We are not told who that “someone” was who asked Jesus the question “Lord will those who are saved be few?” but in answering the question Jesus actually tells us how to get there. He tells us that only few will get in while many will stand outside the door and keep knocking and pleading. Friend, I am not here to judge you being in need of judgment myself, but probably not everyone here today is going to make it. Don’t look at your neighbor now because it could very well be you. I am a country music fan and Kenny Chesney is one of my favorites – He sings a song that goes like this “The Preacher told me last Sunday to start living right” and then goes on to say “everybody wants to go to heaven and have a mansion above the clouds but nobody wants to go now”. Towards the end of the song he says, “I think I speak for the crowd”. Isn’t that so true with many of us?
About 10 years ago I served as a Pastor of a Church in New Jersey and at one of our services I asked all those who wanted to go to heaven to raise their hands. All but one lady put their hand up. Assuming she did not hear me, I actually walked down the aisle and asked again. She never raised her hand and without embarrassing her, in the most loving way I kind of asked why she wasn’t so enthusiastic about going to heaven to which she said “I am already there”. “Many years ago I gave myself to Christ” she said “and what you see here is only my physical body”.
What an amazing testimony. I wish every one of us could say that.
Friend, my goal today is to win you for Christ. God loves you and wants you to spend eternity with him. If you have been one of those who have been coming to Church faithfully for many years and never really received Jesus as your personal Savior, I dedicate this message just for you. You can’t earn your way into heaven by saying Lord I have done this and I have done that – Jesus has already told us what he would say – “Depart from me for I do not know who you are”.
For far too long the church has claimed to be rescuing the perishing, when all we have been doing is really serving the dying. I am not going to preach a hell and brimstone message to you today but friend wherever you are and whoever you are - listen to me for a moment - Salvation is free but it is not going to be automatic. If you will give me the next couple of minutes of your time, I promise to try and put a handle on God’s word that will help you get through the door while it is still open.
First of all you must “Strive to enter”:
If you pick up your scripture insert, on the 5th line of our gospel reading Jesus says “Strive to enter by the narrow door”. Unfortunately, finding salvation requires a lot more effort than most people are willing to put forth. Obviously, we cannot save ourselves but you should want it so badly in order to get it. You should want it no matter what the cost. The desire should trump every other priority in your life. I looked up the word “strive” which means to struggle, it also means to go all out; do your best; give it your utmost; make every effort; try very hard – I am sure you get my point. A lukewarm “we’ll talk about it later” attitude is not going to cut it. In Psalm 42, the Levite Priests said “As a deer thirsts for water, so my soul longs for you O God”. I love that analogy. It is a good example of striving. The very first step of striving is to repent. Jesus tells us very plainly that it is not going to be easy but it is not impossible either. The Christian life is a very difficult one but we have to be able to pursue and stay the course. Perhaps you are saying “Salvation is a free gift and therefore why do we need to strive for it?” That is true – Salvation is free and God is willing and able to save but it is you who needs to make the journey. In other words, you have to move your feet; he is not going to do that for you. It is a journey of faith – not an intellectual faith of the head but a heart faith that will put you on a Golgotha path just like our Savior – a path of strife; of falling down picking up the pieces and carrying your cross until the victory is finally won.
Secondly, we are told that “The door is narrow” and there is only one door!
The word “narrow” means “restrictive.” I believe the narrowness of the door suggests an important lesson for us. Just recently I had to travel overseas a bit and at every airport we had to go through a metal detector. It was a narrow door. I could not walk through with all my bags and in fact we had to even empty our pockets before passing through. The narrow door Jesus is talking about is something like that. You can’t expect to pass through with all your stuff – you know what I mean by your “stuff” don’t you? Pride, self righteousness, anger and so on.
One of my favorite hymns is “All to Jesus, I surrender”. The chorus goes something like this “I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all”. You do not surrender some; you surrender “all”. But, if I am hoping to get in on my own terms or by holding on to my stuff, I will not be able to pass through the gate! The narrow gate also means we would need to get through one at a time. My faith won’t help you, neither will yours help me. Each one of us would need to have that personal relationship with Jesus and cannot expect to get to heaven as a group – we can’t enter as the Church group from St. Pauls or the so and so family! In the last portion of the reading Jesus says, “… for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
The door is narrow and get this - there is only one door! I believe it is a conscious decision that you need make in order to enter through the narrow door. The one door is actually Jesus himself. Don’t look so surprised! In the gospel of John ch10 & vs. 9 Jesus says “ I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved”. It is easy to drive on a 4 or 5 lane highway but quite another to drive on a narrow two way road. I believe there is one up Mt. Washington and another most treacherous one in Bolivia called “The Death Road”. About 300 people fall to their deaths each year and there are numerous crosses on the road to remember those who went over. In your spiritual life too, you must be so careful how you steer because one wrong turn means you will loose your chance to eternal life. God is merciful and gracious but unless our eyes are always upon Him, we could easily fall from his grace. When you are on the narrow road, you cannot have too many choices. Your focus has to be only on Christ. If you are carried away to the left or the right then you aren’t striving; and if you aren’t striving, then you are perhaps on the wrong road.
And finally but most importantly, Get to know the householder
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 without even repenting and trusting in Jesus alone for their salvation. Some will try to enter the kingdom by their good works. Am I talking to somebody today? Others are banking on the nature of God - They believe that God is love and therefore everyone will somehow get in. If that were the case, Jesus’ death itself served no good purpose.
Jesus is not only the door but salvation itself. When Jesus was a little boy, he was taken to the temple to be dedicated and there met a devout man named Simeon. The story is told in Luke ch 2 vs 28. Simeon took Jesus up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, If your eyes are upon the salvation of God you will know him and when you knock that door, he will know who you are and open it for you. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, except through him." He is the only way, the only door and the householder who has the keys to open and shut the door – get to know him friend.
There is a story about a Fox boasting to a Cat about his clever tactics for escaping its enemies. "I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which contains a hundred different ways of escaping from my enemies." "I have only one," said the Cat; "but I can generally manage with that." Just at that moment they heard a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the branches. "This is my plan," said the Cat. "What are you going to do?" The Fox thought first of one way and then of another. While he was debating and thinking which route to take, it was too late - the hounds got him and soon he was dead meat. Miss Puss, who had been looking on, said, "Better one safe and sure way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.”
The world brags about a hundred ways of reaching heaven. But there is only one sure way to get there and it is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone which is better than ten thousand ways that are not going to work!
Friends, one day – and I believe it is not far from now, the door will be shut and it will be too late. There is a time limit on the offer of salvation. When the Master of the house rises up and shuts the door, it will be over. The only opportunities for salvation are in this life. It is not enough to know about Jesus; you have to know him. Right now, the door is still open and the choice is yours. I hope and pray that this message has convicted you to receive Jesus as your personal Savior. And now, may the good Lord have mercy upon each one of us and not shut the door before we’ve gotten through.
