Sermon series:

"Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate: whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me—just as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father—and I lay down My life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life—only to 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 authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father."

It is not surprising that Jesus' audience does not understand the figurative saying. They understand the nature of shepherding, but they fail to grasp the spiritual point He is making.
The word for "figure of speech" or illustration used in our text is unusual in the New Testament. This word occurs only two other times in John (John 16:25,29), and once in 2 Peter 2:22. In the Synoptics the word generally used for such sayings is "parable" but there is likely little difference between the two words.
As we have learned in our previous study, Jesus is the Shepherd pictured as coming to the Jewish fold and calling His disciples out of Judaism. One of them, indeed, had been just pushed out (the blind beggar); others had come out already and others were turning to the Good Shepherd.

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The Jews did not understand the allegory; they did not understand what it meant that He was telling them. Had they known their Old Testament more thoroughly, they would not have experienced this difficulty. Although the idea of shepherd and sheep (Jehovah the Shepherd, His people the sheep) can be found on so very many pages of the Old Testament that total ignorance regarding this figure is almost unimaginable, the additional thought conveyed here in 10:1-6, namely, that the Good Shepherd (here not Jehovah but Jesus) would separate the true Israel from the national Israel (would lead His own out of the fold) was probably not so well known. However, even this idea should not have sounded so very strange. The outgathering or election of a remnant is taught is many Old Testament passages.
Jeremiah 23:3-4
"I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the Lord."
Micah 2:12-13
"I will surely gather all of you, 0 Jacob; I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the Lord at their head."
BUT THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT! This points a contrast, bringing out as it does the very reverse of what was before us in the previous verse. There we learn of the spirit of discernment possessed by all of Christ's sheep; here we see illustrated the solemn fact that those who are not His sheep are quite unable to understand the truth even when it is plainly presented to them. Blind indeed were these Pharisees, and therefore totally incapacitated to perceive our Lord's meaning. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)
"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." (10:7) The "door of the sheep" is to be distinguished from the "door of the sheepfold" in v. 1. The latter was the Divinely appointed way by which Christ had entered

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Judaism, in contrast from the false pastors of Israel whose conduct evidenced plainly that they had thrust themselves into office. The "door of the sheep" was Christ Himself, by which the elect of Israel passed out of Judaism. Romans 11:5 says: "So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." The Lord had not come to restore Judaism, but to lead out His own unto Himself.
"Door" is used figuratively elsewhere in the New Testament, as when Jesus speaks of entering the narrow door (Luke 13:24), or when we read of the "door of faith" that God opened to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27). But this is the only passage in which Jesus is Himself spoken of as "the door." Elsewhere He is said to be like a ladder connecting earth and heaven (John 1:51) or "the way" (14:6).
These are similar thoughts, but Jesus calls Himself "the door" only here.
The expression "of the sheep" is unusual in such a connection, but it probably means the door by which sheep enter. There is something exclusive about "the door." Jesus is not suggesting that there are several doors to salvation and that He is but one. He says that He is "the door"...and we are not to think of many ways of coming to God.
Jesus is saying that He is the one way, the door by which all sheep enter.
Verse 8 in our text reads: "All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them."

In this verse, Jesus is contrasting Himself with His predecessors. "All that ever came before Me" must signify the Jewish religious leaders, but the expression is strangely comprehensive. It cannot mean the prophets of old, for they were anything but thieves and robbers. What Jesus must have had in mind was the whole Jewish hierarch of His day. They were not interested in the well being of the sheep but in their own advantage. The Sadducees in particular were known to make quite a lot of money out of the temple religion and there are denunciations of the Pharisees and the scribes for their covetousness. Some understand the words of revolutionaries like Judah the Galilean, and if this is right the references to violence are much in point. We should almost certainly take "before Me" as part of the imagery, rather than indicating Jesus' predecessors as religious leaders.
It is a notable fact that the severest denunciations which are to be found in the Scriptures are reserved for false teachers.
John the Baptist called them a generation of vipers! And listen to the Apostle Paul;

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"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ" (2 Cor. 11:13).
And Peter adds: "These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with the tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever" (2 Peter 2:17).
The Pharisees were thieves inasmuch as they seized positions which they had no right to occupy, exerted an authority which did not justly belong to them, and unlawfully demanded a submission and subjection to which they could establish no valid claim.
Verse 9 in our text reads: "I am the door; by Me if any man enters in, he shall be saved." The King James reads: "I am the gate, whoever enters through Me will be saved."
Jesus repeats the words, "I am the door" (v.9), this time without the addition "of the sheep."
It is Jesus' function that is of central importance and it is this that stands out. Anyone who goes through this door enters salvation. The words "by Me" are in an emphatic position. It is He and no other who enables men to enter salvation...there is a certain exclusiveness about "the door." John does not often use the verb "to save", and he never explains exactly what he means by it.
But he makes it clear that salvation was the purpose of Jesus coming. "For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."
(John 3:16,17). God's infinite love was manifested in an infinitely glorious manner!
And in our text, Jesus says that if any man enters in, he will be saved! This is one of the precious words of Christ which is well worthy of our meditation. A "Door" speaks of easy ingress and is contrasted from the high walls in which it is set. There are no difficult walls which have to be scaled before the anxious sinner can obtain access to God! The soul that believes God's testimony to the truth of salvation by Christ alone, at once enters God's presence. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Romans 10:9-10).
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
And for all who enter through the "door"...there is freedom from the guilt, the misery, and the punishment of sin! Abundance--the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, the

