John 10:1 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Hello readers, hope you had a good week. We are in the final days of winter here, and today is meant to be a sunny warm(ish) spring day! I’ve been reading the book of John recently, and just concluded it this morning in fact, and it’s like all new to me again. I actually plan to re read it this week again. If I was to recommend one book to read in the Bible, it would be John. It is true spiritual food, water and bread of life for the thirsty and famished pilgrim of this world.

Today I will be briefly talking about “some other way”… because in the book of John, Jesus Christ said “I am the way” and he also just a bit later in John 10 said “”I am the door of the sheep”. There’s a lot of “I am” in John, because Jesus is the “I am”. He is God. Today we will touch on the “exclusivity” of Jesus Christ, that is, he is the way and the ONLY way. It’s Jesus Christ or bust, your life will be a bust going any other way. I do hope you’re not trying to get to God or please God or appease your idea of God by climbing life’s ladder “some other way”, because there is no other way but through Jesus Christ to forgiveness of sin and eternal life, and God.

Everyone’s climbing the ladder trying to get ahead of their fellow, when there is a perfectly good door to walk straight through! John 1 begins with a reference to Jacob’s ladder, because Jacob’s ladder is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to get up and go up, you only make it through Jesus Christ. He is the link between down here and up there. If you’re trying to get higher, only Jesus Christ, who is the most High, can take you higher both now and in the world to come.

Please think about this phrase “climbeth up some other way”. Is that you? Clambering upwards, but you haven’t gone through the door, and where you are trying to get you do not belong, because you didn’t use the door. It’s funny how the thief and the robber doesn’t use the door, why don’t they use the door? Because when the master of the house opens the door, he doesn’t let in who doesn’t belong. Thieves and robbers break in because they do not lawfully belong and they’ve come with the wrong motives and for the wrong reasons. And what they try and possess does not belong to them.

If you haven’t trusted in Christ, if you haven’t gone through the door, you’re a thief and a robber. You’re trying to get what you are not entitled to. You’re a thief of the grace of God. And you will be busted. One day you will find out your “other way” in did not get you in. Jesus Christ here is explicitly teaching that there is no other way.

We need to learn that we cannot find God, or know God, or be right with God except through the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s not “a” way, he’s “the” way. Meaning it’s him, and only him. Because Jesus Christ taught clearly that anyone and anything else is a false way… and the Bible says “I hate every false way”. God hates the false ways of this world, and he rejects them. Those ways are not the way of the truth, they do not lead to life, they do not lead you to the Father. They are the ways of death, not the path of life. And because God hates them, I hate them, and so should you. A false way is a mirage in the desert of this evil world.

I’ve been thinking recently that I think we “market” Christianity too much on just going to heaven. Just hear me out. Yes going to heaven is a vital part of it, but the fact is, many people don’t mind heaven, but they sure don’t want deliverance from sin here and now. People want to live a selfish and lustful life here and then end up in heaven at the end of it. They don’t really desire God or truth. But God said to Abraham “I am thy exceeding great reward”. A Christianity that promises heaven but is not concerned with deliverance from sin in this life is really a false gospel, seeing as Jesus Christ came to save us from sin here and now just as much as from going to hell. But we want to have our sin and heaven at the same time, and something is wrong with that.

But back on topic, I thought about the idea of “climbing” from this verse in John 10. If you’ve ever been climbing, you’ll know it’s work, it’s your own efforts trying to pull you up to a higher spot. Climbing is trying to ascend through your own efforts. Climbing up to heaven and favour with God is awful hard, and in fact futile. Religion is man trying to clamber upwards through his own fleshly efforts… but true Christianity isn’t climbing. Christianity is through Christ, not climbing. Christianity is entering by the door, a door that is open to you through Christ. But that door is a sheep door, not a thief and robber door. You’ve got to go through as his sheep, which if you’re not, you don’t belong in there, it’s not a fold for you.

I’ve figured that I’d rather go through the door than climb up some other way. Going through the door is a bit different from gate crashing. I’ve been thinking about trying to go to an event where there’s an entrance by which everyone has to go through to get in. And if you don’t have the ticket paid, identity verified and pass upon inspection, you don’t get in. If you have bouncers and security guards at entrances to human VIP events, how much higher the standard for going to heaven? If I’m not there based on Christ’s blood, I can’t hope to get in or belong in.

