Luke 13:22-30ARE ONLY A FEW PEOPLE GOING TO BE SAVED?

22Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"

He said to them, 24 "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25Once 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.'26"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'27"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildo-

ers!'28"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. 29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

The words of our sermon text convey a very polarizing message, especially in our day and age! With these words, Jesus divides all the people of this world into 2 groups who are polar opposites in almost ev-ery way. The only thing they all have in common is their desire to enter the Kingdom of God, that is, to find peace with God now and forever.

It is their varied attempts to gain entrance into the Kingdom that illustrate how different they are. One group identified by our Lord comes into the Kingdom through what he calls the narrow door. This door, truly, allows a person to enter heaven! But as the name implies, it is not an easy entry! It is effective, but it is also difficult!

The other group tries to come into the Kingdom through what we may call wide doors. While there is only one narrow door, one way to peace with God, there are many, many wide doors which people think or hope will lead them to God. None of them do! All the wide doors seem easy to pass through, but they all are dead ends, they are doors that lead to eternal damnation. Of all the ways devised to get to heaven, only one actually works – and that way comes from the Lord!

The narrow door is constructed by God, and God alone! Only he knows what it takes to reconcile sinful mankind to holy God. Only he has the ability and the desire to make it possible for human beings to join him in his heavenly realms. The narrow door is faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. It is receiving him as your Substitute in living and in dying.

Only when you believe that Jesus led your holy life for you, and took your punishment of death in hell as his own, can you be saved! Only when, by faith, you do not reject what the Lord has done for you, can you enter the Kingdom of God! Only when you do not put anybody or anything else into the place where Jesus should live in your heart, can you have the hope of heaven!

Faith in Jesus is the narrow door, the only way into the Kingdom of God! In answer to the question Are only a few people going to be saved?, God, the Son, informs us that he won’t tell us how many are going to be saved – that information wouldn’t do us any good. But, what he will tell us is how anyone who is saved will be saved. It is through the narrow door – and not another!When people in the wide door group hear this, they are always incredulous and usually angered – espe-cially when they hear it from someone in the narrow door group. How can you be so sure?, they snap.

What makes you think your way is so much better than everybody else’s? Surely God will accept any sincere attempt to come to him, even if it’s not through the narrow door of faith.

You’d expect that kind of response from people in the wide door group. But what should you expect from those in the narrow door group? That’s what we want to focus on today! How do you feel, how can you respond to the unchanging truth that faith in Jesus is the narrow door – the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only Path into the Kingdom?

Our first response must surely be one of pure, unadulterated joy! That would quickly be followed by a lifetime of praise and thanksgiving to the God of our salvation! How could it be otherwise? We were once lost and condemned sinners on our way to hell. We were born dead in our trespasses and sins and could make no move toward God. We were spiritually blind, unable and unwilling to see the truths of our salva-tion!

Now we are the adopted sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty with an inheritance in heaven that can-not be taken from us! Now we have been raised with Christ to a life that will never end! Now we can see our Savior and joyfully accept him into our hearts! Faith in Jesus Christ has given us everything worth having!

And how did that all come about? Because we came through the narrow door of faith in Christ Jesus and thus entered the Kingdom of God! And how did we do that? We didn’t do anything! God the Father loved us and devised the plan for our salvation. God the Son loved us and carried out the plan for our salvation perfectly! God the Holy Spirit loved us and brought us to saving faith!

Of course, we are joyful and thankful! Of all the doors to heaven offered by this world, our Lord made it possible for us to pass by all the wide doors that lead nowhere and to enter the narrow door that leads to life everlasting! No matter what happens in your life, you can find joy in knowing that you are at peace with God now and forever! You are but a stranger here – heaven is your home!Joy is our first response! Such a joy then produces a response of determination – determination to hold on to what we have been given. Jesus confirms that as a proper response when he tells us Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. There is nothing truer than the fact that we are saved by faith, alone, and not by our own choosing or doing.

But it is also true that once we have received faith, we have the ability to keep or to discard that faith. Having faith once, having faith at some time, is not saving faith. Faith can be lost! As Jesus goes on to say many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. We know that sad fact to be true from our per-sonal experience with people who no longer seem concerned about their faith or living by faith in Jesus.

Living faith is not easy to maintain. It requires effort to sustain it. Faith doesn’t exist in a vacuum, all by itself! It is not just a passive acceptance of truth that doesn’t manifest itself! As James 2:2 reminds us faith without deeds is dead. There can be no faith if you do not live by faith. People who are saved live lives of faith – not because they must to be saved rather, they will because they already are saved.

And what is it about faith that requires such an effort? Consider how God’s Word describes a life of faith. Jesus says all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. He clearly states that who-ever hears my word … has crossed over from death to life. We are urged not to give up meeting to-gether, but to encourage one another … as we see the day approaching.

Take and eat, this is my body!, Jesus instructs us, Drink from it all of you! At Judgment Day he will say whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. And finally, in

some of his very last words, he commands us to go and make disciples of all nations. The life of faith is not merely the belief that Jesus is your Savior from sin – even Satan believes that! No, it is much more!

Faith is loving one another – no matter what. Faith is growing in God’s word. Faith is coming together as a group to encourage one another in these last times. Faith is partaking of the Lord’s Supper frequently. Faith is showing charity to those who need it. Faith is spreading the Gospel with every resource at hand. This is faith. This is the narrow door.Faith requires effort! Faith requires effort because the sinful nature that lives within us fights against it. Our inborn selfishness will doesn’t want to assume these burdens. It is hard to love, hard to give of your-self, hard to share what is yours. But Jesus tells us that we must make every effort to do so, because this is the response faith produces.

Our final response to the existence of the narrow door should be one of urgency! Remember, there is only one door to eternal life. There is no other way. It is through faith in Christ Jesus or it is no way at all. It is urgent that all mankind have access to this door or they will be lost forever! Jesus shows the need for ur-gency with a parable, first directed to his fellow Jews and then to those in our society.

Many were standing around him believed they would be saved because they were Jews, because they were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That was their wide door – a door that lead nowhere but hell. They thought they were insiders, people with a legitimate claim to a place in heaven. Not so, they were outsiders! They were like people standing outside a man’s home demanding entrance late at night.

They assumed they had a right to this privilege because they had once been in the same street as the homeowner. In reality, they had no relationship with the him – they were virtual strangers and the home-owner treated them that way. So it is with many in our world today. Many people think they have a claim on God and a place in heaven by entering a wide door of their own making.

They think that way because they consider themselves to be good people. Or they were baptized and con-firmed. Or they held membership in a Christian congregation. Or they assume their Creator wouldn’t al-low any of his creation to be damned. They think they have a right to enter heaven.

But without faith, the faith the Lord looks for, they really have no place at all. On Judgment Day, when even the narrow door to heaven closes, they will be left standing outside – without any hope. But before that time, there remains hope – hope that the people who live by faith will feel the urgency of spreading the Gospel and will come to them with the message of salvation.

Are only a few people going to be saved? God, alone, knows. We don’t need to know. It doesn’t benefit us to know. What is important is knowing that we are saved, and that all who enter the narrow door of faith will be saved. It is important to understand that we possess the narrow door and we, alone, can share that door with others! We enter the narrow door with joy, determination, and urgency!

Amen.