Jesus is the Door
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
When you look at the 6th and the 7th verse in John chapter 10, what I want us to see is that we get an amazing snapshot of the incredible, amazing mercy and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we're told in verse 6 that the Pharisees, the people, did not understand Christ. He's using a figure of speech and they don't get it. They don't get the meaning of what He's saying. And the 7th verse, praise God, begins, "So Jesus said to them again." "Again". Can you believe this? This oozes with the compassion of Christ.
He said to them again, "Amen, amen", "truly, truly", "verily, verily", "amen, amen", "I say to you, I am the door of the sheep." That is, He goes at it again from a slightly different angle. What an amazing Savior. What a long-suffering Savior we have in Jesus. They didn't get it the first time, so now He changes. He's using the same analogy, but He changes the setting of it.
In the first six verses, He's talking about, you remember, a sheepfold that you would find in a village, a community sheep, and shepherds would come in in the morning and lead their flocks out in the field. They called them out by name.
When you come to the 7th verse, He's talking again about a shepherd – He is. When He describes Himself as the door, what I want us to keep in mind is that He's not talking about a gate. He's really talking about a shepherd. He's talking about a shepherd, but the setting is changed.
Now they're out in the field. They're not in the community sheepfold. They're out in the field. The sheep had been led out in the morning, and they're out, and they're now being fed and watered. And out there where the shepherds watch their flock, they would construct a very simple, unsophisticated sheep pen. A circle of rocks that they would construct with an opening where they would keep their sheep.
They would stay there at night. They would stay there for an extended period of time. They could go in and go out, and at night they could sleep, and the shepherd himself would serve as the door, the shepherd himself. When the sheep were in the pen, He would lay down in front of the opening, and his body would literally serve as the door, the access to the sheep pen. When the sheep were in the pen, they would lay down and serve as the door.
And so Jesus describes Himself as the door of the sheep. So He's still describing Himself in terms of shepherd. He's the shepherd. He's describing Himself to be the shepherd of the sheep.
And you could tell that this change has occurred because notice now He's not leading His sheep out of the fold. Now He is the way into the fold. He's the way into the fold. He is, as we will see, the protector of the sheep. He is the provider for the sheep.
And so as He continues with this analogy, as He continues with this allegory, we learn some additional things about Him, about our Lord. He's telling us about Him. And this is what really sets Jesus apart from all the so-called religious leaders, because they point to some system or some other way, but He points to Himself. He is. The message is about Him. He is the door. He is the shepherd. And so we learn some additional things about Him.
Again, you find that formula. I mean, "amen, amen". I say to you something here is critically important. And here it relates to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It's about the Lord Jesus that He's teaching.
Remember now, as we consider these verses, the context. You have there the blind man who was healed by Jesus. He's come to faith in Jesus Christ. He's been excommunicated by the Pharisees out of the synagogue, put out, and he's there. You have also the Pharisees, the religious rulers of the nation. You have also the crowd listening in.
There's a contrast in chapter 9. You remember not only between unbelief and belief, but also between the true shepherd as well as the false, counterfeit shepherds. And this is where we begin this morning.
And the first thing that I want us to see in verses 7 through 10 again is that Jesus is the true shepherd. That's the emphasis first of all here. Jesus is the true shepherd. He's re-emphasizing what He just taught in the first six verses. He's underscoring it. He's highlighting it again.
He, in contrast with the false shepherds of Israel, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, He's saying, "I am the door." He's the door. He's the gate. He's the door to the sheep. He's the true shepherd. He's the sheep's door. They recognize Him. They come to Him. They respond to Him.
You can see this in the next statement that He makes in verse 8: "All who came before Me are" –what? They're – "thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them." And we talked about that last Lord's Day. You remember the word thieves, ‘kleptēs’, from which we get the word kleptomania, which means to steal by means of deception, a thief. And then you have robbers, ‘lēstēs’, emphasizes the idea of violence, depriving another of his property openly and by violence, by force.
These imposters, Jesus underscores that they've ruled Israel. They've ruled the nation with deception and with violence, with intimidation. And they are illegitimate. They are imposters. They're charlatans. They're not to be followed. They're not to be listened to. And that's who Jesus is talking about in verse 8 when He says, "All who came before Me," and obviously He's not talking about the true prophets sent from God. He's talking rather about imposters, men who would act as if they were the door into the kingdom of God. Men who would put themselves in the place of—though they would not say it, they would not say that they were the Messiah—they would put themselves in that place.
And you could see it, you could see it in the previous chapter in the attitude of the Pharisees when they said to the blind man in chapter 9 and verse 34, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" I mean, we're the gate. We're the ones who really determine who gets in and who gets out. I mean, don't you know who we are? I mean, and we have the power, we have the authority to excommunicate you, to put you out. They saw themselves as the door. He says the sheep don't listen to people like that. Verse 8: "but the sheep did not hear them." No, they didn't. The true sheep don't hear them.
And let me say again here, the doctrine of election, sovereign grace, sovereign selection is inescapable here. You can't get around it. If you're to be faithful to the text, you can't get around it. Jesus cannot be saying that no one listened to the imposters, because imposters always have someone who listens to them, right?
Do we have many antichrists today in the world? Not the Antichrist, but many antichrists? Are there many false teachers in the world today? Many false shepherds, so-called shepherds? Is it true to say that no one listens to them? No, there are many who listen to them. And so Jesus is not saying no one listened to the imposters. Rather, He's saying the sheep—the sheep did not listen to them. The sheep of God, those who belong to God from before the foundation of the world—they do not follow false Christs. They recognize their Shepherd's voice, and they follow Him. They listen to Him.
And I mentioned this last week. You see an example of this in the man born blind who was healed by Jesus. You remember how he's brought before the Pharisees, and they try everything in their power to get this blind man to reject Christ, to denounce Christ, to distance himself from the Lord Jesus, but he would not listen to them. He would not listen to the false shepherds. He listens to the voice of the true Shepherd. Why? Because this man was one of His own, one of God's own sheep. And Jesus sought him out. And Jesus led him to faith in Himself.
And so we're taught here: no true sheep of God, no one destined for salvation, will ultimately, in the final sense, follow false shepherds. They're brought to the true Shepherd. They hear His voice. They heed His voice. They follow Him. And Jesus is that true Shepherd. He's the door of the sheep. And so the first thing taught as He picks up the analogy again is that He is the true Shepherd. He re-emphasizes that.
But then secondly, I want us to notice together—not only is He the true Shepherd, but He's also the Savior. Jesus is the Savior. He's the Savior. Look at the text. He repeats in verse 9, "I am the door." "I am the door." And now He emphasizes what He means. "I am the door; If anyone enters through Me"—here it is—"he will be saved." He will be saved. When He speaks of entrance—"If anyone enters through Me"—let's pause and ask the question: what is He talking about? Well, He explains with the next statement: "he will be," – what? – "saved". Saved. That is to say that Jesus is the door to eternal life. Jesus is the door to eternal life. He's the door to forgiveness of sins. He's the door to acceptance with God, reconciliation with God. He's the door to the kingdom of God. He's the way in. He's the gateway. He's the way in.
If anyone belongs to His flock, if anyone responds to Him as their Shepherd so that they enter His fold, Jesus says, "he will be saved." Not maybe saved, but will be saved. And so come to Him, and you will be saved. He says, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me"—and you see it here—He's the entryway. He's the entrance. He's the way of entrance. He's the way into the family of God. He's the way into the kingdom of God. "If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved."
And this, beloved, speaks not only of salvation. This also speaks—and this is, we need to underscore this—not only speaks of salvation, this speaks of the way of salvation. It speaks of the—mark it down—exclusivity of it. In other words, there is no other way. There is no other way into the fold. No other way. If anyone enters via, through—through, to pass through, to get a certain place—you gotta go through this doorway. There is no other way. "He will be saved." There is no other way.
"Acts 4:12"—"There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Only Jesus. We sing the words, "Give us Jesus, only Jesus." It's true. There's no other way. No other way. There's no other door. And let me say this: there is no trap door. There is no trap door. No door number one, door number two, door number—no, no. Entrance through any other door but Jesus will result inevitably in what? Not in salvation, not in eternal life, but eternal loss and eternal death, eternal damnation in hell.
