Are Few Saved? Strive to Enter

Introduction: Christ's Journey to Jerusalem and the Sermon's Framework

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, December 6th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. We will be digressing this morning from our regular course of studies in Paul's letter to the Philippians to consider one of the most searching, one of the most vital, one of the most graphic passages in the Gospels setting before us the way of life and salvation.

0:44 And I ask you this morning to follow as I read from the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, a passage which will form the basis of our meditation both this morning and again, God willing, this evening. Luke's Gospel, chapter 13.

1:06 We read, beginning in verse 22, concerning our Lord himself, and he, who went on his way through cities and villages, teaching and journeying on to Jerusalem. And one said unto him, Lord, are they few that are saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in by the narrow door. For many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able, when once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us.

1:51 And he shall answer and say to you, I know you not, whence you are. Then shall you begin to say, We did eat and drink in your presence, and you taught in our streets. And he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence you are. Depart from me.

2:12 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast forth without. And they shall come from the east and the west and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold, there, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last.

2:54 At this point in the narrative of Luke, it is evident from verse 22 that our Lord is steadfastly making his way to the city of Jerusalem. In chapter 9 and verse 51 of Luke's account, we see a transition in Luke's record of the life and ministry of, the Lord Jesus. And in Luke 9.51 we read, It came to pass when the days were well nigh come that he should be received up.

3:27 He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And so our Lord is filled with this resolution to make his way to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem for our Lord at this point in his life and ministry meant one thing. It meant rejection, suffering, death by crucifixion.

3:55 And even in the subsequent context of the passage read in your hearing, that resolve is again underscored. For our Lord says in verse 33, Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. And so our Lord is very evidently conscious that Jerusalem equals death. Jerusalem equals rejection.

4:29 But apparently on his way he is making his trip at a leisurely pace so that in all of the cities and villages along the way he may proclaim the message of the kingdom. And this is evident from verse 22 as he went on his way through the cities and villages teaching and journeying onto Jerusalem. And so the two activities are coordinated. Journeying to Jerusalem but on the way, teaching the word of the living God.

5:04 And as the Lord Jesus is on his way and is in either a certain place of a small village or in the entrance to a city or a town. we have the record of this question that is suddenly asked by someone in the midst of the crowds about him. And in verse 23, we have the record of what I am calling the simple question. This is followed by our Lord in the first part of verse 24 by a striking command, and then in the latter part of verse 24 through to verse 28,

5:44 our Lord then couches this striking command in the context of a solemn prophecy. And as we think our way through then verses 22 through 28 this morning, we shall do so within that threefold framework of thought, the simple question, the striking command, and the solemn prophecy of our Lord. First of all then, the simple question. Question.

The Simple Question: 'Are They Few That Are Saved?'

6:14 Question. Question. Question. Question.

6:14 Question. Question. Question. Question.

6:14 Question. Question. The essence of the question is clear. And one said unto him, verse 23, Lord, are they few that are saved, or literally, that are being saved?

6:28 In other words, the questioner is concerned with the comparative number of the saved and the lost. He wants to know whether or not among the vast multitudes of humanity, whether few or many will be rescued and brought into a state of life and salvation. It's the kind of question we ask instinctively if we hear over the news that an ocean liner with 2,000 people aboard was struck by a freighter in the North Atlantic and sunk quickly. The first question we ask is, how many survivors?

7:06 Of the 1,500 aboard, how many survivors? Or if we hear that an airplane with 200 passengers strikes the side of a mountain, the first question we ask is, how many were rescued? Well, as this particular person was listening to the message of our Lord, he came to some understanding, either from previous instruction or from the instruction which our Lord had been giving in the previous context, that amongst the mass of humanity, not all were to be saved. He never heard a doctrine of universalism from the Lord Jesus Christ.

7:39 The silly notion that all men will ultimately be rescued and attained to heaven. He received no such notion from the lips of the Son of God. And so the questioner blurts out this very simple question, Lord, are they few that are saved? What is the comparative number between those that will ultimately be rescued and brought to a state of life and salvation, and those that will be left tragically to perish in their sins?

