Some years ago, I preached a message, and after
the service was over, there was a person who said to
me, as you preached the word today,
I felt that I was the only one there. that you and I were just sitting
together, talking, and you were telling me the good news of Christ,
and I really understood what you were saying. Well, that, my friends, is preaching. Preaching is communicating. That's what preaching is all
about, is communication. heart with heart, understanding
his word preached. John said, we know that the Son
of God hath come and given us an understanding that we may
know him that is true and that we're in him that is true. And this is the true God. And
this is eternal life. When our Lord preached, people
understood Him. They didn't all believe. Some
believed and some did not believe. But He spoke in words that they
understood. That's the key to preaching. That's what it's all about. Communicating. When our Lord preached, He said,
I am the water of life. We know what water is, don't
we? I'm the water of life. A thirsty man knows the value
of water. Farmers pray for water. Thirst makes water precious.
No one would want to do without water. It gives life. He said, I'm the
water. On another occasion, he said,
I am the bread. I'm the bread of life. I've never
known what it is to be really hungry, hungry enough to steal
to eat. I've never known what real hunger
is, but I've been hungry enough that I crave bread. I love bread. I love what it does for me. I
understand the value of bread." Our Lord said, I'm the bread.
Very simple. I'm the bread of life. He that
eateth of me shall never hunger. I'm perpetually, eternally satisfied. Simple. He said, I'm the light
of the world. Darkness is frightening. Darkness
is frightening to little children and to older people. When I go
to a strange place and sleep in a strange home,
strange bedroom, I like a night light. I think when your grandchildren,
especially little children, spend the night with you, you need
a night light. Darkness is frightening. It's alright if you wake up at
home in your own surroundings, but in a strange place, darkness
is frightening. One time I'd preached in Dingus,
West Virginia. And I got in my car and left
about 9.30 or 10 o'clock at night. It was dark. I went through that
tunnel and then got out on that one lane mountain road near Laurel
Lake, and my lights went out. Just flat went out. My heart
jumped. It's dark. Darkness is frightening. I love the light. Christ said,
I'm the light of the world. Where he is, there is no darkness.
And then he said, I'm the truth. Oh, how refreshing that is, how
refreshing that's always been. But in this day, how precious is truth. amid so
many lies in every area. He's the truth. He's the truth. And here in your text that you
have open there, John 10, down in verse 9, he says, I'm the
door. I'm the door. Simple, plain instruction. I'm the door. A door is an entrance and an
exit. A door is the only way into the
next room. And there's a door, and Christ
said, I'm that door. Very simple. And we're going
to look at these words here in John 10. Christ talks about being
the door, but there are two reasons why people have trouble with
this passage. Two reasons. This first 10 verses
is about all we'll have time for this morning, but that's
where the problem usually is, is the first 10 verses. And there
are two reasons why people have problems with this passage. One,
they do not take into consideration to whom the Lord is speaking. See, in verse 6, this parable
spake Jesus unto them. Unto whom? They understood not what things
that they were that he spake unto them. One, his disciples.
one believers. And this is a problem. You've
got to find out to whom our Lord is speaking. Speak it to them. And the second
reason why people have trouble with these opening verses is
they don't take into consideration the three doors that he mentions. He distinguishes here between
three doors. Verse 1, the door into the sheepfold. Verse 7, I'm the door of the
sheep. Verse 9, I'm the door, by me
if any man enter in. He's the door of the sheepfold,
the door of the sheep, and the door of salvation. There are
three doors mentioned here, all relating to him, I know. So let's look at it, see what
the Lord is saying here, in their simple language. Now, in the
preceding chapter, and oh, how often I've mentioned this, find
out what goes before. In the preceding chapter, our
Lord had restored the sight of a man on the Sabbath day. A man who had been born blind,
the Lord healed him and gave him sight on the Sabbath day. And this aroused the wrath and
anger of the Pharisees. They were so furious. These Pharisees
were the religious leaders. They were the gods. They were
the authorities. They were rulers in the synagogue. They were men who made a good
living off of religion. They had a good thing going.
