My apologies for getting that
wrong previously, Dawn, and thank you for correcting me. There
we are. So good to see you. Welcome.
We're getting ready to go to our main sermon now. Our reading
is in John chapter 10. So if you have your Bibles, turn
to John chapter 10 with me. John chapter 10, and we're going
to read from verse one. We'll read down to verse 10.
John chapter 10, reading from verse one. This is the word of
the Lord, and these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. This parable spake Jesus unto
them, but they understood not what things they were which he
spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All
that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. I am the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. The thief cometh not but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. Amen. May the Lord bless to us again
the reading from his word. We have kind of split this passage
in two in a sense, but that's because we're going to be coming
to the second part for another one of the I Am sayings next
week, God willing. And I want to concentrate today
on the Lord's words, I am the door. Criticising false preachers might
seem a strange way to begin a sermon, but it is the way that John 10
begins. And Christ's double verily, that's
verily, verily, it's emphatic. He is certifying here that these
scribes and Pharisees who opposed him in the previous chapter and
who he has called blind and they took offense to that, these scribes
and Pharisees who opposed him, he is telling them that they
have no interest in his kingdom. and that they serve no useful
purpose for his church. Now these were men who were the
religious leaders. These were men who, as far as
their nation was concerned, they sat in the highest places. They
sat in the seat of Moses. And what was true then is true
today. What the Lord was saying then,
he says today, only those who preach Christ, only those who
preach salvation by grace alone, have any place among Christ's
people and any usefulness to the souls of sinful men and women
and boys and girls. Personally, I try not to be publicly
critical of false teachers, except when I feel comment is necessary
to highlight a particular error at a point where it might affect
those to whom I speak. I say it like that because we
could spend our whole ministries gainsaying the foolishness that
is declared from churches and pulpits around the land. I try to be clear in what I believe
when I preach. I study not to dilute the truth,
not to compromise the testimony of the Word of God. I consider
you my flock, and I endeavor to be protective of you without
being overly hostile to others. Now I know that Paul named names
when he criticised false teachers, such as Hymenaeus and Alexander
and Philetus. And I know that the Lord Jesus
too was very forthright against his enemies. Calling someone
a whitewashed sepulcher or a hypocrite is being pretty direct. But in general, my desire is
to speak the truth in love without being aggressive in hope that
the sharp and piercing sword of truth will itself cut to the
quick without me needing to bash people over the head with it. Preaching the truth is the best
way to refute error. Nevertheless, we would be naive
to imagine that there are not enemies out there who for their
own gain try to hurt the Lord's people and try to trouble the
Lord's flock. But here I want to be clear,
and this might seem empirical, this might seem very simple and
obvious to most of you, but I'm going to say it anyway. When
we speak about thieves and robbers, as the Lord does here in verse
one, we're speaking symbolically and we're speaking metaphorically.
In the context of our faith, In terms of the Lord's true church,
thieves and robbers are those who steal away our trust in Christ
and rob us of our comfort and peace by preaching false doctrine. So I'm not talking about domestic
theft and I'm not talking about muggings in the street. I'm not
speaking about law and order or government policies. That's
not my job. I can't protect you against those
things. If it's a problem to you, get
a burglar alarm. I'm speaking about preachers
who preach free will and works righteousness. Preachers who
corrupt the doctrine of the Lord's true church. I'm speaking about
those who deny free grace and advocate trying to please God
by the things that we do instead of looking to Christ and resting
in what he has done. I'm speaking about false preachers
who try to impose on the Lord's people strict codes of behaviour
and conduct, even dress, under a pretext of legal obedience
and honouring the Lord. Our enemies are not the people
you hear about on the news. Our enemies are preachers. They arrive at church in big
cars wearing a suit and tie. They preach at Christian conferences
and they host conventions. They write books and they court
fame and popularity. But the gospel that they preach
is contrary to the gospel of Paul and the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They are thieves and robbers. And by God's grace, we will recognise
them as such, as strangers whom we shall not follow. And the
Lord speaks of them again, having spoken of them in verse one,
he speaks of them again in verse eight. They're false shepherds,
hirelings. They're wolves in sheep's clothing.
