Please stand with me for the reading of God's word. We'll turn in our Old Testament scriptures to Ezekiel chapter 34, and then over to John's gospel chapter 10. So first to Ezekiel, the Old Testament prophet of Ezekiel, chapter 34, verse 11. Let's give our attention to God's word. Here the prophet Ezekiel has been contrasting the irresponsible, the worthless hired hands who have attempted to shepherd the people of God with the living and true God, the true shepherd of the sheep. So we'll pick up with verse 11 of Ezekiel 34. For thus says the Lord God, Indeed, I myself will search out for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep. So will I seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, and the valleys, and all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their folds shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold. and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment." And now to John's Gospel, chapter 10. We'll read the first 10 verses. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the 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. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come. that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. We are turning in the preaching of the Word this morning to John's Gospel, Chapter 10. Please turn there if you already are not there. And we're considering another of the I Am statements of our Lord Jesus Christ. In recent weeks, we've considered an occasional preaching over the course of the last several weeks, and in fact a couple of months, these seven I Am statements of our Lord Jesus Christ. He proclaims in John chapter 6, I am the bread of life. In John chapter 8, I am the light of the world. And now here in John chapter 10, we have two of these I am statements close together. I am the door of the sheep, and I am the good shepherd. We'll study the first of these statements, these glorious declarations of our Savior, I am the door of the sheep. We'll take that in our study this morning. In coming weeks, we hope to move then to I am the good shepherd. These two statements of our Savior, very closely linked together. These short sayings, these statements of our Savior set apart His glory, His identity, His majesty, as well as the fact that He came to save. He came on a mission to save those who were lost and dead in their sins, and He is the only Savior. These I Am statements set apart not only the full deity of our Savior Jesus Christ, but also His full humanity, that He's one made like us. Simple statements of His glory, of His sufficiency, and even His exclusive power as the only Savior. There's much that we learn from these short punctuations throughout the Gospel. I Am. the light of the world. I am bread of life. I am the door of the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the light. And I am the true vine. But today, we consider something of our Savior's declaration. I am the door of the sheep. And there's something here I think in a particular and a profound way that proclaims the exclusive nature of the Gospel. What do I mean by that? The fact that there's only one Savior of sinners. The fact that we as Christians proclaim and believe a Gospel that is an exclusive Gospel. That there are not multiple ways to God. And that there's a search for meaning deep in all of our hearts that our Savior here answers. There's a search for meaning. And this should be immediately apparent to you. That as we look out and we consider our current context and our culture even, that there are many answers. that are given regarding the search for meaning, for transcendent reality, for truth. There are many answers. And what seems to be so offensive today is not the idea that there might be a possible answer out there, but the fact that there's one gospel, one exclusive message, one redeemer, one way, one door of the sheep. This idea, this glorious truth of the gospel is increasingly under attack in our own day, is it not? Ligonier Ministries publishes a state of theology, I believe it's every couple of years, where they, as it were, seek to take the temperature of both our nation and also the temperature of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, even the professing evangelical church. Most alarmingly, the most recent of these surveys states that 56% of professing evangelicals agree with the statement that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Also very concerning. 43% of professing evangelicals agree with the statement that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. So you can clearly see, and certainly our experience bears this out, that the glory of our Savior and the exclusive nature of his gospel is so clearly under attack today. And the duty and the mission of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to continue to proclaim unashamedly that there's but one way to God. There's one door of the sheep. And this is the message that you need to hear, isn't it? You in the misery and darkness of sin by nature, you burdened by the guilt of sin and by the reality of the brevity of your life, and the reality of death. and a conscience that so often condemns, you need to hear again and again this message that there's one way to the Father. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's one door of the sheep. And this is the very clear message of John chapter 10 that I would call us to reflect on simply together this morning. I am, this proclamation of our Savior, I am the door of the sheep. And certainly as we want to push back against false ideas and false religion against the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we would be foolish to believe that that's all that we need to do. We need to apply, we need to understand this gospel, all of our hearts. that we would all love our Lord Jesus Christ and enter by the true door, by the door of the sheep. We're going to study this little statement of our Savior, particularly verse seven and on through verse 10, this little statement of our Savior. I am the door of the sheep. Verse nine, I am the door. We're going to study it very simply. And the outline will look if you were Here for the the sermon on the bread of life the statement of our Savior. I am the bread of life We use a very similar approach you might see some similarities between the outline But it's it's I I hope clear from the text what we're seeking to accomplish We're going to study first of all what our Lord Jesus means when he proclaims I am the door of the sheep what very simply what does this statement mean I? Then secondly, as he compares himself, uses this picture that he is the door of the sheep, what does it mean to enter by that door? And then lastly, what are the promises attached? For all those who enter in saving faith through the door of the sheep, what promises are attached to entrance? So what does our Savior mean? How are we to enter by the door And then what are the promises, the glorious promises attached to this salvation? First, this question. What does Jesus mean when he says, I am the door of the sheep? You need to understand the text, really going back to verse one of of the chapter. Jesus here is giving an illustration to his hearers using a simple picture, a picture that probably even you children would be familiar with. Perhaps some of you have animals if not sheep. Maybe you have dogs or cats chickens that you keep in a pen. You know the importance, perhaps, even at night, of making sure that they're tucked safely away, particularly chickens or other animals, and that no predators can hop in over the wall. Perhaps to change the picture just a little bit, you might, even if you don't have pets or other animals, you might like to play in your backyard with a fence around it. Yesterday afternoon, in fact, as I was preparing the sermon, a dog jumped over the fence from a neighbor's property, and my children had a wonderful time. The dog did not come in by the door, but left by the gate to the yard. What our Savior is doing here is setting before us a very simple picture. a simple illustration to convey to us the exclusive nature of the gospel. He's comparing the church to a sheep pen, to a sheep fold. He's proclaiming himself as both the door, as the gate to that sheep fold, and also as the good shepherd. And He at the same time is castigating all of the religion of man. The Pharisees, those who professed to know God, but yet were blind leaders of the blind. Jesus is saying, I alone am the door. If you want to enter, if you want eternal life, you come through me and through me alone. Thieves and robbers and strangers hop over the wall, come in another way. I'm both the gate and the good shepherd. In verses 7 through 10, of course, our Lord Jesus will explain what He means in this illustration, that He is the door or the gate of the sheep. And then later in the chapter, He'll come back to the same illustration, the same picture from the opening of the chapter, and proclaim the truth that He is the Good Shepherd, both the Good Shepherd and the door. And perhaps to help these ideas come together in our minds, it was frequent in Palestine the sheep to be gathered at night in the sheep pen and the shepherd to simply lie at the open entrance to that enclosure. And thus the picture solidifies in our minds that our Savior is both the one and only exclusive door to the sheep pen, to the folds and the good shepherd. So the first of these pictures today, I am the door of the sheep. the one exclusive Savior. I am the door of the sheep. And the emphasis here is on the sheepfold as the invisible church, as all those who have entered by our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not enough merely to come in through the physical doors of the church to be seated on these pews. The sheepfold, the pen, as it were, the fold that our Savior is referring to in these verses, is the invisible church, particularly all those who are united to Him by saving faith, who have entered in faith, believing in our Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of sin and clinging to Him. This I am statement, as we have learned in recent weeks, is a statement of His unique person and work. I am. Echoes the words of Exodus 3.14 and Moses' encounter of Jehovah at the burning bush. The I am that I am. The one living and true God. God proclaiming, I will be what I will be. I am the self-sufficient God. The one living and true God. Besides me, there are no others. The one who is infinite. Unchangeable. Eternal, glorious in perfections. Jesus is here proclaiming His own deity. That He's one with the Father. That He's the eternal Word of the Father. Equal in power and glory. Not less than the Father in any way. The I Am that I Am. This accords with the whole rest of John's Gospel. The throbbing pulse beat of the Gospel to proclaim the exclusive deity, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Back in chapter 8, Jesus proclaims to the Pharisees that He indeed is the true son of Abraham, but yet also the one who is Abraham's Lord, the one who existed before Abraham. John 8, verse 56, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old. And have you seen Abraham? They don't