Jesus: The Exclusive Door to Salvation and Abundant Life

"Most assuredly I say to you he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, and to him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." [00:01:54]

"I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear 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 does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. But I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." [00:02:57]

"Now let's take a couple of moments to look at the historic and cultural background of the scenario that Jesus is painting for His hearers at this point. We know that the shepherding vocation was very important in the ancient Jewish community. And we know that the Old Testament is replete with references to this whole business of shepherding where we see David emerge as the shepherd King of Israel." [00:03:43]

"And so in the ancient near east the people … the sheep always had a shepherd who went with them during the day, but at night, the sheep were brought in from the pasture and were kept in a place that was protected that was called the sheepfold. And there were different kinds of sheepfolds. Some of them were made out of wood with wooden fencing around them to protect the interior, but more often the sheepfold was constructed out of stones." [00:05:09]

"And so the first image that Jesus uses here in this context is He says. 'I am the door.' And again, obviously, the shepherd was not the door, but He said that the one who enters by the door is the shepherd, and so we see a distinction between the shepherd and the door. And to the shepherd the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." [00:07:22]

"Now notice the immediate context for this illustration that Jesus is giving. I mean, so often when we read the New Testament and we pick up something that begins with a particular chapter, we almost think that it's an isolated incident from what went before it. But chapter 10 follows exactly onto the heels of chapter 9, and in the original Gospel there were no chapter divisions or verse divisions and so we have to look what immediately precedes this discussion to see what motivates Jesus to give this illustration." [00:09:50]

"And so immediately after this confrontation that Jesus has with the leaders He goes into this discussion about His being the door to the sheepfold, and also then preparing for the statement of the good shepherd, because obviously the Pharisees who were called to be the shepherds of God's people were like thieves and robbers, who had no real concern for the well-being of the sheep." [00:11:33]

"Jesus is using this common, earthly, real-live situation that they were all familiar with to call attention to a higher truth. Remember, at the heart of Jesus' parables and of His illustrations is His communication about the Kingdom of God. And what Jesus is saying is that God has a sheepfold, that God has a place of sanctuary; God has a place of safety. God has a place of everlasting peace and protection, where God is the mighty fortress for His people, and that fortress, like the sheepfold, has a door." [00:12:59]

"Because what Jesus is saying about Himself is that the kingdom is exclusive, not inclusive, and the sheepfold doesn't have 15 different doors, 15 ways to get in. There's only one door. As the New Testament repeats, there's only one Mediator between God and man, that the flock of God has one shepherd, one door, and the only way into that door is through the one who is the door." [00:14:04]

"Christians are frowned upon when they talk like this. But again, it's Jesus who makes that statement, and the apostles. Peter says, 'There's no other name under heaven through which men must be saved.' In another of the I am's that we'll look on Jesus says, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.' And so again, if there's ever a time when Jesus makes a statement that provokes conflict among His contemporaries it's here when He makes this statement about Himself." [00:15:30]

"And what He has done, the extent to which He has gone to redeem a fallen world through the ministry of Christ whose life and person isn't worthy to be compared with Buddha or Mohamed or Confucius or anyone else. They're all dead. None of them gave an atonement. None of them bore the sins of the world on their back before the judgment seat of God." [00:19:55]

"So Jesus, when He says He's the door to the sheepfold, is also saying He is the door to life itself—Zoe—the transcendent kind of life that He came to give. This is why I'm here, he said, to bring life, abundant life, the kind of life that only occurs on the other side of the door. And if you want to stay outside that door, or try to find another way in, except through that door, you will miss that life." [00:22:30]