8:10 Now, as we look at this simple question, immediately all kinds, all kinds of questions arise in our minds. Who would have asked such a question? Well, the text does not give us an explicit answer, but there are some hints. In the first place, it may have been a self-righteous and bigoted Jew, who assumed that all Jews would be saved, and that all of the hordes of the Gentiles would of necessity perish, because they were not the people of God.

8:41 And there is some hint in the latter part of the passage, that perhaps it was a self-righteous, bigoted Jew, who had learned, even from the two preceding parables of our Lord, that the kingdom was to grow and to expand. It was to grow into a mighty tree. It was to have, like the influence of leaven, that which would be marked by extensive influence. And he may have had his Jewish nose bent around his left ear by this teaching of the Lord, for you remember, in other parts of the Gospel record, this was a very offensive thought, when our Lord commended the faith of a Gentile person in the presence of the Jews.

9:23 They were angered to think that faith would be present in a Gentile dog that was greater than any faith seen in Israel. Or it could have been that in that crowd, as in any religious crowd, the person who asked this question was one of those triflers in religion who loves to ask, all kinds of questions that don't touch the heart. Lord, what's the comparative number of the saved and of the lost? Let's discuss that moot point, that oft-debated issue.

9:58 The kind of person who, when he gets in the presence of someone who seems to believe the Bible, says, well, I have a question for you. Do you believe the Bible? Yes. Where did Cain get his wife?

10:06 What do you believe about tongues? What do you believe about the rapture? What do you believe about the millennium? In other words, let's talk about some religious subject, external to the real issues of the state of the heart.

10:18 And it could have been, human nature being what it is, that such a person was there in the crowds following the Lord Jesus. Or it could have been that it was a sincere disciple who had begun to understand some of the teaching which, in the previous chapters from 951 onward into this very setting, is unusually dense with respect to the tremendous cost of true discipleship. For from the time our Lord sets His face resolutely to go to Jerusalem, you have those incidents of the three would-be disciples

10:57 whom our Lord confronts with the sweeping claims which He has over men. We have in this context between 951 and the chapter we are studying now some of the most searching teaching on the nature of true faith and discipleship, and it could well be that one of these who was following the Lord from town to town and village to village, as all of this begins to dawn upon him, cries out almost in despair, Lord, are there few that are being saved? If being saved involves capitulation to such radical claims, if being saved involves nothing less than an attachment to Jesus Christ

11:41 in unreserved faith and obedience, then, Lord, are there few that are saved? Though we cannot answer for certain who it was that asked this simple question, for whatever motive, one thing is clear. This man's mind was to some degree taken up with the most vital issue that any mind can ever wrestle with, the issue of salvation. Lord, are there few that be saved?

The Striking Command: 'Strive to Enter in by the Narrow Door'

12:14 And what our Lord does is simply use the simple question of this man, obviously spoken in the hearing of everyone, to become the launching pad of some of the most vital teaching He ever gave on the subject of salvation. And so, from the simple question of verse 23, I now direct your attention to the striking command of verse 24. Though one man asks the question, our Lord's command is in the plural, and so He is giving this striking command to everyone who is within the hearing of His voice.

12:54 Strive to enter in by the narrow door. For many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the master of the house is risen up. Now, what's the essence of this? What's the essence of this striking command?

13:17 Our Lord, as I've indicated, using the question as a launching pad to give some teaching He desires to give on the subject of salvation, says, in essence, to the man who asked the question and to all who heard the question, it's a matter of little concern at this point whether few or many are saved. But there are two issues that are the real burning life and death issues, and these two issues I set before you in these words, strive to enter in by the narrow door. And what are those two issues? Well, the first is this.

13:58 All who are now or ever shall be saved are saved by entering the narrow door. All who are now or ever shall be saved are saved by entering the narrow door. are saved by entering the narrow door. Now, by the use of this figure of a door, and then you will notice later on he speaks of the master of the house or the house lord, the kingdom of God is set before us in a beautiful extended figure of speech.