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peace of God that passes all understanding--is their portion, here in principle, by and by in perfection. "He will come in and go out and find pasture." To go "in and out" is a figurative way to express perfect freedom!
This was something vastly different from the experiences of even saved Israelites under the law of Moses. One of the chief designs of the ceremonial law was to hedge Israelites around with ordinances which kept them separate from all other nations. But this was made an end of by Christ, for through His death the "middle wall of partition" was broken down. Thus were His sheep perfectly free to "go in and out." The fullness of this freedom was in the fellowship with other saints, and in deliverance from the yoke of the (ceremonial) laws. To be able to come and go unmolested was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely secure and safe.
Of the man who is obedient to God it is said he is blessed when he comes in and blessed when he goes out (Deuteronomy 28:6). A child is one who is not yet able by himself to go out and to come in (1 Kings 3:7). The Psalmist is certain that God will keep him in his going out and in his coming in (Psalm 121:8)
Once a man discovers, through Jesus Christ, what God is like, a new sense of safety and of security enters into life. If life is known to be in the hands of God like that, the worries and the fears are gone!
AND FIND PASTURE!
This tells of the gracious provision made for the nourishment of the sheep. Our minds at once turn to that matchless Psalm which records the joyous testimony of the saints:"
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters." The "pastures," then, speak not only of food, but of rest as well. This too is a part of that wondrous portion which is ours in Christ.
Dr. Pink, in his wonderful commentary on John, says: "Seven things are enumerated in this precious verse.
First, "I am the door": Christ the only Way to God.
Second "By Me if any man enter": Christ the Imparter of power to enter.
Third, "If any man enter": Christ the Saviour for Jew and Gentile alike.
Fourth, "if any man enter in": Christ appropriated by a single act of faith.
Fifth, "he shall be saved": Christ the Deliverer from the penalty, power, and presence of sin.
Sixth, "he shall go in and out": Christ the Emancipator from all bondage.
Seventh, "and find pasture": Christ the Sustainer of His people."
Our text continues: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the

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full" (v.10). The thief is the Pharisee, as has been observed. Notice the climactic arrangement: steal, kill, destroy. That these religious leaders spiritually killed and destroyed the people whom they had stolen is clear from Matthew 23:13-15: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and see to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." The exact opposite of killing and destroying is making alive! And the exact opposite of the thief is the good shepherd, Christ.
To Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees were men who were acting a part. Their whole idea of religion consisted in outward observances, the wearing of elaborate phylacteries and tassels, the meticulous observance of the rules and regulations of the law. But in their hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and arrogance. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway. And might I say, that accusation holds good in a greater or lesser degree of any person who lives life on the assumption that religion consists in external observances and external acts of any kind.
There is an unwritten saying of Jesus which says, "The key of the Kingdom they hid."
Jesus' condemnation of these Scribes and Pharisees is that they have not themselves entered the Kingdom, and they have shut the door in the faces of those who are seeking an entry to the Kingdom.
Jesus draws the comparison between the false shepherds, the thieves and robbers, and His purpose for coming...I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL.
Before one can know the abundant life, he must first know life! That is, he must first be made alive through faith in Christ.
"Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3). "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:11-12). "Simon Peter answered Him, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

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"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36). "I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live." (John 5:24,25)
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:1-7).
THIS IS THE LIFE JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT! But Jesus went further in saying...AND THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY! Our English word "abundance" comes from the two Latin words ab and undare which mean "to rise in waves" or "to overflow." The first translation gives a picture of the unceasing rise of the waves upon the seashore. There the waves rise again and again. One wave surges forward and exhausts its force on the sand, but another follows and another and another. The other picture is of a flood.
The abundant life is, therefore, one in which we are content in the knowledge that God's grace is more than sufficient for our needs, that nothing can suppress it, and that God's favor toward us is unending!
The Greek word for "abundance" PERISSOS, has a mathematical meaning and generally denotes a surplus. In this sense it is used of the twelve baskets of food that remained after Christ's feeding of the five thousand. In Matthew 14:20, it is translated "REMAINS." To be a follower of Jesus, to know who He is and what He means, is to have a superabundance of life. A Roman soldier came to Julius Caesar with a request for permission to commit suicide. He was a wretched dispirited creature with no vitality. Caesar looked at him, "Man," he said, "were you ever alive?

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When we try to live our own lives, life is a dull, dispirited thing. When we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life. It is only when we live with Christ and for Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word!
Continuing in our text, Jesus said: "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." It is interesting to bear in mind that while there are many things that a shepherd does for his flock, when Jesus speaks of Himself in the capacity of the Good Shepherd, He immediately goes on to say "the Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep." When the Palestinian shepherd did die in defense of his sheep, that was an accident. He planned to live for them, not die for them! With Jesus, however, death for the sheep was the set purpose for His coming.
There is an element of voluntary acceptance of death in the expression "layeth down his life" which ought not to be missed. Jesus is not classing Himself as one among many shepherds, He is speaking of His own distinctive activity. The death of the Palestinian shepherd meant disaster for his sheep--but the death of the Good Shepherd means life for His sheep!
Jesus says that His concern for the flock is far different than a "hireling." "The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. The wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. (v. 11-13). When Jesus used the word "hireling" He is speaking of a man whose interest is in what he is paid for doing his job, rather than in the job itself. The Mishnah lays down the legal responsibility of the hired shepherd. And interesting provision is that if one wolf attacks the flock, he is required to defend the sheep, but "two wolves count as an unavoidable accident (i.e. no blame attaches to the hired man for any damage they may cause.)
In the passage we have been studying, Jesus exposes the Pharisees and Scribes as thieves and robbers...religious leaders who steal the spiritual life from human beings by their false religion which ultimately leads to death. In comparison, Jesus came that He might give life, and to give it in abundance. Then Jesus compared Himself as the owner and not one who has no concern to protect the flock.
Ah! What a wonderful Shepherd we have who has proved His love for us by dying for us!