They feed themselves, but they don't feed the flock. They trouble
the church. They pervert the gospel of Christ. And they try to remove us from
the grace of Christ unto another gospel. And these men and women, amazingly
now, and these preachers, we must contend against and expose
and reject and contradict. However, again I stress, we do
so spiritually and we do so prayerfully. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter
10, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the
flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations. What
are these imaginations? The foolish doctrines that they
preach in place of the true gospel. Our approach. Our contradicting
them is the casting down of their foolish doctrines. And every
high thing, says Paul, that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. That is, into obedience to his
doctrine, his gospel, his teaching. The apostles understood this,
they all warned about these interlopers, these thieves and robbers who
tried to climb up into the church of God another way, not entering
through the door. Peter, Paul, John, Jude, all
cautioned. that Satan and his followers
will constantly be raging against the purity of the gospel and
the efficacy of free grace. And when I say constantly, I
mean in every century and in every generation, so that we
can trace, historians have done, Get a book and read about it
if you want. We can trace how various teachings, various false
doctrines have entered the church at different times and how they
mount up and they build up a weight of opposition to the truth. And
that is why we always have to take care that we are hearing
the right thing. Be warned of the threat We must keep our eye on the truth. We must attend carefully to the
way of spiritual life so as not to touch the dead hand of empty
ceremony and fleshy ritual that so predominates much of so-called
Christianity. We might call it Christendom
today. How do we keep our eye on the
truth? We keep looking to Christ. Looking unto Jesus, says Hebrews,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. How many free grace sermons are
there in that little phrase, that verse, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith? This is what the Saviour
is telling us here in this passage, in this little parable. This
is what he is telling us and this is what is profitable for
our souls. In contrast to that which is
devious and that which is false, the Lord explains his own God-given
credentials as the mediator of the everlasting covenant and
the shepherd of the flock of God. Gods elect people. The chosen, the called, the set
apart in Christ were placed into Christ's hands for safekeeping
and salvation in the eternal councils of grace. And Christ uniquely is the door
of access into the presence of God. In this parable, the Lord
employs the imagery of sheep in a sheepfold to represent God's
elect people, the true church. And he also speaks of a door
and a porter and a good shepherd who cares for the flock. He is teaching the church of
his own saving role within the covenant of grace. When the Lord
used this imagery, it would have resonated readily with his audience. Sheep rearing and sheep herding
was a familiar activity in Palestine. And the Lord, as we have seen
in recent weeks, often uses symbols, commonplace symbols to convey
divine truth. That's what he was doing in this
parable. In the Old Testament as well, the Lord's people were
often called God's sheep, his flock, the flock of his pasture. I reminded us yesterday that
David in Psalm 23 calls the Lord my shepherd. He acknowledges
that shepherdly role of the Lord. And he calls himself a sheep
led forth to green pastures. And it's a theme that many of
the prophets of God repeat. And they also refer to God's
ministers as shepherds or under shepherds of God, guardians of
the flock. And they criticize those who
were false shepherds. Now let me make a wee point here,
if I may. And it's a general point which
we can employ at other times and in other ways. Here's what
I'm going to say. Because our Savior's covenant
role was so grand and extensive, he was given many duties and
so many titles. We know, for example, in his
mediatorial offices, We speak of Christ being prophet, priest,
and king. Now I've used this example before.
He's a prophet. Why? Because he declares the
words that God gave him to the world. He reveals God, the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit to men and women. So he has a
prophetic role within the covenant. We talk about him as the priest
because he goes into the presence of God offering his own precious
blood So that not only was he the sacrificial lamb, but he
was the priest who offered that blood. And we speak about him
also as a king because his church, his people, are his kingdom with
him as its head. So that all of these titles have
a relevance when we're speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's why that's important. When Christ speaks of himself
in his parables, he often has a jewel, even multiple roles
in that parable. And here in John 10, he is both
the door of the sheep and the shepherd who enters through the
door. And it's not a contradiction.
It is simply recognizing that the Lord Jesus Christ, in his
covenant work, had lots of different roles and responsibilities. He
may even be the porter who opens the door, or else that could
be a reference to the father in the covenant who gave Christ,
who opened the door to Christ's work, or it may mean the Holy
Spirit in calling and conversion. be that as it may, Christ fulfills
lots of roles for his church and his people. And ultimately,
as we go down this chapter on another occasion, we're going
to discover that he is the good shepherd who giveth his life
for the sheep. But that's a subject for another
day. What is certain here is that Christ is the door of the
sheepfold by whom the sheep enter into God's promises of mercy
and grace. He grants and enables access
into the church of God on earth for sinners on earth. And he
alone does so. Not a pope. Not a bishop, not
a priest, not a church eldership, not a free will evangelist. Christ alone enables access into
the church of God. It is the spiritual new birth
by faith of Jesus Christ that unites us with Christ's people
on earth. Everything else is just playing
at churches. And Christ is also the gatekeeper
by whom undershepherds or ministers in the church are approved. Let
me say that again. Christ is also the gatekeeper
by whom undershepherds or ministers are approved. It's not a college
degree that makes you a preacher. It isn't a church board or committee
or a member's vote that makes you a minister of the gospel.
