Jesus Is The Door Of Safety And Satisfaction - [John 10:7-11]

The Joy of Seeing Children Obey and Young People Follow God

What are some of the things that give you that great joy that we just sang about? What are some things that you can just say, you know, I look at that and I my heart just overflows with joy. There's many things that bring great joy to me.

One of the things that it does is when I see young children. We have a lot of babies. Oh. They don't have to do anything. You just look at them and your heart just overflows with love for them and joy and as they grow and when you see young toddlers and older kids when they start to obey their parents and you can see that this is a child that is loves his mommy or daddy and is willing to submit his life to his parents and there is this great joy in seeing how Life is as it should be and then When the children grow older and I see young people here.

And when I see young people who are not just obeying their parents because their parents have told them So but they have made their parents faith their own. They can see for themselves and they choose to follow in those paths those well-trodden paths toward Godliness on their own that is great.

Joy. You just see someone like that and this. Many of you like that here this evening and it fills me with great joy conversely. Some things causes great great great sorrow and grief. One of the things that breaks my heart every time is but recently if you just listen to any news you see children abducted.

You hear of young people who make choices that are on a slippery slope and then they end in disastrous consequences and The choices if you would look at it from Psalm 1 are very clear there is a path that leads to righteousness and there is a path that leads to destruction and sometimes the destruction comes from the outside there are predators who want to come and Take away the young children and there are other types of errors that just come from within and pull you down down the paths and the depths of destruction itself.

Jesus the Shepherd and the Security of His Sheep

Today, we are going to be looking at John chapter 10 in John 10, we are going to be looking at sheep how God calls you and I as His sheep and you're going to see the kind of dangers That are ever-present and yet for those who have followed Jesus our Good Shepherd You have a security and a safety that he promises.

He will never let go. So let's begin with a word of prayer and we will begin with John chapter 10. Dear God our loving and gracious father. We thank you for giving us Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd. Feed us of father these Next few moments as we open your word.

Teach us what you will That we your sheep of your pasture may grace and be well fed and rest in your care. In Christ name we pray. Amen. So I'm going to read John chapter 10 verses 1 through 11 our messages from verses 7 through 11.

But I think it is good for us to remember what has gone on before John chapter 10 verse 1. Truly truly I say to you He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door. But climbs in by some other way that man is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out when he has brought out all his own he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice a Stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them truly truly I say to you. I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me were 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. A few introductory Comments on this passage before we start diving deep into it. This is the third message in john 10.

That i'm preaching and if you remember from the last time john 10 and john 9 go together. So when you're trying to understand what jesus is saying In john 10 you always have to look back at john 9 and understand what jesus has done.

And now what it is that he is teaching. In john chapter 9 you have the blind man the man who was born blind the beggar. How jesus heals him and then there is this whole series of events where the jewish leadership try to?

Identify whether this was a genuine healing. Yes. It was. Then they try to find out if the healer was genuine or not. But they are biased against jesus and will not agree and accept that jesus healed this man because it was done on a sabbath.

And then it culminates in a climax and we will come back and look at that later today and it is a result of this healing and the Conflict that arises that jesus is now. Teaching john chapter 10 the conflict was between jesus and the religious authorities and jesus is talking about how he Is the leader the shepherd the true shepherd of the sheep?

In verses 1 through 5 we've already seen how jesus is the shepherd he entered through the ordained door he comes as Prophecied by scriptures as the messiah the anointed one and we also see in verses, uh, three to five how his voice Is loud and clear to his sheep when jesus speaks his sheep listen.

And then in verse 6 we see that jesus What he said didn't make sense even to the people of that time. Uh shepherdry was very common so you would assume that when jesus used the symbol this imagery of sheep.

Uh, all the israelites would follow what he was saying, but most people didn't so jesus in verse 7 is going to use another Uh aspect of the same imagery and then he's going to continue to teach them who he is.

In fact, that's the main focus of our message today. Who is this jesus that we all gather together to worship. We are going to be seeing that he was a he's a shepherd. Our main focus will be that jesus is the door and we will see how he is the good shepherd as well later um, and when you read through john 10.

It is not like most other Parables where there is one image and there is one central point and that's Central point must be applied through the entire parable in john 10. You will see that jesus uses the entire shepherdry images, but he will Apply them in various sections differently.

So if you try to take what jesus says in john, um, 10 verse 3 to 5 and try to fit that into verses 7 through 9. You will not be doing justice to the text because jesus is trying to Teach a different aspect of who he is and you need to make sure that within each section You apply the meaning and the use the image that is used there.

