The Door of the Sheep - John..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So the gospel according to John from verse one through 21. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out when he has brought all brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All that came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.

Many of them said, he has a demon and he's insane. Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Amen, this is the word of the Lord.

Now, Lord himself said that the heavens and earth will pass away, but not a single word of his words will pass So let's come before him and ask his blessing upon our time together. Lord, we approach this time with thanksgiving in our hearts, truly grateful for the opportunity, Lord. No one's forced us to come here. No one's compelled us to walk through these doors to get dressed and to prepare our families and to come to this place together in this way. Lord, it is because we have hearts that have come to understand and know the treasure that it is to be united in Christ and to his bride.

We come, Lord, from our own volition because we love you, because you have loved us. Because, Lord, we understand that when we come in this way, Lord, among other things, the fellowship and the prayers and the breaking of bread that we'll enjoy as we remember our Saviour. Lord, we come to sit under the preaching of your word because we know through your word there is life. We know that you feed our souls. We know that you edify us by the power of your Holy Spirit and through your word because it is breathed from you.

It is from your heart and it's meant and purpose and intended to enter into ours also. So we ask, Lord, may you do this work. We know it is a spiritual work. We know it's a supernatural work. We know that there's nothing we can do in and of ourselves to make this happen.

And so we ask, Lord, please, in faith, please, we ask that you would feed us this evening. Hide your servant behind the cross. I pray, Lord, that the words I speak would be only that which corresponds to truth. And Lord, as every Sunday I pray, I pray for your people also to receive that truth. Prepare their hearts, prepare their ears.

Pray that they will have the attention that is required. so that in all things our great Saviour, our great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, will be exalted. We ask these things in His name. Amen. Well, we continue in our meditations, in our consideration of the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to John.

We've been here for about three weeks. I believe this is the third sermon in this chapter. And the grand theme of the chapter, I think you already know because we've read it a few times. The great theme of the chapter really is that Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. He is the true shepherd.

He is the one sent by God to lead the people of God. That's the theme of this chapter. And that's the allegorical nature of the words of our Lord, because when we say Christ is a good shepherd, we of course don't mean that Jesus is actually a shepherd in shepherd's clothing, walking around with a bent stick in his hand, and we, the people of God, aren't exactly sheep either. allegory or a metaphor that the Lord is using so that the people will understand through what they have come to know and are familiar with and then he can point them to a deeper more profound spiritual reality that he's trying to communicate. So animal husbandry is very much in the mind of these first century people.

They didn't have to go very far to understand what Jesus was saying. Shepherds and sheep and flock were all very much part of their everyday experience. In fact, from Jerusalem, they didn't have to look very far to find shepherds leading their flock over in the hills. They were barely an eyeshot away from anywhere, really, in Jerusalem. And so Jesus was using metaphors that the people would be able to understand and identify so they're not left scratching their heads when he gives them these allegories or figures of speech as the Apostle John tells us in John in the sixth verse of this chapter.

But rather they would have intimate understanding of at least what Jesus is saying and then, by God's grace, if the Lord opens their eyes to understand further, they'll be able to relate what he is speaking to. Last time we were here, we didn't get very far. Actually, we only got as far as verse 5. This evening, by God's grace, I want us to, actually next two evenings, next two weeks, I want us to continue through the next section, which starts from verse 6 and it will end in verse 10. This evening, we'll simply go from verse 6 through to verse 8.

And after a quick analysis of the hearts of the Jews who are the audience before the Lord, really when the Apostle John calls them Jews, we're talking about the religious leaders and we don't have to look very far to notice that it's the Pharisees that are standing before our Lord even now. So after we've quickly analyzed their hearts and their response to what Jesus has said already, we will also look and spend some time considering what it means for Jesus to be the door of the sheepfold, or the door of the sheep, the door. And then next week, by God's grace, we'll look at verse 9 and verse 10, where we will go a little bit deeper into understanding what are the benefits of entering into the door who is Christ. What is the benefit of living in that sheepfold? And of course, we will then meditate upon that verse that maybe many of us have come to love and to memorize, that verse that says that Christ has come, that they may have life.

And life what? Abundant, that's next week. I'm not gonna do a recap on what we've already been through in the first five verses like I would usually do and the reason for that is because the themes in this chapter do seem to repeat themselves. There is a repetitive nature and as we work our way through, I hope that the context will become clearer and clearer in our minds as we meditate upon these truths, that they'll settle in and there's probably no need to really recap But we can just continue on. But there is one thing I want us to be reminded of.

I made this point a few weeks ago, and I think it'd be worthy and fruitful for me to make it again. Wherever Jesus went, he had audience. Whenever Jesus went, he had an audience. Now, there is one place in John chapter 17, high priestly prayer, but it's likely one of the disciples or a few around him and that could hear him speak. But when Jesus went around and when Jesus taught, when Jesus claimed from his mouth on behalf of God as the Messiah, he had an audience.

And it's important that we understand who his audience are. Because it's very easy for us to read through as 21st century people, as we've become so customary to reading books and chapters, you close one chapter off and it's almost as though you put that behind you, and the next chapter has somewhat relation to the chapter finished, but it's a brand new chapter. Chapter 9 is a chapter, we're now at a different number, it's chapter 10. But I don't want us to think that it's a new narrative or a new story, because it's not. Chapter 9 finishes at verse 41, but in chapter 10 verse 1 is a continuation.

They put a chapter break in there, but it's a continuation. It's likely even the same day, the same audience are before our Lord. What had happened in chapter 9 is Jesus had brought sight to the man who was born blind, both in the eyes early on in that chapter, in verse 6 or 7, and towards the end of that chapter, the last paragraph, miraculously, Jesus brings sight to the heart of the man. physical sight and then spiritual sight so the man can see and understand who he is and recognize who this Jesus is and then fall on his face and worship him as God in flesh. And Jesus accepted the worship.

The audience that were there, likely this man who had been healed from his blindness is before our Lord even now, but it's also likely that the Pharisees that were there in chapter 9 are also listening to the words that the Lord is speaking and others are probably amassed to listen to what Jesus is saying. Now that's important. It's important because Jesus is actually referencing or referring to the spiritual leaders, the spiritual or the religious establishment of the first century. And in particular, he's actually referencing the Pharisees. I said this a few weeks ago when Jesus mentions robbers and thieves.

He's speaking about false shepherds because the contrast is one of the true shepherd, the good shepherd, which is Christ. And he says what the good shepherd has come to do and what the qualities are of a good shepherd. And then you have, on the other hand, you have the false shepherds, but he doesn't call them false shepherds. Instead, he calls them thieves and robbers. Because Jesus is speaking about the people of God.

And the people of God, or the flock of God, these are flock who are owned by God. God's people. And if God is going to appoint a shepherd, He will give them authority and equip that shepherd to lead and guide His people, His flock. But if God has not appointed that shepherd, then those shepherds are self-appointed. And if they're self-appointed, they're laying claim on sheep that don't belong to them.

And when you lay claim on sheep or anything that doesn't belong to you and act as if it does, And you're a robber because they use violence, not caring about the sheep, not caring about tending their wounds, not caring about feeding their souls, but rather caring about themselves. Selfish ambition. And Jesus is looking at these Pharisees and saying, you're the thieves. You're the robbers. You're who I'm speaking to.

Yes, you thought in your mind that maybe you were looking after the sheep in the oppression that you placed upon them, in the cold ritualistic legalism that you called religion, a religion that God did not accept. You're thinking that you were doing the bidding of Yahweh, but you are not. In fact, you're imposters, frauds, charlatans. In a word, The true shepherd is calling them out. Will they listen?

Well, we get the answer in verse six. Let's look down there at verse six. The figure of speech. Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. Literally, they did not.

No. They did not begin to perceive the words that Jesus was speaking. Now let's get one thing straight from the onset. The Pharisees were no simpletons. They were clever.

They were smart. They were the intellectuals of the day. They were the academics of the day. Highly trained. Graduates of the best seminaries in the land.

The best rabbinical schools is where they graduated from. They were clever individuals. They had aptitude. They had big minds. In fact, some of the writings would suggest that, among other things, they needed to jump through hoops in order to become Pharisees.

And one of the requirements was, but they had to memorize, listen, memorize the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses. It took us three and a half years to get through the five books of Moses as a church. And they were required to memorize them. These men were well-studied, well-read in many areas, they were not simpletons, and they were exceptionally, exceptionally well-versed in the Scriptures, in theology. They were well familiar with Scripture, there's no doubt to that.

They memorized great portions, as I said earlier, but when it came to this allegory, When it came to the metaphors Jesus was using, the simple figure of speech, they did not perceive what he was saying. They did not understand. But it's not a coincidence. Though the Apostle John chooses to add this detail right here, only moments after we've come out of the narrative that speaks to the man who was born blind and is now made to see. You remember when I began that a few months ago, I said, what we're going to see as we work through our narrative, we're going to find something very interesting.

And this is what I said. I said, we're going to start to see some major role reversals. That means that those who are perceived among the people as the seeing people, the people who understood the most, the people who could perceive and know especially the things about God. The ones who are well-versed in the Scripture. We know God's will.

We know what God requires of us. We can see, we can understand, we know the heart of God. Knowledge. Know, know, know. In fact, they're going to be seen as the ones who don't know and cannot see.

The seeing ones will be revealed to be the blind and the blind will be revealed to be the ones that see. In fact, Jesus said as much in the last paragraph. Listen to what Jesus says. He says, for judgment I came into the world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. You have these proud, well-accomplished, highly esteemed in the community religious men thinking the truth of God is so clear to them.

If they ever had a frustration that we can tell in the Gospels, their frustration was that others could not see. How could you not see what we see? The frustration of teaching and teaching and perceiving that others are unable to hold that teaching in their minds. And yet the Apostle John is telling us In all their wisdom, their so-called wisdom, they're unable to understand even the elementary things all Jesus was saying. These men, these Pharisees who are considered the best of the best, the smartest and the wisest among the people, are actually now seen to be the spiritual ignorant ones.

