During the break, what a blessing that message was to me. And it was very profitable. Every time I've heard that verse or read that verse in the past, my mind is always gone from the Lord leaving the glories of heaven and coming to this world. He left, you know, the angels and the seraphim and all that were hovering over the throne of God. But just to be taught this morning that the Lord's richness was not dependent upon the things that he had in heaven. His richness is in himself. He can't be added to, we know that. He can't add anything to God. He's complete in himself. That's a glorious thing to think about.

And it goes very well with what I want to try to preach this morning from John chapter 10, if you'd like to open your Bibles there with me. John chapter 10, when the Lord Jesus said in verse nine, I am the door. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John makes the presentation of Christ in his writing around seven IMs. And we know that IM is the name that God gave to Moses God gave him himself to Moses in Exodus chapter 3.

Is there somebody? It's OK now. OK. Somebody fixing it? Yeah. All right. I don't hear it, but I hear I'm seeing people go doing like this, like, OK, whatever. It's good that I don't hear it, right? OK. Let's read this verse together. John chapter 9, verse 10. I am the door. By me, by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go out and in and find pasture.

In this one verse, the Lord speaks to man's greatest need. Man's greatest need. We've come here this morning, and each of us have different needs in this world. Some may be relational. Some may be emotional. Some may be physical. Sickness is a need. Some may be financial. But there's one great need that we all have. And that need is to be saved. It's to be saved. You say saved from what? Well, saved from sin, yes. Saved from ourselves, yes. Saved from Satan, yes. All those things we must be delivered from. But most importantly, we must be saved from the wrath that is to come. To be saved from God. And God is the only one that can save us from himself. And that's exactly what he's done in the person of his son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has saved us from himself. For himself and from himself.

And so in this one verse, we see the Lord telling us what our greatest need is, and we see the Lord telling us what God's greatest glory is. the Lord Jesus Christ, the door, the door to salvation, the door to heaven, if you will. What a simple example, a simple parable, a door. Doors are not to be admired or to be studied. Tricia and I were in St. Augustine Friday, and there's some churches up there. I use that word very broadly, of course, that are very old. And one of them, I went to the door to see if I could look inside. And the door was massive, and it was all hand carved, and it was impressive. And I stood there for just a few minutes admiring the door. Door was locked. Couldn't get in.

When the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the door, you're not talking about just a door to be admired. or door to be looked at, or door to be studied. He's talking about a door that's open, a door through which we have access to God. And without that door, we will not be saved. We will not be saved.

Revelation chapter 6. The Lord speaks of the day of judgment, and he says, who shall stand? Who shall stand? There will be two extreme examples of people, types of people, reactions of people on the day of judgment. One will be inexpressible joy. inexpressible joy, seeing the Lord that they've loved and they've watched for and waited for and trusted and seeing the manifestation of His glory and of His grace and crying with the angels of heaven, hallelujah, to the Lamb.

And then Revelation chapter 6 says that there will be another group who will flee to the mountains and cry for the rocks to fall upon them that they might be hid from the wrath of the Lamb.

And when the Lord Jesus came the first time, he came as a suffering servant. When he comes the second time, he'll come as a reigning king.

And we need to be saved. We need to be saved. These Pharisees didn't need to be saved. They thought, there's plenty of evidence of my salvation. Just look at me. Look at my phylacteries. Listen to my long, flowery prayers. Look at how much I've come to to study the Bible, look at my law keeping. They didn't need to be saved. They thought they were already saved. They thought that they themselves were the saviors for the poor sinners.

We read this, these words from our Lord, Lord, I need to be saved. I need to be saved from the power and the penalty and the very presence of sin. There's a spiritual power that's greater than me. It's devilish. It's demonic. It's evil. Lord, I can't fight him. I need to be saved from him. Lord, I need to be saved from myself. corrupt and corruptible, so prone to wander, so prone to look away from the God that I love, Lord, save me.

But in the end, when all is said and done, I need to be saved from the wrath of the Lamb. That's why the Lord tells us in Psalm 2, I have set my King in Zion upon my holy hill. And then he says, kiss the son, kiss the son, lest he be angry.

The Lord calls these Pharisees hirelings. And he says that when the wolf comes, the hirelings will flee and leave the sheep as prey to the wolf. What does the wolf represent? Death. Death. The wolf represents death.

