around the wicked gate that you would bring them in, Lord, that you would bring those into your kingdom who are under conviction, and those who are not, that you would bring them under conviction that this day there would be an awakening through your word and by your Spirit. to arouse sleepy sinners to the danger that they are in, that they may flee the wrath to come. We pray for our expectant moms, Sheree Warwick, Lindsey Blackie, Brianna Reyes, Paige Gerizzo, Jamie Tyler, and Erica Maddy. for healthy pregnancies, good, easy labors, for healthy children who'll be born again. We pray for the children of this congregation that even at young and tender ages, Lord, you would gather them into your kingdom by the mighty power of your spirit as they look to Christ by faith. with their little eyes and tender hearts. We pray, Lord, for the work of the gospel, both near and far. We pray for Trinity Grace Reform Baptist in Ramsbottom, England, that you will continue to pour out your favor and grace upon the work, the elders, the members. We pray that it will continue to grow strong. We pray, Lord, that as they help to support IRBS UK, that they will find increased encouragement and help and strength. We pray as well for our sister church, Sycamore Reformed Baptist Church in East Moline, Illinois. We thank you, Lord, for the fellowship that we have, the intimacy with this sister church. We pray that you'll be with Pastor Jonathan Paul And his wife, as she is fighting a losing battle with cancer, hospice has been called in, and she is, as it were, in the suburbs of the new Jerusalem, that you would comfort her, and Pastor Paul, that you administer grace to them, Lord, in this time of great need, that there would be comfort and hope and peace through Christ. We pray that you'll be with Pastor Chuck Rennie as he takes his study sabbatical. That'll be very productive for him, restful as well, that you'll be with Pastor Sal Pizzino as he takes up the slack, that you'll give him the energy and strength and encouragement. We pray, Lord, for the unconverted of that church and of our church that you would gather them in, that you would bring them, Lord, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and that that conviction will result in conversion. Now, Lord, help me to carefully articulate the word of God as it ought to be preached. I pray that you will Help me to overcome the residual of allergies and sinus, and that my voice would be clear, but the preaching be even clearer. And we ask all this now in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. Amen. We've been working our way through the gospel of Luke. And as we've been reading through Luke's gospel, especially when he writes of Jesus and his journey to Jerusalem, we can almost feel ourselves finding ourselves inside the story, so to speak. As Jesus is walking on his journey, there's this sense that we're walking along with him. It's as if it pulls us in. And we saw back in Luke chapter 9 and verse 51, Luke's big announcement. When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. And so there in Luke 9, 51, there's this sense of commitment, this sense of going forward, no looking back, no turning back, and He set His face to go to Jerusalem. And there's a total of nine of these announcements about Jesus going to Jerusalem in the Gospel of Luke. Mentioning Jerusalem here in chapter 13 verse 22 also prepares us for what Jesus will say in the next narrative in verses 31 through 33. And next week, Lord willing, we will see Jesus say in verse 33, Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. And then he gives this great lament, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. He pours out his heart in this sense of sorrow and compassion and concern for the city. Our Lord's mission was to go to Jerusalem. He was to go there that he might be crucified, that he might die on the cross for sinners, that he might fulfill the scriptures and make atonement, and that sinners might be saved so that we might be saved. that you might be saved, that I might be saved. And so Luke now sets forth the context for today's text, beginning at verse 22, where we read, He went on His way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Now think about that. Our blessed Lord went on His way It was His way. His way to Calvary. His way to the cross. His way to appointment with destiny. His way led through towns and villages where people lived, where men and women were working, where children were playing. And these towns were not his final destination, so he was passing through them, passing through with his disciples. But as he passed through, he was healing the sick. He was casting out demons. He was preaching the good news. He was teaching of the kingdom of God as Luke has shown us thus far in the previous chapters. And so here Luke tells us that Jesus was teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. His emphasis here is on teaching. He has something very, very important to teach us. And we would do well to give our fullest attention. His teaching here is in order to set the stage for the instruction that here follows in verses 23 through 30. The context shown here consists of a short, simple question. It's just half a verse long, followed by a long, complex answer that is seven verses long. And this makes for a very simple outline of two points. One is a broad question. followed by two, a narrow answer. So if you look with me in your copy of the scriptures at verse 23, we begin with a broad question. We read, and someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? Well, who asked such a question? We're not told specifically. It was most likely someone that was there within the crowd. And notice that they address Jesus by the title Lord, signifying a disciple or follower rather than an opponent of Christ. And now it seems to be an ultra-random question that just came out of nowhere, maybe just off the top of someone's head, but it was actually a hot topic of debate in Judaism at that