They had a good thing going. They were making a good living
on religion, out of religion, off of religion. And they didn't
want their golden, their goose that laid the golden egg killed.
And they would destroy anyone who got in the way of their prosperity. They were religious leaders.
They cared more for their traditions, their Sabbath day. their rules
and regulations than they did for the glory of God. They were
angry because Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, violated their
Sabbath. They cared not for the spiritual
good of the people. They cared for their own covetous
means and gold and silver. They rejected Christ as their
Messiah. He came unto his own, his own
received him not. These were the rulers. Like this
man born blind who was healed said to them, this is amazing. You're the rulers of the synagogue.
You're the rulers of religion. And this man has healed my eyes. He's given me sight and it's
never been heard of on this earth that a man gives sight to the
blind and you don't know where he came from. That's astounding
you. This is a simple peon talking.
And he said, you're the rulers, you're the teachers of scripture,
you're the speakers for God, spokesmen. And here a great miracle
has been performed such as the world has never seen, and you
don't know where he came from. And they did. They denied the
witness of the word. Christ said, you search the scriptures,
in them you think you have life, and they which testify of me
will not come to me. They refused the testimony of
John and the prophets. They refused the testimony and
witness of the miracles. They refused the testimony of
the voice of God from heaven who said, this is my beloved
son. And our Lord healed this blind
man on their Sabbath day and infuriated these religious leaders. And they tried every means at
their disposal to get this beggar who was healed, this man who
was healed, to deny that Christ healed him. They did everything
in their power to get this man to lie, to swear that Jesus Christ
did not heal him. And when they couldn't get the
man to recant, they They excommunicated him from the whole Jewish community.
They took away all of his privileges, birthright and everything. So the Lord spake to them. Those
are the people. Look back here, verse 39. 39 of chapter 9. Let's go back a
few verses. And Jesus said, I am come into this world, for
judgment I'm come into this world, that they which see not might
see, and that they which see might be made blind." Now hold
that right there. Christ said, I'm come, for judgment
I'm come into this world. And I'm come that those who are
blind from birth, like this man whom I've healed. and know they're
blind. Have no sight and know it. Who
are in darkness and know it. And truly desire to see. Want
to see the glory of God. I've come that they might see.
I've just given you a demonstration of why I've come. demonstration. This man is blind
and knew it from birth. Oh, like Christ said to blind
Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do? Just name anything
that I might see. More than anything, more than
ten million worlds that I might see. And I've come that they
might see. Who would rather see than anything? Who would rather have sight 10,000
worlds that are blind and who want to see the glory of God.
I've come that they might see. And I've come that those who
think that they see and boast of their sight and
their knowledge and boast of their foolish wisdom and boast
of their self-righteousness I'm come that they might be further
hardened and further blinded by that glorious
light." You know, a certain amount of
light will enable you to see. That sun in its total glory will
put your eyes out. And Christ has come that those
who are blind, in His way of grace, His soothing, gracious,
loving way makes them to see. And these folks who say, we see
with our eyes wide open, He comes in all of His glory and majesty
and power and puts their eyes out. If that darkness, if that light
which is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? You'll
see that in 2 Thessalonians. I'm talking about these religious
leaders. That's the people he's talking
to. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8.
shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth, shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming." You don't want him to put the brightness of his unshielded glory upon you. You want him to come in his own
kindness and way. as you're able, as you're able. These are going to be destroyed
by the brightness of his coming. He said to Moses, hide in the
rock there and I'll pass by. You can't look on me and live. Verse 9, even him whose coming
is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish. because they receive not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God will send
them strong delusions, and they'll believe a lie, that they all
might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in
their unrighteousness, in their self-righteousness. So you see
what verse 40 is saying? Verse 39 of chapter 9, I'm coming
to this world that they which see not might see, and they which claim to see might
be further deceived, blinded. And they said, verse 42, verse
40, some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words
and said, Are we blind? Are you saying we're blind? What
a ridiculous thought. What a ridiculous thought. We're
the leaders. We're the spokesmen for God.