And those who are not, those who would climb into the sheepfold some other way, those hirelings, those thieves and robbers as the Lord refers to them as, those that would seek to come before God presenting something else other than the Lord Jesus for the hope of their salvation. That's what he says, all that come before me are thieves and robbers. They will rob God of His glory. They will rob man of their salvation.

What do men put before Christ? Well, they put their will. They try to come into the presence of God based on a decision that they've made. Or they will put their works. Isaiah chapter 40 says that His work went before him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that can recommend himself and recommend his people before a holy God by works. And his works went before him to recommend him. We cannot send anything before Christ in hopes of being saved.

The only one that can save us from God is God himself. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The most basic, important truth concerning Jesus of Nazareth is that he is God. He is God. He is the word that was made flesh and dwelt among us, the one of whom we behold his glory as the only begotten of the Father, the one who is full of grace and full of truth, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God incarnate, the living word made flesh.

This is where Jeff's message spoke to my heart, thinking about the completeness of our God. He's not dependent on us for anything. He's not dependent upon the angels to worship Him. He's self-existent. He's self-sufficient. He's immutable. That's why the only name that can that can represent him is I am. Moses said, whom shall I say sent me? And what did the Lord, and that was the Lord Jesus at the burning bush, speaking to Moses. Tell them I am that I am.

Never have I learned anything Never have I changed, never have I asked a question, never have I improved, never have I been diminished, never has anything been added to me or taken away from me. I am that I am. The self-sufficient, independent, sovereign, omnipotent. God, I am.

And John, as I said, writes his gospel around seven of these I am's. This is the third of those seven. We've seen in John chapter six, after the Lord Jesus feeds the 5,000, miraculously multiplying the loaves and fishes, he reveals himself to the disciples as I am the bread of life. The sustenance for your soul is this bread, this manna that God sent down from heaven. I'm that bread.

In John chapter eight, prior to the healing of the blind man, the man that was born blind, in John chapter nine, the Lord reveals himself as the light of the world. I am the light of the world. Light has come, but the darkness could not comprehend it. The Lord Jesus sheds the truth, that's what the light is, the truth of who God is. He reveals the very nature of God in himself.

One of the I am's is found in John chapter 14, after Thomas says, Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. And what did the Lord Jesus say? Thomas, don't you know that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father? I and the Father are one. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father but by me.

John chapter 11, when Martha at the grave of her brother Lazarus says that I know that my brother will rise again in the resurrection, the Lord Jesus said, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth in me, Martha, shall never die. believest thou this? O yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ that should come into the world."

When the woman at the well in John chapter 4 said, we know that when Messiah comes, he will teach us all things. And the Lord Jesus looked at her and said, I am speaketh unto thee. And she went down into Sychar She said, come meet a man who told me everything I ever did. Is not this the Christ? Is not this the glorious I am?

The Lord Jesus says before Abraham was, I am, I am. He's declaring himself to be God. This is the most essential, basic truth revealed about Christ in the Bible, that he's God. Before Abraham was, I am. Tell us if thou art the Christ. Tell us plainly, and the Lord Jesus tells those Pharisees in this very chapter, John chapter 10, I've told you, but you could not hear me. And then he goes on to say, I and the father are one. And they took up stones to stone him. And he said to them, he said, for which work do you stone me? What have I done that would enrage you to want to kill me? And they said, we're not stoning you for anything that you've done. We're stoning you for what you just said. We're stoning you for blasphemy, for you, being a man, have made thyself out to be God.

The Lord Jesus didn't say, now wait a minute, you misunderstood me. No, the only charge they ever had against our Lord was that he claimed equality with God. That's who he is. And this is essential. This is fundamental because the only way that he could be the door, the only way that we could have access to God, the only way that we can be saved from God is by God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ could only do what he did because he is who he is. We could only be made the righteousness of God in him if he was made our sin. He had to be made sin. Who knew no sin? Who knew no sin? I am.

Now, notice in our text in John chapter 10, our Lord clearly revealing himself as God incarnate. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. all the glorious attributes of an immutable, sovereign, self-sufficient, self-existent, independent God. A God who needs nothing. A God in whom we need everything. He says, I am the door.

Last Sunday, we looked at the first eight verses of John chapter 10. And the Lord Jesus in this parable likens himself to a shepherd who goes through the door into the sheepfold to call out his sheep by name and lead them out. And that sheepfold was the Old Testament church made up of mostly unbelievers, The scripture says in John chapter one, he came unto his own, but his own received him not. And now the Lord Jesus is saying, I'm going through the door into the sheepfold to call out my sheep.