14:31 Our Lord is likening the kingdom to a large, well-furnished banquet house, and within there are guests reclining at the door at tables piled with food and food to spare. But there is something strange about this banquet house. There are no windows that can be lifted up by which one might enter. Neither are there large doors that one would associate with such a large banquet house.

15:02 There is but one very narrow, low, constricted door at the entrance to the banquet house. The door stands, stands open, so that all who will may enter. And sitting by the door is the house lord himself, both inviting all who pass by to enter, welcoming them when they enter. And that's the picture that our Lord sets before us.

15:35 And within that figure he is telling us that all who are now or ever shall be saved are saved by entering the kingdom, the banquet house of God, by the one appointed avenue of entrance, namely, the narrow door. Now then, the great question is, what is that narrow door? What is its precise identity? Well, it obviously finds its parallel in the narrow gate of Matthew 7 and verse 13, and it is nothing other than the door of a sound and thorough conversion from sin to righteousness.

16:19 It is nothing less than that transformation from nature to grace. It is nothing less than the experience of true conversion with its flesh-withering demands of repentance and of faith. It is nothing less than that door of conversion which results in attachment to Jesus Christ, in which the Lord himself, in his righteousness and in his righteous claims over all of his people, stands inviting those passers-by to himself. And as one has accurately said,

17:00 only bent low, made utterly small, disrobed of all righteousness of our own, and wholly willing to have the coat of the flesh removed from us, down to the last rag can we get through that narrow door. And so the first great principle in our Lord's striking command is this. Whoever asks the question, what is the comparative number of the saved and the lost, our Lord responds by saying, in essence, that is of no consequence my friends. The great issue is this.

17:42 All who are now or ever shall be saved will be saved in one way. Be they many, be they few, be they a handful or a vast multitude, they are saved in one way. They come to the narrow door of a true, sound, Biblical conversion. And then the second great principle our Lord enunciates in this striking command is this.

18:06 We must count no exertion too great actually to enter that narrow door. We must count no exertion too great actually to enter that narrow door. The word translated in our Bible's strive is a word that is taken from the realm of athletics. And it's the word that one would use to describe what happens, to the people who are lost, to the people who are lost, to the people who are lost, to the people who are lost.

18:41 So, I want you to understand that this is not some of the phony professional wrestling matches that go on in Madison, in New York, at Madison Gardens or some other place. No, no, no, no. This is the kind of wrestling you see in college wrestling and high school wrestling. I mean it's the real thing.

18:57 Where guys who've sucked every last ounce of excess moisture out of their tissue up until the heavyweights are super-heavyweights anyway, are all bone and sinew and muscle equally weighed, just a matter of a few pounds difference at the most between them, and they are pitting strength against strength, move against move, one seeking to overpower the other. And if you were to describe what they are doing, this is the word you would use, they are striving, they are agonizing. And our Lord, when he gives this striking command, gives it, and that's why I called it a command, this directive to agonize is in the imperative, and he is saying, you must

19:37 agonize to enter, you must count no exertion excessive if it is necessary to get through the narrow door of a true and a sound conversion. Now notice, our Lord does not say, agonize to make a ladder that you may climb up on your own. Nor does he say, agonize to pry the door open. Nor does he say, agonize to earn an admission ticket.

20:09 No, the door is open, it's made in grace, it's opened in grace. And the King of grace himself sits by the door, calling to all who would pass by, come and enter the banquet house, but whatever would impede your entering, even to the point of an inward, agonizing struggle to deal with it, agonize to enter, you must count no exertion too great actually to enter that narrow door. It may be that there is prejudice that must be laid aside, ignorance that must be overcome,

20:52 temperamental disinclinations to the radical claims of discipleship, there may be relationships to be adjusted. Adjusted or severed, sins as dear as right hand and right eye to be cut off and cast away. There may be pride to be consumed, there may be rebellion to be humbled, but our Lord is in dead blood earnest, my friends, and I am this morning, hear his words, on his way to Jerusalem to do what? To die.