It also speaks of the personal nature of faith. Not only does it speak of the way of salvation, the exclusivity, but it also speaks of the personal nature of faith. We don't—we don't come to God by some method. We don't. It's not a formula. Too often, I think even sometimes inadvertently, the way we share the gospel, we could leave that impression. We could.
It's sort of like we come to someone and we share the gospel eagerly, and we say, well, here's a set of belief bullet points. Here's number one, here's number two, here's point three, here's point four. Do you agree with this? Yeah, you do? Okay, pray this prayer. No. Jesus says, come to Me. Come to Me. There's a message concerning Him. That's what the gospel is—the message concerning Jesus Christ, the good news concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gospel.
But faith is not a belief in a formula. What do I have to do? Tell me, tell me. I mean, just give me the steps. Give me one, two, three, four, five. Give it to me and I'll—tell me what I have to take. No, no. Faith is not a belief in a formula. Faith is trusting in Him who is the door. It's not some method. It's not a list of rules that someone keeps. Okay, I'm gonna—I'm gonna—I'm gonna call myself a follower of Christ. What—what—what are the rules? Give me the rules. I'm gonna call myself a Christian. What are the rules that I have to keep? Tell me what the rules are. No, no. You don't enter the kingdom by keeping a set of rules. You enter by believing in Him. You enter by Him. You enter through Him. You come to Him. You believe on Him. You believe in Him. You embrace Him. You trust Him. You put the weight of your soul upon Him. Not a list of rules to keep.
It's not some ceremony that someone performs. You go through a class and then you're confirmed and you get a certificate, you know, you—you proudly hold. No, no. That's not the way into the kingdom. It's not baptism. It's not the Lord's Supper. It's not the church. It's Him, "if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved."
Commenting on this, Spurgeon said, "We cannot get into eternal life, into the kingdom," and he lists them, "by baptism. Millions are baptized with water, but unless they come to Christ by true faith, they are no better than baptized pagans."
Number two, "we cannot enter into it by birthright. It is a great privilege to have Christian parents, but except a man be born again, your father and mother are not the door, but Christ's only."
Number three, "by profession. A professor may prove himself a hypocrite, but he cannot prove himself a Christian by mere profession. Men do not get rich by professing to be wealthy. They must hold their title deeds and have cash in the strong box."
Number four, "by admission to the visible church. If a man leaves the door alone and climbs over the wall and gets into the outward church without Christ, he's a thief. If you have not Christ, your church certificates are waste paper."
And so it speaks of the fact that Jesus is the only way of salvation. It speaks of the fact that faith is personal. It's faith in Him. It is not a formula. It's not trying to keep some rules. It's not a ceremony. It's faith in Him, a real living person.
It also speaks of the way of salvation in that it speaks to us of, and I love this, an open invitation. It's an open invitation. Look at the, also, how inclusive it is. It's an open invitation. "I am the door; If" – now what's the next word? – "anyone" – "anyone". "If anyone enters through Me." Aren't you grateful for that word? – "anyone" – This is the truth of sovereign grace. There is the truth of divine election, and this statement doesn't cancel that out. The only people who will come to Jesus are those who were chosen for salvation before time. That is true. That is absolutely true, unequivocally true. But the Scripture also says, "Whosoever wills." Anyone. Praise God. Praise God.
What do you do with the word, "anyone"? Well, praise God, you let it stand there and you declare it. Because what it says is that God does not discriminate based upon the factors that men imagine. There's no one beyond the saving touch of our God. There's no one beyond the salvation that's found in Jesus Christ. If anyone will repent and believe, that one will be saved. And God does not discriminate based upon race. There's not a certain race of people that God will save. This is something the Jews had to deal with. Jesus didn't come to save just the Jews. He came to save sinners, both Jews and Gentiles.
He doesn't discriminate based on intelligence, on IQ, on education. Not many wise, right? Not many wise. Paul is able to say to the Corinthians, "1 Corinthians 1, "Not many noble", "not many mighty", but "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." "Not many wise", "not many mighty," "not many noble". No, God didn't choose you based on anything like that found in you or me. He doesn't save men based on their social position.
One of the things that stood out about the Lord Jesus Christ when He was here on earth is that He was not a respecter of men. Now, He also didn't turn away powerful men. He didn't. Just because they were powerful. Or because they were rich. You can find a Roman centurion. You can find people who had authority that the Lord Jesus saved. It's not just poor. It's not just rich. It's not just nobodies. Sometimes He saved somebodies. That's not what mattered. Not wealth, not achievement, not reputation, not good deeds. He saved prostitutes. He saved drunkards. He saved tax collectors. He saved thieves. He saved homosexuals. He saved people whose morality was indisputably in the gutter. He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him by faith.
"If anyone", "if anyone", "if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." An open invitation. If you doubt that for a moment, just remember the context. Remember the man born blind. Remember him? He didn't have any reputation. In fact, wrongly, but he had the opposite reputation—that he was a sinner. And he was a beggar. He wasn't characterized by good deeds. He wasn't wealthy. He had no notable achievements. He was on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Left to sitting as a beggar, relying on people's mercy. And I'm sure he wasn't well educated. And this man, this man is now saved. A trophy of grace. Jesus saved him. He sought him out for that salvation.
So Jesus is the only way. And it's by personal faith in Him that someone enters. And there is an open invitation. It's for anyone who will enter. Who will come in repentance and faith. There's something else here in terms of the way of salvation. It speaks of the fact that salvation involves a faith decision. It involves a faith decision. When is someone saved? When they embrace Christ. When they come to faith in Christ. Someone is saved when they deliberately put their faith in Christ.
Now listen very carefully, beloved. Every one of us who is here this morning, who is a child of God, who is a Christian—there was a time in our life when we put our faith in Christ. Whether you remember it or not. You say, wait a minute, I thought we were chosen. We were. That's why we embraced Christ. That's why we have a faith decision to commit our lives to Jesus. We embraced Him.
Let me ask you this morning, do you love Him? Do you love Him? Let me ask you another question. Did you love Him first? Is your love for Him explained by your love for Him or by His love for you? Well, let's see what the Scripture says. 1 John 4:10, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us" – first – Right? He loved us. And because He loved me and saved me, now I love Him.
What happened? Because He enabled me to love Him, because the love of God was shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. And because of that, I committed my life to Jesus. I trusted Jesus. I chose to follow Jesus. But when did I do that? After the Holy Spirit did a monergistic work in my soul. That's a good word, by the way. Monergistic; Monergism. It means God is the sole agent in the process of salvation without any human contribution or cooperation.
And faith is simply the empty hands that really hold on to embrace, receive the gift of God. I was dead in trespasses and sins. I was blind and was utterly unable to do one thing for myself. And God, by sovereign grace, granted me a new birth. He regenerated me, and I didn't do a single thing to do that. I had no part in it. He did it all. He paid it all. He did it all. He shined His light into my soul, giving me the knowledge of His glory in the face of His Son. And then I loved His Son. And then I preferred His Son above all others. You see, to come to Jesus Christ, you must love Him more than father, more than mother, brother and sister and husband and wife. Yes, even your own life. And get this, men don't do that naturally. They don't love Him like that naturally. That love is a response to His work in the soul. Always.
But make no mistake about it. When God has done a work like that in someone's soul, that person then will actually embrace Christ. They will commit their life to Christ. That person will see Christ as the pearl of great price. He does see Him as the treasure hidden in the field. He does love Him above all others. And beloved, I bring this up because notice He says, you have to enter, verse 10. That's why I bring this up. "If anyone enters through Me". Can someone enter on your behalf? Can someone enter for you? Can your mom and dad enter for you? Can your spouse enter for you? Can your friend enter for you? Can your under shepherd enter for you? No. No. You have to enter. Yourself. You have to enter. Like one foot after another.