Now in that part of the parable, the door is the revelation that God has made of Christ in his word. The Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophecies in Scripture referring to Him. All the prophecies ultimately do refer to Him. Understood in the context of the whole of Scripture, they all refer to Him. These are they which testify of me." And so the first indication of our need to be saved is seen in the garden in the fall. And the Lord Jesus said the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did on Calvary's cross.

The word of God, the revelation that God has made of his salvation throughout all of scripture is the door that the Lord Jesus went through to enter in to the sheepfold to call out his sheep. And it's still the door that the Lord Jesus walks through.

We search the scriptures. for they are they which testify of him. And so we see in the scriptures, the Lord Jesus in every aspect, Noah's Ark is Christ. The door into Noah's Ark is Christ. The scapegoat, is Christ, upon which the priest Aaron, who is Christ, placed his hands and charged the sins of the people and the scapegoat was put out of the camp, was Christ going to the cross and burying our sins in his body upon that tree.

The Passover lamb is Christ, the shed blood that was put on the door And the Lord saying, when I see the blood, I'll pass by you. That rock that Moses smote in the wilderness from which flowed the water of life, that's Christ being smitten by the law and the justice of God on Calvary's cross that we might drink from the river that is clear as crystal, that flows from the throne of God and from the lamb. It's all Christ. It's all him, Joseph. who was sent ahead of his brothers in order to bring about a great deliverance, that was Christ.

Moses and a prophet that would be raised up by God that was like him was Christ, who came and led the children of Israel out of the bondage of the Egyptian taskmasters, slavery of sin was Christ. Joshua, who led the children of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, our Joshua. King David, he's Christ, the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the things that David accomplished, the slaying of the Goliath and the conquering of the enemies of Israel. What, all these things.

And so this is the door, the tabernacle, Boaz, our kinsman redeemer, everywhere we go throughout all of scripture, we see a type, a picture, a sign pointing us to Christ. and all that he would accomplish.

And so in this parable that the Lord Jesus gives in John chapter 10, he says, I am the good shepherd. When the porter, that's the Holy Spirit, we saw this last Sunday, when the porter verifies the identity of the shepherd, And how does the Holy Spirit verify the identity of the shepherd? The same way you and I verify the identity of the shepherd. Everything that the scriptures say about him are true of him. And so the porter opens the door.

The same thing happens now. We expound the scriptures as they reveal the Lord Jesus Christ and the porter. the Holy Spirit. He opens what no man can open and he opens what no man can shut. He opens the scriptures to our understanding. He opens our hearts. He opens the windows of heaven. He enables us to look through the eye of faith and to walk by the Spirit and to mind the things of the Spirit so that we're able to see our advocate, our sin bearer, Our substitute seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, having accomplished the work of our redemption. And we're able to cast our care upon him, knowing that he cares for us.

And now the imagery changes, and yet it doesn't. Because as we're so often reminded, the Lord Jesus, John begins this gospel with those words. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And so we don't separate what has been revealed about Christ in his written word. from the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So now he's gonna say, yes, I came through the door and I am the door. I am the door.

In the first door, the Lord Jesus was the way, or the first door was the way that Christ would enter into the world in the fulfillment of the scriptures. The second door is the way that sinners enter into the very presence of God into heaven itself. Brethren, what a blessing it is to read these words and to have the faith to believe them. I am. Jesus is God. On that day of judgment, when some run to the mountains and cry for the rocks to fall upon them, to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, and others cry, hallelujah, praise our God for the fulfillment of all that we've waited for and all that he's promised, there's one thing that both groups will have in common. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. to the glory of God the Father.

Who shall stand? Now, may the Lord find us in a posture of worship before him, in our hearts now by grace, and in our resurrected bodies in glory. Always, always ascribing to him the glory that is due him as the eternal, infinite, glorious, and gracious I am.

And notice he doesn't say, I am a door. I am the door. I am the door. Noah's ark only had one door. Only one door. There's only one way in and out of that ark. The tabernacle, every time that they would pick up the tabernacle and roll it up and move to a new place, when the pillar of smoke would move or the fire would move, God would move the children of Israel through the wilderness for those 40 years. They repitched the tabernacle. It was always pitched with that one door facing east. Facing east. Reminding us once again from where the Lord Jesus will come when that eastern sky splits and the trump of God sounds and the dead in Christ to be raised and those of us which are alive should be caught up together with them in the air and so shall we ever be. with the Lord, always faced east.

