Door of the Sheep

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Door of the Sheep. He will be in John 10.

The only way that you can be truly saved is to repent of your sins and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have an authentic relationship with Jesus. You may be able to fake out the pastor, but you cannot fake out Jesus Christ.

Hello and welcome to Hope Worth Having radio program. It’s great to have you and I want you to get your Bible and I want you to go to the Gospel of John chapter 10. And we’re going to be studying John chapter 10 and learning about the door of the sheep.

And so I’m looking forward to what God has for us today. And as Jesus stands before each and every one of his listeners on this special occasion in John chapter 10, he declares that he is the shepherd.

And so I hope that as you and I study the Word of God, that we’re going to truly learn and understand the door of the sheep. When we come to our text this morning in John chapter 10, Jesus introduces himself as the door, the door of the sheep.

In this set of verses, verses 1 through 10, Jesus gives his final public address to those in the community as he is sharing salvation to them. And it is the final address that he would give before he would finally go to the cross.

And Jesus said these words in verse 1 of John chapter 10, And verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter or the doorkeeper openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth the sheep.

them out. And when he put forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.

This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I am come that they might have life. and that they might have it more abundantly. Jesus Christ presents himself as the door, the door, the door to the sheepfold, the door to the kingdom of God. He also presents himself as a shepherd.

And as we study this, we know that the scriptures have already taught us that God promised that he would send a Messiah who would be a shepherd to his people. Isaiah says in Isaiah 40 verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd.

He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. Again in Ezekiel chapter 34 and verse 23, the scripture says, and I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them even my servant David.

Referring to the lineage of David, he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd, a prophecy of Christ. When Herod heard the news that a king had been born, he wanted to know where was that king?

Where would the Messiah be born? And they told him and they quoted him the Bible. Matthew records what they said to Herod as they shared the scriptures in the Old Testament, which said, and you, old Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Jesus Christ is the door of the sheep and Jesus Christ is our shepherd. I want you to notice we examine this text this morning, first of all, the entrance to the kingdom. Let me bring your attention back to verse one and notice that Jesus says, verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thaw.

a thief and a robber, but, or in contrast, he that entreth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name and he leadeth them out.

Look at verse nine, I am the door. By me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. And Jesus Christ is declaring to all those who are listening to him as he is preaching this sermon, he is declaring that he is the entryway to eternal life.

That he is the entryway into the kingdom of God. And Jesus reminds us that he is the only way. Jesus would later say in John 14, I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes unto the Father but by me.

Now for you and I, as we attend faithfully at church and we read our Bible and study our Bible, no shocker, no big deal. We believe that, we embrace that, but for the Jewish people to hear that Jesus would proclaim that He was the door and He was the only entry way that one could find eternal life was really a struggle for them.

Because in their mind, they believe as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as a religious group of people that they truly had found the only entry way and you had to keep all these rules and you had to go through all these rituals or you could not enter into the kingdom of God.

If you didn’t live a certain way and you didn’t measure up, then they determined whether you would be in the kingdom of God. But He attacks their false theology and He boldly declares in front of everyone that He is the door, He is the entry way to the kingdom of heaven.

You’ll notice in verse 1 that Jesus says, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door, into the sheepfold. Jesus wanting to use imagery here to identify, relate to what the people understood. He recognized that they would understand the sheepfold and that was basically a place, a courtyard if you will.

It was surrounded by a stone wall and it had a gate and there was a gatekeeper or a doorkeeper and that gatekeeper always made sure that whoever entered in, whoever sheep entered in, whatever shepherd entered in, whatever personnel entered in, that they were always legitimate and that they had the right to enter into that gate and to take care of the sheep or be among the sheep.

And Jesus is reminding that it is the doorkeeper, it is the porter that opens the door and the under shepherd guards the gates and Jesus wants us to know that the entrance into the kingdom of God is very much like that in that as they enter into the sheepfold as they enter into this courtyard that has a small wall where the sheep are kept that there is entrance into the kingdom but remember that entering into the kingdom is first of all it is inclusive but it is also exclusive that into the kingdom is inclusive in that it is available to everyone the invitation to enter in to the kingdom of God is available to each person today the Bible teaches us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish and so my friends no matter who you are you No matter what you’ve gone through in life,

no matter what you’re facing in life, no matter how deep the mess you’re in, I want you to know that there is a savior that is reaching out to you this morning. There is a shepherd who is calling you to eternal life and salvation.

And if you will come to him by faith in Jesus Christ, you can experience that eternal life. But I want you to know it’s exclusive. Entrance into the kingdom is exclusive. And what I mean by that is simply this.