How do you enter? How do you enter? By believing in Him. By acting on His word. And He's given an invitation. If you will enter through Me, you'll be saved. So how do you enter? You believe Him. You believe in Him. You act on His words. By trusting in Him. You obey the command of the gospel. And what is the command of the gospel? To believe on God's Son. Repent and believe.
You see all of this is tied together. All of this. You see it tied together beautifully in Matthew 7. Turn with me to the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7. And look at verse 13. Matthew 7:13. What does Jesus say? He's preached the Sermon on the Mount. Which is, by the way, a very evangelistic sermon. It is not a social gospel. It's a message that exposes the sinfulness of man. And the utter need for a Savior.
And He comes at the end of the sermon. You come to verse 13. And what does Jesus do? He says, "Enter through the narrow gate." You see it? "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
And you can picture it in your mind. In your mind. It presents this visual. It gives you a visual. You come to a fork in the road. And there's one path. And the entrance is narrow to it. It is very narrow. It's so narrow that you can only enter it one at a time. And the pathway that leads to it is hard. It is constricted. It is difficult. But the end of the way is what? It is eternal life.
And then you have this broad gate that leads to an easy path. But the end of it is what? Destruction. And you see that on the narrow road. Passing through the narrow gate are few, Jesus says. But on the way to destruction, well, there are many. It's traveled by many. And Jesus says in verse 13, "You, based on what you heard Me teach, you enter through the narrow gate." You enter here.
Look on verse 15. You see there's something that complicates this picture, however. You have the narrow gate leading to the constricted way that leads to eternal life. You have the broad gate that leads to the easy way that leads to death. And complicating the matter is standing at the point of decision are what? False prophets. You see them? Verse 15: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."
Now why does Jesus bring up false shepherds right there when He's encouraging people to enter by the narrow gate? Why does He do that? Because this is what false shepherds do. What do they do? They're waving people through the wide gate. They're talking about an easy way that ultimately leads to what? The destruction of their souls.
We have those men still all around us today, don't we? We do. Sadly, we do. Who only want to talk about God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. It doesn't matter. God is love. But who don't want to talk about a God who is holy, holy, holy. A God who will judge sin. Who only want to talk about some sort of a lifestyle, you know? It's all about a lifestyle. I mean, don't you want, and this is how they present the gospel. Don't you want a happy marriage? Don't you want your life to be better? Don't you want a prosperous, comfortable life? Don't you want to get a good job and make lots of money and positive stuff? And don't you?
But there's no message of the cross. There's nothing on self-denial. There's no message on dying to self. There's no call for repentance. There's no call for faith in Christ. There's no call to count the cost. And what is such a man doing? He's waving people through a wide gate onto an easy, broad way that will ultimately damn their souls.
You'll know them by their fruit. And one of the ways you ought to examine them is their doctrine, their doctrinal fruit. Their doctrinal fruit. For example, do they say the same thing the Lord Jesus said? Do they? I mean, Jesus taught more about Hell than He did about Heaven. Is that what you hear coming out of their mouths? Do they teach the same things the apostles taught? If they don't say what Jesus said, if they don't say what Paul said, if they don't say what Peter said, they are false shepherds. Don't listen to them. Don't follow them.
That's why He brings it up here. But they say they love Jesus, you see. They say they love Jesus and they talk about Jesus. Look at this deception.
Look at the next verse, verse 21. "Not everyone who says to Me", – Kyrios, Kyrios, – "’Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
Now, is our Lord teaching that salvation is a matter of works? Absolutely not. Rather, He's teaching that salvation is evidenced by works. You're saved by faith in Him. That's how you enter the narrow gate. Here's the narrow gate. He's the door. You enter by Him.
But the evidence that one has trusted in Christ, that has believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and that their faith is genuine—what is the evidence? It's that they will do the will of God. Their lifestyle will be marked by them striving to do the will of God. That's what characterizes them.
Look at verses 22 and 23: "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord,’ in Your name did we not prophesy" – and ? Did we not preach the gospel? – "and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?' And then I will declare to them," –"I never" –, "I never knew you. I never knew you.'" It's not that they knew the Lord and they lost salvation. They were never known. They were never His. There was never a time that they were His. And you would have known them by their fruit.
Look at the end of the verse, verse 23: "Depart from Me, you who," – what?-- "Practice lawlessness." Despite their Kyrios, Kyrios, "’Lord, Lord,’" their lifestyle was against the law of God, against the word of God. Their life was exposed by the truth. And then you get to verse 24 and you see the contrast: "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and fell against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell – and great was its fall."
You see, there are some houses constructed on sand, and man, they look so beautiful, so pretty, but they're constructed on sand. And when the storm comes that casts the houses, those houses built on the sand will crumble, and they will fall. And the only thing that will stand in that storm, which has heeded the word of God, are those houses, those people, those believers who heeded the word of God and acted on it.
What has He called us to do in Matthew 7? He says, heed My word. Do it. Do My words. What has He called us to do? "Enter through the narrow gate;" verse 13. Come to Him. And so when Jesus calls Himself the door in John chapter 10, He is the true Shepherd. He is the door of the sheep. And when He calls Himself the door, He's speaking of Himself as the Savior. The Savior. Whoever enters through Him, he will be saved.
And it speaks of the way of salvation, the fact that He is the only way of salvation. The fact that salvation is by faith in Him. Enter through Me. The fact that it's an open invitation to anybody who will come to Him. An open invitation. "If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." And then it speaks of this faith decision. You must enter. You must believe. You act on His word as He calls you to repent and to trust in Him. And so we see Him as the Shepherd. We see Him as the Savior. But there's a third thing that you see in this comparison.
You see also Jesus, number three, is the Protector. He is the Protector.
Look at verse 9: "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved"; – And here it is: – "and will go in and out." That's the expression—"will go in and out." What does that mean?
Not the burger place in California. Something else entirely. Does this mean you come into His flock and then you go out and no longer are part of His flock? Absolutely not.
Beloved, the picture is that of a Shepherd out there in the field watching over His sheep. And then you have this sheep pen constructed, and the sheep are in His presence. The sheep are safe, and they can come in for refreshment. They can come in for sleep. They can come in if they feel afraid. They can come in, and they can go out, and they can be fed, and they can be watered. They can come in, come out, and He stands guard the entire time.
It is an expression that really paints a picture of safety. Protection. To be able to come out and to go in freely, unhindered, was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely safe and secure. In fact, if you turn to Psalm 121, you will see this expression there as the psalmist talks about how God is our Helper. Our help is from the Lord. . "Where does my help come from?" It comes "from Yahweh who made heaven and earth." Verse 3: "He will not allow your foot to stumble; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will not slumber and will not sleep."
Now watch this: "Yahweh is your keeper; Yahweh is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. Yahweh will keep you from all evil; He will keep your soul." Now here it is: "Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in from now until forever." You see it? That's the imagery. Safety. Protection.
I couldn't help also, as I considered this and thought of this this week, I couldn't help but think of Psalm 23. While you're in the Psalms, turn to Psalm 23. Look at it with me, and it will shed even some more light on this statement "in and out." What does it mean to come to Christ as your Savior and your Lord? It means that you're safe—safe forever. It means you belong to Jesus. He's your Shepherd. You're one of His sheep. And you have no reason whatsoever to fear any evil. Whatsoever.
"Yahweh is my Shepherd," verse 1. "I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil." – "I fear no evil." – Why? Because it's all in my head? Because I have positive thinking? No, no. – "For You are with me." "For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." – "They comfort me."
And then this next statement—really what came to my mind—verse 5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." What is He talking about? Remember the imagery here. It's not somebody sitting down at the dinner table. He is our what? Shepherd. And we are His what? Sheep. You prepare a meal for me, a table for me. You feed me right in the presence of wolves. Wolves.
Wolves are all around. It's guaranteed the wolves know where the sheep are, but we can eat and not be afraid. Why? Because Jehovah's Jesus is there. The Shepherd is there. The Shepherd is there.
