Alright brethren, let's go to
John chapter 9. In verse 39, Jesus said, For judgment I am
come into this world, that they which see not might see, and
they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are
we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If you
were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, We see,
therefore your sin remaineth. He's still speaking to the Pharisees. He says, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth 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 openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth 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." Now a parable uses something earthly, something
familiar to the audience, to convey a spiritual truth, some
spiritual truth. And, you know, when the Lord
used these parables, it's good to remember He created all things. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He created them for His glory.
So, this is not Him just picking some random illustration, He
created the shepherd and the sheep and a sheepfold to illustrate
Him. That's how sovereign our God
is. He made everything glorify Him. Now, many in Israel were
familiar with shepherds and sheep. They were shepherds of sheep.
And so this was familiar to them. Now, a sheepfold was a holding
pen with a high wall around it, 10 or 12 feet high, to protect the sheep and the
shepherds would lead the sheep, their sheep, their flock, they
would come to the sheepfold. All the different shepherds,
they'd come to the sheepfold and they'd lead the sheep into
that sheepfold and by the door. And then the porter would watch
the door, he was the doorkeeper. And when the shepherd would go,
he'd go home at night, the sheep would be safe there. And then
when he came back to get his sheep, he came back and entered
by the door, came to the door and the porter opened to him
because he's the shepherd. And he called his sheep and the
sheep knew his voice and they heard him and he let them out
and they followed him out, out through the door. They went in
the door, they came out by the door. But he says, with those,
any who were caught trying to climb over the wall, he said,
they're thieves and robbers. They didn't come by the door.
They didn't come in the door. Now notice where our Lord begins
when he It says, verse 6, this parable spake Jesus unto them,
but they understood not what things they were which he spake
unto them. The Pharisees could understand the illustration.
They knew sheep and a shepherd well enough, but they didn't
understand he was speaking to them and calling them false shepherds. They didn't understand the spiritual
meaning of this. When I look at verse 7, then
said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am
the door of the sheep. He begins by saying, I am the
door. I'm just going to focus today
on this one thing, the door, Christ the door. He said, I am
the door of the sheep. Verse 9, he said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Our
Lord Jesus declares here that He is the door. He says, I am.
He is the great I am. He is God in human flesh. And
this is one of those I am titles that He declared Himself to be.
I am the door. Now, the Lord Jesus is perfect
wisdom. He is the wisdom of God. I mean
perfect wisdom. If you took all our wisdom, all
the wisdom of men, in comparison to Christ, it would be like one
grain of sand in comparison to all the sands of the sea. He
is perfect wisdom. And perfect wisdom used simplicity. Simplicity. He said, I am the
door. Everybody knows what a door is.
We came in this morning through a door. You're going to leave
through a door. You're going to get in your vehicle
through a door. You're going to get out of your
vehicle through a door. You're going to get home and
you're going to enter your house through a door. When you get
up to leave, you're going to leave out through a door. Every
time we pass through a door, let us remember this simple declaration
Christ made. Christ is the door. He's the
door. Wouldn't it be good if every
time we passed through a door we could think about Christ is
the door. He is the door. Now, first of
all, notice Christ is the only door. He said in verse 7, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door. Christ is not one of
many, but one door, the only door. The only door is Christ. The reason that we preach salvation
only by Christ and Him crucified, the reason we're just continually
preaching Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ and Him crucified is because
Christ is the only door. He is the only door. The only way sinners enter and
are saved is by Christ. When I was down in Cottagefield
I had asked Brother Greg about the new church building in Florida
and he was telling me about it and in the process of telling
me about it he told me how that years ago they had purchased
a door and he said and basically what he said was we built the
whole building and designed everything around that door. And I said,
if you don't use that as an illustration, I'm going to use it. Because
that is a wonderful illustration. The church is built upon and
around Christ the door. We enter in by Christ the door. Thomas said to him, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest. How can we know thee way? Jesus
said to him, I am thee way. The truth, the life, no man cometh
to the Father but by me. There are not many doors. There
are not a multitude of doors. There are not many ways to the
Father. There is just one door. There
is just one way. That is Christ the door. Christ
the door. And then secondly notice this.
