John 10:1-6
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
In the last chapter, we learned that some people can’t go to heaven,
namely the blind can’t go. By blind, I do not mean the physically
blind or even the spiritually blind for in that chapter a man who had
both of these conditions from birth was saved \\#John 9:35-38\\. It
is the willfully blind who cannot go to heaven. That is just what
the scribes and Pharisees were. They refused the witness of…
1. the public
2. the blind man’s parents
3. the blind man himself
4. even their own sight!
In this chapter, we learn that thieves and robbers cannot go to
heaven either. A thief and a robber as defined by Jesus \\#2\\ is
someone who attempts to get into heaven by some means other than
Jesus Christ.
Let’s study this chapter by noting some truths about heaven.
I. The truths about salvation.
A. \\#1\\ There is a barrier between God’s flock and the world.
Carried to its futherest thought that means not everyone can
get into heaven.
1. In the parable, Jesus described the saved as being in a
a sheepfold.
a. That is a place where the sheep are bedded down for
the night.
(1) Sheep do not live in sheepfolds.
(2) They have to be free to wander and find grass to
eat.
b. Because of this, shepherds in the middle east do not
make pens to put their sheep into.
c. They find natural enclosures like a cave or a canyon
with only one entrance and bed their sheep in there.
2. \\#1\\ makes it sound like the sheepfold is walled so that
a thief would have to attempt to scale it.
a. These would be canyon walls that a thief would have to
climb down.
(1) No thief was going to burrow through that kind of
a wall and few would attempt to climb into that
kind of a sheepfold.
(2) Thieves won’t work that hard!
b. The point is that only those who come by the entrance
can come inside.
c. The barrier that keeps the wicked out of heaven is
impenetrable.
3. How does one get into Jesus’ flock?
a. You must be invited to come. The invitation must be
from the Father.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day.
b. You must come to the Entrance.
(1) That is the main lesson in this parable.
(2) Jesus did not use this parable to teach what was
required to get the Door opened in this parable,
but that you must come to the correct door.
(3) I will speak more of the Entrance in a moment.
c. You must come as commanded.
(1) Faith, believing, trusting what Jesus has done.
(2) Repentance, sorrow, turning away from sin.
4. If you do not come this way, you are a thief and a robber
who will not gain entrance into heaven.
B. \\#2, 9\\ There is one Door and His name is Jesus.
1. The sheepfold is large and spacious but it has only one
Entrance. This is one of the main points of this
parable.
2. Jesus was talking to people who would not receive Him as
the Door.
a. They were going to attempt to get in by what they
deemed good works and religion.
b. It was not going to happen!
3. There a lot of reasons why Jesus is a very unique Door but
one is because He is living!
a. In this parable, Jesus is both the Door \\#9\\ and the
Shepherd \\#11\\.
b. For a long while, I wondered why Jesus would mix two
images in this parable, then I realized it did not!
(1) Since the shepherds of the middle east used
natural enclosures to keep their sheep safe at
night, I imagine that they might have to do some
make-shift construction.
(2) They might have to stack several rows of rocks to
build a small wall or pull a tree over to make a
fence.
(3) One thing that they NEVER carried or found was a
door, but that is all right for all the
shepherds used the same kind of door.
(4) THEY laid down across the entrance into the
sheepfold!
(5) The shepherds were the doors; hence, the doors
were alive, living!
(6) So here is Jesus and He spoke of Himself as both
the Door and the Shepherd for He was both.
(7) He is the only One who be at the front (door) and
looking over the rear too (Shepherd).
4. This is why no thieves could ever get in. The Shepherd
was a living Door who knew who was there to help the
sheep and who was there to harm the sheep and those who
wanted to harm the sheep just were not going to get
inside!
5. Notice that there are two members of the Godhead involved
in getting people into heaven so far.
a. The Father who invites.
b. The Son who is the Door.
C. \\#3\\ There is a Porter that opens the Door.
1. Who is the Porter? I have often wondered who the Porter
was!
a. Jesus is the Door.
b. The Father does the inviting.
c. The Holy Spirit is the Porter.
