WWUTT 898 I Am the Door of the Sheep?

Christ as the Door and the Good Shepherd

In John 10, Jesus says, not only is he the good shepherd, he is also the door of the sheep. It is through Christ that we come into his kingdom and no other way when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the gospel of John 10. And today I'm gonna begin reading in verse seven. We will read through verse 18. The apostle John wrote, "'Jesus said to them again, "'Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

"'All who came before me are thieves and robbers, "'but the sheep did not listen to them. "'I am the door. "'If anyone enters by me, he will be saved "'and will go in and out and find pasture. "'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

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

"'He flees because he is a hired hand "'and cares nothing for the sheep. "'I am the good shepherd. "'I know my own and my own know me, "'just as the father knows me and I know the father, "'and I lay down my life for the sheep.

"'And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. "'I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. "'So there will be one flock, one shepherd. "'For this reason, the father loves me "'because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

"'No one takes it from me, "'but I lay it down of my own accord. "'I have authority to lay it down "'and I have authority to take it up again. "'This charge I have received from my father.'". So we come back to verse seven with Jesus saying again.

Remember verse six, the figure of speech that Jesus used related to him being the shepherd and the gatekeeper opens only to the shepherd and his sheep know his voice and follow him. They do not follow the voice of strangers.

This is the figure of speech that Jesus used in the first five verses of chapter 10. Now in verse six, it says, the figure of speech Jesus used with him, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Of course they didn't because they did not have the mind of God. They were thinking with the mind of a man. First Corinthians 2 .14, the natural man cannot discern spiritual things for they are spiritually discerned.

So Jesus again said to them, who is understanding this as Jesus is talking? Why does he continue to persist in saying these things that the people don't get what he's saying? Because his disciples know it.

And even if they don't understand it now, Jesus says to them, what I am doing for you now, you don't understand, but soon you will understand it. And as we read in Luke chapter 24, verse 45, before Jesus ascended into heaven, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

And he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. That's the promise of the Holy Spirit that is coming.

So Jesus saying to them, you are witnesses to these things. The disciples are here and they're witnessing this. With the people not understanding what Jesus is saying, but Jesus persisting in saying it.

So even if the disciples didn't get it at that point that they're listening to him say it, they would understand it later when Jesus understood their, or I'm sorry, when Jesus opened their minds to understand it as they were chosen to be his witnesses and to go out as witnesses in the world, sharing the gospel.

So he goes on again, truly, truly, I say to you, John 10, seven, I am the door of the sheep. So Jesus is not only the good shepherd, he is also the door. He is the good shepherd who calls his sheep and they come out by name.

He is also the door that the sheep enter through. No one gets to God except through Christ. No one enters into the kingdom of God except by faith in Jesus. John 14, six, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the father, but by me. That's coming up four chapters from now, but that's another illustration of Jesus being the door. He is the way to the father. He said something similar in Matthew chapter seven in the Sermon on the Mount.

When he said, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Jesus is the narrow gate. He is the way to eternal life, and it is only by faith in Christ that we have it. So before he says he is the shepherd of the sheep, now he says he is even the door of the sheep, and he's gonna come back to illustrating once again that he is the good shepherd.

So it's not like he's changing the metaphor, but he's just saying to them, he is not only the door by which the sheep go in and out and find pasture, he is also the shepherd who calls the sheep, and they follow him.

False Shepherds in Ezekiel and Jeremiah

All who came before me, Jesus says in John 10, eight, all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I mentioned yesterday that Jesus is making reference back to Ezekiel 34, not just Ezekiel but also Jeremiah, for it was both prophets at about the same time who were making references to the false shepherds in Israel and what God said he was gonna do with those false shepherds, but that he was still going to call his true sheep.

So Jesus is showing that he is the fulfillment of even this that was talked about in the prophets. Now I started somewhere around the middle portion of Ezekiel 34, here's the start of the chapter. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep?

You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill, my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search or seek for them.

Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. As I live declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep.

Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.

I will rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them. Boy, if that is not an indictment against the prosperity movement that has been going on in many mega churches, not just in the United States, but primarily here, it's kind of our leading missionary export is the prosperity gospel.

It is now reaching out into places like Africa and fooling people into giving them their money. And if they do so, then they will receive wealth and health prosperity and all of their hopes and wildest dreams.

They will have breakthrough, et cetera, et cetera. And here Jesus is saying, you have not been feeding my sheep but you have been feeding yourselves. Just as God said through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 34, Jesus is drawing upon those same words here where he is saying to all of those who are listening to him, all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

The thieves and robbers, the false shepherds, those who were the hired hands. These are the shepherds that were talked about in the prophets. Consider Jeremiah chapter two, verse eight. Those who handle the law did not know me.

The shepherds transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit. Next chapter, chapter three, starting in verse 11. The Lord said to me, faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

Go and proclaim these words toward the North and say, this is of course to the Northern kingdom. Return faithless Israel declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger for I am merciful declares the Lord.

I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord, your God, and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree and that you have not obeyed my voice declares the Lord.

Return, oh, faithless children declares the Lord for I am your master. I will take you one from a city and two from a family and I will bring you to Zion and I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land in those days declares the Lord, they shall no more say the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed.