Don't you see these garments we're wearing? They're the garments
of the priest. Don't you see these Symbols that
we have on, these are the symbols of religion. Don't you see these
phylacteries, how broad and blue they are? That stands for the
law. You say we're blind? Verse 41, Jesus said, if you
were, you'd have no sin. If you were
blind and admitted it, if you were a sinner and admitted it,
if you were guilty and confessed it, I'd give you sight. I'd give
you healing, I'd give you life. But you say, but now you say. John worked on that three times
in 1 John 1. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. If we say we have not sinned,
we make God a liar. If we say, he said, now you say,
this is what you say, this is what you claim. Jesus is my personal Savior.
Who said that? I did. Did God say it? Or did you say it? You say it. You say we seek. We don't need
any light. We don't need a substitute. We
don't need the blood. We don't need an intercessor. We don't need an advocate. We
don't need any help. We're rich and increased with
goods and have need of nothing. And you don't know that you're
poor and naked and miserable and blind, he said. But if you
said, if you were blind, I'd give you sight. Therefore, your sin remains.
Then in John 10, verse 1, he describes to them what they,
something they were very familiar with, an eastern sheep foal. There's no chapter division there.
That's all right. That helps us find the passage.
But he said to them, if you were blind, you'd have no sin. But
now you say we see, therefore your sin remaineth. Barely, barely
I say unto you. Now he's still talking to them. He that entereth not by the door
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way is the same
as a thief and a robber. What is the sheepfold? All these
men knew. Now here's a sheepfold. It's
usually close to a town. A sheepfold. It's an enclosure. I don't know how big. Big as
this church lot maybe. Or bigger. But it's enclosed
with a fence and there's one door. There's a sheepfold with
a high fence around it. And there's a door. And at night,
the shepherds would bring their sheep in to these places and
all put them in the sheepfold. There'd be several flocks in
there. There'd be hundreds of sheep. There'd be several shepherds. And there was a porter who kept
the door. There was a sheepfold, and there was a door, and there
was a porter who kept the door. And the next morning, when the
shepherd would come, shepherds, several of them, would come to
get their sheep, the porter would open to them. That's what he
said to them. Verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door of the sheep, for overclimeth up some other ways a thief and
a robber. Now during the night, if a fellow climbs over the fence
to steal some sheep, he's a thief. But he that entereth by the door
is the shepherd of the sheep, and to him the porter openeth.
This porter's at the door, and he knows the shepherds, he knows
all of them. They left their sheep there that
night, went to take lodging somewhere, came back the next morning, said,
I've come for my sheep. All right. He goes in there and listen.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, he
calls his own sheep. He doesn't get all the sheep
out, he takes his sheep. He calls them by name. Molly,
Mabel, Fred, George, he knows all of them. He's loved them.
He's been with them a long time. They know him, he knows them.
And he calls them by name. And he leads them out. He leaves
the rest of them and takes out his sheep. And when he puts forth
his own sheep, he goes before them. He leads them. And they
follow him. And they know his voice. And
a stranger they won't follow. They're free from a stranger.
You couldn't come in there and say, come here, Molly, Mabel,
Fred. They wouldn't move. They don't
know you. They know their shepherd. They
don't know you. And they follow that shepherd.
And know not the voice of a stranger. And our Lord spake unto them
this parable, and they didn't understand it. Now, do you? All
right, listen to me. I'll explain it, because most
of you know it. The sheepfold may be the world. Maybe he's talking about the
world, I don't know. Maybe he's talking about the commonwealth of Israel, I
don't know. Maybe he's talking about the justice of God that
holds us captive, keeps us in. Maybe he's talking about the
law or whatever system that men and women, by which they're held
captive, in Judaism, under law, in sin. But in this world, in
this commonwealth of Israel, and in this nation, in this city,
sheepfold, God has the sheep. He has a sheep. He calls them
by name. They're here. And there's but
one door by which that shepherd can come in and get those sheep.