He takes care of me. He takes care of me. "You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will" – I love the word translated here – "pursue." They hound me. That's the—literally the Hebrew word is chase after you. "All the days of my life"—not just one day or two days or four—"all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever." No reason to fear. No reason to be fearful. No reason to be afraid. We can go in and out because Jesus is there—the Shepherd. We don't have to be afraid, not even in the presence of our enemies. And, beloved, mark it down: safety and protection is not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God the Son, in this case.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, "But the Lord is faithful, who will strengthen and guard you from the evil one." God is faithful. "The Lord is faithful, who will strengthen and guard you from the evil one."
Dear child of God, we have every reason not to be fearful and to bask with that calm confidence in the presence and bask in the protection of the Shepherd. 1 John 5:1 – I love this – "We know that no one who has been born of God sins," — in the present continuous sense, goes on sinning as a pattern. That's what he means. "But He"—and if you have a good translation, the "He" should be capitalized—"He who was begotten of God keeps him." Who is that He who was begotten of God? That's none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps him, "and the evil one does not touch him."
Remember, Satan had to ask permission from God concerning Job. Everyone who has been born of God will not keep on sinning as a pattern. They've been changed, transformed forever. And the evil one can never touch them because He—the Lord Jesus, the Shepherd—protects him. In fact, we didn't know it. We didn't know it. But He was protecting us for Himself even before He brought us to Himself.
I think of those years prior to my coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, how He protected me until such a time that I was brought to Himself. And that's why we ultimately didn't follow the false shepherds. That's why, when we heard His voice, we followed Him and we forsook all the false shepherds to do that. So Jesus is the true Shepherd. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the Protector. They go in and out.
But there's a fourth thing that you see here in this passage. He's also the Provider. He's also the Provider. Isn't that amazing? He's the true Shepherd. He's the Savior. He's the Protector. And He's the Provider. All of that is in these verses. "Verse 9," "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and"—what?—"find pasture." "Find pasture." You will be fed. You will be taken care of. You will be provided for. He'll provide for you. Why? Because this is the kind of Shepherd He is. He delights to provide for His sheep.
Mark it down, beloved. Mark it down. Mark it down, people of God. Jesus is not a consumer. He is a Provider. He's a Provider. Yes, He's done what He's done for the sake of the Father—the glory of God the Father. But He's also done what He's done for you, child of God, because He loves you and He cares for you and provides for you. That's the kind of Shepherd that He is.
But that is not true of false shepherds, is it? They're not providers. Rather, they are consumers. And they're not concerned about the sheep—the welfare of the sheep. All they're concerned about is themselves. Verse 10, "The thief comes only"—exclusively—"to"—what?—"steal, kill, and destroy." That's their mission statement. That's their entire motive. How can I make use of the sheep to my own advantage?
But the true Shepherd came to give abundant life. Verse 10, "I came that they may have life." That is why I came— "that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
See this word translated "abundantly." It's a beautiful Greek word. ‘Perissos’ literally means more than necessary, beyond, superfluous. Do you realize what Jesus has given to us? Do you realize what Jesus has given to us? If you're one of His sheep, if you've come to know Him, if you've come to Him, if you've entered through Him, and now you have eternal life, do you know what He's done for you, child of God? Have you ever sat down and pondered that? Do you know?
It is not only true to say that He showered upon us what we did not deserve, and He's done that, hasn't He? He showered upon us what we've never deserved. But more than that, we could say He has showered upon us what we would have never deserved, and He's done so in superabundance. ‘Perissos.’ More than we could ever use. More than we could ever use.
I love what S. Lewis Johnson said concerning this word, "abundance." And I quote, he said this, concerning this word, ‘perissos’: "That is to have something beyond that which is necessary. It is to have something beyond that which is necessary. It means that the spiritual pasture will always contain more nourishment than the sheep will make use of." Isn't that wonderful? More nourishment than we'll make use of.
Xenophon used the expression in his classical Greek to mean to have a surplus. He goes on to say, "Life is a matter of degrees. Both the flickering candle and the blast furnace give off light, but in different degrees. The sick man and the healthy man both have life, but in different degrees. Two persons may have an equal share of physical life, but one may be in prison with freedom restricted. A man may have health, maturity, and liberty, but lack riches. His poverty hinders his enjoyment of life, perhaps. In fact, a man may have health, maturity, liberty, and riches, and still be a shallow, mean-spirited person. That, too, limits his life."
And he closes with this: "Life then exists in degrees, but in Christ. But in Christ. There's promise. Not only eternal life, but eternal life in abundance."
This is why Jesus came. To give us a surplus. Not just to give us life, but to give us life that overflows. Not just to give us nourishment, but there's more nourishment than we'll ever make use of. And as I really contemplated this, I realized that one of the things that we ought to be ashamed of, beloved, all of us, myself included, is that we make so little use of what He's made available to us.We make so little use of what He's made available to us. He's given us so much. There's so much laid out for us. So much made available to us. And we sometimes don't even stir ourselves up to take hold of it. We don't stir ourselves up to take hold of even a little bit of it.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And what Paul exhorts the believers there is exactly this is the point. He's saying, you need to understand what is yours already in Christ Jesus. Make use of it.
So what do we see here? We see a true Shepherd in Jesus. We see a mighty Savior. We see a Savior. We see a Protector. We see a Provider. What does it mean to be one of His sheep? It means that you've been saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day the presence of sin. Saved from your lostness. Saved from your sins. Saved from eternal damnation. Saved to know God. Saved to know your Shepherd. Saved to have abundant life. Saved to have everlasting life.
And it means you're safe and secure. The evil one does not touch you. You go in and out. And He provides for you. And He provides for you right in the presence of your enemies. And though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you've no reason to be afraid, for He is with you every single step of the way. And His rod and His staff, they comfort you. You're saved. You're safe. You're secure. And He's provided so much, so much to make sure you're satisfied.
Why? Why chase after things of this world to satisfy you when all you're chasing after is empty cisterns that hold no water of life? The deepest longings of the human soul that nothing could fill in this world, God has filled in Christ. And He's made you to know Him. To know Him. And He's made you to know why you were made. You exist to glorify God and to enjoy Him for how long? Forever. Forever.
And so let me ask you this morning, are you one of His sheep? Are you one of His sheep? Is He your Shepherd? Can you read Psalm 23 and personalize it and say that Jehovah, Jesus, Yahweh is my Shepherd. My Shepherd. He's a true Shepherd. He's a true Shepherd. He is. He is. But the question is, is He your Shepherd? Is He your Shepherd? Is He yours? Are you His? Are you His?
And do you hear His invitation this morning? He says to anyone here today, I don't care who you are, I don't care what your past is, I don't care what you've been involved in, I don't care how you are currently living. He says to anyone, If you will enter through Him, you will be saved. Would you come to Him today? Would you? Simple faith, but it's a faith given by God, a gift of God, which means that you will love Him. You want Him. You prefer Him above all others, above all else. And will you come to Him this morning? Will you come to Him no string detached? Giving all that you are to receive all that He is? Why will you wait? Why will you wait? Why will you wait for another Sunday? Another Wednesday? Another day? Why will you wait for another minute? The gates of Heaven are wide open right now. And the invitation is, "Anyone who enters through Me, that one will be saved." Come to Him. Embrace Him as your Shepherd. Repent and believe in Him. Put the weight of your soul upon Him and Him alone.
He is the true Shepherd. He is the Savior. He is the Provider. He is the Protector. He is the One, He is the only One who will satisfy your soul's longing. Don't chase after this and that and the other. You will come up empty. And it will be too late. One day, should you continue down that path, enter through the narrow gate. Give your life to Him.
And child of God, oh, let us, let us give praise to God for all that is ours in Christ. The One who satisfies the longing of our souls. He's done that, hasn't He? And maybe even after our fellowship, in our fellowship after the service, maybe, maybe child of God, will you encourage one another? Why don't you share with another believer? Even someone who is maybe even thinking through this message today. Tell them, tell them how Jesus satisfies the longing of your souls.
How from the day that you committed your life to Jesus, you never look back. You never regret that decision. You're holy and happy in Jesus. He is your treasure. He is your all. And you can sing from the heart, "Take the world, but give me Jesus." If I have Him, I have everything I need.