2. What does the Porter do?
a. He revealed the Door and how to get the Door to open.
b. He is the One who literally opens the door to the lost
person.
II. The truth about freedom.
A. Although Jesus’ flock has a barrier around them and the
entrance is a Door, God’s people are not a prison.
1. Individual Christians are not forced to stay with God’s
flock.
2. In fact, at this time, God does not want us to lock
ourselves away from the world.
a. \\#3\\ The Porter opens the Door so that the Shepherd
can lead the sheep back OUT.
b. \\#4\\ The sheep are PUT FORTH.
c. \\#9\\ The sheep GO IN AND OUT.
B. This does not mean the sheep go in and out of salvation but
that the sheep may go in and out from the safety of the
sheepfold to the world to minister.
1. Just like sheep do not live in the sheepfold neither are
Christians to live in the church.
2. We live in the world and minister there.
3. We go back and forth from the world to God’s people.
a. In the world, we minister.
(1) The world is not the Christian’s playground.
(2) It’s their mission field!
(3) What is your ministry?
b. When we are with God’s people, we enjoy safety and
rest in God’s strength.
(1) The church is a rest area for the tired,
an emergency room for the injured,
a school for the growing,
a nursery for the newborn,
a rehab for the injured,
a place of counseling for the confused,
a place of comfort for the troubled.
(2) The church is the nemesis for Satan,
the line between good and evil,
the lonely’s social parlor,
the thirsty’s watering hole,
the backslidder’s revival tent,
the struggler’s support group,
the wonderer’s map room,
the quitter’s 2nd chance,
and the lost person’s only hope.
(3) The church is a fellowship of the redeemed,
a proclaimer of the gospel,
a launch pad for the serving saint,
a support line for soldier,
a standard to the world,
and a help for the struggling worshipper.
(4) This is what every church should be and what
every Christian should be striving to make it
become!
III. The truths about dangers. There is a reason why there is a
barrier between God’s flock and the world!
A. \\#1\\ There are thieves and robbers who want to steal.
1. \\#1\\ has already described those attempting to get in by
any means but the door as a thief and a robber.
2. Thieves and robbers do not break into a house to stay.
3. They break in to steal.
4. The meaning is that there are those who want to steal your
soul.
5. \\#8\\ The unsaved CAN have their soul stolen.
a. Sheep don’t hear the thieves and the robbers but lost
people do!
b. Lost people can be lied to and made to think they are
God’s when they are not!
6. The saved can NOT have their soul stolen, but they can
have their joy, testimony, ministry, and rewards all
stolen.
B. \\#12-13\\ The hireling makes the work of the thieves and the
robbers easier.
1. Again, this danger is primarily for the lost.
a. Saved people do not need a hireling. They have the
Shepherd and the Porter.
b. Of course every once in a while, a sheep will wonder
off and place himself under a hirelings care.
2. Hirelings are not shepherds who care for the flock but
employees who care for the money.
a. A hireling will not do anything that might jeopardize
him or his income.
b. A hireling will sale you for cash. Maybe you like to
have them tickle your ears but you are just
merchandise to them.
c. Sadly, that is what the majority of the religious in
Israel had become, hirelings.
C. \\#10\\ Then there is "The thief."
1. Notice \\#1, 8\\ "thieves and robbers" are plural.
a. \\#10\\ "thief" is singular with a definite article in
front of it, THE.
b. We have gone from talking about many to talking about
one.
c. "The thief" is Satan.
d. If the thieves, robbers, and hirelings don’t get the
job done, the big boss will come!
2. Look at what the Satan will attempt to do.
a. He will steal the lost person’s soul and the saved
person’s victory if he can.
b. If he cannot steal it, he will seek to kill.
(1) Understand, Satan loves killing people.
(2) He does not just kill those who are resisting
him.
(a) He kills those who are following him!
(b) Why? Because it seals their destiny!
c. And what he cannot steal or kill, he will just
destroy.
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