John 10:1-10.                      Jesus Christ - only gate to life!!                                   7/5/17

1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Very truly we have here another important message for us that results from Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here we are clearly told that this Jesus is our only access to God and all that he has in mind for us. To have the safety and security of being in God’s presence in heaven, we can only do so through Jesus Christ. And his death and resurrection is what guarantees and makes it a certainty.

There is no other way. Anyone who seeks access through any other way or means is a thief and a robber who is up to no good. This is an important message then, at a time when we are being encouraged to accept all kinds of views and ways as being equally acceptable.

Yet at the same time we have many desperately seeking to have the real sense of peace, hope and security that we know deep down should be there for us. We long for a life of no suffering, pain and death; Eternal life with the very best of everything. We all would like to have this. We long for it.

Here we are reminded that it is there for us, and the ‘gate’ to it is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way, despite all that is said by many around us. Jesus says: Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. He is very emphatic about this point. He only uses those words Very truly when he is making a very serious point; such as we have here.

To add to this, he says I am the gate. Now when he says I am, this is a direct reference to him being Almighty God himself. Remember when Moses asked God who he was at the burning bush, the reply came back; ‘I am who I am’ – Jahweh is the Hebrew word. This was the name that God’s people ever since knew this Almighty God by. This is the one and only true God that there is. He created, rescued and established them as people, and through whom he promised salvation for all people.

Here we have Jesus using a reference to this name for himself. Here God himself is speaking, so we had better ‘shut up and listen’ and take seriously what he is saying. The great ‘I am’ who created this world, and when it rebelled against him, he promised a way out for us all so that we can again be restored to the paradise that we long for.

Even more than that, he himself came into this world to be its saviour. He dies on the cross, taking the punishment that we deserve on himself so that we might be forgiven and once more be acceptable to God Almighty himself. Then he was raised again from the dead so that we can be absolutely sure that all of this is for real and important for us and our future.

Now here he tells us that this “I am”, himself, is the gate through whom alone we can enter this paradise. There alone is our hope for the future, in the midst of the troubles, disasters and death that we have created for ourselves, and yet long for a way out of. We are to look to and trust him alone to get us safely into paradise with himself.

He alone is the Lord of life and the only avenue through which to find the safety and life that is truly good. In him alone is salvation and eternal life possible. Freedom from everything harmful and bad is possible only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. They are seeking access through means that are not good or valid. Ultimately they will still not be a part of God’s family in heaven. No matter how much they might quote the bible and use nice words. If Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins is not central, there is a real problem.

That same implication is there for those who are trying to tell us that there are any number of other ways for us to get to heaven. Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who telling the people they would be acceptable to God if they lived up to certain standard. So if they were good enough and did what ‘good Jews’ do they could enter God’s kingdom. But the focus was on themselves and what they were doing, in order to be acceptable. There was no acknowledgement of their sinfulness and inability to do so without God’s help.

Today if you are a sincere ‘Christian’, Muslim, Hindu or whatever you are acceptable. ‘We are all on the same path to God’ we are told again and again. So if you are good ‘moral people’, whatever that is, then you are okay. Even when it comes to non-religious people, as long as they are reasonably ‘good’ people then they will be up there too. Jesus is not necessary, other than as a good example.

Yet that is not what Jesus tells us here. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Those who listen to any other voice other than Jesus Christ are in trouble. Anyone who tries to tell us things other than what we have in God’s Word and which points to the centrality of Jesus and his death on the cross are not speaking on behalf of God. In fact, they are speaking on behalf of the great thief and robber, Satan himself.

He, and our sinful human nature, wants to put the focus on ourselves and what we are doing. It wants us to think that our thinking and reasoning is what is important. It wants to shift the focus from Christ and the cross to something else, for our confidence and hope. We can decide or not how we want to get through life and be able to access heaven. We are not to listen to and follow these voices.

Here Jesus says of us: But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. So we are to be wary of what voices we are listening to. We are to run away from those who are avoiding speaking about the centrality of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.

It is interesting in my time in the ministry that when people are grounded in and surrounded by this Good News of Jesus Christ, they righty become very wary of those who speak a nice, soft and easy message. They do not recognize a stranger’s voice. They know the importance of what Jesus came into this world to do by dying on the cross. They avoid that which seeks to lead them subtly away from Jesus.

I believe it comes down to the fact that they know and take seriously what Jesus has done for them through his death and resurrection. They as a result hold him alone up as the Lord of life. So they then accept what he says about him being the only access into his kingdom. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

And he goes on to say: When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. So they know what is important because they take him and his word seriously. They accept that what is in the Bible as his Word in its entirety. They do not seek to twist and change it to their own whims and wishes. Nor do they downplay and lessen the importance of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

So they go forward boldly and confidently, know that as they follow their Lord through the gate they will find all that they need. The future will all work out for good. They will be led through the rough and tumble of this life and then into eternal glory where they will have all that they need – the very best of everything, with nothing more to worry about.  

This all being the case, let us here seek to ever listen to our Lord Jesus and all that he has to say to us. Let us also recognise that Jesus Christ and his death on the cross is our only access into God’s presence for eternity.

Jesus says: I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 To him then be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish