The Narrow Door

Well, this morning we are continuing our way through the story of Jesus as told by Luke.! We're at the part in the story right now where Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem before! He's crucified. And some of you may have noticed that the closer and closer we get to Jerusalem, the more opposition Jesus faces. And you might have also noticed as well, that the closer he gets to Jerusalem, the more serious and sobering the tone of Jesus' teachings and warnings. And there is this theme of urgency in much of what Jesus has been saying. We heard it in the parable of the rich fool. We heard it in the parable of the servant whose master had gone but would later return. Keep watch and be ready. We heard this tone of urgency in Jesus' call to repent or else perish. And it gets even stronger in our passage today. Responding to Jesus is an urgent matter because none of us knows how much time we have left. And eventually there will come a day when our time to respond is up and it will be too late. Let's hear this though from Jesus himself.

Our passage this morning comes from the gospel of Luke chapter 13 starting in verse 22. Then Jesus went through the towns and villages teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

Someone asked him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? Jesus said to them, make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

Because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, saying, Sir, open the door for us. But he will answer, I don't know you or where you come from.

Then you will say, we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets. But he will reply, I don't know you or where you come from.

Away from me, all you evildoers. There will be weeping there and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.

But you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first. And first who will be last. So as Jesus is traveling through the towns and villages on his way to Jerusalem, somewhere along the way, someone asks this question.

Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? The opposition to Jesus is growing stronger. Many are obviously rejecting him or ignoring him.

We notice the way that Jesus addressed his followers back in chapter 12, verse 32. He said, do not be afraid, little flock. There may be large crowds of thousands around Jesus a lot of the time.

But those truly committed to following Jesus are a little flock among them. And so it's not surprising that someone finally asks Jesus point blank, Lord, are only a few going to be saved?

It's becoming apparent to Jesus' followers that many in Israel are not accepting Jesus as their Messiah.

Now, this guy who asked the question, we know very little about him. He calls Jesus Lord. He uses that language of being saved, which we also use.

So at the least, he's been listening to Jesus. Because Jesus has been talking about salvation a lot. And the need for it. Many of the Jews, especially the rabbis and the teachers, they just didn't talk like this about needing to be saved.

So at the least, this guy's been listening to Jesus. Of course, the people, they didn't talk like that because they kind of, many of them assumed, well, we're all saved.

We're all the chosen people of God. We're all descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. So we kind of, we inherit this kingdom by default. But no, Jesus has been saying, there is still a need for you to repent.

We heard that earlier in the chapter, the first nine verses. And unless you repent, you will perish, he said. You'll get what you deserve from God for your sins.

And so we have need to be saved from that. And this man's question is specifically about how many will be saved.

Because it's not looking like the majority at the moment will embrace Jesus. And so are only a few people going to be saved?

And Jesus' response here is thought-provoking. He kind of answers the question in a roundabout or indirect sort of way. But then in another sense, it's almost as if he just changes the question.

Let's look at his answer again in verse 24. Jesus replies with this. He says, make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

So Jesus doesn't give a number. He doesn't say, yes, it's going to be just a few or no. Instead, he looks them in the eye and he urges them directly and personally.

You do what you need to do in order to be saved. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. We notice Jesus slip into sort of metaphorical language.

The language of analogy. He likens being saved to going through a door. And then as Jesus goes on, this analogy of a door sort of expands into a miniature parable.

In verse 25, he says, Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading. Sir, open the door for us.

But he will answer, I don't know you or where you come from. So we've got a little story here. And what's sort of ominous about this story is that it's a true story of what Jesus says will happen to you if you do not enter through the narrow door before it closes.

It's sort of a parable, a prophetic parable of warning. Jesus is basically announcing to the people, this will be your fate someday, unless right now you make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

And so being saved is likened to entering the door of a house. And there's coming a day when the homeowner will get up and close the door.

One other helpful thing to notice in this passage, before we get into some of the details, did you notice how by the end of the passage, we're talking about entering the kingdom of God?

What we notice is that being saved and entering the kingdom of God are two different ways of describing the same thing.

The question was, are only a few going to be saved? The answer was, make every effort to enter through the narrow door. And by the time we get down to verse 28, we read about those who are shut out of the house.

And Jesus says about them, that there will be weeping there and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves cast out.

And so being saved and getting into the kingdom of God, it's really two different ways of describing the same thing. And it helps us understand this as we work through some of the details.

Let's look at some of these details. The first detail that really grabs me is the language Jesus uses in his very first words to answer the question.

Are only a few going to be saved? The first thing he says is, make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

Make every effort. Does that sound like Jesus is serious? These words, make every effort, they trace back to a single Greek word, agonizomai, from which we get our English word, agonize.

And so really, this translation is actually a little bit flat. It doesn't fully capture the intensity. This is the same word that's used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe fighting.

The word was often used to describe the struggle or the fight or the wrestle in athletic competition. Jesus will later say to Pilate, if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest.

It's the same word here. Paul in his letter to Timothy will later urge Timothy, fight the good fight. It's the same word here.

Make every effort, fight, struggle, strain with all your might to enter through the narrow door. does it surprise you to hear Jesus talk this way about being saved?

About what you need to do to be saved? I mean, think of what Jesus could have said instead of this. Or, maybe, what do we expect him in our sort of North American Christianity to say in this moment?

You know, hey, if you want to be saved, it's really easy. All you need to do is come up to the front and pray a prayer. And yet, what Jesus says here is the total opposite.

He says, fight to enter through the narrow door. It's not an easy thing. It's not an automatic thing.

Being saved requires that we struggle, that we strain with all our might to enter through this narrow door. Now, what does that even mean?

We've got to translate the metaphor here. Jesus is not saying that we need to make every effort and do a whole bunch of good works in order to be saved.

That's not the kind of fight he's talking about. It's not a physical fight to do all the good that we can. It's a spiritual fight. It's a fight to find and get through the narrow door into the house of the homeowner.

And we kind of have to take the whole analogy into account here. In the parable, the house is, it represents God, God's house, His kingdom. He's the homeowner.

His door of salvation is open. And He has sent His Son out to call people to come in, to enter through the door, to be saved, to come and enter into the kingdom of God.

And what do we need to do? Well, He says, we need to fight. We need to struggle. We need to make every effort to enter through that door, which means to make every effort to understand the things that Jesus has been saying about how to be saved.

It means fighting to draw near and take to heart all the things that Jesus has been explaining. It means struggling with our hearts and our desires to do something we maybe don't want to do and go through this door that Jesus has laid before us.

Why is it a struggle? Why is it a fight? Well, there's this sickness of sin inside of us and it keeps telling us we don't need God.

It keeps telling us just ignore Him. He'll be content with sort of the bare minimum from you. You don't need to do too much.

Maybe just show up to church once in a while, believe in your heart and pray once in a while. He'll be okay with that. There's this sickness in all of us that makes us just by nature want to ignore God and go our own way.

That's what we must fight against. That's what we must struggle against in order to enter through the narrow door. what holds us back from entering in is our own warped desires and hearts and minds.

What holds us back is our love of comfort and pleasure and ease. But following Jesus runs against those things.

We heard Jesus say back in chapter 9, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And it's a fight to do that.

It's a battle inside of us. I mean, we might have some external voices of people we know whether friends or family fighting against us because maybe they don't approve of us following Jesus.

But ultimately the battle takes place within us. let's think back over what Jesus just recently said about what we must do to be saved.

Just earlier in this chapter, the first nine verses, he told the people they must repent or else they too would perish. But to repent means that we have to humble ourselves before God.

It means that we have to admit to him the wrong things that we've done. it means that he's going to get to be the boss and in charge of our lives and not me anymore.

And so that's why it's a fight because those are all things we don't want to do because we're proud and we don't want to admit that we've done wrong.

We don't want to let somebody else be in charge of our lives. No, I want to call the shots in my life. I want to be the boss. And so that's the fight.

It's a spiritual fight or struggle to be saved, to do what Jesus says we need to do in order to be saved. We can't help but notice how Jesus describes the door of salvation.

He says, make every effort to enter through the narrow door. In other words, it's not easy to get through. of the doors available out there to go through in life, many others are bigger and easier, much easier to go through.

But this one is hard to get through. It's going to cost us. There's going to be some things that we may need to give up or that we may need to lose, let go of to go through this door.

door. The door is narrow. As I mentioned at the beginning, do you hear the sense of urgency in Jesus' words?

Make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. There's a sense of urgency here.

this is where Jesus' analogy turns into this prophetic parable of warning to us. You know, if we just stop right here at this verse and just leave it right there, we might come to some wrong ideas.

We might come to the idea that there are many earnest and humble people trying to be saved. They're trying to get through the door, but the size is just so small of this door that many perish while making an earnest attempt to get through.

This is completely wrong. We might even get the idea in our heads that many will perish and it's God's fault for making the door so small to get into his kingdom.

This too is completely wrong. Why will many try to enter and not be able to? Well, Jesus answers that question with the parable.

Let's listen to what he says in verse 25 and on. He says, Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading.

Sir, open the door for us. But he will answer, I don't know you or where you come from. Then you will say, We ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets.

But he will reply, I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers. So many will try to enter the narrow door but will not be able to.

Why? Because the door has been shut and it's now too late. Jesus gives this chilling conversation between the homeowner and the people outside the door and they're pleading to get inside.

Sir, open the door for us. And the words of the homeowner, they're just chilling, I don't know you or where you are from. And what do they say in response?

Well, what do you mean you don't know us? We ate and drank with you, Jesus. Jesus, you taught in our streets. they're trying to convince Jesus, you know, you know us and we know you, let us in.

And what do they point back to? Like, Jesus, we ate meals with you. Remember? I mean, Jesus has been in almost every town or village in Israel and many of them have come to see him all over the place.

They've been part of the crowds. Jesus has accepted dinner invitations and he has sat down face to face with people in their homes and said all these same sorts of things.

They sat with him and they ate with him at the feeding of the 5,000, the whole crowd of them. So, they're right. They did eat with Jesus.

But what they really mean by this is, Jesus, we had an intimate relationship with you. Remember that time when we broke bread together? I mean, it's like we were eating at the same table.

We know you. You know us. You came to our town and taught us. But these words are very revealing.

if they were this close to Jesus and heard him teach in their streets, then why didn't they listen to what Jesus said and enter through the narrow door while it was open?

Why didn't they repent when Jesus called them to repent? Jesus, who is the homeowner or becomes the homeowner in this parable, he gives the truth about their relationship.

He says, I don't know you. In other words, we never had a real relationship. And there's at least one evidence that Jesus gives.

Look at what Jesus says to them, he says, away from me, all you evildoers. Quite literally, you workers of unrighteousness.

So did they repent of their sins? Or did they just keep on doing them? Did they turn back to God or did they just keep on ignoring him?

They never repented. They never responded to Jesus. They ignored him. They rejected the invitation to come through the door while it was open.

And it's only now that the door has been shut that the danger of God's punishment is imminent that they're trying to get through the door.

door. And these words are devastating. They are locked, shut out of the kingdom of God.

The voice on the other side says, I don't know you. Away from me, all you workers of unrighteousness. And Jesus goes right into this explanation of what all this means with the shocking statements.

Verse 28, he says, there will be weeping there and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.

But you yourselves thrown out. This is the same language Jesus uses on other occasions to describe the agony of hell.

Weeping. It's a place of sorrow, deep sorrow and sadness. It's a place of gnashing of teeth.

That word gnashing means grinding or gritting together of the teeth. It's a physical description of what happens in our jaws when we experience intense pain and anguish.

Jesus says, that's what you will experience. as you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.

But you yourselves cast out, shut out, wishing and longing that you could get in. We have to know this would have deeply shocked the people in Jesus' day.

God the Jews considered themselves, as I mentioned earlier, to be the children of Abraham, inheritors of the kingdom by default, automatic recipients of all the good promises that God has made about the kingdom through the prophets over the centuries.

