We no doubt have or think that John Newton would have had the words of our text this morning in front of him as he penned that tune. But what a wonderful reminder, just that opening stanza, destruction's dangerous road, what a multitude pursue, while that which leads the soul to God is known or sought by few. This morning I want us to consider Jesus' words concerning the narrow door in Luke chapter 13. Or we could subtitle it the way that is narrow, the way that is broad. Or we could say the way of the few and the way of the many. These are the ways that in our scriptures we see the words are used to describe those who truly know Christ and those who think they know Christ. So I want to begin this morning by sharing the thesis. It's not just enough that you know Christ, but what's important is does Christ know you? Are you truly in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? I'll begin reading in Luke chapter 13 verse 22. He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Now keep in mind, he has set his face like Flint now. He's on that final journey to Calvary. It's gonna take us a while to get there, his teaching and teaching along the way. But this is his goal, this is where he's headed. And someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, Lord, open to us, and he will answer you. I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, but we ate with you and we drank in your presence and we talked with you together in the streets. But he will say, I tell you, I don't know where you came from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. In that place, 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, but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some who are first will be last. This is the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God and of Christ in this day. Let's pray. Father, help us to know Your Word, to receive Your Word, in order to live Your Word. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. We live in an age that's not unique to us that we call religious pluralism. We didn't invent it. It's not just a thing that takes place in the United States. It's really existed since the beginning of time. Religious pluralism is the idea that in some way, somehow, all religions somehow lead to salvation. As long as a person's religion includes some idea of God, sometimes big G, a god, little g, or perhaps gods in number, as long as there's some idea of God, then salvation can be known. Pluralism finds virtue in religion itself, and somehow that all religions are good. In other words, there are multiple ways to God. There are many ways to have a relationship with God. They're all equally valid, whether it be Allah, or whether it be Hinduism, or whether it be Hare Krishna, or whether it be Yahweh, or whether it be any number of other things. All ways lead to heaven. When Jesus makes it clear in our text, there'll be many surprises in heaven. When we who will be in heaven get there one day, there will be those that we would have expected would be there. We won't find some that maybe we thought would be there. And then there may be some there that we didn't think would ever be able to spend eternity with us in heaven. But that's not really the point of the text. You see, I think the evil one would have us to focus on the question that this person asked. How many? Who are the few? Are we in with the right group? Are we going the right way? Is this religion the right way? Or whatever the case may be, when the question that ought to be asked is not the one that we consider in the text, will those who are saved be few? But the more critical question is, will you be there? Whether you're part of the many or the few, whatever that means, we'll bring that out in the text, will you be present in heaven? Will you be there in the face of God and Christ on that day? That's the more critical question. And it's what I think whoever asked this question probably meant, but alongside it had another thing that he wanted to have clarified. And so that's what we consider first, in brief, is whoever asks this question a clarifying question. Jesus, you seem to be teaching that the way to heaven is going to be narrow, that there are only going to be few, that it's going to be a smaller number than maybe I or we had been thinking. And so we ask the question, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And then Jesus responds, and this is where we'll spend a little more time in understanding that even though it may look like he didn't answer the question directly, he could not have been more clear in his response. So we'll look first at the clarifying question and then a clear response that Jesus gives, not just to the person that asked the question, but really to the crowds that were gathered on that day because he answers in a plural form and specifically to the Jewish leaders that would have been present. So first, the question. Someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? We don't know who asked the question. We really don't even know for certain the spirit behind the question. Some would say that he was curious, and there's certainly an element of that, but his curiosity was born out of more, well, you seem to be indicating that salvation might be made a little more than just with the Jews. What's going on here? Trying to sincerely ask Jesus, how can I know if I am part of the few? But the general context seems to lean more toward, this is really a question that's questioning Jesus. Not asking Jesus a question, but questioning, do you have this right? We don't know who asked the question, but certainly it would have been a Jew. And certainly we could understand it to be a Jew asking a question in an audience so that Jesus could clarify what he