We will get into that in a minute. So my purpose this evening is that you will see clearly that jesus is your door to two things to safety and to your satisfaction. He is the one who keeps you safe and he is the one who satisfies you with an abundant life.

Jesus as the Door of Safety

So let's begin by looking at jesus as the door of your safety. We're going to do this in uh the same way. We did the last few times. We're going to first look at what the meaning of the text is when it relates to the sheep.

We're going to then come and look and see what it means to the context in which jesus was. Why was jesus saying at that particular moment in time? And then we're going to come back and look and see what this means to you and me today.

So let's begin by looking at what it meant to sheep at that time when jesus says the words that he just did. Um, he talks about thieves and robbers. Uh in verse 8 jesus says all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

And then in verse 10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. The term thieves and robbers is just talking about people who want to come and take control of these sheep. Thief has the nuance that he is coming sneakily stealthily in the night.

He is not here with a big crowd. He's just going to sneak over the wall and grab a sheep or two a robber. Has more of a connotation of violence. Here is one who's going to come here and and Cause damage to the sheep.

That's the sense. There is a stealthiness or Violence involved and their goal was to take these sheep. So you have your sheep in your sheep pen, but these men come to grab it. They want to sell it or kill it and eat it.

So that's that's what these thieves and robbers where they were not here to um. Find a nice little sheep to raise as their pet. They were not saying, you know, I have a better home than the home that this sheep has.

I'm going to take you to my little sheep pen, you know that you'll be comfortable. It's warmer cozier. No, that's not the purpose. They had no Desire for the good of the sheep they were here to make a profit or to gain by the sheep.

They would take it and destroy it and in verse 10 we read steal and kill and destroy. There are three words that are used here verbs. All conveying the same sense and in the greek language and even in the hebrew the sense was This was a complete It was an intensity of those three things that are mentioned.

So there is a stealing and a killing and a destruction. The the idea that you want to get is that this is utter destruction. For those sheep that will fall into these thieves hands and there's going to be a devastation and a ravaging.

A better picture to think of would be when there was a war. When there is a war you come those who Come into your land will just take everything devastate everything and that's the kind of sense that This three words put together give you it is not just you know, there's a small Problem here or a small sheep that is lost that these people are here to just destroy everything.

But there is something that We read also in verse 8 the sheep did not listen to them. Earlier in john 10 we see how the sheep know the voice of their shepherd so they would not voluntarily follow after.

Those who are strangers likewise god sheep we will see Will sense the harm. That these thieves are going to bring and they will fear strangers. Who pretend? To take care of them. There is one more image that is used here with regards to shepherdry and that's the door in verse 9 Jesus says I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture in the old in the Sheep pen of old there was no real Real Fire code to say, you know, you need a front door and a back door safety exit.

There was just one door you came in through that door and you stayed inside. And then that was the very same door through which you need to get out also. So when you're out in the fields you have wolves and other predators that can attack you.

We will see later in john 10 how these Wolves are at real and present danger for the sheep. But when they come in through the door when they are in the sheep pen and the door closes behind them. They are in a place of safety.

They can rest. They have no fear when they are inside. And that is the sense of the door that jesus is talking about you have come in and you're going to be safe so With that image, let's now come and look at what it means in jesus time.

I notice how he says in verse seven truly truly. Amen. Amen. This is very important. You better pay attention to what jesus is saying. He says all who came before me are thieves and robbers. So who are these all that jesus is talking about.

Obviously, jesus is not talking about moses and elijah and all the other prophets that god has sent. So who are these all? There are two ways in which you can look at this in one sense you could be talking about the false messiahs.

So all the people who came here in my name calling themselves to be messiahs. They are all false and then there is another sense in which all those who This is talking about the type. If you are thinking of jesus the messiah all those who pretended to be messiahs are false and there's another context in which.

Which is more immediate which is if you look john 9 and john 10 all these people Who are right now pretending to be leaders? They are These all that that jesus is talking about. So these are the vineyard tenants who are supposed to take care of the sheep and they have all Not done their duty, but they instead are thieves and robbers.

So let's quickly look. What are some of the false messiahs? If you remember Uh in the old testament after the kings fell the israel went into exile. They were in under various nations and then under maccabeus after the old testament ends you have Uprising and israel breaks free from the kings and the other rulers and for a period of time seems to have its own autonomy.