Let's pray.
For we're told in verse 6 that the Pharisees, the people, did not understand Christ. He's using a figure of speech and they don't get it. They don't get the meaning of what He's saying. And the 7th verse, praise God, begins, "So Jesus said to them again." "Again". Can you believe this? This oozes with the compassion of Christ.
He said to them again, "Amen, amen", "truly, truly", "verily, verily", "amen, amen", "I say to you, I am the door of the sheep." That is, He goes at it again from a slightly different angle. What an amazing Savior. What a long-suffering Savior we have in Jesus. They didn't get it the first time, so now He changes. He's using the same analogy, but He changes the setting of it.
In the first six verses, He's talking about, you remember, a sheepfold that you would find in a village, a community sheep, and shepherds would come in in the morning and lead their flocks out in the field. They called them out by name.
When you come to the 7th verse, He's talking again about a shepherd – He is. When He describes Himself as the door, what I want us to keep in mind is that He's not talking about a gate. He's really talking about a shepherd. He's talking about a shepherd, but the setting is changed.
Now they're out in the field. They're not in the community sheepfold. They're out in the field. The sheep had been led out in the morning, and they're out, and they're now being fed and watered. And out there where the shepherds watch their flock, they would construct a very simple, unsophisticated sheep pen. A circle of rocks that they would construct with an opening where they would keep their sheep.
They would stay there at night. They would stay there for an extended period of time. They could go in and go out, and at night they could sleep, and the shepherd himself would serve as the door, the shepherd himself. When the sheep were in the pen, He would lay down in front of the opening, and his body would literally serve as the door, the access to the sheep pen. When the sheep were in the pen, they would lay down and serve as the door.
And so Jesus describes Himself as the door of the sheep. So He's still describing Himself in terms of shepherd. He's the shepherd. He's describing Himself to be the shepherd of the sheep.
And you could tell that this change has occurred because notice now He's not leading His sheep out of the fold. Now He is the way into the fold. He's the way into the fold. He is, as we will see, the protector of the sheep. He is the provider for the sheep.
And so as He continues with this analogy, as He continues with this allegory, we learn some additional things about Him, about our Lord. He's telling us about Him. And this is what really sets Jesus apart from all the so-called religious leaders, because they point to some system or some other way, but He points to Himself. He is. The message is about Him. He is the door. He is the shepherd. And so we learn some additional things about Him.
Again, you find that formula. I mean, "amen, amen". I say to you something here is critically important. And here it relates to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It's about the Lord Jesus that He's teaching.
Remember now, as we consider these verses, the context. You have there the blind man who was healed by Jesus. He's come to faith in Jesus Christ. He's been excommunicated by the Pharisees out of the synagogue, put out, and he's there. You have also the Pharisees, the religious rulers of the nation. You have also the crowd listening in.
There's a contrast in chapter 9. You remember not only between unbelief and belief, but also between the true shepherd as well as the false, counterfeit shepherds. And this is where we begin this morning.
And the first thing that I want us to see in verses 7 through 10 again is that Jesus is the true shepherd. That's the emphasis first of all here. Jesus is the true shepherd. He's re-emphasizing what He just taught in the first six verses. He's underscoring it. He's highlighting it again.
He, in contrast with the false shepherds of Israel, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, He's saying, "I am the door." He's the door. He's the gate. He's the door to the sheep. He's the true shepherd. He's the sheep's door. They recognize Him. They come to Him. They respond to Him.
You can see this in the next statement that He makes in verse 8: "All who came before Me are" –what? They're – "thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them." And we talked about that last Lord's Day. You remember the word thieves, ‘kleptēs’, from which we get the word kleptomania, which means to steal by means of deception, a thief. And then you have robbers, ‘lēstēs’, emphasizes the idea of violence, depriving another of his property openly and by violence, by force.
These imposters, Jesus underscores that they've ruled Israel. They've ruled the nation with deception and with violence, with intimidation. And they are illegitimate. They are imposters. They're charlatans. They're not to be followed. They're not to be listened to. And that's who Jesus is talking about in verse 8 when He says, "All who came before Me," and obviously He's not talking about the true prophets sent from God. He's talking rather about imposters, men who would act as if they were the door into the kingdom of God. Men who would put themselves in the place of—though they would not say it, they would not say that they were the Messiah—they would put themselves in that place.
And you could see it, you could see it in the previous chapter in the attitude of the Pharisees when they said to the blind man in chapter 9 and verse 34, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" I mean, we're the gate. We're the ones who really determine who gets in and who gets out. I mean, don't you know who we are? I mean, and we have the power, we have the authority to excommunicate you, to put you out. They saw themselves as the door. He says the sheep don't listen to people like that. Verse 8: "but the sheep did not hear them." No, they didn't. The true sheep don't hear them.
And let me say again here, the doctrine of election, sovereign grace, sovereign selection is inescapable here. You can't get around it. If you're to be faithful to the text, you can't get around it. Jesus cannot be saying that no one listened to the imposters, because imposters always have someone who listens to them, right?
Do we have many antichrists today in the world? Not the Antichrist, but many antichrists? Are there many false teachers in the world today? Many false shepherds, so-called shepherds? Is it true to say that no one listens to them? No, there are many who listen to them. And so Jesus is not saying no one listened to the imposters. Rather, He's saying the sheep—the sheep did not listen to them. The sheep of God, those who belong to God from before the foundation of the world—they do not follow false Christs. They recognize their Shepherd's voice, and they follow Him. They listen to Him.
And I mentioned this last week. You see an example of this in the man born blind who was healed by Jesus. You remember how he's brought before the Pharisees, and they try everything in their power to get this blind man to reject Christ, to denounce Christ, to distance himself from the Lord Jesus, but he would not listen to them. He would not listen to the false shepherds. He listens to the voice of the true Shepherd. Why? Because this man was one of His own, one of God's own sheep. And Jesus sought him out. And Jesus led him to faith in Himself.
And so we're taught here: no true sheep of God, no one destined for salvation, will ultimately, in the final sense, follow false shepherds. They're brought to the true Shepherd. They hear His voice. They heed His voice. They follow Him. And Jesus is that true Shepherd. He's the door of the sheep. And so the first thing taught as He picks up the analogy again is that He is the true Shepherd. He re-emphasizes that.
But then secondly, I want us to notice together—not only is He the true Shepherd, but He's also the Savior. Jesus is the Savior. He's the Savior. Look at the text. He repeats in verse 9, "I am the door." "I am the door." And now He emphasizes what He means. "I am the door; If anyone enters through Me"—here it is—"he will be saved." He will be saved. When He speaks of entrance—"If anyone enters through Me"—let's pause and ask the question: what is He talking about? Well, He explains with the next statement: "he will be," – what? – "saved". Saved. That is to say that Jesus is the door to eternal life. Jesus is the door to eternal life. He's the door to forgiveness of sins. He's the door to acceptance with God, reconciliation with God. He's the door to the kingdom of God. He's the way in. He's the gateway. He's the way in.
If anyone belongs to His flock, if anyone responds to Him as their Shepherd so that they enter His fold, Jesus says, "he will be saved." Not maybe saved, but will be saved. And so come to Him, and you will be saved. He says, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me"—and you see it here—He's the entryway. He's the entrance. He's the way of entrance. He's the way into the family of God. He's the way into the kingdom of God. "If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved."
And this, beloved, speaks not only of salvation. This also speaks—and this is, we need to underscore this—not only speaks of salvation, this speaks of the way of salvation. It speaks of the—mark it down—exclusivity of it. In other words, there is no other way. There is no other way into the fold. No other way. If anyone enters via, through—through, to pass through, to get a certain place—you gotta go through this doorway. There is no other way. "He will be saved." There is no other way.
"Acts 4:12"—"There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Only Jesus. We sing the words, "Give us Jesus, only Jesus." It's true. There's no other way. No other way. There's no other door. And let me say this: there is no trap door. There is no trap door. No door number one, door number two, door number—no, no. Entrance through any other door but Jesus will result inevitably in what? Not in salvation, not in eternal life, but eternal loss and eternal death, eternal damnation in hell.