understand his preexistent deity, his glory from before the foundation of the world. John 8.58, Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. I am true God of true God. The one mediator. Equal with the Father. The Word of the Father. Of course, we remember as well back in chapter 6 that our Savior had proclaimed that He was the bread of God who came down from heaven. and gives his life to the world. Very clearly, he is the word made flesh. He's the bread of God come down from heaven. The son of man who came down first from the glory of heaven. The I am that I am. The one who, we'll read later in John's gospel, in John 17, the one sent from the one true and living God. This is eternal life, that they may know you the one true and living God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And in fact, if we could write one thing over the entire gospel of John, We would find this statement in verse 31 of chapter 20. These things are written, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name. And as we read these statements, these I am statements of the glory and the deity of Christ, the refrain over and over and over is the unquestionable deity and glory of our savior, that he is That He is the true Word of the Father. He is the true Redeemer. He is the one mediator between God and men. Fully God and fully man. Such a Redeemer came to us. Salvation is not about earning our way to God. but God coming to us in our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has humbled himself, revealing the glory of the Father and opening the door to heaven. I am the door of the sheep, the full deity and yet the full humanity of our Savior. This is a glorious truth. But what are we to do with it? What are you to do with this truth? The fact that our Savior says, I am the door of the sheep. Well, very simply, the gospel calls us, our Lord Jesus calls us in verse nine, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The simple call of the gospel is to enter, is to come in through the door. not enough merely to recognize the truth that our Savior is true God of true God, the one mediator, fully God in our flesh. But the call of the gospel placed upon all of our hearts and consciences is to enter by that door. As you enter the doors of the church this morning, you entered into the visible church with all of her privileges and the joy of her worship being gathered under the means of grace. But our Savior is calling for something more, something different. He's calling you to faith in Him. This salvation, this entrance through the door is not an automatic thing. It's not automatically dispensed through the means of grace, even taking up the sacraments. but it comes through living faith in Jesus Christ. Is this not the same, really picking up on the same theme that we saw back in chapter 6, where Jesus called us to eat and drink, to take of the bread of life, to partake of Him, not in a physical way, but to take Him by faith, that Christ who is Offered to us in the gospel might be embraced with true living faith. Is this not what faith is? Our catechism tells us that faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone as he is freely offered to us in the gospel. Simple but clear message. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. The call here is for saving faith in Jesus Christ. Perhaps you say, well, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've repented of my sin. You need to hear the gospel over and over and over again. You keep clinging to Christ. The Christian life is a life of faith. and repentance. You delight in Christ. You enter by the door. You trust him. And you never, as it were, move past the Lord Jesus Christ in the Christian life. You're continually clinging to him by faith, feeding on him, entering by him, knowing that he is the way, the truth and the life, knowing his sufficiency, that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that this indeed is life. to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. So this is for you. This is for you, all of you who cling to Christ and who have entered savingly the door. There are others who loiter at the door, who perhaps think that Jesus perhaps could be the Savior of sinners who try to maintain objectivity, but also, as it were, try to put their eggs in another basket of worldly wisdom, of man-centered religion, of the ideas of the day, perhaps even science with all that it offers. And you loiter at the door. You perhaps recognize that intellectually the truth of what I'm proclaiming, the truth of what John's Gospel would present before you, But you have not embraced Jesus Christ by faith. And I call you today to enter by the door, to leave behind your own good works and even relying on your even church membership or partaking of the sacraments, but to take Christ by faith, believing in Him and entering by the door. Others of you, perhaps you believe that you you think you have entered but yet your life reflects a continued pattern of rebellion and disobedience against the door of the sheep, against the Lord Jesus Christ. Your life is not submitted to Him. And you, though you have a form of godliness, yet by your life you deny the power thereof. And I call you to examine your hearts, to test yourself, as to whether or not you are in the faith. To take the Word and the tests of the Word, to see if indeed your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, entering through Him the door of the sheep. This is a sobering reality. These are sobering words. But this is the message of Scripture. This is the message of the Gospel, and it's a matter of life and death that we understand this Gospel. Isn't this what our Savior proclaimed back in Matthew 7? In His Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7, verse 13, "...Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." There's an urgency here of entering by the door. of coming through our Lord Jesus Christ, trusting Him, repenting of your sin, clinging to Him by faith, resting upon Him alone as He's offered to you in the Gospel, recognizing that He Himself is the Gospel, that it's not merely enough to know about Him or to even affirm the truth that I'm preaching from John 10, but you enter by the door, called by the Spirit, your eyes open to your sin and misery, your mind enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, and your will renewed by the Holy Spirit of God. Embracing Christ, the one in whom there is all fullness and life. Not to receive just one blessing, such as the forgiveness of sins, but to embrace Him, to embrace the God-man, the person, God and man, together in two distinct natures in one person forever. One Savior of sinners. One way. and one door. There's an urgency here that I call upon you to come through the door. John Calvin said it well, that there is but one open door and all approach in any other way is prohibited. But one open door proclaimed in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He, in fact, he indeed is the door of the sheep. He calls us to enter by Him. And then having entered for all who know Him in saving faith. What are the benefits? What are the promises attached to this call, to this proclamation here in John chapter 10? Those promises we really read in verse 9. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Two simple promises really that our Savior offers He offers safety, security, and he offers life. He offers the abundance of eternal life. Safety. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in. and out. This rich blessing of salvation. Salvation from sin indeed. Salvation from the wrath of God. In Sunday school this morning we discussed something of the great truth of Christian liberty. That Christian liberty is not liberty to do just what we want. but it's freedom to approach the throne of grace, to delight in communion with God, to be free from the sting of sin and the condemning nature of the law of God and even the wrath of God. Here are Savior promises to all those who enter by the door. taking hold of Him in living faith. He promises safety, security in Christ, that you belong, Christian, to your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who fully satisfied for all of your sin, and who holds you, who keeps you secure to heaven, so that not even a hair can fall from your head, apart from the decree of your Father in heaven. The one who keeps you now, who enables you to come in and go out and will keep you all the way to heaven. The image here is of the sheep entering the fold at night through the door. Very simple image. And then going back out during the day to find pasture. Safety, security in the fold. This is what our Savior promises. Safety in Him. To echo the words of Psalm 121, that the Lord our Keeper watches over us, even in our going out and our coming in. That there's safety in Christ. And even safety from false teachers, from the thieves and robbers who would jump into the fold and seek to destroy the sheep that our Savior keeps us, even from the attacks of the wicked one. This is what we pray for, isn't it, in the Lord's Prayer. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The great delight of safety in Christ, saved from the wrath to come, delivered from the sting of sin, the condemnation of the law, and secure in Christ, now and through eternity. And our Savior also here promises us life, abundant life. Through Him, through the true door, we go in and out and we find pasture. Also, verse 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Abundance of life. Fullness of life. What is this life? It is communion with God. It is that eternal life that our Savior proclaimed, that He prayed for in John 17 3, that this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent, to know communion with God. Rich and abundant life. the pasture that we read of in Ezekiel 34, that pasture, unlike the hired hands and the irresponsible shepherds of Israel, the pasture that God Himself would shepherd His people to, I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel." You can also recall the words of Psalm 23, that the Lord leads us by the still waters and makes us lie down even in green pastures. This is what our Savior does for us in our wandering, in the misery of life, in the trials that we encounter day by day. We have this assurance of pasture. What does it mean to to find this pasture, to know this rich pasture, this abundant life. Well, it's it's here, even under the preaching of the word. You look forward to the administration of the Lord's Supper next week. It's here that you find rest for your souls, that you who are attacked by the all the wiles of the devil. and all of his fiery darts, you see yet the sinfulness and corruption of your heart. It's here, even in the public worship of God, that Christ, the door and the good shepherd, ministers to you and brings you into rich pasture, that he sustains your soul, that he keeps you, offering you safety and security in him and also rich and abundant life. This is the work of our Good Shepherd, and of the door of the sheep, bringing us in, feeding us, folding us in. Ultimately, this is the abundant life, the everlasting life. that our