And then the romans come. So under romans, they're back in rule. So as as uh, the jewish nation is waiting for redemption. They're thinking of their messiah as a political leader. This man is going to come and rescue us from from Rome and if you go to acts 5 you look at gamaliel he says is jesus one of those kinds of men who just pretended to lead and then The it went to nothing the two names that are given there thaddeus and judas.

These were political leaders. They grabbed some people they said let's go and I will be like the messiah to these people and instead they just the leader was killed and the whole movement died. These men who pretend to be messiahs never really brought freedom or safety to the sheep.

Instead they killed those who Followed them but more importantly, uh, the the immediate context talks about local despots. These religious leaders who usurp their role as leaders and spiritually. There were two groups one was the sadducees and the other was the pharisees.

In what sense did the sadducees? Come in as thieves and robbers. Uh, the sadducees were after money. They they were actually from the priesthood and they were supposed to do the rituals the old testament, uh sacrifices.

And the these sadducees instead were more concerned about amassing wealth for themselves. So we read for example in matthew 21 12 Jesus entered the temple drove out all who sold and bought in the temple.

Overturned the tables of the money changes and the seats of those who sold pigeons and he said to them It is written. My house shall be a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. Instead of having gods the temple as a place where they would come and worship.

They instead were using all these schemes in order to gain wealth for themselves. But the sadducees are not the main focus of jesus's, uh, Charge the ones that he is talking about from john 9 are the pharisees.

These men did not really want to Gain money, but instead they wanted to gain prestige. They wanted to show themselves as Uh as as holier than others and they wanted to give legalism as the as the method to feed the sheep and uh, jesus says this in matthew 23 when he has these, um, he he Exposes the folly of the pharisees.

He says one of the things there vote to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites. For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte and when he becomes a proselyte you make him Twice as much a child of hell as yourself.

So if you're thinking of thieves and robbers here are some men who come tell the sheep i'm going to show you the way to heaven. And instead they are taking them down the path of destruction because they are not taking god's word.

Instead they are making rules as we heard this morning and they were trying to make this the means of salvation. And they were false leaders. So this is this is talking about the thieves and robbers, so what does jesus mean when he says I am the door.

Um, jesus says several iams in in the gospels and people get very confused by it then and even today. If you remember jesus has not gone to the cross yet. He is still in his ministry. Um. But he is pointing to the cross.

If you read, uh in verse 9 jesus says I am the door if anyone enters by me he will be saved. And the save that is talking about is the same soteriological sense that we have here today. How do we know it read a couple of verses down in verse 11?

I am the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for for the sheep. Jesus is talking about His atoning sacrifice that he is going to accomplish. Uh, we will see a little bit more on this in a minute, but uh a good practical example.

If you go back to john 9 is how john 9 ends. So if you just turn a few a page or so before you will see in john chapter 9 verse 35 the blind man. He's been healed. One thing that god has done for him.

He cannot deny. He doesn't know a lot about jesus, but he knows this he was blind and now he is healed the the pharisees these thieves and robbers Do not want to credit jesus with this miracle and they try to tell him.

Who do you say you are? And with leading questions, we know this man is not what he claims to be and uh, and the and the blind man cannot acknowledge what the pharisees say and he says This man is a prophet and he goes on to deny what the pharisees would want him to say and Finally the pharisees would have no more they say you are kicked out.

You cannot come to the synagogue anymore. You have no access to god. You are No longer a jewish person in good standing. So this man who is out of the door Jesus now comes and talks to him in verse 35.

We read jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him. He said do you believe in the son of man? He answered who is he sir that I may believe in him and jesus said to him You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you in verse 38.

He says Lord, I believe and he worshiped him. So here you see the blind man Walking through that door that jesus provides. So here is a man who has seen who jesus is who? Believes in him and he worships him and that is the sense in which jesus is now talking to the rest of the people Who are around and watching this debacle very obvious very plain miracle, but the Pharisees were blind and could not acknowledge what jesus was doing and jesus says I am the door and just as this blind man Has entered through me and he is safe.

So also will you if you would walk through me? We will we will draw this out a little bit more. So let's now come and look at what it means to us today. Who are these thieves and robbers that we need to be careful about who are these predators that we need to watch out for the predators are the false leaders um Among the false leaders the chief in the category are false teachers who come in into the sheep into the sheepfold uh, they come in Wolves really with sheep's clothing and their real goal is to destroy.

