A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 36
“The Narrow Way”
Luke 13:22-30
You see them every Sunday when dressed in their Sunday best they respectfully make their way into the worship service. They sing the words projected on the big screen, they greet one another in the service, they put their bit into the offering plate and they listen to another sermon. When the service is over they leave the service and tell the preacher he did a good job. Then they return home, take off their “church clothes” and forget about God for another week. Meeting with God has become for them nothing more than listening to messages, singing songs and placing a token amount in the offering. Yet somehow this routine seems to fill their need for reassurance. And because they have been “faithful” to come to church on occasion, they feel that they are all right, that they have secured a place in heaven. What a distortion of the message that Jesus delivered. Jesus told the religious crowd that even those who appeared the most dedicated were at best, last in the kingdom and probably would not get in at all, because they had too much religion and too little relationship with Jesus.
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.
Only 2% believe that when they die they will not go to Heaven.” [From Barna Research Online]
Isn’t it more likely that like the Jews of Jesus day that some people are just taking going to heaven for granted?
Notice with me four important facts about who goes to heaven!
1. No One Gets To Heaven Accidentally
(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.
No One Gets To Heaven Accidentally –
2. The Road to Heaven Is Narrow
(v. 24b) "Strive to enter through the narrow gate…”
The word “narrow” (stenes) is a Greek word that meant “restrictive.” While a person cannot earn entrance into heaven, there are restrictions on who will go to heaven. The narrow door as I understand it in this text is Jesus Christ, who is the only means of eternal salvation, the only way of entering the kingdom of God.
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 try to enter the kingdom by their good works.
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.
The Road To Heaven Is Narrow -
3. Not Everyone Is Going to Heaven
(vv. 24c-27)
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 -
4. Missing Heaven Will Be An Eternal Torment (vv. 28-30)
“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.
Missing Heaven Will Be An Eternal Regret –
Conclusion
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.”
Remember Then
1. You Will Not Get To Heaven
Accidentally
2. Jesus Is The Narrow Way – The
Only Way To Heaven
3. Not Everyone Is Going To Get To
Heaven
4. Missing Heaven Will Be A Decision
You Will Regret Forever.