When Solomon built that permanent temple in Jerusalem, there was a gate called the Eastern Gate. And that Eastern Gate faced the Mount of Olives. And that is the gate that the Lord Jesus was brought through. It was also called the Golden Gate. And that gate today is bricked up because of the prophecies that are made about the Messiah coming into his holy temple. But he's already come.

The Muslims, I think around maybe the 17th century or something, they bricked up the Golden Gate because they heard about these prophecies of the Messiah coming and coming through that gate into his temple. And so they bricked up the Golden Gate, the Eastern Gate, the gate that faces the Mount of Olives. What they didn't know and what most people don't know today is that the Lord Jesus has already gone through that gate.

As our sin bearer, he went in. And then the, we don't know, the scripture doesn't tell us exactly which gate the Lord went out of after this trial to Mount Calvary, but the closest gate to Mount Calvary is the Sheep Gate. And so he came in the golden gate, went out the sheep gate.

These gates are important because they all picture what the Lord Jesus is telling us here. I am the door. I am the door. There's only one door. There's no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I am the door. So simple. One door, not many doors.

You say, well, doesn't the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation have 12 gates? Yes, it does. And the scripture says they're all made of one pearl. Why 12 gates? Well, the scripture says there's three on the East, three on the West, three on the North and three on the South. And that's representative of the 144,000, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles of the New Testament, all of the church of God, which is scattered amongst every nation, tribe, tongue and people. And they come into the city that heavenly Jerusalem from so many different walks of life and so many different directions, but always through one door.

One door. There's no other access. There was no other access into the ark. There's no other access into the tabernacle. There's no other access into the temple. There is no other access to God. I am. Only God can save us from himself. And the Lord Jesus is declaring himself now here as being the savior of sinners.

Notice in our text, go back with me if you will to John chapter 10, verse nine, I am the door. He didn't say, I'll show you the door. I'll lead you to the door. I'll walk you through the door. I'll point to the door. He said, I am the door. By me. By me. I looked up this word by. The ground or reason by which something is or is not done. The ground or the reason by which something is or something is not done.

I am the door. By me. Don't put anything before me. Don't put your good intentions or your will or your works or your understanding or your knowledge, no, by me. I am the ground, I am the reason. This same word is found in John chapter one, verse two. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. All things were made by Him. That's not only speaking of physical things that are made in creation, but that's the new creation of spiritual life that comes to the heart by Him, by me. We can't, we can't save ourselves.

I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. The simplicity and the singularity of one door. The natural man won't have it. How easy it is to go through a door, to walk through a door, as compared to the thieves and robbers who try to come in some other way. They try to scale the wall.

Been places in the world, stayed in homes in different places that aren't as particularly safe, perhaps, as our neighborhoods that are surrounded by 8 and 10 and 12 foot brick walls with broken glass concreted in the top of the walls. Perhaps you've stayed at a place like that before. That's the way the walls of this sheepfold would have been. It had been high, impenetrable walls with either broken glass or sharp sticks stuck in the top of them, anything to prevent a thief or a robber from coming in some other way than through the door.

And yet the Lord Jesus calls these Pharisees thieves and robbers who come in over the wall. Why don't you just come through the door? Because that's too simple. It's too simple. I'm not going to have a salvation that is purely and completely and singularly by Him. I want a salvation I have to work for. I want a salvation I want to be able to glory in. I want a salvation I can do something for. I want a salvation that I get some credit for. Even if it's just making a decision or praying a prayer, I want to send something before him to recommend me to God.

All that come before me are thieves and robbers seeking to come in some other way over the wall because the door, the door gets all the credit. The door is too simple. I don't want a salvation that is done by another. I want a salvation that I can do something for.

That rich young ruler, what did he say? Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And what'd the Lord Jesus say? You know the law. And he recounted the law, these things I've done since my youth. Do those things and you'll live.

Oh, the thieves and robbers, they wanna put something before Christ. They wanna come in some other way. They want their righteousness to be the thing that recommends them to God. They wanna crawl through the broken glass and over the wall. The door's too simple.

