Friday night, I was able to go to the dedication service of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Vandalia. They have a new building. They have an old building which they've refurbished, and it was it was a great time of celebration and Thanksgiving. It was so neat to see what God had provided for them and to hear part of the story of how they had been searching and searching and searching and Pastor Jackson said, we'd pretty much given up. God had brought us to the point where it's like, whatever Lord give us something. And then what God provided fits them so well as far as a just a beautiful old sanctuary, they spent more refurbishing it than they paid for the actual property and it looks great. So I'm still praising the Lord for his kindness to our brothers and sisters on the north end of town. You'll find in your bulletin on page 12 the scriptures we're looking at today and an outline on page 13. There are fill in the blanks and a lot of a lot of Bible quotes. So I'd encourage you if you take notes to try and get at least the Bible verses down you can go back and read them later and that might be helpful to you. I'm mindful of the words of our Lord Jesus. He was actually arguing with some of the Jewish folks and they were not pleased with what he was saying and he at one point says, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life. But they are they that speak of me and you're unwilling to come to me that you may have life. As we come to the scriptures this morning, let's make it our prayer that we come to Jesus. We search the scriptures looking for him and as he is the word of God written preached and dwelling at the right hand of the majesty on high that he would open our hearts and cause us to hear him. In fact, let's let's pray that right now. Oh Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way, the truth and the life. And we come to you as we examine this portion of your teaching, excuse me, your teaching give us light and life. Eyes that see ears that hear hearts that are filled with joy at your word and delight in you. O God, work in us those things that are pleasing in your sight. We ask this Lord Jesus for your glory and our eternal good. Amen. So hear what the Lord Jesus would say to you this morning. He went on his way through towns and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few. And he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, Lord, open to us, then he will answer you. I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me. All you workers of evil. In that day, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God and behold some of those, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last. At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, go and tell that box, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not behold your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
So the question was asked to our Lord, Lord, will those who are saved be few. In that time, there's probably two main viewpoints on the answer to that question. There were the Pharisees, perhaps it was a Pharisee asking the question. The Pharisees were the hospodine, the separatists, those who kept themselves away from the defilements and pollutions of the Gentiles and of every unclean thing. They were meticulous because they wanted to enter the kingdom. They may be, if it was a Pharisee, he would be asking, Lord, will it be few like us who are so meticulous, who are hospodine, who are separated, who are so careful? Just a few of us who are saved. There was another point of view. There were those who said, hey, if you're a Jew, you're in. All the Jews are saved. Maybe a few extreme cases of adulterers and murders and tax collectors and such, but basically, if you're a child of Abraham, you're in. Those were the two main views. We don't know who asked the question. It could have been asked because of just the context we see in Luke 13. In the first nine verses, we have this teaching on repentance. Remember, verse 3 and 5, Jesus says, but I say unto you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And then he heals on the Sabbath day, that woman who for 18 long years had been held captive by a crippling disease, and he calls her a daughter of Abraham. And isn't it appropriate that a daughter of Abraham should be released on the Lord's day? And there were these parables about the kingdom and its expanse and transforming power. And the people could brightly just be confused. Lord, how many people are saved? Is it a few? That will be saved. Jesus's answer is not yes or no. He says something a little bit differently, and we'll look at that this morning, but it seems to me an important question to ask. First is, say from what? What did the person asking the question and Jesus understand by their asking, will those who are saved be few, saved from what? Well, verses 27 and 8, I believe, give us the context for what he's discussing when he says, but he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He's describing a place, he's describing what people need to be saved from, and he describes it as a place where people are away from him, away from the presence of God, and he describes it as a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, this phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth, it's used several times in the gospels in the teaching of our Lord. One of the more prominent places is Matthew chapter 13, and there it's used a couple times. It's also used in Matthew's gospel chapter 8, where it includes the words outer darkness. It's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's a place of outer darkness. In chapter 13, verses 42 and 50, it's called a furnace of fire, and again, these are where it's where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and then further explanation of the place. So it's a furnace of fire, it's a place of outer darkness. In Matthew's gospel chapter 5, verses 29 and 30, it's simply called hell. In Matthew 25, verse 41, it's called the place the eternal fire. There's that idea of furnace of fire, the eternal fire. In the same chapter, Matthew 25, verse 46, it's called eternal punishment. The Apostle Paul refers to it as a place of eternal destruction. And our Lord in the book of Luke in the 16th chapter tells a story that describes this place for us a little bit, and let me read this to you. He says, now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores, the idea there I believe is that the dogs were showing mercy to this man. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. And Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being entornment. And so Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom, did you read, did you notice in our text, it said, you will see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets in the Kingdom of God. And Jesus is teaching here the man is entornment, but he sees Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and sent Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame. It's the place of agony, of burning, of flame, of torment, of eternal destruction, eternal punishment, eternal fire. We could say it is if we answer the question directly, say it from what? Well from God's wrath. Or we could put it simply, suffering the punishment I deserve. We saw the word punishment used. We see the description of God's wrath. It's something that is holy, it is something that is just, and I think we have to say it's no trifling matter. It reminds me of what the writer to the book of Hebrews said in chapter 2, for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great? Assolvation, serious business, serious business, so the question is who shall be saved? Who shall be saved? Jesus when he begins to answer in verse 24 says strive to enter through the narrow gate where many I tell you, excuse me, verses right