21:24 To go into the agony of Gethsemane, and that's the word used of our Lord. The Lord's wrestlings in Gethsemane, there as he faces the cup of the Father's wrath against our sins, he is in a great agony and sweats as it were great drops of blood, and then he goes to the greater agony of travailing upon the cross under the weight of the sins of his people, until he is crushed beneath that weight, and from one standpoint he is the victim consumed. While at the same time, he is the victim consumed. At the same time, he is a living, active priest, offering himself up without spot unto God.

22:08 He went through all of that agony for what purpose?

22:13 That sinners might enter the narrow gate by the way of a true and sound conversion. A conversion which involves the grace of God at work in the heart of the sinner, yes. A repentance and a faith which are ultimately the gifts of God, yes. But they are the activities of the sinner, and the sinner must be prepared to pay any price to experience true repentance and faith.

22:41 The Savior who would agonize to provide salvation says to passers-by, you must agonize to enter into the fruit of that salvation. Now that salvation by works, then accuse our Lord of teaching salvation by works, for on his way to Jerusalem. He said, agonize to enter.

The Solemn Prophecy: Many Will Seek to Enter and Be Unable

23:06 None are saved but those who enter the narrow door of true conversion, and true conversion is costly. Spare no pains to enter, agonize to enter. And then from the simple question to the striking command, our Lord then launches into a solemn prophecy, and notice the prophecy. For many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able, and don't consider

23:46 that a period, full stop, but carry the thought on as you have it in the margin, will not be able when once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut the door, and you begin to stand without and not saying, Lord, open to us. You see what our Lord does? He buttresses this striking gospel command with a solemn prophecy, and that prophecy, note first of all, has as its setting the day of judgment. The setting of the prophecy is the day of judgment when the door of entrance to the kingdom is shut by the house lord himself.

24:30 Notice, the master of the house, verse 25, Rises, Rises up and he shuts the door. And from that moment on, everything has to do with the dialogue between those on the outside and the house lord on the inside. And the ultimate resolution of the dialogue is found in those frightening words, depart from me, I know you not, whence you are, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth. We are brought into the context of the awesome solemnity of the day of judgment.

25:11 And our Lord often does this in his preaching. And anyone who follows the pattern of our Lord will do the same. From the overtures of mercy strive to enter. The banquet house is lavish with provision.

25:27 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets are there, and all the people of God from all the ages. And the door is open. And the Son of God who is himself that door and has constructed the door sits by the door and entreats and invites and says, enter. And if someone is hesitant and says, but oh, it will cost me much to enter, I must deal with this or deal with that, he says, it's necessary, agonize to enter.

25:57 And to someone who is tempted to take the words lightly and pass on and not enter, he says, I say to you, my friends, I am the Lord. I say to you, my friend, a day is coming when all who would not agonize to enter will seek to enter. And he uses a different word. Many will seek to enter when?

26:17 When the house Lord rises up and shuts the door. And I say the context of this solemn prophecy is nothing less than the day of judgment. And now I want to move from exposition to application. Hear me, boys and girls, teenagers, moms and dad.

26:36 Older men and women, what is the context in which I call to you in the name of Christ this morning, strive to enter? It's the context of the solemnity of the day of judgment. The house Lord, the Lord Jesus, will come again. And when he comes, the door of mercy will be barred.

27:00 The door of mercy will be shut and the great realities which lie beyond the shutting of the door of mercy. To all who did not enter are the realities couched in these frightening words, the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth. And I'm not commenting upon them. Simply to quote them is enough.

The Subjects of the Prophecy: Those Under Gospel Privilege

27:23 But then notice not only the context of this solemn prophecy, the day of judgment. Notice the particular subjects of the prophecy. The particular subjects of the prophecy, it's not all people in general, but it is people who were content to bask under the light and warmth of gospel privileges, but who were too lazy or indifferent to agonize and enter the narrow gate and experience inward grace. Those are the peculiar subjects of the prophecy.