It shall not be made again. At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord and all nations shall gather to it to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

In those days, the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel and together they shall come from the land of the North to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage. Now at first glance, this promise looks like a promise being given to Israel that they're gonna come back to the land that they're presently occupying.

God is gonna exile them because of their sin. They're gonna go into a foreign land but they're gonna come back here, Israel and Judah together and receive the land that was promised to their fathers as a heritage.

At first glance, that's what it looks like and to some degree that could certainly be true because Israel did come back. Now the 10 tribes of Israel were gone. They no longer were identified by tribe, certainly not by land grant but it was Israel and Judah together.

There were some, there was still a remnant from those 10 lost tribes that joined Judah and Benjamin when they reestablished that land during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. So there's a certain sense in which that is prophetic and that is fulfilled in the second temple period but there's another sense in which this is not really talking about a literal land grant although there is a certain brand of eschatology that believes that it does.

But remember what Hebrews 11 starting in verse 13 says, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return but as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. And what is that city? It is the new Jerusalem, Revelation 21. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The new Jerusalem is not a literal place. It's not the Jerusalem as it exists in the Middle East right now that's being transformed later on into a new Jerusalem that we're all gonna inhabit in some millennial period.

Rather the new Jerusalem very clearly here is the bride of Christ. I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God and is that not the same thing that God is saying here to his people in Jeremiah 3? Especially where he's talking about that there will no longer be the Ark of the Covenant.

There's no longer that place where the day of atonement is being conducted and sacrifices are being sprinkled across it and the high priest goes in and God is there in the holy of holies but there's a curtain that separates that presence of God from the rest of the people.

God is now going to be with his people. There won't be the Ark of the Covenant. Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord and all nations shall gather to it. My friends, that's happening now. God dwells with his people, the church, which is made up of Christians and believers from all nations.

This thing that we read here in Jeremiah 3 is taking place even now and God having sent shepherds that will be shepherds after his own heart and those shepherds are preaching now. There are certainly false shepherds out there.

I just mentioned some of them, a brand of theology that they present. That's often called the prosperity gospel, word of faith heretics but there are many faithful ministers of the word. One of those ministers is being honored right now this week in Sun Valley, California at Grace Community Church.

John MacArthur, who has been in the ministry there at Grace Community for 50 years. He's been committed to that church and the ministry of grace to you that's gone throughout the world preaching the gospel.

There's many other faithful ministers gathered at that same place, what's called the Shepherds Conference, a time of year that pastors really get to be served and enjoy some great teaching and see all their friends.

I'm not there this week, unfortunately but I miss everybody greatly. The Shepherds Conference, thousands of men, pastors that are gathered there that for the most part, they couldn't speak for absolutely everybody but you're talking about pastors who have a heart for God.

They seek after God and his word and these are shepherds that the Lord has given who seek after his heart that they might shepherd the flock of God. Listen to these men, the faithful shepherds, they will lead you to the heart of God and beware the false prophets, they are thieves and robbers.

Faithful Shepherds, False Teachers, and Sound Doctrine

I read to you yesterday from 1 Peter 5, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you.

And Peter has this exhortation for shepherds, under shepherds, under the chief shepherd who are commissioned to preach the word of Christ to his people. We also have in 2 Peter 2, a warning about those false teachers.

So 1 Peter 5, Peter exhorts the pastors and then in 2 Peter 2, he warns against false pastors but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Where Peter makes this reference to false prophets also arose among the people just as there will be those among you. He's also referencing back to these words from Ezekiel and from Jeremiah talking about those false shepherds.

Jeremiah 23, one, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture declares the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who care for my people, you have scattered my flock and have driven them away and you have not attended to them.

Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries from where I've driven them and I will bring them back to their fold and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

I will set shepherds over them who will care for them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing declares the Lord. And again, the illustration that Jesus used here in John 10 and I pointed out yesterday is these faithful shepherds are also referred to in John 10, three as gatekeepers.

They're the ones to whom the keys of the kingdom have been given. They're the ones that open the door to the shepherd and the sheep follow him when he calls them by name because the gatekeeper who is under the service of the shepherd speaks the word of the shepherd to the sheep so that the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd thanks to the gatekeeper.

Faithful ministers become gatekeepers in the service of God that a person may hear the gospel, the true word of Christ and come in and out and find pasture. So may those who are shepherds be faithful to the word of the Lord and heed the warning of James in James 3, one, not many of you should become teachers my brothers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

So we must fear God, handle his word rightly, warn the sheep against those false shepherds, the wolves who appear in sheep's clothing but inside they are ravenous wolves. This is one of the responsibilities of a shepherd, an under shepherd to the chief shepherd.

Titus 1, nine, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it. May we be faithful to the word of the Lord.

Closing Prayer and Program Sign-Off

Let us conclude with prayer, our wonderful God, we thank you for your word that we may be guided by it for it is by this word we have come into eternal life. And it's by this word that we come to know how we should live even in this world until the day that our chief shepherd appears and calls us home in glory.

And we are part of his kingdom, that new Jerusalem where there will be no more crying, no more tears, no more pain anymore. This is a hope for us and an anticipation as we look forward to that day of glory in Christ.

Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake, my shepherd and my God, in Jesus name, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study When We Understand the Text.