but my point number two I said wrong, who shall not be saved? We'll do the next question who shall be but let's start with who will not be there. Jesus says in verse 24, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many I tell you, we'll seek to enter and will not be able. That's how he begins to answer the question. We'll talk about this striving in a little bit but I want you to see a few things. First of all, it's a it's a narrow door and secondly he says there are many who seek to enter and are not able. This is worthy of some thought but basically two ideas here. The first one is this anyone seeking another way rather than through Jesus will not be saying. They will seek to enter heaven. They want to be in the place we consider paradise but they'll look for another way. Another gate, another door, all paths leading to the same place they believe. Some, the universalists are wrong about that. There's one way it's narrow. It's a narrow door. Islam will not save anyone. Buddhism will not save anyone. The universalists are wrong. Not all will be saved. All of those who seek to enter the kingdom by some other way than Jesus Christ will be lost. We saw it already this morning. We read the words. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved. It's what the Apostle Peter preached when he said there is salvation and no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. It's exclusive. If you're visiting for whatever reason, you got us on a Sunday as we go through look where here it is. It's God's good providence to you but if this annoys you, if this bikes you, if you say, this is what I hate about Christianity. It's so narrow-minded. It's so exclusive. At this point, you're right. You understand Jesus quite well. It is very narrow and very exclusive. He says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That's how the Apostles understood it. That's how the writers of the Bible understood it. We as those who love Jesus and have come to believe that He is the Lord whom God the Father has sent, it's what we believe. There is salvation and no other name and all who try to enter some other way will be lost. Now there are some of you saying, Amen. This is true. There are some of you who are thinking that in your heart. Yes, this is what the Scriptures teach and you're right. But Jesus is teaching goes on and He says those who are merely near Him will not make it into. Strive to enter by the narrow door for many. I tell you we'll seek to enter and we'll not be able to in verses 25 to 28. He says, when once the master of the house has risen and shut the door and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, Lord open to us, then He will answer you. I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from, where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. Verse 28, in that day, in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. Jesus has been teaching thousands of people. We saw that at the beginning of chapter 12 that thousands were coming to listen to Him. Ports of people, multitudes of people, towns were almost emptied out as they went to listen to Jesus and He spoke and He spoke in this section of Luke's gospel in chapters 12 and 13. He spoke hard truths. And He sang to them, look, it's not enough for you to say, we ate and drank in your presence. You preached in our streets. You may have been near Jesus, but you weren't in Jesus. I think about that as it relates to the church. It's not enough to be of the right line, the right family. You have to know Jesus. It's not enough to say, but Lord, I ate at your table and drank at your table. Do you know Jesus? Who will be saved? Well, you won't be saved just because you've been baptized. You won't be saved because you attend services. You won't be saved because you love the hymns that we sing and sing well. Well, you won't be saved because your parents are Christians or because your spouse is a Christian or because you're part of a Christian nation. You'll only be saved by being born again through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. You will not be saved because you were the victim of some heinous crime, whether you were raped or abused or misused in any way, though Jesus understands that and hates the abuse and your abusers will face him in judgment. Yet your abuse is not a get out of hell for you. You must be born again. It's in Jesus Christ that you are cleansed, that you're feeling ashamed because of what has happened to you has taken away. It's through faith in him, him who was perfectly holy and yet treated so shamefully. We hear that he is holy and undefiled. He can touch the leper and the leper's clenched and he's not defiled. When he touches your heart and life, you are cleansed and your defilement is removed. You won't be saved because you act like a Christian. You won't be saved because you give money like a Christian. You won't be saved because you teach sunny school or serve an office. I quoted some verses that talked about furnace of fire and these sorts of things. Let me read a little bit of the context in Matthew 13, starting at verse 41. The Son of man will send forth his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom. In other words, out of those who profess the name of Christ, he will gather those from the church who profess to be believers but are not. He will gather out of his kingdom, all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and throw them into the furnace of fire. Matthew 13, 49 and 50, so it will be at the end of the age that the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous and they will be thrown into the furnace of fire. The writer of Hebrews, throughout his book, calls with these warnings to believers not to throw away their faith, to be consistent, to walk with the Lord, to know him. And one of the stunning ones comes in chapter 10 where he's spoken so majestically about our Lord Jesus Christ, the great high priest who has ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us as the mediator of the new covenant. And he says this, if we go on sitting willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries, anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified. He has insulted the spirit of grace, for we know him who said vengeance is mine, I will repay and again the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Does this shake you? It might be a good time to say is the fruit of the spirit in my life. Do I experience streams of living water? Do I delight in my Lord Jesus Christ as the fruit of his spirit, abounding in my life so that I'd taste something, at least sometimes of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness. Do I see the work of his spirit that will work in me? Or is it all been a hope, a misunderstanding, a misconception of who's in and who's out? Well, let's answer the question who will be saved, only those who enter through Jesus Christ. Again, verse 24, enter by the narrow door. There is only one door and it's Jesus Christ. Enter by Him, only those who enter through Jesus Christ. There's that exclusive thing that we talked about, but it's also inclusive. All who enter through Jesus Christ will be saved. If you say it's narrow, it's exclusive. I don't like it. Well, it's the Lord who speaks this way and look how inclusive he is. He says, oh, not only those of the covenant, not only Abraham's children, not only Abraham Isaac Jacob in the prophets, but people from the east and the west and the north and the south. Oh, who will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Who can come to Jesus? Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, these can come to the Lord. The cabochists, the druggers, revilers and swimmers, sinners of all stripes, those who struggle with anger, those who struggle with resentment and bitterness, sinners of all kinds can come to the Lord.
