Introduction: Life is so uncertain. A car accident. A heart attack. Cancer. Some crazed shooter. Death may come unexpectedly to any of us at anytime. The most important thing a person can do is to be right with God, and be sure of eternal life. Jesus talked about this a lot. In John 3 He told Nicodemus to enter the Kingdom of God by being born again, through faith. Here in John 10, He tells us to enter the Kingdom of God through the Door, and that He is the Door. What lessons does God have for us in this chapter?

I. People really NEED to get into the sheepfold.

A. There is only one sheepfold...there is only one Church...only one Kingdom of God.
B. People really need to get into the sheepfold...i.e., people really need salvation.
C. Evangelism is difficult in America today, because people don't feel a need to be saved. People want happy marriages. They want happy children. They want wealth and self-realization. But most people aren't looking for salvation.
D. People don't believe in sin, and they don't see themselves as sinners.
E. People don't believe in Hell or in a God who would send sinners to Hell.
F. People believe everyone who lives a pretty good life will go to Heaven, or that really, this life is all there is. People have little interest in the next life.
G. But Jesus taught that people are sinners, that Hell is real, and that an angry God will send unrepentant sinners to Hell. We need to get into the sheepfold!

II. There's only one legitimate Door into God's Kingdom -- Jesus.

A. People try many other "doors."
B. But Jesus is God's only way in (John 10:9; 14:6; 3:35-36).
C. People who come into the Visible Church without repentance and saving faith in Jesus bring destruction to the Visible Church. They "steal, kill and destroy." They supplant the Word of God. They steal away the glory of God, and the power and beauty of the Church. They destroy the witness of Jesus' Church to the world. They bring about the "Apostasy," the "Falling Away" that Paul wrote of in I Timothy 4:1-2.
D. The Baha'i temple in Illinois is a beautiful building with nine sides and nine doors, representing the so-called nine great religions of the world: Christianity, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam and Baha'i. This religion is very appealing to the modern American, but it is a slap in the face to Jesus. Jesus is the only Door to God.

III. Jesus is not only the exclusive Door, He is also the exclusive Shepherd of God's people.

A. John 10:2 and 10:11.
B. He is the Good Shepherd, and He gave His life for the sheep. More about this next week, but for today just remember that He is our Shepherd. He loves us, he protects us from wolves. He brings us back when we go astray. He even gave His life for us.

IV. The doorkeepers and the sheep both need to exercise discernment.

A. The doorkeeper symbolizes the pastor, the "undershepherd" of the sheep. He must open only to Jesus, and not to any false religion or false teacher.
B. Pastor, to what influences will you open up your church? There are many false teachers and doctrines seeking to gain entrance. There are denominations which are full of unbelieving pastors and immoral pastors and Bible-denying pastors. The doorkeepers lost their discernment!
C. And you sheep! You must wake up and be less sheepish. You must hear the voice of the Shepherd, and run from the voices of false shepherds. Too many of God's people are abandoning strong Bible teaching in favor of worldly religious thinking (2 Timothy 4:1-4).

Conclusion: Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and Jesus is the Door. He is the only door into the Kingdom of God. If you haven't yet been saved from your sins, you need to be saved. It is a deadly disaster to think little of sin, and to think little of where you will spend eternity. I hope you will receive Jesus as your Savior today. And let's all learn to exercise our spiritual discernment a little better, because there are many false teacher trying to lead God's people astray.