28:02 Notice their claims. The good men of the house, the house Lord rises up, shuts the door, verse 25, and you begin to stand without and to knock. Saying, Lord, open to us. And he shall say, I don't know who you are.

28:18 Then you shall begin to say, we did eat and drink in your presence, and you did teach in our streets. So you must open to us. Why? Because we were those who were where you were.

28:37 We ate and drank in your presence. We are those who thought enough of your words to go where you taught. We are those who thought enough of your words to go where you taught. We followed you from village to village.

28:47 You taught in our streets, and when you did, we were there. We heard your words. We were not like those who were so indifferent that we never followed you where you were, who had no time to enter into social fellowship with you and to listen to your words as you spoke them. No, the peculiar, the particular subjects of this prophecy are those who were under the light and privilege.

29:15 They were under the light and privilege of gospel truth. Now, obviously, this will have a literal fulfillment in those who lived in the days of our Lord's sojourn upon the earth, but surely the fulfillment goes beyond that by way of legitimate extension and application. For in a peculiar sense, Christ is in the midst of his church. He has promised where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.

29:43 And there sit here this morning. Men and women, boys and girls and teenagers, who could say with these people, Lord, did we not eat and drink in your presence? Did you not teach in our streets? Were we not those who listened to your words and were found where you are in the midst of your people?

30:10 And then the Lord says to them, I totally discount your claims. I do not know you. I do not know you. I do not know you.

30:19 I do not regard you with distinguishing love and affection. I do not recognize you as my own. You have no legitimate place in the banquet house. Why?

30:31 Because when the door stood open and I sat by the door and called and summoned you to repent, to believe, when I called upon you to take seriously the issue of your sins, to take seriously the claims of my grace. When I called upon you to turn from the world, the flesh and the devil, and give yourself up to me without reservation, you refused to enter the narrow gate. Oh, yes, you walked back and forth and you heard my overtures of mercy. Oh, yes, you were there when I talked and you came so close, but you did not agonize to enter.

31:18 Oh, what a solemn word. Agonize to enter, for many will seek to enter when the door is shut.

The Reason for Rejection: Workers of Iniquity

31:33 Then our Lord tells them why it is that they are rejected. This is the indisputable evidence that they have never come through the narrow gate. Notice what he says to them. I'm sorry, the narrow door.

31:46 He says in verse 27, and he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence you are. Depart from me. Depart from me. Oh, you workers of iniquity.

32:00 That's the issue. They had never come to repentance and to the renewal of their nature. They were workers of iniquity. Oh, yes, they heard the words of Jesus calling them to repentance, but they would not repent.

32:15 They heard the words of Jesus calling them to faith, but they would not believe. And they were workers of iniquity, the greatest iniquity of all being the iniquity of impurity, of impenitence, and of unbelief. And I say it makes the prophecy unusually solemn, because this is a prophecy which pertains in a peculiar way to people like those of you sitting here this morning who bask in the light of gospel privilege. And here I want to bear my heart to you, as I have sought more faithfully in recent months to pray through the membership list on a regular basis.

Application to Children and Teenagers: The Cost of True Discipleship

32:59 And I've taken a list. I've taken a list of all the children that was given to me from one of the Sunday school departments and written in next to the names of those in our church directory, the children and their ages, and have sought to bring many of you by name before God. My heart many times has been broken within me as I've thought how few of our children make any claim to truly being the Lord. Dear fellows and girls.

33:33 You don't need to be 12, or 15, or 20 to get through the narrow gate. Jesus beckons children, he says, permit the children to come unto me and do not forbid them. And we would not give the impression that you've got to be 9, or 10, or 12, or 15 to become a Christian. Dear children, the Lord Jesus says to you, in whose presence you eat, in whose presence you hear the words that come from his lips through the scriptures, he says to you children, enter the narrow door.

34:12 To you children, he says, repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus, be converted, become a child of the living God. He says to you who are in your teens, some of whom give us great joy, in that you are not openly rebellious. You don't badmouth yourself. You don't badmouth your parents.

