Will You Enter through the Gate?

If you are visiting EBC this morning, we study God’s Word during our Sunday Morning Worship Service verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter.  Today, we are in John 10.

 

1. In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes 7 “I AM” statements declaring He is God. We know that because of the language He used and because of the OT Name of God.
2. His fourth I AM statement is the one we will look at this morning. He said He was the gate for the sheep.

• Before that, He first said He was the bread of life. Next, He said He was the light of the world.  Fourth, He said He was the good shepherd.

1. Jesus is using an allegory or symbolic story to help His first century hearers understand who He was. This allegory is that of a shepherd and his sheep.  Jesus is the shepherd, and we are the sheep.
2. During the summer months, shepherds would lead their sheep and stay with their sheep overnight in the pasture. They would carry temporary fencing with them that might be akin to the temporary orange construction fencing that we often use.  Once all of the sheep were accounted for, the shepherd would literally lie across the opening and act as a gate for the sheepfold.  In this allegory, Jesus said, “I am the gate.”

 

 

Exposition

1. Entering through Jesus as the gate is salvation, John 10:7-9.

7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

 

Notice again Jesus’ I AM statement in verse 7.  Jesus is the gate for the sheep.  Knowing a little about first-century shepherd helps us picture exactly what Jesus was saying. 

 

Compared to thieves and robbers, true sheep follow their shepherd and not those they don’t know.  These thieves and robbers were the Pharisees and the false shepherds of Ezekiel 34 that we looked at last week.  They only looked out for themselves and not the sheep of God.

 

Again, in verse 9 now, Jesus said He was gate.  When the sheep would enter the sheepfold and the shepherd was their gate, they were safe or saved.  The shepherd saved them, and the thieves and robbers couldn’t get to them because the shepherd acted as the gate.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, that is true today as well.  Jesus is inviting us to be saved by entering through Him as the gate. 

 

That invitation is comprehensive in that it is open to anyone.  That invitation is consensual in that you can never be forced to enter Jesus as the gate.  You are only invited.  The result of that invitation is certain if you accept it.  You will be saved.

 

This morning, I extend that invitation to anyone and everyone in the room that is not saved.  Enter through Jesus as the gate, and you will be saved. 

 

That means admitting that you are a sinner and recognizing that your sin separates you from God.  Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin.  Call on Him as your Lord and Savior.  Your entrance to heaven is through Jesus as the gate.

 

 

2. Entering through Jesus as the gate is ONLY way to be saved and to have access to the Father.

 

In theological terms, this idea is called the exclusivity of the gospel.  Salvation and eternal life in heaven come exclusively through Jesus Christ and no other way.

 

Jesus said this of Himself in John 14:6.

 

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

 

Peter said this about Jesus in Acts 4:8-12.

 

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, 9 are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? 10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’  12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

 

Thirdly, this is what the majority writer of the New Testament, Paul, said in Romans 5:1.

 

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

 

Therefore, Jesus is not one of many ways.  We all aren’t trying to climb the mountain of God and some get up the Christian side and some get up the Jewish side and some get up the Muslim side.

 

There is only one way to heaven and eternal life and forgiveness of sin and peace with God.  It is exclusively through Jesus as the gate.

 

 

3. However, entering through Jesus as the gate is not an easy or popular choice, Matthew 7:13-14.

13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

 

Toward the end of the sermon on the mount, Jesus told another parable and equated Jesus with narrow gate.  Verse 14 says taking the gateway of life is very narrow, and the road is difficult or not easy. 

 

Furthermore, it’s not the popular choice.  Only a few find it.

 

To be more explicit, you have to turn from your sin and self and turn to Jesus.  You have step down off the thrown of your heart and allow Jesus on the throne.  You have to die to self and allow Jesus to live in you.

 

The other choice is the highway to hell.  It is broad or easy with plenty of room even through many choose this way.

 

However, it leads to eternal destruction.  It leads to an eternity in hell separated from Christ.  Please don’t choose that way today.

 

 

Invitation

I have tried to be as explicit and clear and simple as I can be today.  Now, as I have preached publicly to you the Word of God, I am going to invite you to publicly respond to the Word of God and the invitation to walk through the gate that is Jesus to heaven and eternal life and forgiveness of sin.