time. There was a written collection of Jewish oral traditions and rabbinic literature published at the end of the second century BC called the Mishnah, which cites Isaiah 60 verse 21, that all Israelites have a share in the world to come, though there are some important exceptions. It was a widely held Jewish opinion endorsed by many rabbis that just the children of Abraham would be saved and none others. Another work called Fourth Ezra from the Pseudepigrapha states that the Most High made this world for the sake of many but the world to come for the sake of few. Many have been created but few will be saved." Now, can you imagine what it must have been like to have been back there in that day with Jesus? To have had the opportunity to maybe sit down with Him and ask Him a couple of questions What would you have asked? What questions would have come to your mind? Maybe, what happened to Noah's Ark? What happened to the Tower of Babel? Where did God bury Moses? Who were the Nephilim? Perhaps less trivial, like how and when did Satan fall? When we stop to think of it, there's nothing trivial, though, about this question in verse 23. The New American Standard Bible has it like this, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? The NIV Bible, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? What exactly is this question seeking to know? It asks about the most important issue in the whole wide world. What in this world is more critical than one's eternal destiny? And how many will end up in heaven? So this question seems to be asked not just on behalf of a few Jews, but it's really being asked for all people, for all time, everywhere. And when we consider this question, we begin to sense the magnitude of its dimensions, for it includes every single soul who has ever lived or ever will live in this world And that includes you. And that includes me. And it doesn't just raise the question of how many people will be saved, but it does also call to mind the final judgment, since it will be on that dreadful day at the end of the world that all of humanity will be summoned before the Lord. And it won't be until that day when we will be able to see with our own two eyes if there are just a few people being saved. On that day, we may see that there will be more who will be lost than saved. But John, the apostle, saw in his apocalyptic vision in Revelation 7 verse 9, a great multitude of the redeemed that no one could number from every tribe, people, and language. And they were standing there before the throne, and before the Lamb. They were dressed in white robes, and they were waving palm branches, and they were worshiping. And so I hope you can see that this really is a very broad question, broad in its breadth, broad in its length. It's broad in the breadth of souls that it encompasses. It's broad in the length of time that it spans. And so this brings us to see our next point. beginning at verse 24 in which Jesus gives a narrow answer to that broad question. Notice from the indefinite pronoun in the singular that it was someone who had asked this question, but the personal pronoun in the plural that Jesus gives shows that the answer He gives is not just to the someone, but to them. The others in the crowd who heard the question But we could say not just to them back then and there, but to all of us here and now, and in every succeeding generation, before and after this question. Philip Ryken says, although Jesus certainly implied that only a few people would be saved, his main concern was the salvation of those who were listening. That includes you today. He writes, instead of speculating about the relative numbers of the lost and the saved, Jesus made the issue personal and practical, addressing the entire crowd. Rather than trying to figure out what God will do with somebody else, the most important question for me to address is my own personal relationship to Jesus Christ. Whether God saves many people or only a few, The important thing for me is to make sure that I have eternal life. And the important thing for you is to make sure that you have eternal life. So how about you, dear friend? Where do you stand regarding the destiny of your soul? If you're not sure, I urge you not to rest until you find Jesus and His salvation. Notice our Lord's narrow answer. It actually begins to span out. It has four components to it. First comes an urgent command here in verse 24. This is the command of Jesus Christ. He says strive to enter the narrow door and here Jesus answers with the verb in the imperative and It's a command, also in the plural. He commands us all to strive. And the Greek word that is used here for strive, agonizomai, is the word we get, the word agonize from. It's used for intense physical exertion and athletic training. It's a word that we could say places us in the arena of competition where we are straining every nerve and muscle in the agony of the contest. And here Jesus calls us to this forceful, strenuous effort in straining to enter the narrow door that leads to salvation. And this doesn't mean that we can be saved by our own efforts, for Scripture makes it very clear that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works of our own, lest anyone boast. But until the Lord saves us, we are to be actively pursuing God's mercy through Jesus Christ. We are to be striving taking advantage of the means of grace, reading the Word of God, praying, pleading with the Lord to save us, being in the midst of worship, going where the people of God may be where we can find encouragement, It's been said that when the wind of the Spirit begins to blow, those who are wise will open their sails. And so, effort is to be taken, to be saved, to strive to enter in. Strive by crying out in constant prayer for the Lord to grant you repentance, to forgive you of your sin, to give you a new heart. Strive to enter through that narrow door. And just what is the narrow door? What door is Jesus referring to here? Well, Jesus mentioned something very similar. In Matthew 7 verse 13 and 14, he doesn't use the term door, he uses the term gate, but it's the same parallel idea. There he says, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. The way to life is hard. It's strenuous. It's all uphill, it seems at times, like climbing some steep peak where it's just one grueling step after another, but there's no letting up, there's no giving up until you make it to the top. Now, this doesn't tell us what the narrow gate is, The question is not what it is, but who it is. It's the Lord Jesus, we're told, by Christ himself in John 10, 9. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. So Christ himself is the narrow door through which we come to be reconciled with God. In John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by Me." Can you see how narrow that is? Only by Christ. J.C. Ryle writes, this gate is called the narrow gate. It's always narrow and difficult to pass through to some people, and it will be so, so long as the world stands. It is narrow to all who love sin. and are determined not to part with it. You see, it's so narrow, only you can get through, you can't get through with your sin. J.C. Rouse says, it is narrow to all who set their affection on this world and seek its pleasure and rewards. It is narrow to all who dislike trouble and are unwilling to take pains and make sacrifices for their souls. It is narrow to all who like company and want to keep in with the crowd. It is narrow to all who are self-righteous and think that they are good people and deserve to be saved. To all such, the great gate which Christ made is narrow and straight. In vain they seek to pass through. The gate will not admit them. God is not unwilling to receive them. Their sins are not too many to be forgiven, but they are not willing to be saved by God in God's way. See, God makes the rules. We have to follow His instructions if we are to get through the narrow door. And sin has become a great barricade between us and our Maker. Our sense of guilt, perhaps, makes us afraid of Him. Our sense of God's holiness keeps us away from Him. And because we're all born with a heart that is at enmity with God, we grow more and more alienated, more distant from Him the longer we live So how can we come near to God when our nature wants to flee and hide from Him? How can we get right with God? How can we be justified? How can we be reconciled with our Maker? But by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by His shed blood on the cross for sinners like us, Jesus opened a way to God. He provided pardon. He provided peace. He suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. He is opened a way into the Holy of Holies through His blood by which we can draw near to God with a holy boldness and approach God without fear. Jesus saves us. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, by this narrow door. And in this highest sense, He is the door. No one can come to the Father but by Him. So let's take care that we use this door. And not merely just stand around outside and looking at it. Someone think, many people might think, well I'm close to it. I mean, it's right there and I'm just going to stay in close proximity. And if I find that I'm getting close to the end of life or there's, you know, some threat of my life, I'm going to just jump through that narrow door. But not right now. I'm having too much fun. I know what, you know, the cost of going through that narrow door. I could lose all my friends, all my party friends. I'll have to make amends with the IRS. All that cheating and sin that I've done, I'm gonna have to deal with it. I'll stay close. But I'm not gonna go in yet. And that's the mentality of so many people. Christ stands with his arms stretched out. If any man enter by me, he shall be saved. But what efforts, really, are people making to enter through the narrow door? Are you striving? to enter? Is there any serious effort, any wrestling, any strenuous straining? Are you praying for salvation? Are you in the Word of God? Are you repenting of sin? And if not, well, don't wait another minute, go to the Lord. Right there from where you're sitting, you can cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness. The word strive speaks of intense effort and labor and agony involved in entering in. And then we move from an urgent command to the second component here in verse 24. It's a somber prophecy. A somber prophecy. He says, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. So here we have the word many It was actually asked if a few will be saved, but Jesus instead replies that many will not be saved. Many, I tell you, will seek to enter and not be able. Now, when Jesus says many will seek to enter and will not be able, is he suggesting that they will be turned away at the door in this life? Heavens no. Jesus is warning us not to give up too easily. No sinners are ever forbidden to draw near. No one will ever be kept from entering through the narrow door as if it's going to be barricaded or the Lord's going to be saying, no, not you. As narrow as this door is, it is a door that stands open. It is ready to receive those that will come and enter through it. Do you know, as narrow as this door is, it is one in which millions and millions have already entered? They are safely in on the other side. They have gone through and they have been saved. But a time is coming when seeking God will be fruitless. When will this time come? The time that is foretold by our Lord is the time of His own second coming to judge the world. When Christ comes to judge the world, then many will seek to enter in and not be able. But the door will also be shut at a person's death. As Hebrews 9.27 says, it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. So, where death finds you, eternity binds you, that is the door being shut. There's no second chance after you die. You may seek to enter right after you die, but it will be too late. You won't be able. But also the door may be shut even before death due to a person's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, or committing the sin that leads to death, or gross idolatry. Hosea 4.17 says, Ephraim is joined to idols, leave him alone. We saw in Sunday school in Pilgrim's Progress, a door that was open to hell for hypocrites, for blasphemers, for the reprobate. For Esau, for Judas, while they were yet alive, their doom was already sealed. The door of salvation had already been shut on some before their life was even ended. And Hebrews 10, 26 and 7 gives this warning. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So there is a narrow door and a limited time for entering through that door. I hope you can hear this note of urgency. It reminds me of an airport terminal where passengers are at the gate preparing to board the plane. And it's open boarding now. So whatever class or group you're in, everyone can come in. So come on in. Everyone's encouraged to come pass through the gate and board the plane. But there's some that are still in the lobby. They want to finish the meal over there in that little restaurant. Or they're in the bar enjoying some drinks. And they're assuming the plane would wait for them. And then when they get to the gate, They see the gate's been closed. They've missed their flight. They didn't strive to enter in. The offer of the gospel comes with an expiration date. It's a date, though, that you can't read. So it's best to take that offer now. You don't know when the plane's departing. You don't know when the gate's going to be closed. But it's best to go ahead and board. Did you ever hear of the story that's told of three apprentice demons being trained by Satan in the job of bringing souls to hell? Early one morning, Satan asked the three apprentices, what are you going to try today? The first apprentice replied, I'm going to tell them that there is no God. Well, said Satan, you can try. A few fools will believe you, but the universe shouts the existence of God. There's evidence all around you. You just won't do very well. Any other ideas? The second apprentice replied, I'm going to tell them that there's no judgment. Well, that's a better idea, says Satan. You will persuade more people than that. But human beings have an innate sense of accountability that actions have consequences. They know what it is to feel guilty even when their therapists tell them not to. So, it will be an uphill battle. Anyone else have an idea, he asked? The third apprentice spoke up. I'm going to tell them there's no hurry. Brilliant, said Satan. You will have great success. Let them hear the preaching of the word of God and then whisper in their ears, this is really good stuff and you should do something about it someday. But not today, there's no hurry. J.C. Ryle said, There is a time coming when many will repent too late, believe too late, sorrow for sin too late, and begin to pray too late, to be anxious about salvation too late, and long for heaven too late. Millions shall wake up in another world and be convinced of truths which on earth they refuse to believe. Dear friend, now, now is the day of salvation. So this emphasis is on urgency. And then we move to the third component from a somber prophecy to a brief parable in verses 25 through 27. This may be called the parable of the master's shut door. Verse 35, 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, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from. And then you begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. Jesus is the master of the house, who will rise from his throne in glory, who will come to earth and shut the door. And as Master Christ Himself determines who is brought in and who is left out, and once He shuts the door, it stays shut forever. How many of you can see a parallel here with Noah's Ark? 120 years went by, no one believed Noah's preaching. As the ark was being finished, people had the opportunity to enter in. No one entered in. And once the door was shut, it stayed shut, and the flood came, and those who were outside may have been knocking at the door of the ark to get in. Jesus Christ is our ark of refuge. The door is open. Strive to enter in. At the last day, unrepentant sinners will knock at the door that has been ever forever shut, and they will plead, Lord, open to us. And what will Jesus say to them on that day? He will answer, I do not know you. I do not know where you come from. And there will be Jews who hung out with Jesus on his way to Jerusalem as he taught in their towns. Surely that, they would say, you taught in our streets, we ate with you, that's got to count for something. And people will say similar things even today. Lord, we went to church, we were in Sunday school, we even went to the Lord's table, we ate and drank with you. And then He will say, I do not know where you come from. This seemed to have caught them by surprise in this parable. They thought they knew Jesus. They assumed He knew them. There is this familiarity with Jesus, but it does not automatically equate with entering the narrow door. And notice Jesus' answer. I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Have you come to the house of God on the Lord's day and listened to his word week by week? No. Have you been singing hymns to him along with the congregation of God's people each Sunday? No. Have you been praying to him, Lord, lead me not in the temptation, but deliver me from evil? No. You've never come to Him or spoken to Him. So that's why Jesus will say He does not know you. You've never repented. But Jesus hasn't finished speaking to you. He has one more thing to say to you in verse 27. Depart from Me, all you workers of evil. So do you see how Jesus describes maybe some who are even here today? that you are a worker of evil. And though you've never killed anyone or stolen anything or committed adultery or told lies, you're a worker of evil, Jesus says, because you have been told so much about Jesus, and you've been offered life and salvation through Him, and