Let's give them some credit. In the first five verses of this chapter, it is true that Jesus is now putting on the table the contrast between a good shepherd and the false shepherd, the hirelings, or my apologies, the thieves and the robbers. So there's a comparison between the two. And Jesus is explaining the characteristics of a good shepherd, what he has come to do and how his sheep hear his voice and they follow after him. He's the one who calls his sheep.

He's come to rescue the sheep. He calls them by name. What a wonderful thing. and they come and they follow after him. Now it may seem obvious to us 21st century Christians that Jesus is speaking of himself, and I think it's fairly obvious before we get very far, Jesus will say he is, but it's clear that he is speaking of himself, but he doesn't say it.

He alludes to that, and you're hoping that these men would know it, but up until this point, he hasn't literally said that I am that good shepherd. That will come. And when it does come, the Pharisees aren't going to be very happy, for the most part. In fact, when Jesus does declare it, they're going to revile him. And we read all the way through 21 to verse 21 this evening, because I wanted you to read from verse 19 through 21, the reaction of the Pharisees.

Many said, no, he's demon possessed. Once they came to understand what Jesus is actually saying, they called him a demon possessed man. He's insane. He should listen to him. No one should listen to this insane man.

Even saying those words, I don't know, makes me feel very uncomfortable. Others, on the other hand, said, well, are these really the words of a demon-possessed man? Maybe they haven't come to the conclusion or the conviction that Jesus is speaking truth, but there is that matter, that matter that just occurred. A blind man, a man born blind, born blind, and he made him to see. Can a demon-possessed man do that?

Conflict is happening in their minds. But we're told here they, at least until this point, they do not understand what Jesus is saying. So let's give them that much. Let's give them the fact that they haven't put two and two together as of yet. They will very soon, the next few words that Jesus says.

And they haven't been able to make out that Jesus is claiming to be the good shepherd. They were well versed in the Old Testament. And the shepherd sheep analogy metaphor is found out throughout the Old Testament. These men had these verses down pat in their mind and in their memory. And they knew that Yahweh is the one who has declared himself as the shepherd who will gather his sheep.

They knew that. And the first five verses that we have here, the verses that the Apostle John is telling us they have not come to understand as of yet, are verses that very much speak to God or the good shepherd gathering up the sheep gathering up a remnant of people from a larger group, gathering up a smaller group who's called the remnant. Remember that word in the Old Testament, remnant, because God has always got a remnant. But they still don't understand. A couple weeks ago we went through one of those passages that sort of hit you in the face.

The one that In Exodus chapter 34, you remember, speaking about how God and how it will take place that God Himself, Yahweh Himself, will gather His sheep, He will mend their wounds, He will take care of them, He will pluck them out of the places they've been oppressed and they've been dispersed to by the unrighteous shepherds. And then again, he says that although he's the one who does it, that it's his servant David that will do it. So you have God will do it, and he says, my servant David. There's a unity, there's a closeness, there's a oneness to the words of God. So they knew what God was saying.

They knew what Yahweh was saying. He's the good shepherd. But there's more. In Jeremiah chapter 23, there's a section that speaks to that. I'm not going to read the whole section for you, but from verse 3 and 4, it speaks to exactly what Jesus is saying.

Let me give it to you. He says, Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them, and I will bring them back to the fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. Let me give you another one for good measure. There's many. Micah chapter 2 verse 12, Yahweh, I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob.

I will gather the remnants of Israel. I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture. It's not that they didn't know the scripture. It's not that these men were unable to link what Jesus was saying and then go over into their minds and say, well, throughout the Old Testament, the prophets have spoken of on many occasions The metaphor of shepherd and the sheep being the people of God. It's not as though they weren't able to do that.

But the fact is, they could not understand what Jesus was saying, because the information was settled into their minds, but it hadn't yet soaked into their souls. As Jesus was speaking, their hearts were invigorated to say, hold on a minute. We've been waiting for this Messiah. We've been waiting for the one who fulfills the very things that your mouth is now speaking. Oh, how long have we been waiting for these shepherds to come and to gather?

Your words are like honey to our souls, to our lips, no? No, none of that. They did not understand. They knew the word up here. But it never became reality in their soul.

The words and the grammar was understood, I should say. These guys are academics, remember. But the essence and the heart of what was spoken in the old that was always meant to point to some majestic reality in the new. And that reality is now standing before them. He's not a type.

He's not a shadow. He's the very substance, he's the very source, he's the very anti-type. All the types of the old were pointing to him. And as he opened his mouth and declared, they did have no idea. And in the end, many of them would call him demon possessed and insane.

The best of the best, the smartest of the smartest, the wisest of the wisest, the Pharisees, you could not look beyond them. In fact, in the Sermon of the Mount, you remember what Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of who? The Pharisees. People had them esteemed up here. And who was the very, very best of the best?

Who's the very best of the Pharisees that you're probably remembering right now? Nicodemus. You remember Nicodemus back in John chapter 3? The very best of the best. Jesus approaches him in John chapter 3.