Christ is the door of the sheep. He said in verse 7, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Now not all are
sheep. Not all men and women are sheep.
But the characteristic of all who are the sheep is the sheep
enter through the door. The sheep enter through Christ
the door by faith in Him alone. He said, I am the door of the
sheep. Verse 9, I am the door by me
if any man enter in, by me. The sheep enter salvation, eternal
life, presence of the Father by Christ the door, by Him alone,
by faith alone. Now Christ says the man that
tries to climb up some other way is a thief and a robber. Now you think about this, if
you came to the sheepfold and there is the door and you decide
I am going to climb up over the wall, you think how much work
is involved in trying to climb over the wall to enter the sheepfold? There is no work involved in
just walking right in through the door. That's what Christ
is declaring. We can't enter in if we're trying
to come with our works. We can't enter in if we're trying
to come with some righteousness of our own, some goodness of
our own, having put away our sin ourselves or anything of
that nature. We can only come by Christ through
faith in Him. We have to come by Christ alone,
by faith alone. And this faith is given by Christ. It's given by Him. He says here
that He makes us hear. He makes us hear. He makes us
know Him. Because we are His sheep. Those
that are His sheep. One good illustration I heard
on this, I am the door, by me if any man enter in. We entered
in before he ever brings us to experimentally enter in by faith. We already entered in, the sheep
did, in Christ. And this was an illustration
I heard that I thought illustrated this very well. You take a woman
who has a child in her womb, and she enters in through that
door. By her, that child entered in. Well, all his people were
in Christ. We were in Christ. And when He
entered in by His own blood, all His children entered in.
He says here, I'm the door and I'm the shepherd that enters
by the door. How can He be the door and the
shepherd that entered by the door? Christ came down made of
a woman, made under the law, to fulfill the law, and He did
it all perfectly in perfect righteousness, fulfill the law for His people,
so that He is that one door, and that one shepherd that brings
us in to that door. He is the door. And it's because
we're His sheep that He gives us faith. He's already redeemed
His people. He's already purchased His people
with His blood, and He's going to come and give His sheep and
understanding and life and faith to believe Him. Look down, well,
let me give you Galatians 4.6. Remember what it says? It says,
Because ye are sons, because you are, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And then by Christ, all who are
the sheep, they're going to enter Christ the door. And they're
entering by Christ, giving us life and faith. Now the Pharisees
didn't enter by Christ the door. They were trying to come by their
works and their ceremonies and their tradition and thought they
were good enough to enter without Christ. Christ declares they
did not believe Him because they were not the sheep. Look down
at verse 26. He says, but you believe not,
because you are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. Christ, He didn't say there,
you're not My sheep because you don't believe on Me. He said,
you don't believe on me because you are not my sheep. And he
says to you and me, you don't become sheep by believing on
me. He says, because you are sons, because you are sheep,
I sent forth the spirit of my son into your heart, giving you
life and faith to call upon me, to enter by the door. People
are not sheep and then become goats because they don't believe,
and people are not goats and become sheep because they do
believe. The sheep are always the sheep. and he gives faith
to the sheep, and we enter one way by the door. How is that? He said he makes his sheep hear
his voice. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
Right now, through the preaching of the gospel, Christ makes his
sheep hear his voice. And he says, and Christ knows
his sheep. He regenerates us. He gives us
life. He gives us a new spirit to know
him by him knowing us. And then it says, and they follow
me. When He makes you have a new
spirit by His Spirit, He makes you know Him. He makes you hear
Him. He gives you a new will to follow
Him. He said, they hear My voice.
He gets the glory. I know them. He gets the glory.