He has made the way open and we can't say, well, I don't like it. That's just too narrow. That's just not true. Who is the one who is on earth seeking to save what is lost? Who is the one who has set his face to Jerusalem who must be there in three days? Who is the one who says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem? How often I wanted to gather you like a hen her chicks under her wings. How tender a picture do you want of the one who calls you to be reconciled to God? And it's not just here, even in the law after God gave the tent commandments to his people and they said all that the Lord has said we will do in Deuteronomy 5 and 29. It tells us that God said this, this, oh, that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep my commandments always, that it may go well with them. Chapter 6 and verse 3 of Deuteronomy, oh Israel, you should listen and be careful and do it that it may go well with you and that you may multiply greatly just as the Lord, the God of your fathers has promised. So why does he punish them? This loving God is both loving and just. He's the infinite, eternal, unchangeable creator who speaks and brings into being galaxies in the universe. He is holy. He is the Lord who created all things. He is just and he will punish the abusers and the sinners. But because of his love, he extends the free offer of the gospel to you. Come and know him, be reconciled to him through Jesus Christ. And so we come to the last point, what shall I do? What should I do? Verse 24, strive to enter through the narrow doors, strive. It's the word of the athlete. It's the word of the athlete in competition, not training. You know, even the athlete in training for the competition works through the pain. He keeps doing it over and over and over again. He keeps working on the same trick over and over or running through the race over and over again. But when the competition comes, there's nothing else in your mind. It's single-minded devotion. And that's the picture Jesus says, come to me that way. Give me your heart. Open wide to me. I will fill you with living water. I will beat you to bread of life. I will beat you healing. I will beat you restoration. Do you know him? It's real simple, really. I at least could talk about the four fill into blanks or number four go like this. Believe, repent, receive, press on. Believe, repent, receive, press on. Believe, without faith that's impossible to please him, where he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those who seek him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Believe, what you have to do is trust your creator that his way is right. Run to him and believe. Repent. We saw that at the beginning of this chapter in verses three and five, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And we talked about repentance is simply a change of heart where you say, okay, God, what you're saying to me through the preaching of your word today is true. I am a sinner and you are holy and just that's repentance. That's a change of heart. It changes the way you think and it's the change of heart that changes your thinking that will change your behavior. Don't just try and change your behavior. That's not repentance. It's not what God's looking for. Change your heart. Give your heart to Jesus. He will change it. He'll change your thinking. He'll give you a hunger and a thirst for his word. You'll long for the pure spiritual milk of his word. You'll want him. That's the kind of repentance he's looking for and it will produce a change in behavior. Repentance always bears fruit when it's because God has changed our heart. Receive. As many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God. Even to those who believed in his name. Receive him. Receive. Say, Jesus, I believe it. You live the perfect life on my behalf. I didn't live a righteous life. God is just. He must punish me. You live the righteous life I need. And you died. I did sin and I deserve hell and you died on the cross. You took my suffering. I received you. I received what you did on my behalf. I received you. You're my Lord. I give you my life. I want to be reconciled to God. That's it. How hard is that? You want to go to heaven and be with God? Then tell them so. If this message just makes you say amen, yes, I love him. Yes, my heart burns with joy as the gospel is preached. Yes, I'm praying for those who may not know him now. Yes, I love Jesus. Then press on. Press on and let nothing take your eyes off Jesus Christ. He used the Apostle Paul as the example where in chapter three of Philippians, he talks about being careful not to be caught up by the false religion and those who say it's by works and this and that and all that. All that he says in chapter three, verse eight, more than that, more than his previous life. I count all things to be lost and view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish that I may gain Christ the narrow door and may be found in him where there is life and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. That which is through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, skipping down to verse 12, not that I have already obtained it, he's not in heaven, or I've already become perfect but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ. Brother and I do not regard myself of having laid hold of it yet but one thing I do for getting what lies behind reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on, press on, press on. So here we are, what's God doing in your heart, I've been praying for you all week, I've been praying for me too, that our hearts would be open wide, that those who have been good, been nice, tried hard, but never converted, that their ears would be open. Here's open today, do you hear Jesus calling you, inviting you, welcoming you, lay down your burden and receive him, it's only pride and arrogance that will keep you from him. Don't be ashamed, but calm, are you his child? Press on, let's pray, we praise you Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the door open to us, O Lord now is the time, now is the day before the door is shut, please call, please call people to hear your voice and to open the door of their home to you, that they may enter heaven through you.