Christ is the shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the great shepherd. He's the good shepherd. And the Father's
the porter. The sheep are in their enclosure.
They're in this world, whatever they're in, under the law, under
justice, whatever. But to His sheep, Father gave
to him. And here's a door, and that's
the door of a perfect righteousness. That's the door of an honored
law. That's the door of a satisfied justice. And the porter is the
eternal God who will only open that door to one who satisfies
that justice and that law and that righteousness. And he'll
only open it to the shepherd of those sheep who come for them. The religionists who try to climb
up some other way and take those sheep out, whether it be by baptism
or morality or decisionism or church tradition or church membership
or law or whatever, they're thieves and robbers. And the porter won't
open to them and the sheep won't follow. But one day our Lord
came to this earth, the perfect shepherd, the eternal shepherd,
the shepherd of the sheep. The shepherd whom the sheep belonged
to, he came. He met the porter and fulfilled
every requirement. This is the shepherd. He's the
king of righteousness. He's the king of peace. He's
the advocate. He's the sacrifice. He's the
great high priest. He's the son of God. Open the
door. And he goes in and calls his
sheep. And they hear him. He doesn't just invite anybody
who wants to be a sheep. He calls his sheep. He knows
them. He calls them by name. He said,
my father gave them to me. My father, who is greater than
all, gave them to me. And he calls them by name. And
he leads them out, goes before them. He doesn't drive them out
with a stick. He doesn't come in saying that
you're mine and you get out of here. No. He calls them by name
and he walks in front of them and they follow him. Willingly.
Lovingly. Doesn't have to whip on one of
them. And not another sheep in there follows him. Only his sheep. Only his sheep. And he leads
them out. Now let's come in on verse 3
through 5 and refer it to Christ our Lord, who's come for his
sheep, come to the door of righteousness, and it opened. Come to the door
of holiness, and it opened. God opened it, the porter did.
Who came to the door of a sacrifice, and he provided it. Verse 3,
to him the porter opens, and only to him. Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors. The
King of Glory is coming in. Let Him come. Let Him come. Who is this King of Glory? He's
the Lord of hosts. So to Him the porter opened.
And secondly, and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls them
by name. He will, in His own time, He'll
call you. called you by his word, called
you by the gospel. You know something? By name. You say, my name's not in the
Bible. Yeah, it is. Sinner. You take that name to yourself.
Say, hey, he's talking to me. If I say something to Dan, Dan
knows I'm talking to him. If I say sinner, he knows I'm
talking to him. That's another name. That's an alias. ungodly,
enemy, son of Adam. Just keep, you know your name.
And you know your name. He'll call you by your name. And he leads them out, and he
puts forth his own sheep and goes before him, and the sheep
follow him. And they know his voice. And
a stranger they'll not follow. Now verse 6, when he preached
They didn't understand what he was saying. These Pharisees didn't
understand. I really do understand what this
sheepfold is, and I understand this door here, and how Christ came to the door,
met every requirement, and God opened it. He brought us out
of the world, out of sin, out of the kingdom of darkness, into
his own kingdom. Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep."