Only those that have true faith in Jesus Christ can enter into the sheepfold. Only those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. If you’re putting your faith in religion, if you’re putting your faith in rituals, if you’re putting your faith in other means, or maybe how good you did keeping the list of rules, if you’re putting your faith in the fact that there’s a lot of things you don’t do that I want you to know,

you will not enter into the kingdom of God. I want you to know that there is no religion that can save your soul. All religion does is harden your heart and send you straight to hell. I want you to know that you can participate in as many ceremonies as you want.

You can participate in as much of what the church might involve or invite you to classes and activities and studies and all these wonderful things that may be going on. But none of those things really and truly save your soul.

The only way that you can be truly saved is to repent of your sins and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is so important for us to understand this morning is that you must have an authentic relationship with Jesus.

You cannot pretend with God. You may be able to fake out the pastor and you may be able to fake out your family and you may be able to fake out other church members. members and church leaders, but you cannot fake out Jesus Christ.

For Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter seven that there will be many who will say to me, Lord, Lord, have I not done these wonderful things in your name? And he will say, depart from me, I never knew you.

And I wanna ask you an important question. Do you know Christ and does he know you? Does he know you? Because entrance into the kingdom is exclusive to those who have faith in Jesus Christ. You’ll notice again in verse seven, Jesus said, I am the door of the sheep.

Verse nine, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be what? He’ll be saved. If you enter in by Christ, if you enter in through Christ, if you step through the door in Christ by faith, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says you will be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. You’re gonna be in the kingdom of God. And he is reminding us that as we come to Christ by faith that salvation is given to all those who trust in him.

What are you trusting in for your salvation? You know, some people think that they’re gonna get to heaven by just simply hoping that their good works outweigh their bad works. And so they’re kind of keeping a score in their mind and they’re just saying, man, I gotta just do enough deeds and I gotta just do enough good stuff in this world and then I think God’s gonna be okay with me and I think he’s gonna let me in.

But let me tell you something friends, there isn’t enough good things you can do to merit salvation into the kingdom of God. There just isn’t for the Bible teaches us that we’re all sinners and we fall short of the glory of God.

And even my friends, if you break one of the laws, you break them all in essence and categorically, you fall short of the holiness and the righteousness of God and that is why it is essential and it is necessary and imperative that we come to Christ and believe in him for true salvation.

The Pharisees worked so hard to be religious. They worked so hard to come up and follow the manmade traditions and rules that they had created thinking that it made them spiritual, that it made them into the kingdom of God, entrance into the kingdom of God, but the truth is they were excluded.

Why? Because they did not believe in the door who is Jesus Christ. They did not believe that he was the only way. My friends, I remind you that Jesus is the only way to the Father. He is the only way into the kingdom of salvation.

He is the only way to have eternal life. You can’t get to heaven by buying into some other religion or some other false teaching out there. I want you to remember this church that there are not many ways to heaven There is one way to heaven there is one way to heaven And why is that so startling because we live in a pluralistic society and a pluralistic society simply says this You believe what you want to believe I’ll believe what I want to believe and we’re all working towards the same thing And we’re all gonna get there know my friends that is a lie from the devil The truth is you must come through Jesus Christ He is the door you must enter into the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ through Jesus Christ And there is no other way Jesus is the gateway for Eternal life the second thing I want you to note this morning is the enemies of the kingdom the enemies of the kingdom Again in verse 7 Jesus says verily verily and whatever Jesus uses that Terminology verily verily or truly truly he’s getting ready to say something that is powerful something that he wants us to grasp,

something that he wants to get our attention with, he wants you to pay attention, he wants you to know this. And so he says in verse seven, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

That is the foundational principle. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I want you to note that Jesus identifies these enemies. Again in verse 10, he says, the thief comes not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.

We go back to verse one. Again, he says verily, verily, I say unto you, he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Israel, unfortunately, had been led by many false shepherds who drew them away from a true relationship with God.

So many times people misunderstand what God’s intention is for his word. Sometimes we can make God’s word academic and not realize that it’s God speaking to us. Sometimes we can turn God’s word into some kind of a magical formula.

Sometimes we can think, well, I’ve got to try to be perfect to have a relationship with God. And we start formulating things in our life, bliss of do’s and don’ts. And as a result, these things push us away from God.

They do not draw us to the door, Jesus Christ. When the Pharisees read the scriptures and the law of God, rather than humbly acknowledging that they were sinners who could not fulfill the law, who could not keep the law, who could not live up to the law, they started creating rules to say, look, if I do this and that, then I am fulfilling the law.