Christ equips and appoints men to his service. Why is it that
people always want to steal jobs away from the Lord Jesus? Christ
is the door into his service. Now these I am titles express
the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus as the appointed and authorised
representative of God to accomplish the salvation of the elect and
by telling us I am the door Christ is telling us that he alone is
the means of access into the church of God, into the kingdom
of God, into the company of God's people on earth. As the door, it is Christ and
he alone who determines who shall pass through the door. A door, when it is open, provides
a means of entrance. And when it is closed, it is
a barrier against entry. A door protects those who are
secure within and resists those who have no right to enter. And
all of these elements are Christ's work in the church. The Lord
Jesus Christ calls himself the door and then he says, I am the
door of the sheep. And we note the commanding authoritative
language of I am. He and he alone is the entrance
to spiritual life. Satan has raised up many counterfeit
religions and many alternative saviors in this world. But Christ
alone is the door to God, the door to heaven, the door to life,
the door into membership of the spiritual body of Christ, the
church. And this singular role is by
his divine appointment. He carries the burden of responsibility. In the everlasting covenant of
grace, God's chosen people were committed into the hands of Christ
for salvation, so that Christ can say, by me, if any man enter
in, he shall be saved. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. He is the door of access by which
we enter into spiritual eternal life. That door swings open and
closed on the hinge of divine love. God's love to chosen sinners,
first determined, then drew them, who would be granted access by
the door. That drawing is the work of the
Holy Spirit by means of the gospel. It's an effectual work and Christ
says in John 6, All that the Father giveth me in the eternal
councils, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. All that
the Father gave in election would come to the door and Christ would
open that door and they would enter into the family of God. Christ loves his sheep. He knows them and he is known
by them. He knows our names because our
names are written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation
of the world. He calleth his own sheep by name
and he leadeth them out. Not only does he lead, but we
follow. We follow willingly, closely,
we follow constantly. When he putteth forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. The reason why you are here today
is because you wish to hear the voice of Christ in the gospel
of grace. If you don't, Don't stay. If I change my message, I would
not expect you to travel with me. I would hope you would not,
because a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from
him, for they know not the voice of strangers. Christ's sheep
will not tolerate another gospel. they will have only the gospel
of free and sovereign grace. In God's gracious purpose, the
gift of eternal life was obtained by the sacrifice and death of
his Son in our place. Christ was first appointed as
Redeemer in the covenant of peace, He was the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world and then he was sent into the world to
redeem God's flock who were sold under sin. The Lord Jesus could
say, I am come that they might have life and that they might
have it more abundantly. God's gift to the church in Christ
is abundant life. It is a life which is greater,
grander, fuller, more blessed, more meaningful, more fulfilling,
more extensive, more far reaching. than anything, anyone, no matter
how much money or fame or popularity they might have in this world
could ever imagine. There is an abundance to the
life of the Lord's people in Christ. And like a door in a sheepfold,
the Lord protects and preserves his people by placing himself
between his own little flock and their enemies. We don't have
to fear what is going on around about us in the world today.
We do not have to be afraid of the things that are being said
and done and the allegations and challenges that are being
made. We don't have to fear those things because Christ has placed
himself before his people. He leads us and we follow. He is our shield and protector.
He is the door and we are safe and secure behind him. He's our
big brother. There have always been those
who seek to trouble the church and disturb the peace of Christ's
flock. By his death, the Lord Jesus
silenced the accusations of the law. and pacified the justice
and anger of God against our sin. And if he is able to defend
us against those claims, then he is able to defend us against
any. There are other enemies that
still remain, Satan and his angels. They present themselves as angels
of light to deceive the church if they can. False teachers with
false doctrine are like wolves who dress in sheep's clothing
to infiltrate the flock and tear and scatter the sheep. But behind
the door Behind the door, think about what that means. Behind
the door, behind Christ, in his shadow, secure in the fold, the
Lord's little ones stay safe. Under his charge, we are protected. In his arms, we are secure. Led by him, we go in and out
and find pasture. We're fed according to our need
with spiritual blessings. We are built up in our faith
by the gospel of free sovereign grace. We are nourished by the
saviour who leads us beside still waters. He knows our need. He directs our path. He leads
us by his spirit into all truth. He is our door to spiritual life
and understanding. Do you want to, do you wish to
enter more deeply into spiritual truth? He's the door. Do you
seek contentment and peace in your life? He's the door. Are you troubled by your conscience? Are you anxious? Are you fearful? Do you feel trapped? Are you
boxed in? Are you hopeless? He is the door. Are you weary? Do you look forward to being
with the Lord? He's the door into heaven. He's
the door to eternal life. He's the door to joy and peace
in time and for eternity. He is the door of access into
every blessing and every precious promise of God who delights to
give good gifts to his people. Christ is the door of the sheep
for our safety, for our security, for our protection, for our prosperity
in all spiritual matters and his providential care shall accompany
us all the days of our life. When we live in his shadow, we
are shielded by his strength and because he is the door, we
shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us today. Amen.