34:34 You don't badmouth the gospel. You don't badmouth the church. You like to be amongst God's people. If you had your choice, you'd rather be with the young people in the church than the crowd that's full of filthy language and blowing its mind on pot and quaaludes and everything else and booze.

34:55 And that's commendable and we thank God for that. But oh young man, young woman, listen to me. All of that will take you to hell unless you get through the narrow gate. It's not enough to be with others who've come through.

35:11 You must enter. Mom and dad can't take you through in the folds of their garments. God knows we would if we could. We'd hide a kid in every pocket and if we had some pockets left over, we'd take somebody else's.

35:28 But we can't hide you children in the folds of our garments. You must enter. You must enter and pay any price, teenager, that you must pay to get through the narrow gate. Any price!

35:41 Any price! What is worth the damnation of your soul? Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? But you say, Pastor, you don't know what it'll cost me.

35:57 I don't know of another real Christian in my whole high school, in my junior high school, in my grade school. I don't know another fellow, another girl that's a Christian. I don't know. I don't know of any other girl that's serious about God.

36:08 Ah, dear young person, listen. If that's true, if your assessment is according to fact, Jesus Christ who invites you through the door commits himself to be your strength, to be your companion, to be your great shepherd who will nurture you and care for you and protect you and strengthen you even in the midst of that loneliness. And that loneliness is real. It hardly seems possible that it'll be 30 years that you'll be alone.

36:33 It's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible. And I remember the loneliness.

36:37 It's the same loneliness that I had 30 years next month that God by his grace brought me through that door. And I remember the loneliness from being one of the most popular guys in my high school. I remember the loneliness when the guys would roll down their windows and yell out of their cars, Hey, oh, holy roller! Walk on your heels!

36:57 Save your soul! Ha ha! Holy Joe! It hurt.

37:07 Sure it hurt. The guys that slapped you on the back when you carry a football across the goal line. Now look at you. You're as stupid as a neverman.

37:13 at you like you had leprosy. It hurts. Sure it hurt. Sure it stung. But now you ask me,

37:22 teenager, do I have any regrets looking back 30 years? You know my answer, don't you? You know my answer. No regrets. No regrets. Because in the midst of that loneliness, the companionship

37:41 of Jesus became such a blessed, personal, inward-felt reality that I could no more deny the reality of true religion than deny my own existence. You say, well, if I just get a taste of that out there and know it was so, then I'd come through. No, the Lord says you've got to come through. Then you'll know it. Come through. The day of judgment is coming.

The Ultimate Issue: Disowned, Discarded, and Consigned to Torment

38:10 The subjects of this prophecy are those who've had great privilege. And then notice what the ultimate issue is in this prophecy. The context is the day of judgment. The subjects are those who've had light and privilege. The ultimate issue is the contrast. Look at

38:25 it. He will say, I don't know you, who you are. Verse 27, depart from me. Verse 28, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. What a terrible thing to be disowned by Christ,

38:40 to have him say, I never knew you. And then discarded by Christ, depart from me. And then to be consigned to the place of ultimate torment, weeping and gnashing. Dear young people, dear adults, some of whom may remember.

39:00 I remember when I preached on this very text almost five years ago, and preached on it previous to that over 11 years ago. I said, Pastor Martin must be running thin, preaching the same text. Well, there were pastoral reasons for turning to an old text. But if there were no pastoral reasons from the standpoint of other pressures and responsibilities, I think it's a salutary thing once every few years to come back to a passage like this. My friend,

39:28 if you're ever going to be found sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... You're going to get through the same gate, and the same door, the narrow door, that they came through. No other way. No other way. And if you sit here this morning saying, by

39:47 the grace of God, your heart running out with mine saying, I have no regrets. Oh, how I remember the struggle. The struggle about my friends. The struggle about my ambitions.

39:58 The struggle about certain sins. Oh, I remember the agony. But oh, I remember the suffering. What a story. That's how I remember the하시는.com, that's how I remember the brainstorming.