It also speaks of the personal nature of faith. Not only does it speak of the way of salvation, the exclusivity, but it also speaks of the personal nature of faith. We don't—we don't come to God by some method. We don't. It's not a formula. Too often, I think even sometimes inadvertently, the way we share the gospel, we could leave that impression. We could.
It's sort of like we come to someone and we share the gospel eagerly, and we say, well, here's a set of belief bullet points. Here's number one, here's number two, here's point three, here's point four. Do you agree with this? Yeah, you do? Okay, pray this prayer. No. Jesus says, come to Me. Come to Me. There's a message concerning Him. That's what the gospel is—the message concerning Jesus Christ, the good news concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gospel.
But faith is not a belief in a formula. What do I have to do? Tell me, tell me. I mean, just give me the steps. Give me one, two, three, four, five. Give it to me and I'll—tell me what I have to take. No, no. Faith is not a belief in a formula. Faith is trusting in Him who is the door. It's not some method. It's not a list of rules that someone keeps. Okay, I'm gonna—I'm gonna—I'm gonna call myself a follower of Christ. What—what—what are the rules? Give me the rules. I'm gonna call myself a Christian. What are the rules that I have to keep? Tell me what the rules are. No, no. You don't enter the kingdom by keeping a set of rules. You enter by believing in Him. You enter by Him. You enter through Him. You come to Him. You believe on Him. You believe in Him. You embrace Him. You trust Him. You put the weight of your soul upon Him. Not a list of rules to keep.
It's not some ceremony that someone performs. You go through a class and then you're confirmed and you get a certificate, you know, you—you proudly hold. No, no. That's not the way into the kingdom. It's not baptism. It's not the Lord's Supper. It's not the church. It's Him, "if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved."
Commenting on this, Spurgeon said, "We cannot get into eternal life, into the kingdom," and he lists them, "by baptism. Millions are baptized with water, but unless they come to Christ by true faith, they are no better than baptized pagans."
Number two, "we cannot enter into it by birthright. It is a great privilege to have Christian parents, but except a man be born again, your father and mother are not the door, but Christ's only."
Number three, "by profession. A professor may prove himself a hypocrite, but he cannot prove himself a Christian by mere profession. Men do not get rich by professing to be wealthy. They must hold their title deeds and have cash in the strong box."
Number four, "by admission to the visible church. If a man leaves the door alone and climbs over the wall and gets into the outward church without Christ, he's a thief. If you have not Christ, your church certificates are waste paper."
And so it speaks of the fact that Jesus is the only way of salvation. It speaks of the fact that faith is personal. It's faith in Him. It is not a formula. It's not trying to keep some rules. It's not a ceremony. It's faith in Him, a real living person.
It also speaks of the way of salvation in that it speaks to us of, and I love this, an open invitation. It's an open invitation. Look at the, also, how inclusive it is. It's an open invitation. "I am the door; If" – now what's the next word? – "anyone" – "anyone". "If anyone enters through Me." Aren't you grateful for that word? – "anyone" – This is the truth of sovereign grace. There is the truth of divine election, and this statement doesn't cancel that out. The only people who will come to Jesus are those who were chosen for salvation before time. That is true. That is absolutely true, unequivocally true. But the Scripture also says, "Whosoever wills." Anyone. Praise God. Praise God.
What do you do with the word, "anyone"? Well, praise God, you let it stand there and you declare it. Because what it says is that God does not discriminate based upon the factors that men imagine. There's no one beyond the saving touch of our God. There's no one beyond the salvation that's found in Jesus Christ. If anyone will repent and believe, that one will be saved. And God does not discriminate based upon race. There's not a certain race of people that God will save. This is something the Jews had to deal with. Jesus didn't come to save just the Jews. He came to save sinners, both Jews and Gentiles.
He doesn't discriminate based on intelligence, on IQ, on education. Not many wise, right? Not many wise. Paul is able to say to the Corinthians, "1 Corinthians 1, "Not many noble", "not many mighty", but "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." "Not many wise", "not many mighty," "not many noble". No, God didn't choose you based on anything like that found in you or me. He doesn't save men based on their social position.
One of the things that stood out about the Lord Jesus Christ when He was here on earth is that He was not a respecter of men. Now, He also didn't turn away powerful men. He didn't. Just because they were powerful. Or because they were rich. You can find a Roman centurion. You can find people who had authority that the Lord Jesus saved. It's not just poor. It's not just rich. It's not just nobodies. Sometimes He saved somebodies. That's not what mattered. Not wealth, not achievement, not reputation, not good deeds. He saved prostitutes. He saved drunkards. He saved tax collectors. He saved thieves. He saved homosexuals. He saved people whose morality was indisputably in the gutter. He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him by faith.
"If anyone", "if anyone", "if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." An open invitation. If you doubt that for a moment, just remember the context. Remember the man born blind. Remember him? He didn't have any reputation. In fact, wrongly, but he had the opposite reputation—that he was a sinner. And he was a beggar. He wasn't characterized by good deeds. He wasn't wealthy. He had no notable achievements. He was on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Left to sitting as a beggar, relying on people's mercy. And I'm sure he wasn't well educated. And this man, this man is now saved. A trophy of grace. Jesus saved him. He sought him out for that salvation.
So Jesus is the only way. And it's by personal faith in Him that someone enters. And there is an open invitation. It's for anyone who will enter. Who will come in repentance and faith. There's something else here in terms of the way of salvation. It speaks of the fact that salvation involves a faith decision. It involves a faith decision. When is someone saved? When they embrace Christ. When they come to faith in Christ. Someone is saved when they deliberately put their faith in Christ.
Now listen very carefully, beloved. Every one of us who is here this morning, who is a child of God, who is a Christian—there was a time in our life when we put our faith in Christ. Whether you remember it or not. You say, wait a minute, I thought we were chosen. We were. That's why we embraced Christ. That's why we have a faith decision to commit our lives to Jesus. We embraced Him.
Let me ask you this morning, do you love Him? Do you love Him? Let me ask you another question. Did you love Him first? Is your love for Him explained by your love for Him or by His love for you? Well, let's see what the Scripture says. 1 John 4:10, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us" – first – Right? He loved us. And because He loved me and saved me, now I love Him.
What happened? Because He enabled me to love Him, because the love of God was shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5. And because of that, I committed my life to Jesus. I trusted Jesus. I chose to follow Jesus. But when did I do that? After the Holy Spirit did a monergistic work in my soul. That's a good word, by the way. Monergistic; Monergism. It means God is the sole agent in the process of salvation without any human contribution or cooperation.
And faith is simply the empty hands that really hold on to embrace, receive the gift of God. I was dead in trespasses and sins. I was blind and was utterly unable to do one thing for myself. And God, by sovereign grace, granted me a new birth. He regenerated me, and I didn't do a single thing to do that. I had no part in it. He did it all. He paid it all. He did it all. He shined His light into my soul, giving me the knowledge of His glory in the face of His Son. And then I loved His Son. And then I preferred His Son above all others. You see, to come to Jesus Christ, you must love Him more than father, more than mother, brother and sister and husband and wife. Yes, even your own life. And get this, men don't do that naturally. They don't love Him like that naturally. That love is a response to His work in the soul. Always.
But make no mistake about it. When God has done a work like that in someone's soul, that person then will actually embrace Christ. They will commit their life to Christ. That person will see Christ as the pearl of great price. He does see Him as the treasure hidden in the field. He does love Him above all others. And beloved, I bring this up because notice He says, you have to enter, verse 10. That's why I bring this up. "If anyone enters through Me". Can someone enter on your behalf? Can someone enter for you? Can your mom and dad enter for you? Can your spouse enter for you? Can your friend enter for you? Can your under shepherd enter for you? No. No. You have to enter. Yourself. You have to enter. Like one foot after another.
How do you enter? How do you enter? By believing in Him. By acting on His word. And He's given an invitation. If you will enter through Me, you'll be saved. So how do you enter? You believe Him. You believe in Him. You act on His words. By trusting in Him. You obey the command of the gospel. And what is the command of the gospel? To believe on God's Son. Repent and believe.
