A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 36
Luke 13:22-30
This message is
for those of you who have read and sung and listened to people talk about Jesus for years
without meeting him personally. For far too long the church has claimed to be rescuing the
perishing, when all they have been doing is protecting the dying.
“And He went through the
cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. (23) Then one said to Him,
"Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said to them, (24) "Strive to
enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be
able. (25) When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin
to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He
will answer and say to you, "I do not know you, where you are from,' (26) then you
will begin to say, "We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our
streets.' (27) But He will say, "I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.
Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' (28) 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, and yourselves thrust out. (29) They will come from the east and the west, from the
north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. (30) And indeed there are last
who will be first, and there are first who will be last."
As Jesus walked
along on his journey to Jerusalem someone asks him, “Lord are only a few going to
be saved?” It may be that
this man senses from what Jesus has already said about the kingdom that salvation is not
going to be automatic or based on simple genealogy as some had thought. The rabbis had
taught the people that God was offering salvation to all those who had been born as a part
of the Jewish race, that this gift of salvation was confirmed by the symbol of
circumcision and maintained by the works of the law.
The average Jew took heaven for granted because most Jewish people held the view that all
Jews except the very worst would get into heaven. To the Jews they were already on the
inside and a few Gentiles could get in by becoming Jews.
But then Jesus came along and taught over
and over that God the Father offered salvation by grace through faith in him as the
promised Savior.
But the world today is just as confused as
the Jews about how one gets to heaven. “There is a growing tendency to believe that all good people, whether or
not they consider Jesus Christ to be their savior, will live in heaven after they die on
earth. In 1999 the public is almost divided on the matter: 53% agree, 40% disagree. . .
Half of all adults (51%) believe that if a person is generally good, or does enough good
things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven.
Of
those who have (claimed to have) made a personal commitment to
Jesus Christ: (1999).
63% believe that they will go to Heaven when they die
because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus as their savior.
11% believe that they will go to heaven because basically they are a good person.
10% do not know what will happen to them after they die.
7% believe that they will go to Heaven because God loves all people and will not let them
perish.
5% believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they have tried to obey the
10 commandments.
(v. 24a)
In fact in verse
twenty-four Jesus, tells him just how difficult it will be to get into heaven when he
says, "Strive to enter
through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be
able.”
What does this
verse mean when it says that we are to “strive to enter”? If heaven is a
free gift, then what are striving for? He uses the verb (agonizomai) translated “strive to enter” also translated
as “make every effort” it is the word
that we get our word agonize from. But Jesus is not describing that one may work their way
into heaven. He is implying that there is a specific route by which one must enter; that
is why Jesus mentions a narrow door and sets forth what it is.
In a parallel
passage in Matthew (7:13-14) Jesus also speaks of the “narrow way” with which
has virtually the same meaning. “Enter by the narrow gate; for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads into destruction, and there are many who
go in by it. (14) Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life,
and there are few who find it.” One will not just happen to enter the Kingdom of
God, one will have to strive after it.
The narrowness
of the door suggests an important lesson. If the door is narrow then few will pass through
it, because they must pass through one at a time. You have to get through one at a time.
You are not going to get to heaven just because your name is on a church roster or because
your family is Baptist (or any other denomination). You will not get into heaven on any
one else’s coattails, you will answer to God for yourself alone.
What reasons could there
be for anyone who is seeking to enter the Kingdom to be ruled out by God?
Some will want to enter on
their own terms.
Not everyone who
wants to go to heaven will
make it, only
those who come on God’s terms. The entrance to heaven is narrow. You must come
through the one door, which is Jesus. These are God’s terms and they are the only
ones that count. Being sincere is not enough. Being a good person is not enough. Being
religious is not enough. Many people think they are going to heaven but they have not
admitted that they are sinners, they have not turned in repentance and trusted in Jesus
alone for salvation.
The following
illustration will explain what I mean. Following a Billy Graham crusade in Australia the
newspapers in Melbourne, printed the following reaction. “After
hearing Dr. Billy Graham on the air, viewing him on television and reading reports and
letters concerning him and his mission, I am heartily sick of the type of religion that
insists that my soul (and everyone else’s) needs saving- whatever that means. I a
have never felt that I was lost. Nor do I feel that I wallowing the mire of sin, although
repetitive preaching insists that I do. Give me a practical religion that teaches
gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers
the aged and teaches children of goodness and not sin. If in order to save my soul I
must accept such a philosophy as I have recently heard preached, I prefer to remain
forever damned.” [
McArthur. p. 458]
Some will miss out because they have a false view of the nature of God. They believe that God is love and therefore he will let everyone in.
Jesus says in the
last portion of verse twenty-four, “… for many, I say to
you, will seek
to enter and Will not be
able.” Jesus says “many” will try to enter the kingdom of heaven and not
be able to. This completely destroys the idea that all or even most of people go to
heaven. Jesus words must have assaulted their ears as he said “Many [of
you Jews] will try to
enter and will not be able to.” Jesus uses the word “many” not just
“some”
- implying that
a majority of those who listening would not make it.
There is a time
limit on the offer of salvation which the Lord made ominously clear. In verse
tweny-five tells warns, “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the
door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open
for us,' and He will answer and say to you, "I do not know you, where you are from,'
(26) then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught
in our streets.' (27) But He will say, "I tell you I do not know you, where you are
from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.”
There is coming a
day when the wonderful invitation of salvation will be over. For one day the Lord of the
house is going to get up from the throne and walk to the front door of his mansion and
close the narrow door of salvation.
The only
opportunities for salvation are in this life. Those who seek to enter late will be told by
the Lord, "I do not know you, where
you are from” (v. 27) and they will be denied entrance. In other words, entry comes
through the means Jesus provides or not at all.
Not Everyone Is
Going To Get To Heaven -
“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, and yourselves thrust out. (29) They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. (30) And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."
There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who miss heaven. There will be unending sorrow
that cannot be described for everyone that misses out on the glories of heaven and instead
spends an eternity in hell. Contrary to the popular belief there will be no sinful party
in hell with all your other “Rowdy friends. Hell is no joy. Hell is being separated
from God and wishing that you were not. Hell is being not being in heaven and knowing that
you could have. Hell is the conscious torment of the knowledge of what could have been. It
will be a place where people are fully aware of what they have lost and will be forever in
despair.
This passage
(Luke 13:22-30) is a warning, people need to be sure that they have responded to Jesus.
The core issue will be in “knowing” Jesus not just “knowing about
Jesus.” The original question was, “Will many be saved” and now is more properly
understood to be, “Will you be among the
saved.”
In 1991 a Gallup
poll showed that 78 percent of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die. However,
many of them hardly ever pray, read the Bible, or attend church. They admit that they live
to please themselves instead of God. If you were to ask these people why they believed
they were going to heaven, they would not know “how” they were going to do so.
To apply that reasoning in another area it would be as if your neighbor told you “I’m
going to Mars,” and you asked, “How?” and they replied, “I
don’t know.” What would you think? You would think “Well, you
had better know how if you plan on going there and you want to arrive.”
1. You Will Not Get To
Heaven Accidentally
2. Jesus Is The Narrow Way
– The
3. Not Everyone Is Going
To Get To Heaven
4. Missing Heaven Will Be
A Decision
You Will Regret Forever.
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