Calvary Road Baptist Church
“I AM THE DOOR”
John 10.9
I am excited about bringing some Gospel messages to you from John chapter ten, which is initially taken up with the parable of the Lord Jesus Christ as The Good Shepherd. Within the chapter, we find some illustrations that are of benefit, like the Porter, the Door, Thieves and Robbers, and Hirelings, all of which are part of the imagery of the Shepherd and the Sheep, but which like them, are used in a spiritual sense. Of particular interest to us, this morning is John 10.9, where the apostle records the Lord Jesus Christ as having said,
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
What did our Lord mean when He said those words? How are we to take His statement as part of a parable that takes up eighteen verses?
There are more than 250 parables in the Bible.[1] So it serves the child of God well to cultivate both an interest in parables and a commitment to an understanding of what parables are. One of the most well-known experts on the topic of parables was Herbert Lockyer, who authored more than fifteen books, one of them being All the Parables of the Bible. Though Lockyer spends almost four pages describing and defining what parables are, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, I will spare you the details by distilling it down to the essence.[2] A parable is a literary style that involves placing one thing alongside another thing for comparison.[3]
The question, of course, is why the Lord Jesus Christ taught in parables. He taught in parables for two stated reasons; to teach the truth to those who were responsive and to hide the truth from those who were unresponsive. We see this in Matthew 13.10-17. Allow me to read that passage to you:
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Thus, each’s attitude toward the truth that is being taught using a parable affects whether that person learns, by hearing, by seeing, and by understanding, or that person’s heart is hardened, their ears become dull of hearing, and their eyes closed to the truth. Which is to say, your attitude toward the truth being taught affects your reception of the truth or your rejection of the truth, and the impact on your mind, your heart, and your soul resulting from that exposure and your reaction to the truth.
Central to this parable, and this particular verse, is what is meant by the word “door.” Found 127 times in the Old Testament and thirty-eight times in the New Testament, I can almost guarantee that what is meant by the word “door” in the Bible is not what you would typically imagine a door to be in your mind. Therefore, I want to quickly read some passages (not all of them, I promise) from God’s Word to give you a sense of what is meant in the Bible by the word “door.”
Genesis 4.7:
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Genesis 6.16:
“A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”
Genesis 19.6:
“And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him.”
Genesis 19.9-11:
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Exodus 12.7:
“And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
Exodus 12.22-23:
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
Exodus 26.36:
“And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.”
Psalm 141.3:
“Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.”
Proverbs 5.8:
“Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house.”
Proverbs 9.14:
“For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city.”
Isaiah 6.4:
“And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”
Matthew 6.6:
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
Matthew 25.10:
“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”
John 10.1-2:
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
John 10.7:
“Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.”
John 10.9:
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
1 Corinthians 16.9:
“For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.”
2 Corinthians 2.12:
“Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord.”
Colossians 4.3:
“Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.”
Revelation 3.8:
“I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.”
Revelation 3.20:
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Revelation 4.1:
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
Sometimes the word “door” is used literally in the Bible, and sometimes “door” is used figuratively. That said when you and I think of the word “door” we typically think of a rectangular item hung in a doorway on hinges, with a doorknob and often a deadbolt lock. However, in the Bible that is rarely what is meant by the word “door.”
Consider each of these verses that I read with the English words “entrance” or “doorway” substituted for the word “door” and you will have a better idea of what is typically meant in the Bible by the word “door.” When you see the word “door,” then, think of what serves to get in or out of a building, to get in or out of a room, or to get in or out of an opportunity or place of blessing, be it a physical entrance or a spiritual opening or point of access.