40:03 remember as well the bliss and the joy of coming through the door and being embraced by my Savior, having Him speak His words to me. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Daughter, thy sins be forgiven thee. Go, sin no more.

The Narrow Door Cannot Be Changed: A Call to Enter Today

40:20 For those of us who can say by the grace of God we've come through the narrow door, oh, how our hearts should be filled with love and gratitude to our Savior. For unknown to us at the time, the voice that came from the Savior sitting by the open door was a voice that put forth a divine energy that arrested us and turned us and brought us through. And if you've not come through that narrow door, my dear unsaved friend, man, woman, boy or girl, can the words of Jesus be more plain? They come with all the overtones of His own regal majesty, the majesty, the majesty, the majesty, the majesty of regal grace.

41:04 He commands sinners, strive to enter. How can He make more plain that He's willing for all to enter? He says to this indiscriminate crowd, strive to enter. You talk about the free authors of the gospel.

41:19 When are they more free than when they come in an imperative? Strive to enter. You are welcome if you'll come.

41:28 But there's no salvation apart from that narrow door.

41:33 You may not like it. You may want to take your wrecking bar and pull down the studs and make it a little wider. The Lord Jesus will rip your wrecking bar from your hands. It's a narrow door.

41:43 It always has been and ever shall be. And modern evangelism can't change its dimensions.

41:50 Jesus made it narrow.

41:53 But He stands ready to welcome you. Oh, that you may enter. Enter even today. Ask yourself, boys, girls, men and women, have I entered that narrow door of true conversion?

God's Drawing and Man's Responsibility: Strive to Enter Now

42:06 Have I truly repented of my sins? Do I believe in the Lord Jesus? But someone says, Pastor, doesn't the Bible say no man can come except the Father draw him? Yes, it does.

42:17 But the same Jesus who said that says to you, agonize to enter. Stop sitting back, leaning back as it were, waiting for God to do something more. You seek the Lord while He may be found. You call upon Him while He is near.

42:34 Forsake your way. And you say, well, what will happen if I try to turn from a certain sin and I cannot? Jesus Christ stands ready to break your chains. He stands ready to give you all the grace needed to get through that door.

42:52 May God grant that you will. And the Lord willing, tonight we'll see how the Lord ultimately answers the man's question. Are there few that be saved? And the Lord at the end of the passage gives a beautiful answer to his question.

43:05 That will be the basis of our meditation, the focus of our meditation tonight, that there are going to be many. Not just from God's ancient people, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets and all the 7,000 who did not bow the knee to Baal. But now from east and west and north and south they're going to come. And they're going to sit down in the same banquet.

43:29 The Lord Jesus is not going to be a frustrated Savior. My friend, either you will come to take His salvation on His terms and have the deepest needs of your heart met for time and eternity. And if you refuse, you won't frustrate the Son of God. You'll simply damn your own soul by your wicked impenitence.

43:51 Oh, may God grant that you, having contemplated the striking command of our Lord in the solemn prophecy, may strive to enter and give yourself no rest until you know that you're through the door and in the banquet house and in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Himself. Let us pray.

Prayer for Grace to Enter

44:22 Our Father, we thank You for the gracious words of our Savior. We thank You that He has spoken to us in terms so plain that they cannot be misunderstood. And we pray that the Holy Spirit who has recorded His words will even now make them living, powerful words to the hearts of boys and girls and men and women that many even this day will strive to enter the narrow door that they may give themselves to seeking Your face and give themselves no rest until they know that they too have turned from sin

45:05 and laid hold of the Lord Jesus and that perfect salvation which He purchased by His own death outside the city walls of Jerusalem. We thank You that He was willing to do all that was necessary to provide a just salvation. O God, may the Holy Spirit draw many this day to enter in to the benefits and privileges of that salvation purchased so dearly in the blood of our Lord Jesus. To this end, we commit Your word to You and pray that the Spirit will bring eternal fruit from its proclamation.

45:47 We ask these mercies in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.