Actually, he approaches Jesus in the dark of the night. And then Jesus began to speak. Nicodemus acknowledges some things. We know that you must be a teacher of God for the things you do. God has to be with you, basically, is what he's saying.

And then Jesus proceeds to explain to Nicodemus, not something brand new, actually just the explanation of Ezekiel chapter 36, that God indeed will one day take the heart of stone. Let me ask you a question. If you have a heart of stone, are you alive? You're dead. If your heart is not beating, you don't need to be a doctor to know this.

If your heart is not beating, you're dead. And it's told in Ezekiel 36, that one day will come where the heart of stone will be replaced into a heart of flesh. And that is the essence or the root of what Christ is saying to these Nicodemus. Unless one is born from above, born again, you cannot. See, the kingdom of God.

And he confused Nicodemus. And if you remember, after the discussion prolongs, or the discourse, I should say, continues a little bit longer, Jesus had these words to say to this great man. This guy is probably known as the teacher of Israel. That means he was the head of the best seminary in the land. This is gold standard when it comes to religiosity.

And Jesus says to him, are you the teacher of Israel? and yet you do not understand. All your learning Nicodemus, all your education, all your teaching, all your knowledge of the scripture and yet Jesus speaks to you the very rudimentary things, the very elementary things of the faith and you are left with your mouth opened. What's the point? Giving mental assent to the scripture does not equate to true knowledge.

It doesn't. We've said it over and over again from this pulpit. It does not. They did not understand we're told in verse six. They didn't understand what Jesus was saying.

Let me ask you, if Jesus is speaking the words unto eternal life, if Jesus himself is the eternal life, if his claims need to be believed, if his teaching need to be taken into their hearts, if Jesus is speaking the words of salvation, if he's the anointed one of God, sent by God to be the Messiah, to be the Redeemer of the people of God, then how can someone come to believe in him if they don't understand what comes out of his mouth? You can't. It's got nothing to do with how smart we are, how smart they are. Intellect has nothing to do with it. Ownership does.

It's not what you know. It's who you know. Whereas the apostle Paul says it's not that we knew him, but that we are known by him. Question is, do they belong to God? You see, our brother said something earlier.

He said that all that the father has appointed to the son, not one will be lost. That means that the chosen ones, the elect of God, they're not going to conjure up enough understanding up here in order to receive the truth that is found in the word of God, but rather because they elect, God provides the package. He opens the mind. He brings life where there was once death. He gives eyes where there was blindness.

He gives ears where there was deafness. In a word, the dead are made alive and now are made to hear the words, to believe the words, and to apprehend the words by faith, which equates to apprehending the Savior, Jesus Christ, by faith. And that's why Jesus is able to say, my sheep hear my voice. They know my voice and they follow after me. He has given them the ability to discern the voice of the true shepherd and to discern the voice of the thieves and the robbers.

Why have these people before our Lord, why have the religious leaders of the first century, why have they not come to understand that Jesus is speaking about Him being the good shepherd and the sheep who come to Him and believe upon Him will have eternal life? Why have they not come to believe? Well, Jesus will tell them plainly in verse 26. You can look there if you like. But simply Jesus says to them, But you do not believe.

You do not believe because you are not among my sheep. It's incredible. It is another time that Jesus speaks to them and says those words, that those words can be related back to the people that are before him. The veil remains over their eyes. and they simply don't understand the words of eternal life.

So now from verse seven, our Lord continues, not so much to give an explanation of what they did not understand in the first five verses of this chapter. That's not what he's doing. In fact, what our Lord is doing now is he's giving them a new allegory. He's still using the same terminology, the animal husbandry, the shepherd-sheep relationship, but he's giving them a new allegory with new elements, and we need to understand that. Otherwise, we may get confused in what our Lord is saying.

You see, in the first five verses, the emphasis was on the shepherd rescuing his sheep. You remember that? So remember how I said that the sheepfold that is spoken of in the first five verses is a communal sheepfold. It's the one where many shepherds may come and keep their sheep in there. There's many sheep.

Yet Jesus will come and the gatekeeper knows and identifies him as the shepherd and he's able to come then and to call out his sheep and to rescue his sheep out of the sheepfold. The implication is if the sheepfold that Jesus is speaking of, and I believe he is speaking of the people of Israel or the system of Judaism, then when Jesus calls his sheep out, those who hear his voice, Identifying him as the Savior will then follow after him. He rescues his sheep in that way and who he leaves behind are the rest. Because not all Israel will be saved. But what we have before us here from verse 7 We actually don't have a communal sheepfold.

And the emphasis is not that the Lord is going to redeem, to rescue, to bring out his sheep from a sheep pen or a sheepfold, but rather the emphasis in verse seven through 10 is who enter into a sheepfold. And that sheepfold has a door. and the door is Christ. The first five verses speak of the shepherd bringing sheep out and the seventh through ten speaks about who are the sheep that actually go in, through, through the door. In 5 to 10, as I said, Jesus was, well, the identity of the different characters in the allegory or the figures of speech were a little bit ambiguous.