You see all of this is tied together. All of this. You see it tied together beautifully in Matthew 7. Turn with me to the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7. And look at verse 13. Matthew 7:13. What does Jesus say? He's preached the Sermon on the Mount. Which is, by the way, a very evangelistic sermon. It is not a social gospel. It's a message that exposes the sinfulness of man. And the utter need for a Savior.
And He comes at the end of the sermon. You come to verse 13. And what does Jesus do? He says, "Enter through the narrow gate." You see it? "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
And you can picture it in your mind. In your mind. It presents this visual. It gives you a visual. You come to a fork in the road. And there's one path. And the entrance is narrow to it. It is very narrow. It's so narrow that you can only enter it one at a time. And the pathway that leads to it is hard. It is constricted. It is difficult. But the end of the way is what? It is eternal life.
And then you have this broad gate that leads to an easy path. But the end of it is what? Destruction. And you see that on the narrow road. Passing through the narrow gate are few, Jesus says. But on the way to destruction, well, there are many. It's traveled by many. And Jesus says in verse 13, "You, based on what you heard Me teach, you enter through the narrow gate." You enter here.
Look on verse 15. You see there's something that complicates this picture, however. You have the narrow gate leading to the constricted way that leads to eternal life. You have the broad gate that leads to the easy way that leads to death. And complicating the matter is standing at the point of decision are what? False prophets. You see them? Verse 15: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."
Now why does Jesus bring up false shepherds right there when He's encouraging people to enter by the narrow gate? Why does He do that? Because this is what false shepherds do. What do they do? They're waving people through the wide gate. They're talking about an easy way that ultimately leads to what? The destruction of their souls.
We have those men still all around us today, don't we? We do. Sadly, we do. Who only want to talk about God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. God is love. It doesn't matter. God is love. But who don't want to talk about a God who is holy, holy, holy. A God who will judge sin. Who only want to talk about some sort of a lifestyle, you know? It's all about a lifestyle. I mean, don't you want, and this is how they present the gospel. Don't you want a happy marriage? Don't you want your life to be better? Don't you want a prosperous, comfortable life? Don't you want to get a good job and make lots of money and positive stuff? And don't you?
But there's no message of the cross. There's nothing on self-denial. There's no message on dying to self. There's no call for repentance. There's no call for faith in Christ. There's no call to count the cost. And what is such a man doing? He's waving people through a wide gate onto an easy, broad way that will ultimately damn their souls.
You'll know them by their fruit. And one of the ways you ought to examine them is their doctrine, their doctrinal fruit. Their doctrinal fruit. For example, do they say the same thing the Lord Jesus said? Do they? I mean, Jesus taught more about Hell than He did about Heaven. Is that what you hear coming out of their mouths? Do they teach the same things the apostles taught? If they don't say what Jesus said, if they don't say what Paul said, if they don't say what Peter said, they are false shepherds. Don't listen to them. Don't follow them.
That's why He brings it up here. But they say they love Jesus, you see. They say they love Jesus and they talk about Jesus. Look at this deception.
Look at the next verse, verse 21. "Not everyone who says to Me", – Kyrios, Kyrios, – "’Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
Now, is our Lord teaching that salvation is a matter of works? Absolutely not. Rather, He's teaching that salvation is evidenced by works. You're saved by faith in Him. That's how you enter the narrow gate. Here's the narrow gate. He's the door. You enter by Him.
But the evidence that one has trusted in Christ, that has believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and that their faith is genuine—what is the evidence? It's that they will do the will of God. Their lifestyle will be marked by them striving to do the will of God. That's what characterizes them.
Look at verses 22 and 23: "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord,’ in Your name did we not prophesy" – and ? Did we not preach the gospel? – "and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?' And then I will declare to them," –"I never" –, "I never knew you. I never knew you.'" It's not that they knew the Lord and they lost salvation. They were never known. They were never His. There was never a time that they were His. And you would have known them by their fruit.
Look at the end of the verse, verse 23: "Depart from Me, you who," – what?-- "Practice lawlessness." Despite their Kyrios, Kyrios, "’Lord, Lord,’" their lifestyle was against the law of God, against the word of God. Their life was exposed by the truth. And then you get to verse 24 and you see the contrast: "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and fell against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell – and great was its fall."
You see, there are some houses constructed on sand, and man, they look so beautiful, so pretty, but they're constructed on sand. And when the storm comes that casts the houses, those houses built on the sand will crumble, and they will fall. And the only thing that will stand in that storm, which has heeded the word of God, are those houses, those people, those believers who heeded the word of God and acted on it.
What has He called us to do in Matthew 7? He says, heed My word. Do it. Do My words. What has He called us to do? "Enter through the narrow gate;" verse 13. Come to Him. And so when Jesus calls Himself the door in John chapter 10, He is the true Shepherd. He is the door of the sheep. And when He calls Himself the door, He's speaking of Himself as the Savior. The Savior. Whoever enters through Him, he will be saved.
And it speaks of the way of salvation, the fact that He is the only way of salvation. The fact that salvation is by faith in Him. Enter through Me. The fact that it's an open invitation to anybody who will come to Him. An open invitation. "If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." And then it speaks of this faith decision. You must enter. You must believe. You act on His word as He calls you to repent and to trust in Him. And so we see Him as the Shepherd. We see Him as the Savior. But there's a third thing that you see in this comparison.
You see also Jesus, number three, is the Protector. He is the Protector.
Look at verse 9: "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved"; – And here it is: – "and will go in and out." That's the expression—"will go in and out." What does that mean?
Not the burger place in California. Something else entirely. Does this mean you come into His flock and then you go out and no longer are part of His flock? Absolutely not.
Beloved, the picture is that of a Shepherd out there in the field watching over His sheep. And then you have this sheep pen constructed, and the sheep are in His presence. The sheep are safe, and they can come in for refreshment. They can come in for sleep. They can come in if they feel afraid. They can come in, and they can go out, and they can be fed, and they can be watered. They can come in, come out, and He stands guard the entire time.
It is an expression that really paints a picture of safety. Protection. To be able to come out and to go in freely, unhindered, was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely safe and secure. In fact, if you turn to Psalm 121, you will see this expression there as the psalmist talks about how God is our Helper. Our help is from the Lord. . "Where does my help come from?" It comes "from Yahweh who made heaven and earth." Verse 3: "He will not allow your foot to stumble; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will not slumber and will not sleep."
Now watch this: "Yahweh is your keeper; Yahweh is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. Yahweh will keep you from all evil; He will keep your soul." Now here it is: "Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in from now until forever." You see it? That's the imagery. Safety. Protection.
I couldn't help also, as I considered this and thought of this this week, I couldn't help but think of Psalm 23. While you're in the Psalms, turn to Psalm 23. Look at it with me, and it will shed even some more light on this statement "in and out." What does it mean to come to Christ as your Savior and your Lord? It means that you're safe—safe forever. It means you belong to Jesus. He's your Shepherd. You're one of His sheep. And you have no reason whatsoever to fear any evil. Whatsoever.
"Yahweh is my Shepherd," verse 1. "I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil." – "I fear no evil." – Why? Because it's all in my head? Because I have positive thinking? No, no. – "For You are with me." "For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." – "They comfort me."
And then this next statement—really what came to my mind—verse 5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." What is He talking about? Remember the imagery here. It's not somebody sitting down at the dinner table. He is our what? Shepherd. And we are His what? Sheep. You prepare a meal for me, a table for me. You feed me right in the presence of wolves. Wolves.
Wolves are all around. It's guaranteed the wolves know where the sheep are, but we can eat and not be afraid. Why? Because Jehovah's Jesus is there. The Shepherd is there. The Shepherd is there.