you have chosen your own self. instead of Him to be your God. You are a worker of evil, and God will treat you as such, and with all justice, He will put you into hell. And what is hell? It is what Jesus says here, depart from me. You've lived your life saying to Him, get away from me, Jesus. Don't interfere in how I'm living my life. I don't want anything to do with You or with Your people. And so one day He in turn will say to you, depart from Me. You did not want Me, though I would have had given you My salvation had you come, but now I don't want you. Depart from Me. And every syllable of those words will thunder in your heart like the loudest thunderclap. And it will strike you like lightning that you are lost forever. It's said that in hell, You'll be haunted by the ghosts of a million murdered opportunities. Don't make it a million and one today by turning a deaf ear and a hard heart to the Lord, for the door stands open. Now is the day. Come to the Lord. Trust in Christ and find mercy. We move then finally from a brief parable to the fourth component in verses 28 and 30, and that is a final warning. Here we read, 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. You see the forcefulness here. It's not just left out, it's cast out. And verse 28 is the key text that teaches that those who are damned in hell will be able to see those who are saints in glory. They will witness them entering into glory in order that they may see what they could have had, but turn their back on, and it will only increase and intensify their misery. like someone who should have been on the cruise ship, but waited, and once the gates were closed, the ship left the port, and they're standing on the shore, watching those on board, toasting with their champagne glasses. It will increase the miseries and enlarge the torments of those in hell when they behold the saints' happiness in the kingdom of God, but they are cast out. And in hell, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is a description of our Lord's second coming in the day of judgment. This weeping is that of insoluble despair and utter hopelessness. Gnashing of teeth represents frenzied anger and unmitigated rage. R.C. Sproul, someone shared a podcast, he said, do you ever wonder what people are doing in hell? Jesus doesn't describe every activity that takes place there, but he does describe two responses of humans who have been consigned there, where he says, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. People who wake up in hell will be devastated, and they won't find enough water in their eyes to satisfy their need to weep. They will be sobbing, oh no, not here. Oh God, please have mercy on me. And they will gnash their teeth in anger and rage. How dare you send me here? It's a biblical metaphor of human fury. But there's one bright ray of hope here in verse 29. And people will come from east and west and north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God. They'll come from the four compass points of the world to take their place at the king's table. And this is an illusion that is pointing to inclusion of Gentile believers in the kingdom of God. Many will come. Are few going to be saved? Many will not be, but he says many will be. And verse 30, And behold, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last. And all through Luke's gospel, we've been seeing how outsiders are in and insiders are out. Tax collectors, prostitutes, all those evil, dark, dirty sinners, they're brought in. And all those righteous elite, the scribes, the Pharisees, the lawyers, they're out. And in our confession of faith, the very last chapter, the very last paragraph of the last chapter reads like this. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity, so will He have the day unknown to men that they may shake off all carnal security and always be watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come and may ever be prepared to say, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. So here's the great reversal of the Christ who came not to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance. If you're a sinner, you qualify. And you know how outsiders can truly become insiders? Through faith in the insider who became an outsider for us. Jesus went outside the camp that he might bring us to God, as Hebrews 13, 12 and 13 reads. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. And therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach that he endured. So let's strive to enter the narrow gate. As one writer put it, it was on the cross that Jesus Christ, the one true insider, became an outsider so that you and I, naturally born outsiders, can freely be brought in. Our culture tells us that the problem is outside us and the solution is inside us. The gospel tells us that the problem is inside us and the solution is outside us. Hell will be filled with people who believe they deserve to be outside of hell and inside of heaven. And heaven will be filled with people who believe they deserve to be outside of heaven and inside of hell. Where do you deserve to be? Where will you be found when the master shuts the door? May the Lord in his mercy and love grant us that saving grace that we will strive to enter in so that those of us who were outside may forever praise our Savior Jesus Christ for bringing us inside his everlasting kingdom. Let's pray. Lord, we're thankful for Your Word. We're thankful that in its stark reality, the boldness, it holds no punches. It holds nothing back. And far better for us to become uncomfortable before one another here as we sit in this place of worship while we can strive and enter the narrow gate. than for us to be found uncomfortable at the final day when the door's been shut. Lord, we pray your word will not return void. We pray that hardened hearts will be melted by the mighty work of your Spirit, and that Jesus Christ will get all the glory. For we pray this in his name. Amen. It is always good to be brought back front and center.