meant in the face of all Jews. So given the context, in 13 of Jesus' repeated teaching of the need and the call for men to repent. And then when we notice his response in a moment, it seems the question that the man is asking is seeking to clarify what Jesus is teaching about the kingdom of God. But it was more with the mind and the heart of smugness, self complacency. Because the general understanding amongst the Jews of Jesus' day was that all Jews except the worst of those, all Jews except those who had somehow disqualified themselves. Well, we might would say all Jews except for those who had apostatized the Jewish religion, all Jews and only Jews would be saved. So when he asked the question, Lord, will those who are saved be few? He's asking it in the context of Judaism. In fact, the Mishnah, which is an oral part of the Torah that they would have repeated out loud in the Jewish law, was very explicit about this. In the Sanhedrin, chapter 10, part one, it said all Israelites have a share in the world to come. I'm going to repeat that. All Israelites have a share in the world to come. That was the prevalent teaching. For it has been written, thy people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. And these are they that have no share in the world to come. He that says that there is no resurrection of the dead prescribed in the law, and he that says that the law is not from heaven, and Epicureans, and then it goes on in part two and part three to list other disqualifications, if you will, of an Israelite that may not be in eternity or in the kingdom of God. That was the teaching of the Sanhedrin in Jesus' day. So when the question came from someone in the crowd, whoever that person might have been, the hearers would have expected Jesus to affirm that they, in fact, were the few as opposed to the many. They would have committed themselves to the Jew being the few and all Jews being saved, but the many, any Gentile, would be cut off and have no access to the throne room of heaven. In fact, in the apocryphal book, 4 Esdras chapter 8 verse 3, it was written, many are created but few are saved. Now that may sound a little familiar because we'll see in a moment there's a take on that from Jesus himself in the New Testament. But in four astras it read, many are created, Jew and Gentile alike, but few are saved. So they would have been referring to Gentiles being the many, and in fact excluded from the kingdom, while they, the few, would be saved. So the question then, in its context, seems to be really, so is salvation for the few, the Jews, or for the many Gentiles as well. That's the question. Not what must I do to be saved, not will I be part of the few, even if you did think it was strictly Judaism, not will I be there, but with this overarching idea of, I think, trying to, once again, trip Jesus up. Because how he answered this question would define what he really thought as if he hadn't done it already. Jesus' response, a clear response that we see in the rest of the text. Again, it might appear that Jesus doesn't answer the question directly. In fact, it is a yes or no question. The question is, will those who are saved be few? He could have just said yes or no. Yes, those who are saved will be few. No, they won't be few. And he stated it clearly later on in a parable of the wedding feast, in Matthew 22, 14, where there, the word of God, coming from Christ himself, says, many are called, few are chosen. You see, this idea of many and few is not new in the scripture. This was kind of the context that bore out the question. But it wasn't for many are created, few are chosen, but many are called. And we know that that means that the general proclamation of the gospel truth that man in his sin is separated from God and he has no relationship whatsoever other than wrath. He's condemned already and he's under sin. He's under law. And unless he receives Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and repents, he's going to keep coming back. Repent. It's the first part of our of his answer. Repent and believe. that he is cut off and condemned already, and who he will remain under the wrath of God forever and ever and ever. Many are called of that calling, few. Few are truly chosen. Who are the few, then, would be the question. Jesus' response here is to correct the false notion that the few were only and all the Jews." So he does answer the man's question. He does so first in verse 24 by the reminder that the way to heaven is difficult. We sang about it earlier. We read about it in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew chapter seven. The way to heaven, the way to the kingdom is not a street lined with gold that we simply have to submit to one occasion of our life and then somehow live however we want to live. It's a difficult way. Over and over in scripture, we read about the way that is narrow, then it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven. There's this broad way and there's this narrow way that are always set aside one another. And it's the view, it's the narrow way, it's the eye of the needle, if you will, that describes believers. that describes those who would truly be in the kingdom of God. So in verse 24, he says, in answering the question, strive to enter through the narrow gate, or through the narrow door. Again, I mentioned earlier that we live in a time of religious pluralism, that all roads lead to heaven. But in evangelicalism, No. I'm not going to use that word. Because evangelicalism means the true preaching of the good news. When we call ourselves evangelists, we are good-newsing people. We are gospeling people. We are proclaiming light and darkness. We are giving the way that's true, and that way is described as the narrow way. So in broader, what is