And now Jesus comes and he says, unless you repent, you will perish. this is what will happen to you. You will find yourselves cast out in agony, in anguish, while those of true faith are inside.

Jesus intensifies it one notch more in the next verse, 29. He says, people will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast.

in the kingdom of God. Part of the shock, part of the grief and the anguish will be this deeply humbling reality that people from all over the world, not just Jews, but people from the north and south and east and west, all over the place, are inside this kingdom.

They responded to Jesus in faith. They accepted him as their Messiah. They're in the house, at the table, feasting in the kingdom of God.

And yet they, the flesh and blood descendants, are cast out, shut out of the banquet. What a sobering warning and teaching.

Now there's a couple different responses this might provoke in us today as we listen to this. First, of course, there's going to be some who will accuse God of being heartless and evil.

How come he wouldn't change his mind and let them in at the last when they finally said, okay, we want to come in. But we must remember that God is just.

He is exceedingly patient and compassionate. I mean, think about in your own life. How long has God kept the door open for you?

How many opportunities have you had to respond to the words of Jesus? How long must God wait till he gives us what we're due?

he is exceedingly patient and compassionate. But he is also just. And evil must eventually be purged.

Sin must eventually be punished. And if we won't accept Christ on his terms, then we won't have his forgiveness.

And we will find ourselves cast out, looking in, from the outside, in anguish. It's only through relationship with Jesus that we can enter through the narrow door.

An authentic, living, real relationship with Jesus. God is not heartless.

He's not lacking compassion. I mean, look at what he's done to save us. He has sent his son down to earth to rescue us. And as the people made clear, Jesus taught in their streets.

They heard his words, and yet they ignored it. they rejected him while the door was open. They refused to go through the door that Jesus was putting right before them.

And so those who perish in hell will get what we all deserve. And it will be right for God to see that come about.

but at the same time it is truly cause for weeping. It is sad that many because they reject Jesus will find themselves in that place.

For those of us who have entered through the narrow door, this should motivate us to continue pleading with the people around us who have not yet entered.

We need to keep telling people, look to Jesus, listen to him, make every effort to come to him and be saved. It doesn't matter whether that message is unpopular, it's the truth.

I mentioned earlier that Jesus sort of changes the question. the question was, are only a few people going to be saved? But Jesus essentially in the way he answers it says, don't worry about the number.

The question is, are you saved? Have you entered through the narrow door? Will you be one of those who come from all over and take your seat at the feast in the kingdom of God?

And if you have any doubt about that, don't take time, don't delay on this, fight to get through that door before it's closed.

Because one day the door will be shut and it will be too late. we're going to take some time now to partake of the Lord's table.

And if you have entered through that door, this table is for you. This is what we do together to remind ourselves of what Christ Jesus did for us so that we could get through.

He suffered. He died. He made atonement for our sins by his blood so that we could be saved.

That's what the bread and the cup point to. And if you've entered through the narrow door, I want to just invite you to join with us, eat and drink with us as we remember what Jesus has done for us.

These are moments to give thanks to God and to praise him for his gift, for the grace of salvation. But maybe you're here and you know that you haven't entered through this door yet.

Right now is another opportunity to do so. In these next moments of quiet, I want to urge you to pray, to talk to God, to confess your sins to him, to humble yourself before him and repent.

Ask for his forgiveness and put your trust in him. And if that's something that you do in these next minutes, then you're welcome to partake of this table.

We're going to have a few minutes of quiet prayer now, and then the elements will be served. Just encourage you to hang on to them until everybody who wishes to partake has received, and then we'll give thanks and we'll eat and drink together.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, it's amazing that you would come down from heaven to this earth and walk among us, walk through our streets, and then give up your life and die for us, suffer and die for us, taking the punishment we deserve, even though you had done nothing wrong.

We want to say thank you. Thank you for your forgiveness, that we don't have to live with the guilt of all the things that we have done wrong in the past, whether in our minds big or small, even for the things we think are little and insignificant, the angry outburst at someone, Lord Jesus, you have died to atone for that too.

And so we just praise you. We're so grateful for you. We eat and we drink in remembrance of you. Amen.