And then another. Pharisee asked the Lord, what can we do that we might work the works of God? We want to work the works of God. We want to do something hard. We want to bleed. We want to suffer. We want to pay our dues so that we can get into the sheepfold. And what did the Lord Jesus say? This is the work of God. that by me you come through the door. This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent.

This is the work of God by his grace in the hearts of his people that we, like the woman with the issue of blood, we've spent all that we had on positions. We've tried climbing over the wall. We've tried coming in some other way. We've spent all that we've had and we're worse off now than we were before. Oh, if we could just touch the hem of his garment. If virtue would just come from him to me, if by him, if by him I could enter in, I would be saved.

And the evidence that we've come in by him is the confession that he gets all the glory for having saved us. His reward is with him and his work went before him. Isaiah 40. We are justified before God, that's saved by grace, freely, freely. This is the stumbling block of the Pharisees. This is the rock of offense that they've cast out because they won't have a savior that robs them of their righteousness. And the Lord Jesus says now, I came into the sheepfold by the door, and the evidence that I am, that I am, is there in the scriptures. And now I'm saying to you, I am the door. If by me you enter it, you'll be saved. you'll be saved.

Now, a couple of quick thoughts before we close. This door is always open. It's an open door. It's not a shut door. We think of doors as holding people out. No. This is like that one door going into the ark. It remained open the entire time that the ark was being built, the entire time that the animals were being brought on the ark. Yes, there was a day that God shut the door. And yes, there will come a day that God will shut the door. But here's the glorious truth. The door right now is open.

No one can say I couldn't come through the door because God didn't elect me. I couldn't come through the door because I didn't have saving faith. I wasn't one of God's chosen. No man can ever charge God. We are guilty before God. We are without excuse before God. If a man doesn't go through the door, It's because he doesn't want to go through the door. That's why. Not because the door was shut.

People say, well, you know, predestination election is a shut door to heaven. No, it's not. It's the only thing that opens the door. If God didn't elect and predestinate a people, no one would go through because no one would want to go through. If we want to go through, it's because God made us want to. He made us want Christ to have all the glory in our salvation. He made us want Christ, period. He made us want him. And if we don't go through the door, it's because we don't want Christ. Didn't want to be saved God's way. We wanted to send something before him. We wanted to be a thief or a robber.

other way. When the children of Israel under the leadership of Nehemiah came back from Babylonian captivity and they found the city and the temple in ruins, the first thing they did was they rebuilt the altar. Oh, the first thing was that they found the book of the law. And they opened the book of the law and they read God's word. That was the first thing they did. Second thing they did was they rebuilt the altar. That sacrifice might be made. The third thing they did was they rebuilt the temple. Then they closed up all the breeches in the wall. And the last thing they did was they hung the doors. They hung the doors. The doors are open right now.

Turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter 21, Revelation 21. Look at verse 21, Revelation 21, 21. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl. That's Christ. He is the pearl of great price. And the streets of the city were pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And you know what I get from that? What is the thing that attracts the attention of the flesh? What is the thing that represents the riches of this world? Is it not gold? What does the Bible say about the streets that are paved in gold in heaven? They are as transparent glass. People think about getting to heaven and looking at the streets of gold. You're not going to see the streets of gold. They're as transparent glass. We're gonna be so captivated by the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that the things that would attract our attention in this world will be of no value in heaven. They'll be of no value.

And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.

Night is coming to this world when the Lord Jesus comes through that gate of the East and fulfills all the prophecy. You remember the parable of the 10 virgins, five of them at midnight, Scripture says, at midnight, the bridegroom showed up, when men least expected it. And five of the virgins had their lamps with oil in it, and they went in to the feast of the bridegroom. The other five had to go find oil, and they came back. Door was shut. Door was shut.

We must walk in the light while it is day. while it is day. The doors are not shut. The doors should not be shut by day. They're open. So that we are able to say with the spirit, the bride is able to say with the spirit, come, come.

The veil's been rent. The holy of holies are exposed. The blood's been put on the mercy seat. In the Old Testament, if you got near to the holies of holies, you would be dragged out or put to death. Now the spirit and the bride say, come, come.

I am the door. By me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall be saved.

Our merciful heavenly father, bless your word and the power of your spirit with the faith that we need to come into thy presence by thy door. For it's in his name we pray, amen.

352, let's stand together, 352.