called evangelicalism today, coming through and out of a time of revivalism, which would have gone back to the days of Charles Finney that greased the way to heaven by interjecting a thing into worship called the altar call, and where the preaching of the word often was vapid of the gospel, It was simply to manipulate you or to get you to decide to somehow move your geographical location. That if you will just come forward to this place, literally described as the mercy seat, and if you will just come forward and believe, then all will be fine. Sometimes there was no mention of sin. There was no mention of a need for grace. It was just simply change your location. I grew up in such things. I never met Charles Finney personally, but I grew up with revivals. After revival, we had them in the spring and we had them in the fall. And friends, cheap grace was peddled. Easy believism. All you need to do before the, just as I am, 17th verse ends, is come forward, shake the preacher's hand, say a prayer, and you are baptized that night. And yet, when that person might have been asked why they came forward, what are you receiving? Why do you need Christ? No mention of sin, but Jesus can help me get better physically. No mention of hating God, which is what the Bible uses to describe those who don't know Christ, rather than saying, I love myself, and I need the Holy Spirit to shatter my hard heart, and I pray that he's done that. No mention of those types of things, but Jesus can make my life better. I came forward, I want to give Jesus a try. What happens? than when somehow Jesus doesn't fit that idea and things don't go well, or Jesus doesn't heal Aunt Gertie, or Jesus doesn't fix Mom and Dad's marriage, or that any need or therapeutic cure that has been put forth for Jesus, which is what has been preached for years from the pulpit, when he doesn't measure up, then they're gonna try something else. It shouldn't shock us when people are leaving the church in groves and turning to Islam, or turning back to Roman Catholicism, or going back to things that are not the gospel because the gospel didn't work. Well, the problem is they never heard the gospel in the first place. Jesus shatters this idea of cheap grace and easy believism, this idea that somehow God exists to satisfy you. You don't exist to satisfy God, and so we have this God who's been formed in the image of man. But then there's the gospel. And folks, the gospel is simple, not easy. I'm not contradicting what we've already said from the scripture. It's difficult. Jesus says here, it's a striving that must take place. That word literally means agonizing. that it's not easy, that you're going to go through great difficulty overcoming the flesh, overcoming the world, overcoming the evil one. This path to heaven is not pie in the sky, by and by, and all of your sufferings and all of your troubles are just gonna go away. Friends, if you're here this morning and that's the only idea you have of Jesus, put it to death. He didn't die for that. He died for our trespasses. And let's be honest, our trespasses make us comfortable. We like our sin. There's no one here today that sins because you don't want to. At the moment you sin, you do so because you like it. You do so because whether you verbally say it or whether you even consciously think it, God, I know more what I need right now than you do. This is going to satisfy me more than your son. This is going to satisfy me more than your word. This is going to satisfy me more than your gospel. And then we commit the sin. And if we truly know Christ and the spirit is living within us, immediately what happens? It's not just a momentary lapse of reason. We realize I've sinned. You don't hear that in many places today. And that's not what Jesus means when he says that we are to strive. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven will be made up of those who strive. Again, literally agonize along the way to make sure that they're a part of the number. They weren't concerned about how many. or how few, but they simply want to know, am I a part of that kingdom? This doesn't mean that we rely on our own words. That's not what this is to suggest. Somehow our works have anything to do with our salvation. It's all by grace. What it does mean is that they've come to understand that the way to heaven is not a simple proposition. Simply change the mind in thinking about something. But when we repent, and this is the idea behind striving, repentance is hard. Repentance is difficult because in the power of the Spirit of God, we are turning from something that we truly desire. For years of our life, whatever those sins might have been, and we're not just turning to, but we'll see in a moment, we're turning from, but we're turning to by faith as well. It's hard to mortify the sins of the flesh. It's hard to repent the first time. In fact, impossible apart from the spirit. But the ongoing life of repentance never ends. The striving never stops. We repent, and we repent, and we repent. This was not the way of Judaism. This was not what was going on in this person's mind when they asked the question. Jesus' answer wanted that man and all of those around him to see that entrance into the kingdom is marked by self-denial. Deny yourself. No back up. If any man would come after me, he must first what? Deny self. Striving. He must take up his own cross. sufferings, striving, and follow me. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. And in the context of his present teaching, this striving, again, is directly related to repentance. It's to know that there is only one way that man might be saved. There aren't multiple ways. When Jesus said, I am the way, it's what he meant. And it's through his death, it's through his blood that we receive the forgiveness of sins. In other words, he is this narrow door. He is the narrow way. He is the only way. that man might have a relationship with God. So this striving comes as we repent of our sins, both initially, and we continue in repentance all the days of our lives, believing that Jesus died for those sins. And we're learning to hate sin like God hates sin, and we're wanting to crush those sins that can so easily beset us. Jeff Thomas put it this way, our dear Welsh pastor. One of the reasons that it is a narrow door is because it's not wide enough for your sins as well as yourself to pass through. I love that. Here's why it's a narrow door. It's not wide enough for your sin and for you to pass through. It's only wide enough, he said, for you to get through. You must leave behind your unbelief. You must leave behind your love of money. You must leave behind your lust. You must leave behind your pride. You must leave behind your idols, whatever they may be. You must leave behind your popularity in the world and your longing to be popular in the world. You must leave behind your prayerlessness. You must leave behind your Sabbath breaking. You must count the cost as you approach this door. Written above are the words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And under the door, repent for the kingdom of God is here. You get the picture? This isn't what's preached today in many places. He goes on, there's a turning from and a turning to. From sin to the Savior. No salvation without coming to Christ. No salvation without turning your back on your sins. It's like a surgeon who scrubs for surgery. That activity makes sense as a preparation for a life-saving procedure. Surgery without it can be fatal, but scrubbing and scrubbing without the prospect of surgery is pointless and costly, even pathological. Why would a man scrub his hands and scrub his hands if he weren't going to do the surgery in the first place? Both procedures are necessary for the surgeon, as both separation from sin and separation unto Christ are necessary for salvation. In this striving, what Jesus is saying is what Jeff Thomas describes as the scrubbing. You're scrubbing your hands. You're not making yourself clean. You're made clean by the blood of Christ, but you're getting ready. You're preparing to do soul surgery. Timothy put it like this in 1 Timothy 6, 6. Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, we cannot take anything out of the world. If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money, not money itself, but the love of, is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. They're knocking. But as for you, oh man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Strive. put death to sin, take on the things of godliness, and fight. You see, the difference between those who strive and those who seek in our text is those who strive are the few. Those who seek are many. And the many consist of those who try to get in in their own way, in their own time, and it's too late. God slams the door. But we don't believe in a doctrine of second chances. When it's done, it's done. When you take your last breath on this earth, the door is slammed. Or when Jesus comes again and you're sitting in this pew, the door is slammed. There will come a time where the free offer of the grace that you've received in the gospel, whether it be in your churches or in your homes or by believing friends or whoever it might be, there will come a time. That's it. We don't believe in a doctrine of purgatory, that somehow your relatives that are left behind can pay penance or pray that you get out of this holding place. No. When it's over, it's over. The difference between those who strive and those who seek is those who seek are many, and when the door is slammed, they're on the outside looking in. They've never repented. And dear friends, understand that for you, for us, the danger of time running out is real. John the Baptist came preaching, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus came preaching, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Not walk down the aisle shake the preacher's hand, have no idea of your sin and your need for Christ, repent. The way to heaven is difficult. It's a striving that must take place, and it's narrow. But then he counters that, or alongside that, the way to hell is easy. The way to hell is wide. The way to destruction is broad, is the way that it's put in other places. Notice what will happen. When the door is slammed, when they're on the outside and there's no second chance, then you will begin to say, Jesus says, I mean, in verse 25, the master of the house has risen, shut the door. You begin to stand outside and knock at the door saying, Lord, open to us. In other words, there's this panic. You realize everything that you'd heard was only here, and it never took place in your heart, or everything that you had denied is suddenly true, and you're on the outside looking in. The door's closed, and you're trying to get in. You're relying on your works again, just like these Jews did. Don't you remember, Jesus, when we did this? Surely this meant something. He says in verse 25, Lord, open to us as you're out there knocking. We read it earlier in Matthew chapter seven. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who's in heaven. Period, end of quote. Let us in. And what they plead, we begin to see, is one, they've been in his presence. They've been around him. Look what they say. You'll begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence. Absolutely true. Some were present that day who might have been at the feeding of the 5,000. Some are the present that day who had been along with him as he talked along the way in the streets all the way from the beginning of his ministry to where he is now. We were in your presence. We were at church every Sunday. We heard the word proclaimed every week. We read the Bibles at our home and listen as our fathers read it to us. Surely that means something. No, all that means is you went to church every week and you read your Bible daily, which are important if you're a child of God, but it doesn't make you a child of God, you see. God, we did all of these things. You were present with us. Surely this means something. And then there works in verse 27, as they drank in the presence and talked in the streets. And he'll say to you, depart from me. I don't know where you're from. A little different than what he tells him. It's not that I don't know you. It's I don't know where you're from. I've never had a relationship with you. And so here he's bringing out faith. Faith is the relationship. We break our relationship with sin and repentance and we take on a new relationship in Christ and we believe that He is enough and that He is sufficient and it's His work and it's His grace and we receive His forgiveness. It's not by our works. Matthew 7, on that day, many will say to me, didn't we prophesy in your name? Jesus will say, yeah, you did. Well, didn't we cast out demons in your name? Yeah, some of you did. Didn't we do mighty works in your name? Yeah, some of you did. Then I will declare I never knew you. I never knew you. You claim to know me, but I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Here he calls them workers of evil. Imagine how that must have stunned them. They're outside knocking. And he says, you, everything that you did was for yourself. Everything you did was for your own glory. Everything that you did was so that other people would see. Everything that you did was all about you, but there's not one moment that you came to me and received me and that I received you. I'll share with some of our people over the weekend, the membership class, that this is really my testimony. I don't even remember the sermon that was preached, but years ago, as a 20-something, married, pregnant with our first child, I wasn't, before he was, I heard, it was crystal clear, and I don't think it came from the words of the preacher. I don't believe in this audible voice of God that he speaks out loud, but in my spirit, when have you ever done it for me? When have you ever done it for me? From high school, I'd been teaching young people in Sunday school. All through college, I served as president of the Baptist Student Union, and I lived there, and I served on church staffs, and the harrowing question, when have you done it for me? And I didn't have an answer. I was overcome by the thought that I was doing it because I was good at it, and I was popular doing it, and people liked me. Now, I don't know if that's the moment I came to faith in Christ, that's what I go back to, but I was crushed. Because I couldn't come to a point of thinking, when have I ever done it for the glory of God? So when these people come to Him, didn't we do this? Didn't we do that? Yes, you did, you workers of evil. Yes, you did, you workers of lawlessness. Yes, you did, you workers of iniquity. Remember the parable in Matthew 25? It's called a parable, but I think it's a reality that's gonna happen. The sheep and the goats, same thing. Well, Lord, didn't we feed the hungry? And didn't we give water to the thirsty? And didn't we visit the ones in prison? And didn't we give clothes to the ones that were naked? Jesus doesn't deny their, depart from them. Depart from them. And then to this group of people, I can't imagine a deeper agonizing than the judgment that awaits them. Notice it's interesting. Jesus says the way to heaven is agonizing. And guess what you're going to get in hell? Agony. Weeping and gnashing of teeth is the way that it's described. But notice what he says. Depart from me, you workers of evil. In that place, what place? This is hell. This is the judgment. This is where the wrath of God will be poured out for all eternity on those who knew, truly didn't know him, and he never knew them. Weeping and gnashing of teeth, you know the picture, that's a description of hell. And by the way, it's not annihilationism. It's not something that will end. It will go on forever and ever and ever and ever. This constant physical, emotional, spiritual, mental weeping, gnashing of teeth. But that's not it. Perhaps that should be enough. But notice what happens. As they're outside knocking on the door, they're able to get a glimpse in, and who's there? Abraham? Isaac? Jacob? The prophets that you killed? They're there. The very one that you are booking that your eternity is safe. Abraham's there, but why was Abraham there? How was Abraham there? Because he believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Abraham was there because he was righteous. And why was he righteous? He believed God. You don't. It's not by your birthright. You're born of God. Why was Isaac there? It wasn't because he was the physical lineage of Abraham. Isaac was there because he believed. Why was Jacob there? Because he believed. And here, you're trusting in them for your salvation, not me. In fact, he says, you'll see them but you yourselves are cast out." That would be crushing to the Jew, but he doesn't stop. Not only will you not be there with your patriarchal fathers and the prophets who tried to warn you all along the way and even told you what the captivity and the discipline was all about, you denied them, but who's getting in? It's not just that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets are in the kingdom, but people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at the kingdom of God. You know who he's talking about, right? The Gentiles. They'll