He takes care of me. He takes care of me. "You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will" – I love the word translated here – "pursue." They hound me. That's the—literally the Hebrew word is chase after you. "All the days of my life"—not just one day or two days or four—"all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever." No reason to fear. No reason to be fearful. No reason to be afraid. We can go in and out because Jesus is there—the Shepherd. We don't have to be afraid, not even in the presence of our enemies. And, beloved, mark it down: safety and protection is not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God the Son, in this case.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, "But the Lord is faithful, who will strengthen and guard you from the evil one." God is faithful. "The Lord is faithful, who will strengthen and guard you from the evil one."
Dear child of God, we have every reason not to be fearful and to bask with that calm confidence in the presence and bask in the protection of the Shepherd. 1 John 5:1 – I love this – "We know that no one who has been born of God sins," — in the present continuous sense, goes on sinning as a pattern. That's what he means. "But He"—and if you have a good translation, the "He" should be capitalized—"He who was begotten of God keeps him." Who is that He who was begotten of God? That's none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps him, "and the evil one does not touch him."
Remember, Satan had to ask permission from God concerning Job. Everyone who has been born of God will not keep on sinning as a pattern. They've been changed, transformed forever. And the evil one can never touch them because He—the Lord Jesus, the Shepherd—protects him. In fact, we didn't know it. We didn't know it. But He was protecting us for Himself even before He brought us to Himself.
I think of those years prior to my coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, how He protected me until such a time that I was brought to Himself. And that's why we ultimately didn't follow the false shepherds. That's why, when we heard His voice, we followed Him and we forsook all the false shepherds to do that. So Jesus is the true Shepherd. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the Protector. They go in and out.
But there's a fourth thing that you see here in this passage. He's also the Provider. He's also the Provider. Isn't that amazing? He's the true Shepherd. He's the Savior. He's the Protector. And He's the Provider. All of that is in these verses. "Verse 9," "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and"—what?—"find pasture." "Find pasture." You will be fed. You will be taken care of. You will be provided for. He'll provide for you. Why? Because this is the kind of Shepherd He is. He delights to provide for His sheep.
Mark it down, beloved. Mark it down. Mark it down, people of God. Jesus is not a consumer. He is a Provider. He's a Provider. Yes, He's done what He's done for the sake of the Father—the glory of God the Father. But He's also done what He's done for you, child of God, because He loves you and He cares for you and provides for you. That's the kind of Shepherd that He is.
But that is not true of false shepherds, is it? They're not providers. Rather, they are consumers. And they're not concerned about the sheep—the welfare of the sheep. All they're concerned about is themselves. Verse 10, "The thief comes only"—exclusively—"to"—what?—"steal, kill, and destroy." That's their mission statement. That's their entire motive. How can I make use of the sheep to my own advantage?
But the true Shepherd came to give abundant life. Verse 10, "I came that they may have life." That is why I came— "that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
See this word translated "abundantly." It's a beautiful Greek word. ‘Perissos’ literally means more than necessary, beyond, superfluous. Do you realize what Jesus has given to us? Do you realize what Jesus has given to us? If you're one of His sheep, if you've come to know Him, if you've come to Him, if you've entered through Him, and now you have eternal life, do you know what He's done for you, child of God? Have you ever sat down and pondered that? Do you know?
It is not only true to say that He showered upon us what we did not deserve, and He's done that, hasn't He? He showered upon us what we've never deserved. But more than that, we could say He has showered upon us what we would have never deserved, and He's done so in superabundance. ‘Perissos.’ More than we could ever use. More than we could ever use.
I love what S. Lewis Johnson said concerning this word, "abundance." And I quote, he said this, concerning this word, ‘perissos’: "That is to have something beyond that which is necessary. It is to have something beyond that which is necessary. It means that the spiritual pasture will always contain more nourishment than the sheep will make use of." Isn't that wonderful? More nourishment than we'll make use of.
Xenophon used the expression in his classical Greek to mean to have a surplus. He goes on to say, "Life is a matter of degrees. Both the flickering candle and the blast furnace give off light, but in different degrees. The sick man and the healthy man both have life, but in different degrees. Two persons may have an equal share of physical life, but one may be in prison with freedom restricted. A man may have health, maturity, and liberty, but lack riches. His poverty hinders his enjoyment of life, perhaps. In fact, a man may have health, maturity, liberty, and riches, and still be a shallow, mean-spirited person. That, too, limits his life."
And he closes with this: "Life then exists in degrees, but in Christ. But in Christ. There's promise. Not only eternal life, but eternal life in abundance."
This is why Jesus came. To give us a surplus. Not just to give us life, but to give us life that overflows. Not just to give us nourishment, but there's more nourishment than we'll ever make use of. And as I really contemplated this, I realized that one of the things that we ought to be ashamed of, beloved, all of us, myself included, is that we make so little use of what He's made available to us.We make so little use of what He's made available to us. He's given us so much. There's so much laid out for us. So much made available to us. And we sometimes don't even stir ourselves up to take hold of it. We don't stir ourselves up to take hold of even a little bit of it.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And what Paul exhorts the believers there is exactly this is the point. He's saying, you need to understand what is yours already in Christ Jesus. Make use of it.
So what do we see here? We see a true Shepherd in Jesus. We see a mighty Savior. We see a Savior. We see a Protector. We see a Provider. What does it mean to be one of His sheep? It means that you've been saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day the presence of sin. Saved from your lostness. Saved from your sins. Saved from eternal damnation. Saved to know God. Saved to know your Shepherd. Saved to have abundant life. Saved to have everlasting life.
And it means you're safe and secure. The evil one does not touch you. You go in and out. And He provides for you. And He provides for you right in the presence of your enemies. And though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you've no reason to be afraid, for He is with you every single step of the way. And His rod and His staff, they comfort you. You're saved. You're safe. You're secure. And He's provided so much, so much to make sure you're satisfied.
Why? Why chase after things of this world to satisfy you when all you're chasing after is empty cisterns that hold no water of life? The deepest longings of the human soul that nothing could fill in this world, God has filled in Christ. And He's made you to know Him. To know Him. And He's made you to know why you were made. You exist to glorify God and to enjoy Him for how long? Forever. Forever.
And so let me ask you this morning, are you one of His sheep? Are you one of His sheep? Is He your Shepherd? Can you read Psalm 23 and personalize it and say that Jehovah, Jesus, Yahweh is my Shepherd. My Shepherd. He's a true Shepherd. He's a true Shepherd. He is. He is. But the question is, is He your Shepherd? Is He your Shepherd? Is He yours? Are you His? Are you His?
And do you hear His invitation this morning? He says to anyone here today, I don't care who you are, I don't care what your past is, I don't care what you've been involved in, I don't care how you are currently living. He says to anyone, If you will enter through Him, you will be saved. Would you come to Him today? Would you? Simple faith, but it's a faith given by God, a gift of God, which means that you will love Him. You want Him. You prefer Him above all others, above all else. And will you come to Him this morning? Will you come to Him no string detached? Giving all that you are to receive all that He is? Why will you wait? Why will you wait? Why will you wait for another Sunday? Another Wednesday? Another day? Why will you wait for another minute? The gates of Heaven are wide open right now. And the invitation is, "Anyone who enters through Me, that one will be saved." Come to Him. Embrace Him as your Shepherd. Repent and believe in Him. Put the weight of your soul upon Him and Him alone.
He is the true Shepherd. He is the Savior. He is the Provider. He is the Protector. He is the One, He is the only One who will satisfy your soul's longing. Don't chase after this and that and the other. You will come up empty. And it will be too late. One day, should you continue down that path, enter through the narrow gate. Give your life to Him.
And child of God, oh, let us, let us give praise to God for all that is ours in Christ. The One who satisfies the longing of our souls. He's done that, hasn't He? And maybe even after our fellowship, in our fellowship after the service, maybe, maybe child of God, will you encourage one another? Why don't you share with another believer? Even someone who is maybe even thinking through this message today. Tell them, tell them how Jesus satisfies the longing of your souls.
How from the day that you committed your life to Jesus, you never look back. You never regret that decision. You're holy and happy in Jesus. He is your treasure. He is your all. And you can sing from the heart, "Take the world, but give me Jesus." If I have Him, I have everything I need.
Let's pray.
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