Savior gives us. Not just here and now, but in the ages to come. The rich pasture of everlasting life. We confess in the creed that I believe in the life everlasting. That abundant life. That life that is never failing and never ending. Believe in everlasting life. And what a comfort this is. To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one, who perhaps have lost someone close to you in recent days, and even as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what a comfort this reality is, that through the door, the door of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, that you can go in and out and find pasture. For all those who belong to him, the same, that they belong to our Lord Jesus Christ and he gives them the life everlasting. Life and life more abundantly. That unlike false religion and the idols of entertainment and pleasure, the thief and the robber who does nothing but to steal and to kill and to destroy, our Savior has come that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. And this is not a promise of health. and wealth and outward prosperity, but it is a promise of eternal communion with Himself that He gives us Himself, communion with Him now and the life everlasting to come. This is the joy of entering by the door, our Lord Jesus Christ. What a comfort It is to hold fast to this life, to know the security that He alone brings and to feed in the rich pasture in union with Him, now and through the ages to come. Well, we must ask another question of our text back in John chapter 10. How possibly can all these things be true that our Savior is proclaiming? Well, what do I mean by that? How can he proclaim, I am the door, if anyone enters by me he will be saved and we'll go in and out and find pasture. How can these realities be true because we know when we read the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, that in our first parents we sinned and that our sins have separated us from communion with God. The door to the garden was closed upon the sin of our first parents, that they were expelled from the favorable presence of God. An angel with a fiery sword blocked the way to the garden and to life with God. The door was closed. No open door to communion with God. How can it be then that our Savior would proclaim, I am the door of the sheep? But here, again, just as we read with all of the I Am statements, they terminate in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That there, the door is opened. Eternal life grants it. There, sins are atoned. There, Hebrews chapter 10, reflecting on this truth, says that the veil between heaven and earth, as it were, the door that was once closed has been ripped open and we, through the torn veil of our Savior's flesh, and we've been ushered in. and to communion with God, to life with Him, the forgiveness of our sins, the putting away of our guilt, and the promise of the life everlasting. It's through the cross, brothers and sisters, that our Savior proclaims, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. This is a clear spotlight on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who is the fulfillment as well of Jacob's ladder, the ladder on which the patriarch saw angels ascending and descending. This open, as it were, window into heaven. Heaven and earth brought together. This is fulfilled in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has accomplished through his cross work, through his resurrection, through what he's doing now at the right hand of the Father, to bring us to glory, the door to communion with God opened. Life everlasting, the assurance of the forgiveness of your sins and the hope of heaven. This is how the door to life has been opened. so that you can even pray with the psalmist in Psalm 118 verse 19. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will go through them. And I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. And brothers and sisters, because of your union with Jesus Christ, the One who is the door of the sheep, the One who has ascended the ancient gates of heaven, flinging open to Him, the Lord strong and mighty in battle, the King of glory, because you've been united to Him, When you die, you will enter the gates of heaven yourself. The door to glory, the door to eternal pasture, the door to the life abundant and everlasting opened through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the glorious truth of the gospel. Have you entered, by saving faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the door of the sheep? I call upon you to trust Him, to run to Him, to believe the Gospel, and to enter by Him who is the door. Let's all pray together. Gracious God and Eternal Heavenly Father, we praise You for the promise of the Gospel Lord Jesus, that You are the door of the sheep, that if anyone enters by You, they will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture, find rest for their souls, that You came through Your death to bring life and life abundant. Drive these truths home to our hearts. enable us to delight in your promises to commune with you, Lord Jesus, and to know the fullness of life abundant, not in the passing pleasures of sin, but in communion with you, Lord Jesus, by the power of your spirit. We ask that for those who are yet outside of Christ, that you will draw them through the door or Jesus, the door, the sheep. We ask all these things in your name. Amen. Go with the blessing of our trying God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord lift up his face upon you. Be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. Amen.