And the result is they follow Me. And He said, and I give unto
them eternal life. And no, they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. Then thirdly,
I want you to see this. Entering by Christ the door,
the believer is saved by Christ alone. When we enter by the door,
we are saved by Christ alone. He says, verse 9, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. If you believe on Christ, entering
by Christ alone, you shall be saved. If Christ
is all your hope, if He is all your righteousness, if He is
all your acceptance with God, you shall be saved. You shall
be saved. You shall go out and you shall
go in. Christ laid down His life for the sheep. He said, I'm the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. When he laid
down his life for the sheep, he put away the sin of the sheep,
all his people. He made his people righteous
in him, the righteousness of God in him. And He arose as the
head of His church, the head of this fold, so that He has
all power in heaven and earth to send the gospel and call His
sheep to Himself, and keep calling, and keep us, and bring us to
Him in the end. And He that He's brought to cast
all your care on Christ, to believe only on Christ, to trust Christ
alone, No goodness in us except Christ. No righteousness except
Christ. Nothing but Christ alone. Trusting
Him. That's what faith's trusting.
We're trusting Christ alone. He says, He shall be saved. Now when we pass through a door,
we go out of one place and into another place. He says, He shall
go in. When He calls us to go in, we
enter into Christ our salvation by His regenerating grace through
faith. We enter in. We enter into Christ. He calls His sheep to enter into
life, into righteousness. That is Christ our life, Christ
our righteousness. Now we were already in Him from
the foundation of the world, but now He calls you into Him. And we enter Christ the door
by faith alone without anything. We don't bring anything. We enter
by Christ alone. And we never stop coming in Christ
alone and we never add anything to Christ. We keep coming in
Christ alone. So by the Spirit, when He gives
you this understanding, He makes you behold the glory of God really
is in the face of Christ. Christ is the glory of God, the
glory of saving His people, fulfilling the law and righteousness for
us, the glory of gathering together His sheep, the glory of keeping
us together in the fold, the glory of bringing all to the
Father and not have one missing. This glory of salvation, beginning
to the end, is all of Christ, every bit of Christ. And at the
same time, as He calls you into Him, we go out of the darkness
of unbelief, we go out of a false hope, out of a self-righteous
work, and out of the way of trying to come by our works. We, through faith in Christ,
we enter into Christ and we go out of the world. We go out of
the world into Christ's spiritual, everlasting church and kingdom. That's how we enter in. Look
at verse 16. He says, Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
When he says this fold, he's standing there in Israel speaking
to the Jews. And just like there was a temporary
fold that the shepherd would bring the sheep to and leave
them there, well, Israel was a temporary fold where he had
some of his elect there. They were his elect. But Christ
came to them, He said, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel, of the fold of Israel. He came there to call out His
elect out of Israel. But He said, other sheep I have
which are not of this fold. Where's that fold? That's the
Gentile nations. His elect among the Gentiles.
And He said, He will call out from among the Jew and from the
Gentile, out of the world, and where does He call us? Into Christ,
into His one fold under one shepherd. He said, and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd. He said, I must call them. I
must call them. He promised the Father He would
call them and He would bring us all to the Father. He shed
His blood for each of His sheep, for His elect Jew and Gentile,
so He must bring us to the Father. Justice demands it. And He shall,
for His own glory's sake, for His own honor's sake, for His
promise to the Father, He shall call each of His people out of
the world into Him, into His church, into His kingdom and
bring us to Him. And entering by Christ's door
alone, by faith alone, the sheep find pasture. We find pasture. He said there, verse 9, I am
the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall
go in and out and find pasture. Go out of the world into Christ,
out of death into life, out of self-righteousness into His righteousness,
out of this notion of self-sanctifying into Christ who sanctifies us,
into Christ who redeemed us, into His church, into His kingdom,
and you find pasture. You find pasture. Pasture is life to a sheep. Pasture is life to a sheep. Shepherd