But then, what we have from verse 7 through 10, the ambiguity is all taken away and Jesus flat out tells them plainly what is on his mind. How does he do it? He does it with the great, I am statements. The first of which is found in verse seven. So let's put our eyes there.

Verse seven. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door.

You see why it's very important for us to recognize this is a new allegory, has some of the older elements, but it's a new allegory. Because as I said earlier, Jesus is now referring to those who come to him, those who enter in by him. Getting into the sheepfold is the concern of our Lord, not getting out of it. There's also another fundamental difference that we need to recognize. I hope you caught it in the text.

In the first one, as I said, the shepherd, between verses one through five, the shepherd calls out his sheep, and only those who identify the voice of the shepherd and are called by name are the ones who respond. They are rescued by the shepherd. But what we have here in this fold that is before us is not a people, or you know the sheep are referring to people, we're not talking about animals here, we're talking about people, the people of God. So it's not as though in the original 1 to 5 where you have a people that have come out of a nation or the system of Judaism, the people have come out and the people have remained, but here the sheepfold that Jesus speaks about in verses 7 through 10 consists not of a mixed It doesn't consist of a people who some have come to truly know the shepherd and to believe upon the shepherd and others who haven't, but rather the sheepfold spoken of in verse 7 is actually all people who belong to God. They say, I want you to get it, verse 9, I am the door, Jesus says, if anyone enters by me, He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

If anyone enters by me, he will be what? Saved. Okay. So you have this analogy. You have Jesus being the door.

We'll get to that and what that means in a moment. But he's the door. And then he's saying that anyone who enters by me, in other words, if you get through me and you find your way into the sheepfold, then you are what? You are saved. You're part of the true flock of God.

Every single sheep in that flock is saved. Every single sheep in that flock has come through the door of Jesus Christ. Every single sheep in that pen is a child of God. The commonality is, the common denominator is, they've all walked through that door. Every last one of them.

Now before we get to looking at what Jesus meant when he said, I am the door, I want us to see what Jesus is saying in these verses. He says, everyone who comes before me, verse eight, are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. Everyone who comes before me are illegitimate, they're imposters. But we have to be careful that we don't take this too far.

What do I mean? Well, who came before Christ? All the prophets! Moses! Joshua, as we heard today, the judges, the kings, the righteous kings.

Is Jesus speaking about them? No, no, no, no, no, not at all. Jesus quoted the prophets. He quoted the words they'd written. And he said, this is the word of God.

And he showed how he's the fulfillment. Jesus endorsed and praised the ministry of that last great Old Testament prophet whose name was John the Baptist. No, no, Jesus is not condemning the prophets as thieves and as robbers. The context here is Jesus saying, I'm the door. I'm the way unto salvation.

The Father, the only way you can come to the Father is through me. The only way you can be redeemed is through me. I am the door. Others have come and claimed to be the doors. The prophets never claimed to say, come to me.

Every one of the prophets, the righteous prophets, were pointing to someone greater than themselves. Jesus is turning the attention of the crowd and everyone here, and he's saying, come to me. This is the great I am statements of our Lord, the seven of them. Actually eight, if you look at the one in chapter 8 verse 58. Where Jesus in every one of those is proving that he is the Son of God, that he is indeed divine.

That those who come to him will receive the salvation of God. The prophets were proclaimers of that salvation. The prophets were the ones who were the mouthpiece of God. They declared to the people and they point them back to God. They were the ones who said salvation is of the Lord, not of me.

Jesus says He is the eternal life, that He is the substance of life, that He is the well of life and the waters of life. The prophets declared to the people that they are sent by God with a word. And the word of God is to be believed and apprehended by faith. And God is the one who brings salvation to the soul. The prophets were the ones who were proclaiming that thread that ran through the whole Bible.

That thread that began in Genesis 3, verse 15, that the seed of the woman will come one day. The offspring of woman will come one day and she will stamp on the head of the ancient serpent. His heel will be bruised, but he'll crush the head of the serpent. This is the Messiah. This is the Son of Man.

And the prophets had spoken and written about Him and kept pointing, saying, the Messiah, the appointed one of God, will come. Keep your eyes open, but in the meantime, have faith in Yahweh. Have faith in God. Apprehend His promises. Trust in Him.

They weren't saved in the old by doing good works or by obeying the law. No one's been saved in that way. It has always been by faith. And all the true prophets, that came before the Lord were always pointing to Yahweh and saying, believe upon him like Abraham or her this evening. Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as what?

Righteousness. Now it's not the prophets that Jesus is speaking of, but it is others. Others who proclaimed to be the doorway, the way to salvation, but in fact they were imposters. Now there is a possibility that Jesus is speaking about the false messiahs. Now we know that false messiahs exist, even Jesus speaking to probably the same crowd some two years ago in Jerusalem as well to the Jewish religious leaders.

He actually may have referenced this, I think in verse 26 or thereabouts, saying that if someone comes in his own name, you believe upon him, but he comes in the name of the one who sent him and they don't believe in him. I think Jesus is referring to false messiahs who come beforehand and claim to be the one that God had sent. But there's not enough evidence here to suggest that that's the case. However, I do think simply the words of our Lord should be taken by how they read. Let me read it back to you.

