#124 Lu. 13:22-30  A QUESTION ABOUT ENTERING HEAVEN

Introduction:

    In our previous text Jesus gave The Parable of The Mustard
Seed and The Parable of Leaven.  In our text today He is
questioned about the number of people who enter the Kingdom of
God.  This question gives occasion for another parable which
points out the urgency of entering the kingdom of God.

I.  The question about the kingdom

    V. 22, "And he went through the cities and villages, teaching,
and journeying toward Jerusalem."  Back in Luke 9:51 Jesus set His
face to go to Jerusalem.  For Jesus this was a tense, emotional
journey.  He was fully aware that He would be arrested and
crucified.  Yet He knew also that it was the will of God the
Father that He should go there and give His life for the souls of
men.  It was also His own desire to go there and die for lost
sinners.  Therefore, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.
    As He went through the cities and villages en route to
Jerusalem He taught and preached to the people of those cities and
villages.  He was deeply concerned for the spiritual need of those
people and He sought to minister to their needs.
    V.  23, "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be
saved? ..."  One of the men that He came in contact with as He
traveled along approached Jesus with a question.  He asked, "Lord,
are there few that be saved?  Is it true, Lord, that only a few
will ever be saved?"  Jewish theologians were divided on this
question.  Some said that only a would make it to heaven.  They
held that the majority would end up in the fires of hell.  If I
understand it correctly, this is the position that most of them
held.  Most of them thought that virtually all Gentiles would
never be saved.
    On the other hand, there were some of the Jewish theologians
who argued that the vast majority of people would finally be saved
and go to heaven.  If I understand it correctly, only minority
held to this position.
    This man had apparently heard this question discussed and
wanted to hear the opinion of Jesus.  Perhaps he had actually been
engaged in the argument himself and hoped that Jesus would support
his own opinion on the matter.  There is no doubt that if Jesus
should agree with him, he would use that to try to persuade others
to his way of thinking.
    You will note that he did not ask the question that the
Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas.  The jailor asked Paul and
Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  This is the kind of
question this man should have asked.  But instead of seeking to
find out how he could be saved, he was interested only in arguing
about how many would be saved.
    This is typical of so many who are unsaved.  Instead of being
interested in how they can get saved, they are interested in
arguing some hair-splitting question of theology.  When you try
talk to someone about his need of salvation, he wants to argue
about where Cain got his wife, or once saved always saved or who
the Two Witnesses of Revelation are going to be or some other
Bible question.  This man should have been coming to Jesus wanting
to know how he could get saved rather than wanting to know how
many other people would get saved.

II.  The response of Jesus to the question

    (V. 23), "And he said unto them..."  Note the word, them.  You
will observe that in responding to the question Jesus spoke not
only to the man who asked the question, but He spoke to the entire
crowd of people present.  He wanted them all to know that there
was something more important than trying to figure out how many
are going to be saved.  There is something more important for the
unsaved to think about than trying to solve any theological
question.  There are many theological questions that are important
for the Christian to try to figure out, but they are relatively
unimportant for the unsaved.  What the unsaved need to concentrate
on is getting saved.
    V. 24, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate..."  The word,
strait, means narrow.  The gate that leads to heaven is a narrow
gate.  One cannot go to heaven just any way he choose.  There is
an old saying, "All roads lead to Rome," but that same principle
does not apply in going to heaven.  There is but one way to heaven
and Jesus Christ is that way.  In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the
way the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but
by me."  When one places his faith in Jesus Christ to save his
should that is like entering a gate that goes to heaven.
    The Greek word that here is translated "strive" is an athletic
term.  It was used to describe the effort made by athletes who
compete in the Olympic games.  There was a great honor to be
gained in winning in the olympiads and the athlete would put forth
his utmost in an effort to win.  He considered that it was well
worth his effort.
    Jesus said to the unsaved that they should put forth their
utmost in an effort to be saved.  He wanted them to know that it
is well worth their effort to get saved.  Far too many unsaved
people treat salvation as if it is undesirable.  At least, they
act as if it was immaterial whether or not they got saved.  But
when one considers that the unsaved will spend eternity in the
Lake of Fire and Brimstone, he will see that salvation is well
worthwhile.
    Then, too, if one understands just how beautiful, how joyous
and how wonderful heaven is going to be he will understand that it
is well worth the effort to get saved.  This matter of the
salvation of the soul is not some trivial matter that is to be
taken casually as if it didn't make any difference one way or the
other.  This is the most vital matter of our whole lives and it
should be dealt with very earnestly.
    (V. 24), "...for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in,
and shall not be able."  Another reason that it is so urgent to
enter the Kingdom is that many who want to enter and seek to
enter do not get in.  The reason they do not get in is because
they go about trying to get in by the wrong way.
    Some try to get try to get into the kingdom by their own
good works.  That is just exactly what the Pharisees of Jesus' day
were doing.  They prided themselves on their own goodness.  They
claimed to keep the law of Moses.  They thought of themselves as
being so much better than everybody else.  They thought that if
anybody would ever make it to heaven they surely would.  But
Ephesians 2:9 says that salvation is not of works.  So does Titus
3:5 and Romans 11:6.
    Some would not get in because they wait too late.

