The Message
I AM: The Gate
John 10:1 – 10
Friends we have come to part three of our seven part series of the “I AM” statements of Jesus Christ that are found throughout the Gospel of John. So far we have discussed the “I AM: The Bread of Life” found in John 6 and last week we discussed the “I AM: The Light of the World” found in Chapter 8 of John’s Gospel.
Today we find that Jesus has left the temple where in our lesson last week he proclaimed to the people that he was the Light of The World and the Pharisees threatened to stone him. In the scripture between our lessons in Chapter 8 and in Chapter 10 this week is a story in about man born blind, who has become a beggar. It is the Sabbath as Jesus and the disciples come across this man. The Disciples ask who had sinned, his parents or himself which caused this man to be blind.
Jesus says that neither had sinned but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Jesus spits on the ground puts mud on the man’s eyes and tells him to go and wash off the mud in the Pool of Siloam and that his sight would return. Long story short, the beggar does wash off the mud at Siloam, his sight is returned and the Pharisees are upset about all of it. Then the beggar and Jesus are confronted by the Pharisees, who showed nothing but disdain for the beggar and nothing but violent hatred for Jesus.
In frustration they cursed at the man and threw him out of the synagogue and threatened to kill Jesus. Rather than praising God for the good that Jesus was doing they repeatedly questioned the former blind man in hopes that he would indict himself or Jesus as a blasphemer.
For these action Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not being willing to see what is right in front of them. They couldn’t or wouldn’t see the miracle that standing right before their eyes, the man blind since birth had been healed by God through the activity of Jesus. These people had given up on this man. They had told him that he would never amount to anything.
Through their responses it was clear to Jesus that these leaders of Israel were false prophets and false shepherds that fleece and devour their people. They were thieves and robbers who came to kill, they came to destroy those that opposed them. Jesus who is the true Shepherd came to give life, make the lame walk, cure the sick, save the lost and to bring sight to the blind.
So today we find ourselves in Chapter 10 of John. This chapter is important in our study of the “I AM” statements, because in fact we find two of them here. Both statements revolve around two very familiar objects to the lives of the people of Judea; sheep and sheepfolds. You see since the main part of Judea is a high plateau which is very rocky and wasn’t good for crops but it was a good place to raise sheep. Grass was sparse but that was where the sheep could graze.
Consequently the sights of the shepherd and the sheepfold were familiar sights on the Judean hills and stand without explanation their own because they are so familiar to the population of Jerusalem and Judea. Today we will deal with one of them, the sheepfold, in particular the gate and the other, the Shepherd we will deal with next week.
Our lesson begins with Jesus addressing the Pharisee’s disregard for the plight of the former blind beggar and for that matter for all common Jews that are dismissed by the Jewish religious elite. He calls the Pharisees robbers and thieves because they seek to do harm others for their own benefit. Jesus says that those that seek to do harm to others are like those that do not enter the sheepfold by the gate but rather climb in by another way. Those men are thieves and robbers and they seek to do no good for anyone except for themselves. Only those that enter by the gate are the true caretakers of the sheep. For them the gatekeeper opens the gate.
Truly, Jesus says “I AM: The Gate” of the sheepfold, I am the door for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers. “I AM: The Gate”.
Anyone enters the fold through me, 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 those that come through me will have life and have it abundantly.
Now friends, we aren’t literal sheep, so how does this apply to us, in the real world, in our lives? When Jesus says, “I AM: The Gate” or “I am the door,” he’s saying that in fact that He is the access point, the only entry-point for mankind to find the security and comfort that they want, need and desire. He’s the entry point into a right relationship with God the Father, and the whole family of God.
It is through faith in Christ and Christ alone that we actually have a right relationship with God. There’s only one way to salvation, there’s only way to eternal life, there’s only one way to a real, meaningful, lasting relationship with God, and that way is throughJesus Christ. He is the gate. He is the door. He is the only way to the Father.
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
When we come in through the gate that is Jesus, he says, we will be saved. What does that mean? It means that we are saved from perishing, we are saved from condemnation, we are saved from the wrath of God, we are saved from the judgment of God on our sins, we are saved from Eternal damnation. That’s what it means to be saved.
But Jesus says there’s more to it than that. Jesus also says, “Those that come in through Him will go in and out and find pasture. As Pastor Brian Hedges comments “You see Jesus is not only our access point into salvation; Jesus is our access point into every good thing that God ever gives us. Every good gift of grace, every blessing of salvation; every good thing God ever gives us, he gives us through Christ”.
“Everything you need in your Christian life you get through Christ. If you need more peace, you get it from Christ. If you need more holiness, you get it from Christ. If you need to grow and mature in your faith, you get it from Christ. You don’t move on from Christ, you go deeper into Christ, you go through Christ to the Father, and it’s only in him, through him, that we go deeper with God”.
Charles Spurgeon offered these words about Jesus’ “I AM: The Gate” statement:
“He that enters in by the door shall be saved, and he shall go in. If you know what this means, go in. Go in farther, go in more constantly. Do not stop where you are, but go in till you have a little more. If you love Christ, come nearer to him, and nearer, and nearer still. But if you want to get into anything that is divine, you must get it through Christ.
You came to Christ at first to get salvation; you must come to Christ still to get sanctification. Never look for another door, for there is but one, and that one door will let you into life, love, peace, knowledge, and sanctification. It will let you into heaven. Christ is the master key of all the rooms in the palace of mercy, and if you get Christ, you shall go in. Nothing shall keep you out of the secret chambers; you shall go in in God’s name, through Christ the door.”
Hear to Good News my Friends………..
The final promise that Jesus give us in this lesson is this:
They will come in and go out, and find pasture. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Pastor Hedges tells us that “Spurgeon essentially said you go out into the world, you go out into your daily life, you go out into everything you do in life through Christ. In other words, meet with him first, seek him first, know him first. Go with Christ on your mind and in your heart. When you go out into the trials of life, you’re going through Christ. Christ is your entry point. When you go to fight your sin, you’re going through Christ and in all the work that you do for him, you go through Christ”.
Christ is not only our entry point into relationship with the Father, but that it is through Christ that we engage everything. Christ stands between us and everything else. Christ stands between us and the world, Christ stands between us and our sins, Christ stands between us and our suffering, Christ stands between us and every person that we meet. We go in and out through Christ. We are to live lives that are so Christ-centered that in everything we do we’re thinking of it in relationship to Jesus Christ.
It’s a promise of provision, it’s a promise of nourishment, it’s a promise of rest, it’s a promise of restoration and refreshment. It’s Christ who gives us what our souls need to keep us strong, to help us grow, to help us healthy. It is through Christ that we get life.
So, whatever you need this morning, go through Christ. Go in through him. Christ is your entry point into all that the Father has to give you. All the blessings that we could ever desire or need, we will get through Christ, because when we have the Son, we have the Father. Amen.