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  EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ON JOHN - JOHN 10:1-9
  by J.C. Ryle
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Jesus as the Good Shepherd

"I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold
by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The
one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper
opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own sheep
out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they
recognize his voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will run
away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice."
Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was
saying to them.

So Jesus said to them again, "I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door
for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters through
me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.

The chapter we have now begun is closely connected with the preceding
one. The parable before us was spoken with direct reference to the blind
teachers of the Jewish Church. The Scribes and Pharisees were the people
our Lord had in view, when He described the false shepherd. The very men
who had just said "We see," were denounced with holy boldness, as
"thieves and robbers."

We have, for one thing, in these verses, a vivid picture of a false
teacher of religion. Our Lord says that he is one who "enters not by the
door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way."

The "door," in this sentence, must evidently mean something far more
than outward calling and commission. The Jewish teachers, at any rate,
were not deficient in this point--they could probably trace up their
orders in direct succession to Aaron himself. Ordination is no proof
whatever that a man is fit to show others the way to heaven. He may have
been regularly set apart by those who have authority to call ministers,
and yet all his life may never come near the door, and at last may die
nothing better than "a thief and a robber."

The true sense of the "door" must be sought in our Lord\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/jc-ryle/expository-thoughts-on-john-john-101-9/
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