be there, and you won't. You think not being with Abraham was tough? Imagine being that Jew, standing outside with every ounce of your being, thinking that you had been right all along, and that as a nation, God had chose you to be in eternity with him forever, and there was no spiritual understanding whatsoever. And then suddenly, the floodgates are open to the Gentiles, the very ones that you thought God was going to exterminate and set up his kingdom on earth, and you would rule with him forever. Oh, how quickly their theology is going to be made known. That's why he closes with, some are last. Not all, but some are last who will be first. Who are the last? The Gentiles. And he doesn't say all the Gentiles will be saved. He says some of those who are last. Some of those who God didn't come to in relationship and give him promises and give them the covenants and give them the law and take them by the hand and lead them out of Egypt, not those people, they're the first. No, some of the last, some of the Gentiles will be first. And some of the first, you Jews, not all of you Jews, But some of you Jews will be last. What Jesus just said in these words is the way to have a relationship with God, the way to be reconciled to God has always been, is, and will always be the same. Repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that simple. That's why I said the gospel is simple. It's not easy. In fact, it's impossible unless the Holy Spirit gives you a heart. Gives you the eyes to see and the ears to hear unless you truly are born again. But friend, if you are truly born again, you will repent and you will believe. On the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be part of the few. So the correct question is not how many will be saved. The question is not whether your child in the pew next to you will be saved. That's a good question for a parent to have. But are you saved? Am I saying, do I truly have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Not just I know him, but he knows me. Not just that he knows your thoughts and the intents of your heart. Yes, that's true. But you are in an actual living, breathing relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Friends, that's where assurance comes. That's when we face the persecutions of the world. We stand firm in that. You know why they persecuted the early church, right? Early church in Rome and Acts, it wasn't so much they persecuted Christians just because of their religion. They didn't persecute the Jews. What was the difference? You see, Rome was open to any religion that gave some semblance of being open to emperor worship, which we know happened in the trials. The Jews themselves said, we have no king but Caesar. They weren't persecuted. Why? because they weren't seeking to proselytize the Romans. As long as the Jews stayed over in their little part that had been cordoned off for them, they could worship their God and they could do whatever they pleased as long as they didn't get someone else or try to get someone else to believe what they believed. Why were Christians persecuted? Because Christians preached the exclusivity Not the inclusivism, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ for salvation. He is the only way. There is no other God. There is no other way. There is no other truth. It's this way or no way. And that's why they killed him. Our message hasn't changed. Let me rephrase that. Our message ought not to have changed. The reason I hesitated to use the word evangelicalism earlier because there's so much of the way of the world that has gotten into the church that sometimes we don't even recognize it. Me included. We are influenced six days a week in a way, I pray, that's much different than we're influenced here. We must strive, not just on Sunday morning. every single day. The question is, am I saved? Have I truly repented of my sins and do I continue to repent of those things? Have I truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, trusted in him, his work as satisfactory to God and appeasing his wrath so that God can be just and justifier? Have I had faith in him? Do I continue to have faith in him? Do I continue to deny myself, take up my cross and follow him? And it's interesting, Luke's the only one of the gospel writers that adds comma and what? Daily. Daily. So Jesus would say, agonize here. You agonize today. You face the difficulty today in the power of the Holy Spirit or you will face real agony forever and all eternity. Jesus said, some are last who will be first. Some are first who will be last. Let's pray. Father, it's easy to hear a sermon like this as believers and rejoice if we truly know you, and we ought to do that. The fact for me, Father, is that there's any door that's been made available. Not just that it's narrow, but that there's any door by which man might be reconciled to you. That is grace. No one deserves the kingdom of heaven. May we not be like the Jews that thought they deserved it because they were children of Abraham. Father, help us to know that it's just sheer grace that there's any door. So let's not get hung up on the only door, but that there's any door. And then, Father, in realizing that, we can realize that the only door is necessary. And so, Father, I pray today that we would know our sin, that we would hate sin as you do. But then, Father, that we would believe that Christ died for it. And if we truly have a relationship with your Son, then our sins are covered in the blood, and we wear his robes of righteousness, and we strive to make you known. So, Father, help us this day To know more of your grace, but Father, also this day to know more of your judgment that awaits those who've never known that grace. It's the name of Christ, the narrow door we pray.