Um, a good example would be cults where you have leaders who just Take power upon themselves. They would claim to speak for god, but instead their Motives are for their own gain just as we saw what happened with the pharisees and the sadducees.

So also there are people who would peddle god's word For private gain some of you who've been in false churches and have come out, you know, the destruction That they wreck upon unsuspecting sheep. These false teachers are deceivers.

But they are in one sense deceived themselves because they Were intentionally or unintentionally they represent false gods and they ultimately work for the devil. So when sheep are under the clutches of these robbers, they are abused and they are ultimately killed.

And even here when we are told that god's sheep will be protected from these false teachers. Now sometimes we just limit the scope too much to just the religious leaders. When you think back of the false messiahs in jesus time You have to remember that many of them were actually political leaders.

They said, you know, I am the messiah I will lead you out and instead of leading them out to god's presence. They led them out to their destruction so When you think of today's world system We may not necessarily have You you may look at the true church and you may see these false teachers that creep in and want to destroy the church.

You may see false churches that claim to be churches, but are not. You may see false world religions hinduism islam buddhism. And you may actually even take atheistic world systems take stalin take mao take Hitler these are all people who promised something to the people.

They said, you know, I will show you the ideal world you come and follow me and I will give you peace and prosperity and satisfaction and instead they took them like sheep and destroyed them completely and.

So when you think for example in john 1 john 2 17 the world is passing away with its desires. The world's system Is not just a religious system, but it is anything that would compete with jesus christ as lord and savior.

Jesus the Door of Satisfaction and Abundant Life

So with that said let's now look at you the sheep. What does this mean to you today? What door are you walking through? As we talked about salvation those of you who are his sheep you have been saved.

Verse 11 says Um, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. You have acknowledged that jesus has died for your sin. In verse 9 I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved. When you think of door when you came to church today.

You would have you had to open your car door get out of your car. Open your church door and you come into this building and you are here now. Doors have a function. They let you in and they let you out and When you enter jesus as the door.

Where did you enter? What was it that you entered into? When you walk through jesus as your door. You enter the kingdom of god. We all belong to the kingdom of darkness. We were away and separated from god, but through jesus christ.

We now have access. We have entered god's kingdom itself now. How is this accomplished? I'm going to read a few verses just to remind ourselves how jesus really is the door because the symbolism sometimes Gets confusing when you try to explain to an unbeliever.

What kind of a door do I just physically open jesus? No, but there is a access. There is an opening that jesus provides. Um, let me read for you. Matthew 27 50. This is jesus on the cross as he dies. He says this.

Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit and behold. The curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. And the earth shook and the rocks were split. And if you think of the doors in the temple, you had the outer gate.

You had the inner coats you could come to a lot of places. But one thing one place you could never go and that was into the holy of holies. You have the curtain once a year on a on the day of atonement.

The high priest would actually walk into it and perform a sacrifice for the people, but you could not go in there alive when Jesus dies that curtain is split from top to bottom. God Opens up that means of access to him if the interpretation in Ephesians 2 18 when paul talks about what kind of access we have He says for through him through jesus.

We both have access in one spirit to the father. It is through the work finished work of jesus christ on the cross that there is complete access. You now can enter through his finished work. He has died for your sin.

You are counted as righteous before god and you can now come boldly into his presence in ephesians 2. It's talking about both the jews and the gentiles who now have access. And many of us here are gentiles who are saved by christ.

Now when we think of safety, I want to talk about how we are safe. So we saw that the thief comes to steal kill and destroy there is an utter and complete devastation. What kind of safety does the christian have in jesus?

We hear of the thrice holy god holy holy holy he is utterly and completely holy. In john 14 6 jesus says I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. He is the The way he there is he is the Sure way to to god himself and then later in john 10 He says I will give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The thief and the robber will come to destroy and and annihilate but when jesus Takes you into his hand There is complete safety. There is really no way you can be taken out of his hand. And in verse 29 my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them Out of the father's hand just as how there is sure destruction in the hands of the thieves and the robbers.

So also in the hand of jesus christ, you are completely safe. There is absolutely no way that you will be touched by the enemy. I want to read a few verses that talk about this security in verse 9. We read that you will be saved and you will come in and go out and find pasture.

What is this coming in and going out? We will see this more in the next section, but It was a term that was used in the old testament talking about freedom. So when you have thieves and robbers when you think of the sheep who are afraid of the wolves.

There is a sense in which they are afraid. The image that you should think of is war. So if we had war right now. And people are bombing us on the streets, so you're not just going to go open the door and walk outside.