All who came before me, not were thieves and robbers, it's present tense there, are thieves and robbers. I think simply said, Jesus is looking at the religious leaders of the day and he's saying, you're imposters, you're thieves, you're robbers. You've promised this people. You've promised the people of Israel. You promised salvation through obedience to your system of religion.

You promised redemption, forgiveness of sins. You promised holiness. You promised the Messiah would come if they grew in their holiness, which was very much the ideology of the Pharisees. He says, but you're thieves and robbers. You were never appointed by God.

You're self-appointed charlatans, and your ministry is abominable in God's eyes. Despite all their efforts, all their deception, Jesus says, the sheep of Cod won't listen to them. I love that, because to be honest, the thought always comes to my mind, what if I'm believing in error? What if I'm believing in something damnable? You see, the thing is, I don't have the strength to know deception is real.

You don't know you're being deceived. This is a very scary thing. that those who are deceived, beloved, many are sincere in their deception. They really believe. I don't have the strength, I don't have the ability to discern these things, but he does.

And I love that about the promise of our Lord. I love the fact that he says that those who came before me, they're not the real deal. They're in it for selfish gain, but my sheep will not follow because my sheep will hear my voice. I've implanted my love, my heart. I've implanted my voice.

I've implanted in them a discernment to know if it is me who speaks or if it's a thief or a robber. It's a supernatural work of the Lord. And he says, they'll know. They'll know. It's a fairly big point that he's making.

It makes you think, doesn't it? Sometimes we may give a little too much grace for those who are in deep error in their understanding of the scripture. Sometimes we may, you know, it's one thing to exhort a brother or a sister in the Lord and to come alongside them in love, in patience, in respect. Not only that we are hoping that they will be enlightened to the truth, but we will too. And that's what happens is a humility when we come together as brothers and sisters who are truly united in Jesus Christ.

This is how we grow. We exhort each other in the word of God. But there are core tenets of the Christian faith that must be apprehended. They must be upheld. But some of the immature Christians, some who are quite young in their faith, they don't have a complete theology.

Let me ask you, a few from the cross, how much did he have down pat? Believe upon Jesus Christ. Remember, it's a supernatural work. The eyes are opened by the Spirit of God to embrace Christ by faith. But as we grow, we do grow in our understanding.

As we grow, we grow from being on the milk and into the solids. So I can understand when there are young Christians among us that they may have a theology with some errors, but what is the excuse for those who are mature to still have that theology? And I really want to refer you to false shepherds now. I want to refer you to those who are taking the platforms and pulpits who are espousing, after being trained and being well-versed in the scripture, who espouse errors that ought never be spoken. The health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine.

Damnable doctrines. I can name more, but I'm not going to this evening. I'm just saying we ought to be gracious and we ought to be loving, but we need to stand upon truth. And the truth is here that the Lord is saying, my sheep hear my voice and they will follow after me. That's a bit scary sometimes because I know some of us.

have gone out from places and have come to different places, come here even, because they've perceived what they've been fed and taught wasn't the voice of the Lord. I know how it is because I was in the same situation at one point. I know how that is, that he calls you out and says, you can't remain here. May it be faithful to begin with. But slowly the voice has been nullified and the spirit is no longer among that people.

You need to depart because the word of God is truth and the spirit of God. If he's among us, he will reveal to the hearts of the saints that this is truly the word of Jesus Christ and that will be nourished as a result. All I'm saying, beloved, is this. Someone's a charismatic, skilled communicator that doesn't make him or, well, doesn't make him true. And this is a very, very important matter that we must, we must be very, very careful to discern what we hear and what we read.

I know on one end he's got it way off, way off, but he's pretty good in this area. Warning signs, walk away. walk away. And again, I'm speaking about the core tenets of the Christian faith. I'm not going to say it's all important, but some of the tertiary matters.

But I'm talking about the core tenets of the Christian faith. If they're messing with Christ, the deity of Christ, the salvation that is found in Him alone as we'll come to see, or the Trinity, who God is, triune, three persons, one in being, They're messing about how Christ demands holiness from his people. It's not simply just a prayer like you hear some people say, just pray this prayer, just repeat these words and you're okay. No, you're not okay. No, you're not okay.

Entering into the door is a beginning of a true, intimate, loving relationship with Christ. It's a love relationship. And we ought to examine our hearts. Do we love the Lord? If his teaching error, he's a false shepherd, and he seeks to kill or steal, kill and destroy.

And if one is happy to remain under such an environment, then the question must be asked, do you hear the voice of the true shepherd? Have you truly entered into the door that is Christ? Because there's only one way in, isn't there? Through Christ. I am the door of the sheep.

And again, he says in verse nine, I am the door. Only one way in. As I said earlier, the common denominator of everyone who's in the sheepfold that Jesus speaks of from verse seven through 10 is this, they have all entered through Christ. One people, not two, not three, not four, one people, one door, one flock, verse 16, one flock from the people of Israel, Jew and Gentile, collected together. And there is only one door, and that door is entrance through Jesus Christ, by when one places their trust in him.

