Have You Found Heaven's Narrow Door? Series

Have You Found Heaven’s Narrow Door?

Luke 13:22-30

by David O. Dykes

INTRODUCTION

Since I first learned about heaven as a child, I’ve been fascinated with the thought of living with Jesus forever. When I was a senior in college I was the Youth Minister at First Baptist Church in Prattville, Alabama. On weekends Ckindy and I stayed in a mobile home out on the farm where one of the church members, Horace Cook, kept horses and cattle. Although I was the Youth Minister I also led the Children’s Church service, so I got to know and love all the children as well. The Cooks had a five-year-old son, Richard, and we became good buddies. One pretty Saturday afternoon, Richard and I were walking around the farm, exploring the pastures, talking and hanging out. We topped a little hill and on the other side, we found a dead horse. Apparently it had been dead for several days because there were flies everywhere. Richard was fascinated and his eyes got as big as baseballs and he asked, “What happened to this horse?” I suspected that it was his first encounter with death, so I wanted to say something profound to help him gently deal with the death. Drawing upon my extensive education and experience, I knelt down, and in my most pastoral voice, said, “Richard, this horse has died, and now he’s in heaven with Jesus.” Richard looked at that dead horse and then looked at me with a funny expression that I’ll never forget. He said, “Yuk! What’s Jesus gonna’ do with a dead horse?” So much for teaching him about heaven! I couldn’t really answer his question, so I just stood and said, “Never mind, let’s just go tell your dad.”

I hope I have better success in explaining heaven to you than I had with little Richard! This is a message that will tell you how you can go to heaven when you die. Many of you are already Believers and know that you are going to heaven, so you may wonder why I’m speaking on this topic. I teach through the Bible one verse at a time, and this passage is next in our study. In God’s perfect timing, I believe there is someone here today, or watching on television who needs to hear this simple salvation message. Also, the Bible makes it clear many people think they are going to heaven, and they are mistaken. So it’s good to occasionally clear our minds of all of our preconceived notions and consider how a person can go to heaven. Heaven can only be entered through a narrow door–have you found Heaven’s narrow door? Let’s read about it beginning in Luke 13:22:

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?” He 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, ‘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.”

If you want to enter heaven, there are four important truths you need to understand:

1. THERE IS ONLY ONE DOOR TO HEAVEN...AND IT IS NARROW

These words of Jesus are not politically correct in our age of religious pluralism. If Jesus came to America preaching this message today, He would be labeled a radical and would probably be arrested. In fact, that’s exactly why the Jews arrested Him and executed Him 2,000 years ago. To say there is only one way to heaven is an unpopular stance today. Most people think there are many ways to get to heaven. Once a man told me getting to heaven was like flying from DFW to LAX. I could fly American Airlines, and he could fly Delta, and somebody else could fly Northwest or Southwest airlines, but we’d all get to the same destination. Doesn’t that sound logical? I told him that sounded logical, but when you get on an airliner, you could never be 100% certain it would arrive at the intended destination; it could be diverted by weather, hijacked, have mechanical problems, or even crash. I told him I am booked to fly on Jesus Airlines and it’s the only one in the universe with a 100% on time arrival record!