Let us now stand and hear the reading of the Word in the Gospel of John, John chapter 10. I will read from verses 1 to 19, but the preaching of the Word will be from verses 1 to 10. Actually, I'll read up to verse 21. John 10. The reading of the Word now from verse 1 to verse 21. This is the Word of Truth. "'Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.'" To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. So Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he 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 they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me, even as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my father." A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them were saying, he has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him? Others were saying, these are not the sayings of one demon possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind. Can he? Everybody here is familiar with doors. I would like the children here, if possible, after worship service, to tell me how many doors there are in your homes. And I mean counting all the doors. There are many kinds of doors. Revolving doors, Do you ever get confused in getting to them? You don't know exactly when to go or if you need to wait for the other person. There aren't many of those around here, but you've probably come to a place where they were. There are glass doors. Have you ever run full speed into one? Thinking there was nothing there? If you haven't, you've probably seen somebody do it and you felt tempted to laugh. And you probably fell into that temptation. There are barn doors, which is a pretty modern fad. And I have helped a friend put up some barn doors. And every time we finish, I always ask, what are they for? And then, of course, I understand that they're mainly there for decoration. And that's usually why they cost so much. Do you have a barn door in your house? What are you waiting for? In Portuguese, there is an expression using door, which goes like this, você é uma porta, meaning you are a door. It's not a very nice saying because it's usually used when you are trying to explain something to somebody and that person does not understand what you're saying. You are a door. Doors don't think. Doors, of course, are not or do not have life. But here, we see Jesus Christ calling himself a door. And of course, Jesus is not here calling himself a door because he's ignorant or doesn't understand what people say to him. But he is calling himself a door because he offers to us exactly what doors are there for. Doors exist to offer protection and especially access. They offer protection and access. Here in John chapter 10, we understand that the theme of the chapter is mainly a pastoral theme. We've read this in our reading in verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. But this morning, we're going to stop just before verse 10. We're going to go to verse 11. We're going to go to verse 10. And we understand that Jesus Christ cannot be our shepherd if He is not first our door. Please turn your Bibles to John chapter 5. When we hear Jesus saying, I am the Good Shepherd, we need to understand in which context He is saying that. And the context goes all the way back to John 5 verse 18, which says, For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him. because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. The leaders of the time were trying to kill Him. If you go forward in John 8, please, John 8, Verses 58 and 59. Throughout these chapters, Jesus is disputing with the Pharisees. And here, we find the context even more broadly. John 8, 58 and 59. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple." Again, they are trying to kill Jesus. And here, and even before that, Jesus introduced the I Am. He's calling upon himself the covenant name that God declared to Moses in Exodus. He was clearly saying, yes, I am Jehovah. And for that reason, the leadership of the time was trying to kill him. And we finally come then to John chapter 9, verses 40 and 41, which is the closest context for us. And you get the idea. John 9 40-41 says, Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, We are not blind too, are we? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin. But since you say, we see, your sin remains. And immediately He begins to speak in chapter 10, Truly, truly, I say to you, This is one of those places where the chapter division doesn't help a lot. It is the same discourse. Jesus Christ has just told the Pharisees to their faces, their sins remained. He was very clear. He was very direct. They were trying to kill Him. But he is not going to give up his ministry or he's not going to avoid doing what he needs to do. He is telling the Pharisees and all the sinners around him that they need to repent. They were blind and their sins remained. Before Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd, He needs to be our door. That is why today in this text from verses 1 to 10 of chapter 10 of John, you will learn this. Jesus is the only door to the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the only door. to the kingdom of God. Don't stay out. We see this first, understanding that Jesus is the door for the church. Jesus is the door for the church. Let us read again verses 1 to 6, and I'll show you here the idea of the church and Jesus Christ, of course, being the door as He declares to us. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When He puts forth all His own, He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from Him because they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. When we look at the context, we see that Jesus Christ is preaching truth, is calling sinners to repentance, and some of the leadership, if not all of it, want to kill Him. But there's another aspect here in John 9 that comes into play that helps us understand why Jesus is using what the Bible here calls a figure of speech or a Allegory, the door, the shepherd and other things. If you go back to John 9 verses 32 to 34, you understand here the idea of access. John 9.32 says, Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. This is the testimony of the former blind man cured by Jesus. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, the Pharisees, you were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us? So they put him out. The Pharisees, the leadership of the time, cast the former blind man out. They were excommunicating him because He was healed and now he was giving testimony of the goodness and the divinity of Jesus Christ. Doors are made for people to leave. These Pharisees, in their authority, were expelling the former blind man. And it is now Jesus Christ that will take this figure of speech and tell them they were the ones who needed to be cast out. That's why I say that Jesus is the door for the church. Because in the imagery here, in verses 1 to 5, He uses the idea of the church. which is a contrast between the good leaders or true shepherds and the bad leaders or the false shepherds. And of course, if you have shepherds, you have sheep. This is the church. This was the church at his time, corrupted by the leadership. And this is a word for us today, So the contrast still remains. True shepherds clearly enter through Christ alone. That's what he says in verse 1. Those who belong to me, whom I have called, come through the door. The others climb up some other way. They are thieves and robbers. What does that mean in terms of understanding the church and the leadership nowadays? It means that leaders, shepherds in a church, they are officially called by Jesus Christ. They enter into the leadership role through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. They have an official call from Jesus Christ and that call, of course, is recognized by the church. That's what we call internal calling and external calling. And in meditating on this, I remember how Dr. Curto also told us how so many self-appointed missionaries were in Uganda during his time. And they would come to him and say, why are you here? And he said, I'm serving the Lord through the OPC, the church, the denomination has sent me. I'm not here as a lone ranger. And many, many lone rangers were there. They would come in and out. and no work would be done because the sheep would not recognize those who do not come through the door." If these self-appointed missionaries were coming to Uganda and are still going everywhere in the world, imagine how many false shepherds you may find in the internet. Who have you been listening to on the internet? Who have you been listening to on television? Are they true shepherds? Have they been called by Jesus Christ and gotten into the role of leadership through Jesus Christ, through the door? Or are they climbing some other way in? Look at verse 2, how we have here clearly, 2 and 3, the idea of a permission to be a shepherd. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens. Here's a doorkeeper. Not only a door, but a doorkeeper who is very, very careful in whom he calls to tend for his sheep. A very serious charge, not only for teaching elders, but also ruling elders. Ruling elders are usually not called pastors, but they should be. We usually reserve the term pastor for the teaching elder But the ruling elders have been called to be shepherds as well. Ruling elders also need to come through the door called by Jesus and recognized by the church. We know the thieves and robbers. The Pharisees were the thieves and robbers. We know the thieves and robbers of our day. Those clearly outside the church, Buddha, Muhammad, so many. But what about the thieves and robbers inside the church? Or even in a broader sense, if you consider Roman Catholicism part of Christianity, the Pope is a thief and a robber. Roman priests. are thieves and robbers. You may not feel their influence so much here in the South, but travel to the Northeast of the United States, or even travel to Brazil, you are invited, to see how these thieves and robbers are still influencing so many and keeping so many to come through the door. And then we look into our own fold and we see how, sadly, true shepherds called by the Lord Jesus and who have come through the door, recognized by the church, they can also act like strangers. This is a serious charge. The doorkeeper lets us in to be shepherds of the sheep, but we can fall into temptation to become a stranger or teach something falsely. Please look at verse 10 now, the first part of verse 10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. You know that this part of the verse is usually applied to Satan. You talk about the devil, you talk about Satan, and depending on whom you're talking to, he will immediately say, oh, he came only to destroy, to kill and to steal. And there's a connection here, of course, especially if we think about Peter. Was Peter a shepherd? Yes, he was. Was Peter called by Jesus himself? Yes, he was. He was an apostle. Was Peter a faithful teacher of the Word? Oh yes, he was. But you do remember one occasion, right after Peter confessed Jesus Christ being the Son of God, the promised Messiah, Right after those words, when Jesus tells His disciples about the cross, about the suffering and His resurrection, Peter said, no way, that will never happen to you. If it depends on me, that will never happen to you. And what did Jesus say to him? Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block. to me. Think about the OPC, as I think about my denomination. As we even think about our local churches. How careful we need to be about false teaching and false shepherding, even among those who have been truly called and truly recognized. We are sinners, brethren. And if we are not careful, we can easily be used by Satan to be strangers and thieves and robbers amongst the sheep of the Lord. I ask you then, seminarians, this morning here, have you really been called by Christ to be ministers of the Word? Why are you in seminary? Is it a personal desire or you really understand what this period of preparation means for you not only to be confirmed for ministry, but to be really prepared not to fall into temptation and become a stranger, a thief or a robber? How many ministers or former ministers do you know that are examples and models of that. Seminarians, are you officially under a council of shepherds and therefore recognized by the church or are you a lone ranger? Are you here just studying and then maybe one day you will be under that council or not? You must come through the door. There is a doorkeeper and he cares for his sheep. My fellow teaching elders, I don't think there's any present here. Oh yes, there is. Mr. Ellis, Pastor Ellis. Are we really preaching Christ and the true gospel, teaching doctrine, sound doctrine, clearly and faithfully? As you hear pastor Peter here preaching every Sabbath, is he preaching according to Scripture or is he preaching according to what he thinks and interprets of it? Am I doing it today? Am I preaching as a true shepherd or am I preaching as a stranger, as a thief, as a robber? Many of you don't know me and I could here be saying anything that is against Scripture. And if you're not careful, maybe believe that and have a seed of error in your heart. Beloved ruling elders, I ask you, have you come through the door? Have you been called by Christ and recognized by the church? And if yes, praise the Lord. And if yes, are you guarding the doors of the church and the lives of the flock? If you read verses 1 to 5 again, you will see that the shepherd calls the sheep by name. They lead the sheep. They are with the sheep. And there's a clear application here, isn't there? O ruling elders called by Christ and recognized by the church, are you with your sheep? Then again, it seems like we only call ministers pastors because we might expect from them visiting and shepherding, but not from our ruling elders. And you know that is not true. But does that happen in practice here? Let me tell you something that I was reminded of this morning. I have been a Presbyterian since 1999. I was Roman Catholic before, and the Holy Spirit made me walk through the door and be in Christ in that year. From 1999 to some years ago, the first time I had a pastoral visit by a ruling elder was while I was attending this church back in the day. And that taught me so much being a minister now and how I need to train and encourage the elders I work with. how they too should be shepherding and being with the sheep and knowing them by name. Oh, ruling elders of this congregation, please visit your flock and be models to them. If there are shepherds, then there are sheep. And that's what we see here again from verses one to five. We see that the sheep hear the voice, the sheep are let out, the sheep follow Him, the sheep know His voice, they do not know the voice of strangers. It doesn't say it specifically here, of course, it is implied that sheep also come through the door. that we'll see more clearly later on. So I ask you this morning, are you a member of this church? Have you come through the door? Why are you here? You can be a member of a faithful church as this one and not have come through the door. The door is Jesus Christ, and through the sacrament of baptism, He inserts His children into the kingdom. And praise the Lord, we baptize our children. They are in the covenant. We bring them through the door. Yes, training them to one day walk through the door by themselves, professing their faith in Jesus Christ as the only door. So I ask you this morning, little children, covenant children, do you understand? You are already part of the flock. You are already part of the fold. But how many of our children, as they get older, are tempted to leave the flock, to leave the fold and become rebellious? That is a true temptation, a real one. And many follow the stranger, many follow the thieves and the robbers. As the shepherds of this church deal with rebellious sheep. You might have to hear the following expression, don't let the door hit you on the way out. And this will be said lovingly, expecting you to repent, expecting you now to listen to the voice of the shepherd and not respond as the Pharisees in verse 6. This figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. They couldn't understand. They were false shepherds because they were false sheep. You come through the door. You are born again. And then you become a shepherd if that's the function the Lord has for you in His fold. Jesus Christ is the only door for the church. And now we see from verses 7 to 10 that Jesus Christ is the only door for salvation. The Pharisees did not understand. They were blind. Their sins remained. And in verse 8, Jesus describes them a little bit more. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. They were rejecting Christ. Christ was healing the sick, curing the blind, Saving the lost. And they were rejecting Him. They wanted to kill Him. Does that sound familiar? Well, maybe it's a little different nowadays. But I challenge you to keep testifying of this truth. Jesus is the only door to salvation. You need to come through the door of Christ into the church in order to find salvation, at least ordinarily, as our Confession of Faith puts it. You are in the 21st century, in a post-modern culture, which hates, despises, The exclusivity of Jesus Christ. I am pretty sure you've seen that bumper sticker, Coexist. If you haven't, look it up in the internet, it's very interesting. See the symbols there, they represent Islam, they represent other Eastern religions, they represent false ecumenism. That's love, that's loving our neighbors as ourselves, isn't it? Learning how to coexist, learning how to teach that every religion, if that person follows their rules, will guide them to God. Jesus Christ is here clearly telling us that false religions only offer closed doors. You might think this is obvious, and it is. But we don't deal well with obvious things and teachings, do we? How hard is it for you to hear that Jesus Christ is the only door? He's saying that in verse 7 and 9. So Jesus said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse 9, I am the door if anyone enters through me. That's the only way. Again, I challenge you. Go out of these doors and throughout your days, repeat this obvious truth. Jesus Christ is the door and you must come through Him in order to find salvation. No other religion can give you that open door. And you will see the reaction of people around you. Jesus Christ is the only door to salvation. And be encouraged this morning, as you're not only challenged to keep testifying of this truth, but to understand the benefits of having walked through the door and now being in the fold of God. The rest of verse 9 says, The one who enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Is that what you need? Do you need protection? Well, the Lord is saying here, those who come through me, I am the door. They will come in and out. This is the reality of the church. We can't be here every day. The Lord's day is our blessing on the week, so we go out and protected by the shepherd, keep testifying that he's the only door. Do you need nourishment? That's what he gives us. We find pasture. We find pasture here, we find pasture there, as He is always with us, with the shepherds and under shepherds He has established among this fold. We've seen that verse 10 is usually interpreted concerning Satan, at least the first part. I want you to look again at verse 10, now the second part. And really tell me what comes to your mind when you hear these words. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Abundant life. Honestly, aren't we so influenced by the false shepherds, the false teachers who take this verse and say that abundant life means material blessings mainly. We look at the Reformation. We've just celebrated one more year of that day, that revival period. when God used many true shepherds to bring many through the door, which is Jesus Christ. And many look at that and say, that's why Protestant nations are so rich. That's why the United States is a first world country and not a third world country like Brazil. Because here, they have the abundant life of Jesus Christ. In Brazil, we are still in need of a revival because we are under the darkness of Roman Catholicism. And you may be confused or even led to error. in thinking that abundant life means material things only. Oh yes, it means that. But not mainly that, not priorly that. Abundant life means that which a door gives us access. Access to God. Again, this is why Jesus Christ is using here this figure of speech. The Pharisees had cast out the former blind man because he was now testifying of Jesus Christ. And Jesus is reminding us here that because Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast out of Eden. They were cast out from the presence of the Lord. And as we look at the Old Testament and the progression of Revelation, we see that when God told the people to build a tabernacle and later a temple, again, access to Him in the Holy of Holies was completely limited. The doors weren't. very open at that time. And that was clearly pointing then to the very open door in Jesus Christ, which can be closed to those who reject Him as the Pharisees did. Do you remember how in the flood It was God himself who shut the door of the ark. And he shut the door, bam. And who was saved but Noah and his family. It is not a message for the times of Jesus. It is not a message for our times. But it is the message that we need to tell the world. Jesus Christ is an open door. But He is closed to those who do not come through Him and Him alone. This door is very much open now. Will you come through it? It is very much open now, but it will be closed. And there will be no more time to come in through it. Remember I told you about revolving doors? And did you know that they were invented by an American inventor named Theophilus Van Kannel. And he patented them as storm door structures. Not because he wanted to save on energy bills, these doors are known for that, but because he disliked holding doors open for others, especially women. What a motivation to invent something so useful. Jesus Christ, He does not only love to hold the door open for sinners to come in. He is the open door. He is the open door for you to come in and out and find pasture. Will you come? Let us pray. God Almighty, You have always been the shepherd of Your sheep. And we praise You because Jesus Christ, with courage, came and said in the midst of danger and turmoil and straits, I am the good shepherd. And for that, they wanted to kill him. And we thank you because we understand he is our shepherd, because your Holy Spirit has made us walk through the door, which is Christ himself also. We pray, Lord, that the United States, Brazil, and every other nation may come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that which we read for the assurance of pardon may become true in our days. The promise of the new covenant being spread out throughout all the earth. Help us to see today, this morning, sinners coming through the door and feasting with Him. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Let us now stand and we'll sing a hymn of response, number 598, preparing ourselves also for the Lord's Supper. Let us stand and sing 598. ♪ Great Jehovah, pilgrim through this sacred land ♪ ♪ Our heavenly King, the Lamb Almighty ♪ ♪ Only worth thy humble hand ♪ ♪ Bread of heaven, bread of heaven ♪ ♪ Filling this darkened world ♪ ♪ With music I walk alone ♪ ♪ Oh, when now the crystal fountain ♪ ♪ Let suddenly sink afloat ♪ ♪ Let the fire and cloudy billows ♪ ♪ Making all my journey clear ♪ Shall he live, shall he live, In the spirit of strength and shield? In the spirit of strength and shield? ♪ When I tread the wonders of morning ♪ ♪ Make my anxious fears subside ♪ ♪ Death of death and hell's destruction ♪ ♪ Let me say one thing in time ♪ ♪ Songs of praises, songs of praises ♪ ♪ I am the never-missing thing ♪ Amen. You may be seated.