You're going to look carefully make sure there's no air raid siren. You'd be hunkered in the bunkers rather than walking outside. But when there is peace in the land you have complete freedom. You can walk out whenever you want you can come in anytime you need and that is The sense in which jesus is saying when you have come into the door that is jesus.

It is not like you come in into the fortress and you have to lock the doors and then watch out. That is not the sense at all in which jesus gives you safety when you come in into jesus. When you are in his hands, you have complete freedom to walk in and out.

Let me just read a few Verses from the old testament just to give you that imagery of how god Allows you to walk in and walk out in complete freedom and complete security and unmolested by the enemy. Deuteronomy 28 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out.

Why? Verse 7 the lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. When there is enmity when there is opposition to the christian God says he will take care of it.

He will grant you peace so you can actually have freedom in your life. Many of you may know this verse psalm 121 verse 8 the lord will Keep your going out and you're coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

It's a song of a sense. Saying that god would protect you. He would give you peace and if you read the rest of the psalm It begins like this you you probably know this. I lift my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from?

Here in the present in the presence of real danger the psalmist looks to god and he is assured that god will protect him. He's going in and is coming out so if you're a believer today. You know your shepherd's voice.

You are in his hands. You have the freedom and the safety that god provides. And you are not like um. Like sheep that are defenseless. How do you hear god's word? How do you hear his voice? As you read his word you keep hearing what he has to tell you.

And we have the bible says an armor that god has provided us. Imagine that sheep with armor and not just that you also have sheep. Like ninja turtles, I guess with sword you have this word of god. To defend against the enemy.

That changes the images quite a bit but There is complete security for the christian. You are safe and you have everything you need in order to live life. In the security of jesus christ, but what about those of you who do not know jesus as your shepherd?

Those of you who have not walked in through that door. So What are the doors that you probably see? As you look at these choices. The bible says that there are two doors. That any all of us must walk through.

There is one door which has. Which is broad it in. In matthew 7 jesus talks about this. He says there are you either have god as your leader or you are following the enemy onto destruction. So who are some of the leaders that come to your mind?

Is it yourself? Is it someone else that you look up to to find meaning in life and purpose in life and to walk down your life? With the confidence saying this is what gives me satisfaction. This is what keeps me safe.

Jesus says look to those people that claim to be leaders and see if this Matches their description. Matthew 7 15 beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. But inwardly are ravenous wolves you will recognize them by their fruit.

Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So those who claim to be Leaders if their lives do not match with what they say. That would be an evidence that these are people that you ought not to follow.

But for yourself, what is this door that looks like so we have jesus here who promises eternal life. But you might say, you know, this door just seems Unpleasant to me. I would rather take this door. What is another door that you might have in math in matthew 7 13.

Jesus says 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 today when you look at the world, there are many options. Church seems to be stifling, but all these other ways seem to be good financial success and A peace by following meditative principles of eastern religions.

There's so many other ways that want themselves as means as doors that you are to enter but jesus says These doors may look nice on the outside. This is hell's advertisement as you might have heard, you know.

Everything looks nice from from a distance and as you start walking in you realize That these are not what truly? That they claim themselves to be. People think that they need peace in life. They go down these meditative paths and they find that all they are doing is suppressing the real issues and then they find destruction instead and Any other means that competes with jesus christ may seem attractive on the outside.

But the end of that path is destruction. But jesus says in verse 14 the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it. So when you look at christ. What is the door?

What is the first aspect of the door that we are looking at it is a cross. Who wants to go through a man who would die on a cross for us? Who would want to follow a man who says you must deny yourself take up your cross and follow me?

Yes, it seems hard as you would want to follow after him yet. That is the only true way to safety when you have surrendered your life to him. When you have given up everything and when you have taken up his cross when you have taken up His life as your own.

You now have a peace and a confidence and you know that the end will lead you to safety in god's own presence. And what is it that the shepherd says he talks about a holy god. He talks about a sinful man and he talks that this jesus your shepherd died for man.

For his sheep in order to provide this door to access into heaven. And if you do not believe in jesus, you need to repent of your sin. And you need to believe in jesus christ. So you too can be in this door in this door of safety in this place of security in this place of peace that you can live life without fear or danger.

So let's now take a few moments to talk about how jesus is also your door of satisfaction. We'll go quickly through this but we'll take the same three steps. We saw how the thieves and robbers they came here to destroy and to kill.