The Door That Leads to Life (John 10:9)

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” John 10:9

A sermon preached at Hebron Baptist Church, Denham Springs, Louisiana on March 3, 2013 by Pastor Joe Alain.

Scripture Reading: John 10:1-10 (Focal Verse, 10:9)
One of the most common occurrences of our daily life is going in and out of various doors. Just think of how many doors we go through in a day and we really don’t give much thought to it. Just today you probably went through a bedroom door, a bathroom door, maybe a closet door, your front door, or garage door, then your car door. And that’s just before you left the house. Then when you arrived at church you exited your car through the car door, you entered the church through the foyer door, you walked through the sanctuary door and here you are. And when you leave you will go through all of those doors again.

Doors come in all shapes and sizes. There are wooden doors and glass doors, there are elaborate cathedral doors and colorful doors. Some doors are locked while other doors are opened. Some doors even take you to special places. In John 10:9 (also in verse 7), Jesus said that He was “the door.” He obviously meant a different kind of door than a literal door. Furthermore, he said, “If anyone enters by Me [i.e., this door], he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” This verse has to do with Jesus being “the door,” but what do doors have to do with shepherds and pastures, which we also find in this larger passage (vv.1-10?

Sheep and shepherds were very important in Israel. Sheep were mainly used for wool rather than food in Israel. This explains why the shepherd would name his sheep. It’s not a good idea to name animals you plan on eating. But animals that are going to be around for awhile you name. The special relationship between the shepherd and his sheep explains how the sheep would also know the voice of their shepherd and would not follow a stranger. Sheep would be startled by a stranger’s voice and run off. Every once in a while the shepherd would call his sheep just to let them know that he was nearby. God our Shepherd does that for us! He let’s us know by the Holy Spirit that He is near.

The shepherd’s job required constant vigilance, fearless courage, and patient love for his flock. He had to always be on guard against wild animals, especially against wolves, and there were always thieves and robbers ready to steal the sheep. And the shepherd was always seeking to lead his sheep in those “grassy pastures” and besides “still waters.”

In the OT God is often pictured as a shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd,” David says (Ps. 23:1). Psalm 77:20 says that God leads his people like a flock. And Psalm 80:1 calls God the “Shepherd of Israel.” Believers are called “the sheep of his pasture” and in Psalm 95:7 the people of God express praise to Him, “For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (see also Ps. 100:3).

In the NT Jesus is the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11) who will risk his life to seek and to save the one straying sheep (Matt. 18:12; Lk. 15:4). As the Good Shepherd, Jesus sees people as sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). Jesus is the shepherd of the souls of men (1 Pet. 2:25) and in Hebrews 13:20 he is the “great Shepherd of the sheep.” His disciples are his “little flock” (Lk.12:32) and when the Shepherd is struck down, the sheep will scatter (Mk. 14:27).

Because the shepherd and the sheep spent many nights out in the fields, a sheep pen would be built where the sheep and the shepherd would spend the night. These hillside sheep folds were just open spaces enclosed by a rock wall. There was an opening for the sheep to come in and go out but there was no door of any kind. At night the shepherd himself lay down across the opening and no sheep could get out or in except over his body. Likewise, no hungry wolf could get in either without first meeting the shepherd (see Jn. 10:27-29)! In the most literal sense the shepherd was the door. This is what Jesus meant when he said that he was the door. Through him and him alone people find access to God! And through Him and Him alone we as His sheep find protection.

“For through him [i.e., Jesus],” Paul said, “we have access to the Father” (Eph. 2:18). And in Ephesians 3:12, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Romans 5:2 says, “Through whom [i.e., Christ] we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Hebrews 10:20 describes Jesus as the “new and living way” into the presence of God. Jesus and him alone makes God accessible for He is “the Door,” He is the point of access.

“If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” What a promise! And a promise made to “anyone”! I am glad that I am an “anyone,” and a “whosoever” too! If you will come in simple faith, simple trust in Jesus the Son of God, you will be saved. To enter through the door is to trust in Jesus. To be saved is to be reconciled to God the Father. It is to trust Jesus who became your substitute (2 Cor. 5:21). To do this is to be saved forever secure in Him! Have you come to Jesus? Is He “your Shepherd”? 

The wonder of God’s salvation is highlighted in the next phrase, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” We come in one way (a sinner), and we go out changed by God’s grace! This phrase describes a life that is absolutely safe and secure and full and meaningful. We use the expression sometimes that we have the freedom to “come and go as we please.” What we mean is that we are totally free! The person who comes to Jesus, “the Door” is totally free! They are able to “come in and go out and find pasture” which speaks of a changed life and God’s full and meaningful life.

The saved person experiences the promise of Deuteronomy 28:6, which says that we are blessed when we come in and we are blessed when we go out. This is the “abundant life” that Jesus said that he came to bring (10:10). The phrase “abundant life” means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus is to have a superabundance of life, it is to truly be alive! To know Jesus is to experience superabundant love, joy, and peace. The story is told of a Roman soldier who came to Julius Caesar with a request for permission to commit suicide. This was an unusual request but it had to do with preserving honor. The man was known as a miserable kind of person, a wretched man with little vitality. Caesar said to him, “Were you ever really alive?” The question could be posed to us, “are we really alive?” Or “are we just existing”? There’s a big difference. When you live your own life, life is dull, lacking in vitality. But when you walk with Jesus, when you go through “the Door,” life becomes superabundant. In fact, it is only when you live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and you begin to live in the real sense of the word. If Christ is not the center of your life, you’re just marking time.

To go any other way is to only lead farther and farther away from God. The thieves and robbers that Jesus refers to specifically were the men who continually rose up in Israel promising salvation another way, usually through blood and war. Jesus is saying there have been men who claimed that they were leaders sent to you by God, but their way only leads for ever farther and farther away from God.

All ways that fall short of trusting in Jesus as Lord are doomed to fail. They will not lead you to God. Only Jesus is “the Door.” This abundant life is conditional in that Jesus said, “If anyone enters by Me.” Life is a choice, you must exercise your freedom to choose to enter into true life through Jesus, a choice that “anyone” can make, but still has to be personally made. In the once popular game show, Let’s Make a Deal, contestants that won the preliminary rounds were able to play for larger prizes. Three doors were presented and the contestant had to pick one of the three, but only one door contained the real prize! 

This abundant life (salvation) is only experienced when you chose to enter the right door – Jesus. At Walmart and other stores too, invariably you can see people continually going through the wrong entrance or exit. The doors will open on both sides, although it does annoy people like myself. But if you are going to be saved, you will have to go through the right door, and that door is clearly marked. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” John 10:9

For His Glory!
Pastor Joe