Now listen, our Lord not only came the right way, the way of
holiness and truth, our Lord not only fulfilled all that the
way of God required, but our Lord is saying here, He didn't
just make a way or meet the way. or provide the way, he is the
way. Now, that's what I can't and
no human can do. I can show you the way, but I'm not the way. I can't
take He can. He's the way. He's the
way itself, you see. He didn't listen to me. He didn't
come to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first
day. He is the Sabbath. He is our rest. You see, we don't
meet on Saturday. That's the law. That's the law
of the sacrifices, and the priesthood, and the tabernacle, and the sprinkling
of the blood, and the tithe, and all this under which the
Jews were till Christ came. And these things all pointed
to Christ. But when He came, we now worship on the Lord's
day, on the first day of the week. That's the day He arose
from the grave. That's the day of victory over death, sin, and
hell, and everything. Christ arose. But we don't keep
this day like they kept that day. He's our rest. It's not a physical rest. It's
not just a human emotional rest. It's spiritual rest. See that? And then He didn't come to destroy
God's commandments. He didn't come to make them of
no effect. He didn't come to trim them down,
He came to fulfill them. And to write them on our hearts
and our minds, and He is our law. He's not only the giver
of the law, He is our law. It's the law of Christ, it's
the law of the person. It's His word, His commandment. He said, My commandment. He didn't
come just to provide an atonement. He is the atonement. He is our tabernacle, our priest,
our mercy seat. Now, we have an altar. Somebody
says, you all don't have an altar down here. Don't have one down
here, but we have one in here. Christ is our altar. We don't
bow on a wooden altar. We bow to a Redeemer, a living
altar. You see what I'm saying? He is
our Sabbath. He is our altar. He is the way. He said, I am the door. I just
don't come to the door and lead them through a door. I am the
door. I'm the way, the truth, the life. He said to Martha, you remember
when Martha and Lazarus had died. She said, Lord, if you'd just
been here, you wouldn't have died. Our Lord said, he'll live. He'll live, Martha. I know, I
know, I believe he'll live in the resurrection. He said, Martha,
I'm the resurrection. The resurrection is not a thing.
The resurrection is not just a distant promise. It's now.
I am the resurrection, he that believeth on me, though he were
dead. He's alive. The resurrection
is not going to be, it is. It's me. I'm the resurrection,
I'm the life. Do you believe this, Martha?
Do you believe this? He provides the door, yes. He
comes to the door, yes. He is the door. That's true. We have, but God reveals it.
He is the door. And then in closing, he said
in verse 9, I am the door, and by me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. I am the door. I've tried so
often here through these years Poorly, I'm sure. But to show
you, it's not just the knowledge of a door, it's the entering
in that's important to you and me. He says, I am the door. That's fine. Exclamation point. And I've tried to show you that
all the way through this message. But by me, if any man enter in, enter in. Thank God there's a door, and
there's only one. The ark had one door. God provided
the door. Why seek another? There is a
door. Christ himself is the door. By me, he said, by me, by my
power, by my blood, by my righteousness, by my will, by me. We all know
that. Everybody in here knows there's
a door. And Christ is the door. But now watch what he said, by
me, if any man enter in. Any man, Jew or Gentile, male
or female, white or black, old or young, rich or poor, if any
man enter in. I tried to show this last Wednesday
night, sure, there's a lamb put up and a lamb slain and a lamb
roasted, but there's some blood to be put on the door. And by
me, if any man enter in, what is this entering in? It's to
receive Christ. It's to believe Him. It's to
rest in Him, to trust Him. He shall be saved. It's to believe
Him in the heart. Believe this gospel. When our Lord preached this message
again and again and again to different groups, to one group
he preached and it said they all left. They said, this is
a hard saying, this is difficult, who can hear it? And they left.
And he turned to the 12 and he said, would you also go away?
And they said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. Now listen, and we believe and
assure. that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God." They entered in. And then he
said, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, willingly,
lovingly, just like those sheep followed him, he'll be saved. And he'll go in and out and find
pasture. He'll be saved. He'll go in and
out. What's this going in and out?
He'll go into the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God,
into the throne of grace. This is the freedom in Christ.
Let us come boldly before the throne of grace. He'll go out, out into the world
to make his living, out into the world to provide for his
household. out among men and women, young people. He's not
going to keep them locked up somewhere. They'll go in and
out, into His presence, out there into the world, and they'll find
pasture wherever they are. They'll feed on Him. They'll
feed on His Word, whether they're in church, like this morning,
sitting here feeding on the Word, or out there hitting it eight
hours hard, laboring, That word have I hid in my heart, laid
up these treasures in the heart, and they feed on the word all
the time. They find pasture. They find
it because they're walking with the King. We don't leave our
religion here at the church when we leave here at 1130. We go in, we go out. We go in,
we go out. And wherever we go, we find pasture.
he's always, I'm with you, never leave you, never forsake you,
always with you.