Lockyer observes in his book on parables, and we have seen examples in the verses I have read to you, that the common figure of a “door” is not only used literally (Matthew 6:6, 27, 60), but in various metaphorical ways. Let me list several of those figurative ways in which a “door” is referred to:
The door of faith, by acceptance of the Gospel of grace (Acts 14:2)
The door of openings for the ministry of the Word of God (I Corinthians 16:9; II Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3; Revelation 3:8)
The door of entrance into the Kingdom of God (Matthew 25:10; Luke 13: 24, 25)
The door of the nearness of Christ’s Second Advent (Matthew 24:33; Mark 13:29; James 5:9)
The door of access to behold visions relative to the purposes of God (Revelation 4:1)
And the door of Christ as the One through which we enter into grace (John 10:7, 9)[4]
In this parable, the Lord Jesus Christ takes up this physical provision for the sheep and applies it to Himself: “I am the Door.” This is yet another of our Lord’s series of “I am” declarations found in John’s Gospel, this time declaring Himself to be the door, the doorway, the entrance. Not a door, a doorway, or an entrance.
No! He is not one of many anything. What He is He always is, which is unique and unrivaled. Whatever He means by this self-description, it must be important. A doorway has a two-fold function - it admits and excludes; it can shut in all who are welcome and shut out those whose company is not permitted through the choke point, the doorway. When the door was shut at the Marriage Feast (Matthew 25.10), it shut in the five wise virgins and shut out the five foolish ones. Christ is the Door, and as we enter in, we are saved. It is only through Him that we have access unto the Father (John 14.6 and Ephesians 2.18).
The figure of the Door is rightly understood to be parallel to that of “the strait gate” and “the narrow way” (Matthew 7.13-14). We cannot narrow the Door to the fold, nor may we widen it. Christ was the Door for that man who was excommunicated by the religious authority of the Pharisees, and not only him. You remember the man who had recently been given his sight, who was then cast out, and the Lord Jesus asked him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” That man replied, only fifteen verses earlier, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe?” Then our Lord Jesus presented Himself as the Door into a new life for that man when He said, “He it is that speaketh with thee”; and receiving Him, the once-blind man found through Christ the entrance into an entirely new realm.
We come back around to verse 9:
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Lord willing, I will further develop the context in which this verse is found in the weeks to come, but in this verse, the Door is the Lord Jesus Christ, the unique entrance to life eternal, not the way to a life governed by the dictates of the Mosaic Law. Any man who enters in through this Door will be saved and can go in and out and find pasture.
The key to understanding the Lord Jesus as the Door is the “by me” requirement for entering in. This is because no sinner can just enter in the door by himself and be saved. The Lord did say in John 15.5 that
“without me ye can do nothing.”
And in John 6.44 He said,
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”
The point the Lord Jesus Christ made in John 10.9 is that you cannot pass through the Door by yourself. Why not? You are “dead in trespasses and sins.” Enter the Door which is Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. However, you cannot enter the Door unaided. You must enter the Door “by me,” the Lord Jesus said. Thus we see, salvation, from start to finish and everywhere in between, is something the Lord Jesus Christ does, not something the sinner does.
Seven observations to make about this verse:
First, “I am the door”: the Lord Jesus Christ is the Only way to God.
It will be the night before He is crucified that He will declare to His eleven remaining apostles that He is not a way, but the way. He is not a truth, but the truth. And He is not a life, but the life. Thus, He is unique. He is exclusive. He is unparalleled. No one comes to the Father but by Him. What an astonishing claim for anyone who is not the eternal Son of the living God.
Recognizing this, the Apostle Peter declared in Acts 4.12:
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Could this be said of Abraham? No. Could this be said of Moses? Certainly not. Could this be said of Buddha? No. Could this be said of Mohammed? How utterly absurd. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could make this claim.
Second, “By me if any man enter”: Christ is the Imparter of power to enter.
Understand that not only is the Lord Jesus Christ the gate. He is also the gatekeeper. He is the one you must come to to be saved. He is the one you must come through to be saved. He is the one you must trust to be saved. He is the one you must receive to be saved. He is the one you must believe in, believe on, have faith in to be saved.
