Taking the Door Out And In
by Rev. Kirby Williams
The Good Shepherd as the Door of the sheepfold(s).
Text: John 10:7-9
Date: 01/14/2018, the Contemporary service.
Series: "John: Encountering Love" Part 79
Description:
Because His audience did not understand the allegory of the sheepfold when He first told it, Jesus retells the analogy, but in a slightly different manner. We quickly discover that this is far from a simple "figure of speech" and that Jesus is revealing essential truths about God's plan of redemption and His preeminence in that plan. Not only is He the Good Shepherd, but He is also the Door to the sheepfold. And rather than just speaking of a communal sheepfold that He will call His sheep out of, He now talks of an exclusive sheepfold that He will lead His sheep into. We will explore this powerful image by defining two types of sheepfolds and imagining how the Good Shepherd would use them both. Wrapped up in these distinctions is a marvelous picture of Jesus as our Savior and Lord and the one who leads, nourishes, protects and ultimately saves His sheep. From this Kingdom perspective, Jesus and Jesus alone is the Door out, as well as the Door in!
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I. Introduction: Ezek. 34:13.
II. Exposition of the text, John 10:7-9.
A. Context
B. The analogy of the Door.
1. Forming a new image of the sheepfold, vs. 7.
a. The amplification.
b. The third "I am" statement, John 6:35, 8:12, 10:11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1.
c. Revising our image of the sheepfold.
i. A simple scenario.
ii. The communal sheepfold.
iii. The remote sheepfold.
¥ A nightly need.
¥ Imagining a cave.
¥ Determining who goes in.
¥ Where is the door?
2. The door out of the communal sheepfold, vs. 8.
a. A more complex image.
b. Identifying "those who came before".
i. Who they are NOT.
ii. Who they ARE.
¥ Visualizing the scene.
¥ The immediate context, Matt. 23:4.
¥ The Kingdom context.
3. The door into the Shepherd's sheepfold, vs. 9.
a. Switching sheepfolds.
b. What it means to be saved, John 3:17.
c. The security of the Door.
i. In the immediate context.
ii. In a Kingdom context.
III. Application
IV. Conclusion