And they started building pride in their heart, how they could be perfect. and how they could come across as being self -righteous, and that this would make them acceptable before God. And the truth is that as these shepherds, and these rabbis, and these false leaders were teaching these false theology, they were pushing people farther and farther away from God.

There are two warnings that the church has to always watch out for. I want you to remember this church. I’ve told you before, but I need to tell you again. And that is we have to watch out for legalism and liberalism.

When the liberals are mad at me and the legalists are mad at me, I’m feeling very good as a pastor. You know why? Because you can’t merit spiritual maturity. You can’t merit salvation. You can’t earn spirituality before God.

It is a work of God. It is the grace of God. It is the power of the Holy Spirit living in me, and I am totally yielded and reliant upon Him. And there isn’t enough. good lists out there that are sufficient.

And guess what happens, is that when you come up with a list to define your spirituality and to define your maturity 10 years from now, that list is outdated. And you can’t keep up with all the technology and you can’t keep up with all the things that are going on.

And the truth is, when we come to the word of God and our hearts are convicted because we fall so miserably short, we should cry out to God for mercy and grace and forgiveness. And we should ask the Lord to help us to be righteous, to help us to live godly and to live holy unto Him.

We should not be saying, let me try to create a list. Let me try to create a way to make sure that I’m a spiritual person. And then there’s liberals. Everything and anything goes. And they just believe everybody’s saved automatically.

And that if you just follow there, they’re really what I call inverted legalists. Because even liberals have their lists. And they have their qualifications of what they believe makes a person spiritual.

And so the liberals, if you’re down on the legalists, that makes you spiritual. And the legalists, if you’re down on the liberals, that makes you spiritual. And so the two extremes are always coming at each other, but neither one of them really understanding that it is a real relationship in Jesus Christ that is transformational in your life and it is the real relationship with Christ that helps us to live and to embrace the kingdom of God.

The enemies of the kingdom of God are legalists and liberals. These are thieves and predators who climb over the fence to steal and destroy and yes, to kill the sheepfold. There is a need to warn you this morning.

There is a need for me to warn all believers against deceitful teachers, people who are trying to. destroy, that salvation by faith through grace is the only way to enter into the kingdom of God. Now, sometimes as a pastor, I get highly criticized for identifying the enemies of the kingdom.

But I think a good shepherd does that. I remind you of the words of John in 1 John 2, 26. He says, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. All throughout the Scriptures we are taught to be alert, to be attentive, to misleading ministries, misleading teachers who are out there trying to teach a different way.

They don’t want to come through the door of Christ. They want to come through another way into the kingdom of God. And these are thieves and robbers, not my words, the words of our Savior. and rather than soft -pedaling it, we need to be truthful and we need to be honest.

It’s kind of like someone saying this. Somebody says, well, Mike, they’re not all that bad and they’re so encouraging, they just make me feel good, Pastor Mike. And I said, well, let me ask you this.

If the doctor gave you 90% good medicine, but 10% of it was poisonous, are you still okay with that? Do you think he’s a good doctor? Do you think he’s really helping you? If 10% of it is poisonous, if 10% of it is destructive and destroying your life, I think not, and so it is spiritually in our life.

Yes, I’m not saying a false teacher doesn’t every once in a while say something encouraging and maybe something that makes you feel wonderful in your life, but I wanna tell you something, friends, that false teachers are undercutting your faith and they are destroying your spirituality and they strive to damn people to hell.

So how do you identify false teachers? Three things real quickly. Number one, they reject. False teachers reject the exclusiveness of Christ. They reject the exclusiveness of Christ, meaning this, they don’t want Christ to be the only way to heaven.

They don’t want Christ to be 100% God and 100% man. They’re always attacking the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ. They’re always attacking who Jesus Christ is and they’re always trying to misrepresent who he is and they’re always trying to redefine who he is because they don’t want a savior who is sinless.

They don’t want a savior who went to the cross and bore the sins of mankind and rose again the third day and ascended into the right hand of the father and is now interceding on our behalf. They don’t want that kind of a Jesus.

They want a good teacher Jesus. They want a soft and kind Jesus who never causes problems. They want a Jesus who gets along to go along. They want a Jesus who never speaks truth. They just want a Jesus.

Jesus, who’s always gentle and wonderful. But Jesus said, I came. I came to divide the false from the truth. And sometimes what we find is even within our own families that those who reject Christ, it will bring division in the family.

It can bring division in the community. It can bring division because people reject the truth. People say, Mike, can’t we just all get along? We need unity, Mike, in the body of Christ. There is unity as long as you and I believe the same about who Jesus is.