Not only is He the only Object of saving faith, but He is also the One to whom God gave all power in heaven and earth.[5] It is by His authority the Gospel is preached. It is by His authority the Gospel is carried to the far reaches of the earth. It is by His authority the Gospel is received and believed to the saving of a sinner’s eternal and undying soul.
Third, “If any man enter”: Christ IS the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike.
You do understand, do you not, that the wise men who came from the East to worship the one born king of the Jews were Gentiles? In some way those men understood,
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[6]
As well, recognize that this Savior sent from God is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abram in Genesis 12.3, through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. Though it had been a mystery for centuries, God’s plan has always been that, ultimately, through faith in Christ, what Paul explained in Ephesians 2.14 about Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ:
“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.”
Fourth, “If any man enter in”: Christ IS appropriated by a single act of faith.”
Abram was justified by faith, Genesis 15.6. And Paul holds up the justification of Abraham as the prototype of God’s dealings with all sinful men, in Romans 4.3:
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
This occurred before Abraham was circumcised, and centuries before the giving of the Law. Therefore, works of righteousness are not held up as a means for getting right with God. That is why God sent His only begotten Son,
“that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”[7]
If salvation could be acquired by any means other than faith, there was no reason for the Lord Jesus Christ to die a substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary. But His sacrificial death on the cross, the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God, can be appropriated by any sinner using simple faith in Him.
No wonder Paul and Silas responded to the Philippian jailor’s fearful question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved,” by telling him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”[8]
Fifth, “he shall be saved”: Christ IS the Deliverer from the penalty, power and presence of sin.
The word translated “shall be saved” is the future tense of the Greek word for save, or deliver. Thus, while this statement made by our Lord anticipates the ultimate deliverance of the sheep by the Great Shepherd, there are three aspects of this great salvation that is found in Jesus Christ:
First, there is salvation from the penalty of sin. This takes place in an instant when the sinner comes to faith in Christ. This is sometimes referred to as justification by faith, with Christ being the only saving object of a sinner’s faith and the forgiveness of all sins and a righteous standing before God being the immediate result. Correctly understood, justification is not something that a sinner experiences so much as a pronouncement that is made when a sinner trusts Christ:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[9]
Next, there is salvation from the power of sin in your life. Though a person is as spiritually safe and secure and bound for heaven as he will ever be the moment he comes to Christ, since justification is an event, what then begins is the process of conforming the new believer into the likeness of God’s Son. This gradual, sometimes agonizing process, which is never completed this side of heaven, is called sanctification. It is this gradual growth process that is to be observed in the lives of all who are genuinely converted to Christ since Paul stated in Philippians 1.6,
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”[10]
The final feature of Christ’s salvation, and the one to which He most obviously referred in our text as occurring in the future is what is termed glorification. One is glorified when he comes into the experience of his salvation being completed when the believer finally stands in the presence of the risen and glorified and enthroned Savior in possession of his own glorified body. It was this the apostle was referring to when he wrote, in First John 3.2,
“but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”[11]
Sixth, “he shall go in and out”: Christ IS the Emancipator from all bondage.
This can be more fully developed as we explore the parable in the weeks to come. But, in brief, the Savior refers to the liberty we have as disciples of Jesus Christ that are enjoyed and experienced by no one else, be they Jewish people under the Law of Moses or Gentiles in bondage to sin.
Unfortunately, liberty in Christ is a concept not understood by many believers in our day, but it is a precious truth unfolded in the New Testament. Liberty is not the freedom to do wrong, for that is the deceptive slavery to sin that blinds the mind and hardens the heart against God. Neither is liberty the lawlessness of unrestrained and undisciplined impulse, such as in the case of those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, Jude 4.
What is suggested here is akin to what the Apostle Paul referred to in Galatians 5.1, where he wrote,
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
This has to do with Christ’s disciples functioning as stewards of the mysteries of God, living out our lives according to the plan and purpose of God in Christ, and working in concert with others in our sheepfold to carry out the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is required of us, First Corinthians 4.1-2?