It is by the grace of God, unmerited nothing I have done, through faith in Christ. But when the sheepfolds were built, they were built high enough, they had stones that they'd put on top of each other and sometimes they'd have mortar in between, and they were built high enough for the predators not to come in and also for the sheep not to jump out. They were built completely enclosed. completely enclosed except for a small section. They may be circular, they may be triangular, they may be, what's the other one?

Square or is it oblong or rectangle? Oblong, that's a great three word, isn't it? Rectangle. It didn't matter what shape it was. The fact is it was completely enclosed except for a small opening.

And that's what Jesus is referring to being the door. Definite article he's got here. I am the door. He uses it twice. I am the door.

Really emphatic to say that I am the only door. You know, it's been in some of the writings in the ancient Near East when they were looking at these sheep folds or the sheep pens, there are some documents that suggest that some of them actually had a door, planks of wood where the door would open and close. It's a possibility. But what was most commonly seen in that time, in the pens, was not that there was a door or a gate, but rather, there was just simply an opening. It was a very small, narrow opening.

And when the sheep had made their way in, and when the night fell, it was the shepherd who stood in the opening. and he would remain there all night. So not necessarily a physical plank of wood, but rather the shepherd's body sat there nestled between the outside world and the safety of his flock. I think that's the image that Jesus is giving us. I think that's what he's saying.

That no one can come in, that no one can come out, Unless they go through me. And Jesus being the son of God, God himself, then if a predator or an enemy wants to get in to fully and finally destroy these sheep, then they would have to be stronger than he is. Who can stay the hand of God? No one. And only those who he chooses, who he calls, who he's rescued, will be brought to him and put into this sheepfold to be part of his flock.

Only one door. There's no other way in and there's no other way out. All roads may lead to Rome in the ancient days, but not all doors lead to the people of God. The entrance into the kingdom of God, into the bride of Christ, into the flock of God, is through the person of Jesus Christ. Beloved, we as Christians have liberty in many areas.

We are free to act and live our lives in freedom before the Lord, in good conscience that is informed by the Word of God and forms us and grows us in our understanding of how we ought to live our lives. We have been given freedom by God to choose many, many things. This is a matter that we have no freedom in. This is a matter that, this is a hill that we must be prepared to die upon. The exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ.

The exclusivity of the door of Christ, that there is no other way. There is no other way into the kingdom of God. Except through Jesus Christ. No other way. Beloved, I said earlier, we can have discussions with believers who are growing in maturity and others who may not have the same theology to some degree as us.

But when it comes down to this matter, we stand our ground and we say, through Christ alone, there's salvation in no one else. I am the way, the truth and the life. There is only one way to the Father. Again, definite article, the. And there is only one way to the Father.

There is only truth of God, one truth found in Jesus Christ. And there is only one life, the eternal life, who is Christ himself. There is no other way. And if someone whispers in your ear or mine that there is, no matter how sincere they sound, we say, no, there is only one way. The Bible tells us it's Christ and Christ alone.

He is the only door. The apostles said in the Acts of the Apostles, if you remember, in chapter 4 verse 12, For there is salvation in whom? No one else. No one? No one.

For there is no other name given under heaven by which man must be saved. Which name are they speaking about? The name of Jesus Christ, beloved. The exclusivity of the gospel is something we must hang our flag on and believe and die upon if necessary. It is a non-negotiable.

This is the most important matter in life. If we give up on this, if we negotiate on this, if we compromise on this one detail, we lose everything. There is no salvation apart from through Jesus Christ. None. Man cannot be reconciled with God.

He cannot be forgiven by God. There cannot be any justification. Adoption. There's no adoption apart from Christ. No sanctification apart from Christ.

There is no glorification apart from Christ. There is no heaven for you, believer, apart from believing in Jesus Christ. Not just believing in Christ, but believing that He's the only way to the Father. That He's the only door, that the only way into the kingdom is through Christ. Not just simply to acknowledge with mental assent, like some of these Pharisees were acknowledging Yahweh with mental assent, but to know Him relationally, to know Him in the heart, to love Him in the heart, to believe upon His claims, to believe upon His promises, to absorb and accept His teachings in the heart.

To say that I know Him and I love Him and I believe upon Him and every day of my life I rest in Him. No other way. I stand upon the authority of Scripture and with the utmost confidence I can say that anyone who claims otherwise any other system, any other religion, any other person or people group who espouse anything different than faith in Christ and Christ alone, brings forth salvation from the only true God, then that is a theology or a system or an ideology from hell itself. Run away. Run, no matter how sincere they are.

They are robbers, they are thieves, and the judgment of God will come upon them unless they too repent and believe that Jesus is the door to salvation. No other way is the only way. By grace alone, through faith alone. In whom? In Christ.