III.  A parable given in illustration

    V. 25, "When once the master of the house is risen up, and
hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock
at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer
and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are."  Jesus here uses
a parable right from their daily lives to illustrate what He was
talking about.  Jesus speaks of a man who is a householder and is,
therefore, the master of the house.  In the daytime the door of
his home would be open as he would go in and out.  But when
nighttime would come he would shut the door and lock it and would
not open it to anybody unless he knew them real well.
    In the parable Jesus speaks of men who came to him from
another city.  They knocked on his door after the door was closed
and sought to get in.  Apparently they sought to find shelter and
food.  They ask the householder to open the door and let them in,
but the householder does not let them in.
    The men outside try to assure the householder that he knows
them and that they are not a threat to him.  V.  26, "Then shall
ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou
hast taught in our streets." They say something to this effect,
"Don't you remember us?  Remember over at such and such a place we
attended a feast and we sat at the same table with you.  Our names
are So-and-so.  Remember us?  Furthermore, you visited the city
where we live and you came right down our street and we talked to
you there as you walked along.  You surely remember us.  How about
letting us in?"
    But the master of the house was not so easily persuaded.  He
could not see their faces and he did not recognize their voices or
remember meeting anyone fitting the description they gave.  So he
still would not let them in.  V. 27, "But he shall say, I tell
you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity."  The householder still thinks they are up to no
good.  He things they are workers of iniquity and are just trying
to fool him into letting them in.
    Jesus, of course, is using the kind of incident in the parable
they would be familiar with in real life.  But He was illustrating
His point about getting saved.  If a man will repent of his sin
and trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior while The door of
salvation is open unto him, he will get in.  But if he waits until
God shuts the door, then it is going to be too late for him to get
in.  If one waits until after he dies to try to get saved, he has
waited too late.  If he waits until he stands before the Lord in
judgment, he has waited too late.
    According to a similar statement in the book of Matthew, there
will be some even at the judgment who will pretend to be well
acquainted with the Lord.  They will not just say, "We have eaten
with you and we met you when you were teaching on our street."
They will say, "We have preached in your name.  We have taught in
your name.  We have worked miracles in your name."  But the Lord
will still say to them, "Depart from me ye that work iniquity.  I
never knew you."
    I can envision some who will say, "Lord, don't you remember
me?  I used to attend such-and-such a church.  I used to sing in
the choir. I used to teach a class.  I used to pastor such-and-
such a church.  Don't you remember me, Lord?"  (Matthew 7:21-23.)
But these are people who are counting on their good works to get
them into heaven.  These are not people who have repented of their
sin and trusted in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, they will not get in.

IV.  Taking a look at the end-time

    V. 28, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye
shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in
the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out."  The Jews to
whom Jesus was talking will be greatly disturbed to see the great
old patriarches inside the Kingdom and they, themselves, thrust
out.  They will not be allowed in.  What a shame it is that when
they could get in they would not, but when they would do anything
to get in they cannot.  God is sending out the gospel now and
appealing now to every man, woman, boy and girl to be saved, but
many will not.  But the time will come when every one of them
would give their eye teeth to get into the kingdom of God, but it
will be too late.
    V. 29, "And they shall come from the east, and from the west,
and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the
kingdom of God."  People who are saved will come from all parts of
the world and take their places in the glorious kingdom of God.
This will be evidence that people in all parts of the world had
opportunity to be saved.  Others got saved, but they did not
because they would not.  The gospel was preached and they could
have gotten saved, but they would not do so.  If lost men
understood just how vital the gospel message is, they would give
it their very best attention and they would strive to get in the
kingdom of God.
    V. 30, "And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and
there are first which shall be last."  In another passage this
same expression speaks of some of the saved having greater rewards
than others.  But here it means that the Jewish people, who were
the first to hear the gospel, will be the last to get in.  When
Jesus was here upon the earth, most of the Jews rejected Him.  It
will only be after the Great Tribulation period hits them hard and
brings them to their knees that they will repent and turn to
Jesus.  They could have been the first in the kingdom, but they
will be last.  All those who have rejected Jesus will not get in
at all.
    All who reject Jesus Christ as Savior will spend eternity in
the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.  John 3:18 says, "He that
believeth in Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God."  See also Revelation 21:8.
    That answers the question that the man asked Jesus back at the
beginning of this text.  He asked Jesus if it is true that only a
few will be saved.  The answer is, "Yes, it is true."  Only those
who trust in Jesus Christ get saved, and the great majority never
trust in Jesus.  Some try to get in some other way.  Others simply
wait until the door is shut and it is too late to get in.  All who
fail to trust in Jesus while there is opportunity are condemned to
spend eternity in the fires of torment.  Therefore, only a few
will be saved.

Conclusion:

    What about you?  Have you repented of your sins and trusted
Jesus Christ to cleanse you from all your sins?  If you haven't,
let me warn you again, that it will be too late after you die to
try to get saved.  You must turn to Jesus and trust in Him while
there is opportunity or you will never get saved at all.  Come
today and put your trust in Jesus Christ.