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
Seventh, “and find pasture”: Christ IS the Sustainer of His people.
What is a pasture for sheep but the place of safety and nourishment we are brought to under the oversight of the Chief Shepherd? And this is no surprise, in light of the reality that Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, is the All-Sufficient God, is the Almighty God, and that He said to Abram,
“I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”[12]
As the children of Israel were nourished by God’s provision of manna for forty years, so are Christ’s own nourished as we feed on the Word of God that is ministered to us by spiritual leaders He has provided. Here are portions of God’s Word that speak to that, with feeding referring to teaching God’s Word to provide spiritual nourishment:
John 21.15-17:
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Acts 20.28:
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
First Peter 5.2:
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.”
The late G. Campbell Morgan is said to have often told the illustration of the Door which had a profound effect upon him when it was related to him by Sir George Adam Smith. It seems that during one of his many Atlantic Ocean crossings, Dr. Morgan had as his fellow-traveler, the renowned theologian. One day, while musing over the things of God, Sir George told Dr. Morgan of a visit he paid to the Far East. While touring he came to one of those folds or enclosures with its opening in the wall. As a shepherd was nearby, Sir George asked him -
“Is that a fold for the sheep?”
“Oh yes,” the shepherd replied.
“I see only one way in,” said Sir George.
“Yes, there it is, there is the door,” replied the shepherd, pointing to the opening in the wall.
“But there is no door there,” said Sir George. Although the two were not talking of the Parable of the Good Shepherd, or of Christian truth at all, Sir George was amazed when the shepherd said,
“Oh, I am the door.”
The great theologian’s mind went back to this tenth chapter of John, and he asked the shepherd:
“What do you mean by calling yourself the door?”
To which, quite naturally the shepherd replied,
“The sheep go inside, and I come there and lie down across the threshold, and no sheep can get out except over my body, and no wolf can get in except over me.”
How rich in spiritual suggestion is this telling illustration. Christ is the Door, and we cannot go out except across His body, and no ravening wolf can reach those sheep except across His body. None can pluck us out of His hands (Luke 10.28-29). As the Door, Jesus Himself preserves and protects His sheep, and they can go in and out and find pasture. As Jesus is the Door, on which side are you? Are you in or out? “In Christ” or “without Christ” - saved or lost? What a solemn reminder we have in that simple children’s chorus -
One door, and only one
Yet its sides are two.
Inside and Outside -
Which side are you?[13]
May I summarize in very pointed fashion? The Lord Jesus Christ declared Himself to be the Door. To apply this stunning declaration to you it must be understood that He is the only way in. There is no access to God and no entrance into eternal bliss but to Him and through Him by faith. Seek entrance another way, and you will fail, spending all eternity in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Seek to contrive your own access to approach God and enter heaven, and you will be rejected because God has decreed that only those whose sins are cleansed by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ may enter in.
The reality is stark. It is inescapable. It is unequivocal. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the living God, Who died on Calvary’s cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for sins, is the only offering for your sins that God will accept. Thus, you must come to Christ, you can come to no one else, and you can come no other way, or you will perish. However, if you will come to Christ in faith believing, He will receive you, He will cleanse you, He will forgive you, and He will save you from the penalty of your sins, from the power of sins in your daily life, and ultimately from the presence of sin when He receives you into glory.
Please, come to Christ now.
__________
[1] Herbert Lockyer, All the Parables of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1963), page 3.
[2] Ibid., pages 10-14.
[3] Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation: A Textbook of Hermeneutics, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, Third Revised Edition, 1970), page 276.
[4] Vine’s Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words, (Westwood, New Jersey: Barbour and Company, Inc., 1952), pages 333-334.
[5] Matthew 28.18
[6] Philippians 2.10-11
[7] John 3.16
[8] Acts 16.31
[9] Romans 5.1
[10] Philippians 1.6
[11] 1 John 3.2
[12] Genesis 15.1
[13] Lockyer, pages 325-326.
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