In John 10:3 “To him the porter openeth”… you know what a porter is? A porter is a “door keeper”, and when the door keeper sees Christ and you entering through Jesus Christ, he lets you through. But that porter doesn’t recognize, acknowledge or approve strangers and people that don’t belong. You’re not his sheep? No entry. Why do you think people don’t go through that door? Because of the porter. Because they don’t like the condition of entry. Because they don’t want to go through that door. But when you want to get into the place, but not use the door, that’s people that want heaven, but not through Christ. They don’t mind the love, but they don’t want to go through repentance. They do not agree to God’s conditions of entry. And they’re trespassers and law breakers and they don’t have legal ownership of what God offers. Christianity not through repentance and faith is theft, you don’t own what you think you own. You didn’t get it by going through the door.

This world is full of “some other way”. There are so many ways, in fact, every person these days seems to have their own way, what’s right according to them. We live in a world where every man and woman has his/her own truth, and their truth is the truth, rather than there being an absolute and objective truth that rules over all which we must acknowledge and adhere to. They’re trying to climb the evolutionary ladder, they’re trying to climb the social ladder, they’re trying to climb the moral ladder to being a better version of themselves, to reach a point of completion and fullness and accomplishment… but they’re not going to make it.

Are you Christ’s sheep? Or are you a thief? The sheep has entry to that fold by virtue of the fact that they are the shepherd’s sheep. But you want what is in that fold, and the benefits of being in that fold without going through the door. It’s amazing how people balk at the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he really that bad? Is the Saviour who died for your sins and laid down his life for the sheep really that bad? Is truth really that unwelcome to your life? It just goes to show how sinful we are inside, we are so full of enmity towards God, like when you read about how they hated Christ… they hated him without a cause. Why do you reject Jesus Christ? Like really. It’s Cain rising up inside isn’t it. This nonsensical irrational hatred.

So today I hope you stop trying to climb up some other way. How about just use the door? Go through Jesus Christ and you will find good pasture, pasture you are entitled to through what he did on the cross. Pasture that you can graze on without guilt or doubt or fear. The life of a thief is on the run, because he’s in trouble with the law, he’s got stuff that he does not lawfully and legally own. Why choose a way which is not the right way, the truthful way, the legal way? There’s just so many applications from this scripture. Notice how the shepherd goes through the door, but thieves and robbers do not. And this applies massively to godly pastors and teachers versus false pastors and teachers. A man of God goes through the door, what he says and does is in accordance with the Lord Jesus Christ and his word, but thieves and robbers, people that will steal everything God has for you, they don’t go through the door, they’ll go around Bible, they’ll violate God’s word, they’ll teach you some other way which will steal eternal life from you. They’ll harm the sheep, and we see that happening.

Don’t let some idiot steal what God has for you from you. Don’t let someone rob you of forgiveness of sin and eternal life. If that person advising or influencing you isn’t going in and out through the door, they’re not a good shepherd, or on behalf of the good shepherd, Jesus Christ. Some other way is a false way. It doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter what way you’ve concocted, if it’s not through the door, you’re not his sheep, and you’re not in. Stop climbing, Jesus Christ said “It is finished”. It’s a finished work, just believe. There’s one way up, and it’s through him who is from up who came down, who ascended back up.

When you think about it, a door is what separates between two places, inside and outside. A door is what separates between outside a house and inside a house. Well God’s house is entered by the door of Christ. He is between God and man. You know, in the tabernacle, there was just one entrance, if you went in another way, you had no right to be in there. You cannot get in but through Jesus Christ. Some other way is a false way. It’s not the way in. Use the door. Go in through the door. Do that not just in salvation, but in your Christian life. Do things right, do things according to Jesus Christ and his word. There’s a lot of people out there not using the door, not going in and out by the door. They’re making up their own ways, doing their own things, violating scripture, the lot. Do things right, starting with salvation. Jesus Christ is the only way to life, forget about anything and everything else, believe on him and believe today. Will your life be “some other way” or will it be God’s way through Jesus Christ and his word?

Blog Bible Christian Door Faith God Gospel Jesus John Life Salvation Saved Sheep Shepherd Truth