It is the work of God. We said that earlier. Because to believe that the God of the universe, the God who has no beginning and has no end, the Almighty One, the All-Knowing One, the One who is everywhere, the One who has eyes to see all things, to believe that He has condescended and become man, That the fullness of deity is found in this person, Jesus Christ, who is a true man, a real body and a reasonable soul? No, you can't believe that unless there's been a divine work in your heart. You cannot.

It's too wonderful. And that this Jesus would lay down his life for me? The epitome of perfection and righteousness. The one who cannot look upon sin. The one of who Isaiah chapter 6 said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The one who's pure and righteous and good in all his ways, that he would become flesh and die upon the cross. A death that is a cursed death. Condescend to that manner? For what? To redeem a filthy, wicked person like me?

No, you cannot believe unless God moves first. But when He does move, your eyes are opened and you see Him as all-glorious. You embrace Him as the wonderful Saviour of the soul and you fall before Him and say, Christ is my Redeemer. Christ is my Lord. The false shepherds, the thieves and the robbers will try to tell you and teach you something else.

Even the Pharisees in this day were not so much emphasizing faith in God, although they did. But it was more so what you did. Here's the law. How obedient are you to the law? You would ask him, how am I made right with God?

And they would say, let's have a look. Let's have a look at what you're doing. Are you fasting? Are you giving to our arms? Are you reading or receiving from the scripture?

Are you doing all these things? Are you producing works that God would approve of? Jesus says, that's not the way to salvation. That's not the way into the kingdom of God. That's not the way into the flock of God.

It is through the Son. It's not by jumping through hoops. It is through faith in Jesus Christ. And that's it. You can feed the poor.

You can fight the fight of justice. You can play your part in stopping human trafficking or devote yourself to end the senseless and wicked murders of so many millions babies in the wombs of their mothers. You can play that part in ending all those wickednesses. And the fact of the matter is these are acts of benevolence and they're good, but they will not send you to heaven. They will not bring forth salvation.

Only through the door that is Christ. On the religious front, you can read your Bible every single day. You can pray for hours. Give your money to the church. You can evangelize in the streets with a fervency that is unheard of.

You can go toe-to-toe with the best theologians of the day and win the argument. You can take them to task and then win the argument because you've so well studied this. But if you haven't placed your trust in Jesus Christ, if you haven't embraced Him by faith to say, Lord, there's salvation in no one else. I'm a wicked sinner. I'm filthy.

And apart from you, I'm under the condemnation of God, which is worthy of unrighteous men like myself. Unless you have come to that point in your life, unless you've recognized your absolute need for this Savior, There is no salvation. God is the one who appoints how man is to be saved. Salvation is of the Lord and he's appointed Savior as Christ himself. And Jesus, God in flesh says, I am the door.

Almost done. In our post-modern pluralistic world, they'll have no bar of this. The exclusivity of salvation through Christ alone, they're not interested. They're not interested in the absolute, objective truths. Everything is relative.

To say that salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone? To say that He is the only way to the Father? To say that He is the only door into the kingdom of God, the way to heaven, cannot be achieved unless you have faith in this Jesus Christ, a real person who came and roamed the earth some 2,000 years ago. To say this, you'll be looked down upon as arrogant. Do you pity me of arrogance?

How dare you say that it's either your way or the highway? How dare you say that? I have friends who are so sincere and they are part of other religious groups. They have other ideologies. Why I have friends who are atheists who are more sincere than you.

How dare you? How dare you say that salvation is in Christ and in Christ alone. That is the epitome of arrogance to say your view is the right view. You know what? And it is.

If it was my view. It's not my view. And brothers and sisters, it's not simply your view. It is the truth. Because the only true God who is unknown to human beings, apart in a general way, where we could see his creation that points to his glory, but we can know nothing specific about him in his creation, other than his divine power and his eternal...

His eternal power and His divine nature. Apart from that, we cannot know anything about God, but He has been pleased to reveal Himself through His Word and fully and finally in His Son, who is the fullness of deity bodily. And in His Word, He says, I am the door. So yes, it would be the epitome of arrogance if it was my opinion against yours, but God has spoken. He's a God who speaks and He's preserved for us the truth.

And beloved brothers and sisters, let's stand upon that truth. We don't go toe-to-toe to win arguments, because my opinion is no better than the next person's. But when God has spoken, he has supreme authority over all his creatures, bar none. He is the God of the universe. Because every other way is part of that wide gate.

You remember what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7 about that wide gate? Enter by the narrow gate, he says, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to what? Destruction. And those who enter it or enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Oh, how many ideologies in this world. How many religions in this world. How many systems of thought and ways of achieving this higher purpose will you find in the writings of this world? Wide gates. You go there, you choose, you can choose as many as you want, you'll find thousands of them.

every one of them will lead to destruction. Because Jesus himself is saying that I am the door. Apart from me there is destruction. Life is found only through Jesus Christ and through Christ alone. So let me ask you, the gate that is wide that leads to destruction, how wide?

I would say as wide as you can imagine. Let's go to the narrow gate. Let's end there. How wide is the gate that leads to life? Let me tell you, it's only as wide as the shoulders of Jesus Christ.

That's it. Let's pray.