But when you teach a different Jesus, when you teach a Jesus that’s not revealed in the Bible, when you teach a Jesus that’s man -made, when you teach a Jesus to your liking, when you teach a Jesus that’s just simply your idol in your mind and your thoughts, when you teach a Jesus that only reflects the kind of religion you want, it’s not the Jesus that’s in the Bible.

I can’t rally behind that. The second way to identify false teachers. is that false teachers resent the inclusiveness of salvation. That is, that they reject that the salvation message is to go to everyone.

They reject that the message of salvation is to reach out to the ends of the earth. They reject that Christ not only is the only way to heaven, but that He saves those who believe in Him. You see, the Jews believe that they’re the only ones that could be saved.

They did not like the idea that Gentiles would be saved. They didn’t like the idea that people from different walks of life would be saved. There was nothing more insulting to the Jews that when Jesus used Samaritans as illustrations, or that Jesus would reach out to the Samaritans, the woman at the well, that Jesus would reach out to the paralytic, that He would reach out to the blind man, that He would reach out to people who were suffering,

that He would reach out to people who are hopeless, because only the elite could be saved in the minds of the religious. Only those who follow protocol can be saved, but God works in a whole different way, and God turns everything that seems to be right side, He turns it upside down, amen?

And God calls and reaches out to the humble, and the Bible tells us, don’t you know that the poor are rich in faith? It’s not just the wealthy that can be saved. It’s all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that can be saved, and those who teach a different doctrine, I’m telling you my friends, they are thieves and robbers, and they have come to kill and to steal.

Number three, how do I identify false teachers? They refute the authority and reliability and sufficiency of the Bible. I’ll say it again, they refute the authority and the reliability and the sufficiency of the Bible.

False teachers are looking for other means besides the Bible to do the work of God. They want to tell you that the Bible just contains God’s Word, not that it is God’s Word. My friends, I want you to know from Genesis to Revelation, every jot and tittle, every inscription mark from beginning to end, that it is all of God’s Word, 100%.

But God’s Word is an authority in my life. This is God’s words breathed out to me, God speaking to my heart, God speaking to me personally, and it is God’s Word not only comforting me, it’s God’s Word convicting me, it’s God’s Word changing me, it’s God’s Word challenging me, it’s God speaking to me heart to heart, it’s God speaking to me face to face.

And my friends, you can rely on the Word of God and you can know that it is the authoritative Word of God and that it came down from heaven, not that it fell out of a tree. No, that’s not how God works and we’ve taught on how it all came together and I don’t have time this morning, but I want you to know that you…

Have the word of God. It’s an authority in your life. It’s reliable. You can depend upon it. But get this, it is sufficient. The church has abandoned the Bible. The church is struggling with the sufficiency of scripture.

It is the great battle today. You wonder what’s going on in the church. You say, Mike, they’re having bigger crowds than ever, but they’re having less results than ever. Less Americans go to church today than in any generation.

And what is the problem? Is that we have turned to every other means to reach people for Christ rather than God’s word. God’s word is sufficient to save your souls. Remember what Paul told Timothy? That the word, that the scriptures were able to make him wise unto what?

He then would go on to tell us how God’s word could sanctify or shape God’s people into the image of Jesus Christ. He then would tell us that God’s word can equip us that we might thoroughly serve God.

I’m telling you, you don’t have to look out there for something else. You don’t have to find a substitute. You don’t have to find something else to replace the word of God. You have everything that you need, Peter tells us in 2 Peter chapter one.

He says all that you have, God has given you that you might live a godly life. But see, we’re Christians, and we become gullible, and we buy into the fads, and we buy into the Kool -Aid, and we like something different, and you know what happens, friends?

We find that those substitutes are insufficient, and that there is only sufficiency in God’s word. So let me break this down a little bit for you to help you understand. For me as a pastor, when I submit myself to someone, one’s teaching of the Word of God.

Or I submit myself to a ministry to hear God’s Word taught to me or ministered to me. There are just really three questions I have. Number one, what do you believe about Jesus? Entrance into the kingdom of God is through the door of the sheep.

That is through Christ. Christ is the door. He is the one that if we want to enter into heaven, we have to come through Him. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me.

And so entrance into heaven requires us to believe in Jesus Christ. Now there are going to be naysayers and those who deny Christ, but they’re only the false shepherds and they’re only the false doors or entryways.

But the true way is through Christ. The Bible teaches us that the Lord is our shepherd and I shall not want. And when Jesus is your shepherd, He satisfies everything that you need. I hope today that you will come to Christ and trust Him as your Lord and Savior, and today if you have trusted Christ, reach out to us and go to our website and let us know about your decision for Him.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.