Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Facing a mixed group of believing and unbelieving Jews, Jesus told them, "I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved . . ." (Jn. 10:7-9). When Jesus said, "I am the door", he meant that through him men can enter into eternal life. On another occasion, he plainly said, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me."
After Peter was born again, he boldly preached to the Jews that salvation from the coming wrath of God can be obtained only by faith in Jesus, "for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). And referring to Jesus, God's only begotten Son, Paul wrote, "There is one Lord" (Eph. 4:5), for "God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phip. 2:9-11). Jesus said that it is the will of God for men to honor Him as they honor the Father (Jn. 5:23).
Jesus is precious; he is unique. He is worthy of "power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing" (Rev. 5:12). Indeed, he is worthy of worship, and beginning with the wise men who traveled from the east in hope of seeing him (Mt. 2:2, 11), all who fell at his feet to worship him while he was on earth were blessed by God, not rebuked (e. g. Mt. 8:2-3; Mk. 5:6; Lk. 24:50-52; Jn. 9:35-38).
Jesus is the door. He has been given all power and authority over the creation of God (Mt. 28:18). He must take a person into God's family, or that person remains forever on the outside, regardless of what that person believes or desires. Jesus is the door into the kingdom of God, not what we think or do. We cannot make ourselves right with God; only Jesus has the power to do that. Thank God that Jesus has that power and that God loves us and sent Jesus to save us!
Do you want to be a member the earthly family of God? Believe the gospel, call on Jesus for mercy, and repent of your sins. He will wash your inner man with his Spirit and make you clean in God's sight. This sacred experience of inner cleansing is called many things in the Bible. It is called being "born again", and "converted". It is described as being "translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of [God's] dear Son." The holy Spirit comes upon repentant men only in the name of Jesus, and to be cleansed by it is to be "redeemed from sin", and "sanctified", and "justified with God", and "reconciled to God". It is also called being "baptized with the holy Ghost and fire."
John the Baptist told men that Jesus would baptize with the holy Ghost and fire, and he does. Jesus' baptism is the new birth, the entering into God's family, "for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body" (1Cor. 12:13). Religious teachers all over the world offer to mankind many different ways to enter into God's eternal kingdom, but Jesus is the only one who can really take us in. Every minister on earth, regardless of his religious affiliation, who is telling people that there is some other way into the household of God than the baptism of the holy Ghost "is a thief and a robber" who has climbed up "some other way". The sheep of God will not listen to their voices, for in their hearts they hear the admonition of the Lord: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge."