through.
His blessings He supplies, while thieves subdue.
The wholesome pasture, daily He’ll renew.
Good Shepherd, Christ became, for all His sheep.
Laid down His life; a harvest He still reaps.
Dark waters rolled across His head - so deep.
No man can pluck away the lambs He keeps.”
(Ron Ferguson. Copyright but may be used with acknowledgement)
This ends PART 1 of this talk. I have had to break the message into two because it is too long on SERMONCENTRAL. PART 2 will follow. God bless you all.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