leads his sheep to the pasture so they can feed, so they can
graze, so they can eat, so they can have life. Pasture is life
to the sheep. Well, we as sheep feed upon Christ
our life. He is our life. He is our pasture. He is the one who feeds us, who
sustains us, who grows us, who keeps us alive. He's our life. It's in Him by Christ we have
eternal life. And His sheep eat of the richest
pasture of Christ providing, feasting upon Christ, living
by Christ. Green pasture. And His sheep
truly want for nothing. He said, all that come to me,
they'll never hunger, they'll never thirst again. Oh, we hunger
and thirst every day. We have to feed upon Him every
day. The shepherd has to take his sheep to the pasture every
day. But He never fails to bring us to that pasture. So we continually
feed upon Christ and live upon Christ alone. And a pasture is
not only life to the sheep, a pasture is rest to the sheep. Sheep rest
in a pasture. And we lay down in green pasture,
in Christ, safe, content, rest from all our attempts at trying
to be accepted of God, from trying to make ourselves righteous by
God, because we've been made to know through faith we're accepted
in the Beloved. Accepted in the Beloved. Righteous and holy in and by
Christ alone. This is what it is to come by
the door, by Him alone. Righteous and holy in and by
Christ alone. We are complete in and by Christ
alone. We are perfect in and by Christ
alone. Protected in and by Christ. Kept in and by Christ. And at
last we shall be delivered into glory in and by Christ. There is no coming any other
way but Christ the door. Christ the door. Now, lastly,
hear this good news. Here's good news right here,
listen. Any man who enters by Christ
the door shall be saved. Look at verse 9. He said, I am
the door by me if any man enter in. He shall be saved and shall
go in and out and find pasture. Any man is the same as saying
whosoever. Any man is the same as saying
whosoever. Christ didn't lay down His life
for every man. He laid down His life only for
the sheep. But the one way any man, Jew or Gentile, and that
sums up the whole world, the way any man anywhere in this
world, male, female, Jew, Gentile, bond-free, rich, poor, educated,
uneducated, the only way any man knows he's Christ's sheep. is by believing on Him, entering
in the door, by the door. That's the only way. And he says
here, anybody who comes to Him, a sinner needing mercy, a sinner
needing to be saved by Christ alone, any that comes to Him,
trusting Him to do all the saving, any man, he said, Any man, woman,
or child that trusts Him alone, he shall be saved. He shall come
out of the world. He shall come out of bondage
into Christ. into our salvation, into our
righteousness, into our liberty, and He'll be kept. He'll be kept. He shall be saved. Verse 7, Then
said Jesus to them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am
the door of the sheep. Verse 9, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved and shall go in. into Christ, out of the world,
and he'll find pasture, he'll find life, he'll find righteousness
in Christ alone. Let's go to the Lord. Our gracious Father, our great
God, holy, what a privilege, Lord, that
we have access to enter in by Christ
the door right here, doing what we're doing, praying to you on
a way you could receive a sinful people. Because if we were perfect
in a great high priest, if we have a great advocate there with
you representing us, interceding for us, and Lord, how thankful
we are that that's what you've provided. We thank You, Father,
that You've given us faith to enter in by the door. Lord, keep
us coming by the door. Keep us looking to Christ. Lord, we thank You that You're
the Sovereign Savior, the Sovereign Shepherd. Keeps all Your sheep,
calls them and keeps them. Lord, we ask You to keep us. Keep us lying down in the green
pasture. Lord, when we stray, we ask you
to use your staff to gently bring us back, lay us on your shoulder,
bring us home. Keep us looking to you, feeding
upon you, resting in you, safe in your fold. Lord, we ask today
you'd be pleased to call one of your lost sheep, that you
would be pleased to give them faith to rest in you. To rest
in you. If we've never believed you,
Lord, make us believe you today. Thank you for this time. Thank
you for your Word. Thank you for giving us a quiet
place to hear it. We pray, Father, be honored by
these messages and by these songs and scriptures we read, and Lord,
that our hearts would honor You. And as we pass from this place
today, Lord, and pass through door, door after door in this
earth, make us remember Christ the door. Make us enter in by
faith Be thankful each time we pass through a door. Let it keep
us remembering Him. We ask it all, Lord, in Christ's
name, come to you only in Him. Amen.