TEXT: Luke 13:22-35

SUBJECT: Luke #54: A Bad Question, a Good Answer

Curiosity is the believer’s best friend and his worst enemy. When put to something useful—like knowing God and His will for your life—it is a very good thing. But when it’s put to matters not so practical—like trying to guess when the Lord will come again—it is a very bad thing. Paul told Timothy to stay clear of speculation because it can only lead to stupid arguments and unnecessary division. Paul had seen it himself and so have we. Curiosity is like the other gifts of God: it’s good or bad depending on how you use it.

The man in today’s story is curious. He wants to know one of the deepest things of God and he goes to the Lord Jesus Christ for the answer. He gets one, all right, but it’s not the one he was looking for!

What the man wants to know is: "Lord, are there few who are saved?"

I don’t think he wants the exact number of the Elect, he just wants to know if there will be many saved or few. You have to sympathize with the man because—in reading his Bible he found verses that seemed to give both answers. Many verses foresee the Seed of Abraham being more than the sands of the sea. But others teach that only a remnant (or a small minority) will be saved. So which is it: many or few?

The tension he found in the Old Testament has not been eased by the Lord Jesus. In one place, He compares the Kingdom to the "the greatest of all trees", but in another, He calls it "a little flock". So which is it: big or little?

The man wants a clarification.

But he doesn’t get one! What he gets—he doesn’t want—but needs much more than a fine point of theology. What he gets is a challenge: "Strive to enter into the narrow gate, for many I say to you, will seek to enter but will not be able…"

The Lord chides the man for speculating—as though salvation was an abstract, doctrinal thing. He urges him to take it more seriously than he has and—instead of trying to guess the number of the saved—to be sure that he himself is saved!

The word, "strive" stands for agonizing effort. It’s not like playing a round of golf, but more like fighting as a gladiator. I suspect that even the most competitive golfer doesn’t play as though his life depends on it. But a gladiator does—because it does!

The word, "narrow" is also worth thinking about. The gate that leads to life is not narrow in the sense that a doorway is compared to a garage door. No, it’s a lot tighter than that. Think of an opening that is narrower than your body and the only way you can get through it is by holding your breath, sucking in your gut, and twisting your body like a Chinese acrobat.

In telling the story, Matthew chose another word for "narrow". It carries the idea of crushing or pressing in all around you. Do you remember the boat people who left Vietnam after the Communists took power? Maybe fifty or a hundred of them would board a vessel made to carry five or ten. They were stacked on top of each other; there’s wasn’t enough food for them all and no sanitation at all. Yet they wedged themselves in—because they had to!

The narrow gate is as tight as the little boat. Yet you must get through it—or you will perish!

What is the narrow gate? It is repentance. It is turning from your sinful and selfish ways and trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

How is repentance like a narrow gate? Because it is very, very uncomfortable. It begins with rejecting yourself. It says everything you’ve done in life is wrong—all wrong. Even the good things had bad motives. This is not easy to do; the Lord compares to it a crucifixion. We’re willing to admit we’ve done bad things, said bad words, thought bad thought, of course. But that’s not good enough: it is not until we admit that we ourselves are bad that we have begun the work of repentance.

The other side of repentance is no easier: it is trusting Christ as Savior and Lord. This means we keep in mind that—if we are saved at all—it is He who has saved us. Thus, every feeling of pride is an act of unbelief and a falling away from repentance. And for trusting His Lordship? That means obeying Him—even when His plans contradict your own.

If this is what the narrow gate is, it’s no wonder that so few squeeze through it. And why so many choose what Matthew calls the wide gate and the broad way that lead to destruction.

Who’s going to get through that gate and be saved? It is not the people you would expect. The devout Jews assumed that their heritage, along with their regular praying, fasting, and giving to the poor would get them through the gate that leads to life.

But the Lord says they won’t! Even the ones who ate and drank with Christ and listened to His sermons will be shut out if they do not repent. High privileges won’t make up for a lack of repentance. Being born into a Christian family won’t do! Neither will being baptized or going to church, or taking the Lord’s Supper, or becoming a pastor! These are privileges, but privileges don’t save, repentance does!

Some of the men listening to the Lord that day were in for rude awakening. They would see the fathers of Israel—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob enjoying the heavenly feast: but they would see them from the outside! They would be locked out of heaven—forever. And what a loss that is! Outside of heaven there is nothing but eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth!

If this wasn’t bad enough for the impenitent Jew, the Lord says Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob won’t be the only ones at the Dinner Party. Who are they? Maybe Moses or Joshua or Elijah or Daniel? They’ll be there, of course, but the Lord doesn’t mention their names. He has in mind other guests:

Who are these privileged guests? They are Gentiles who repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ for their salvation. Though they never kept a commandment of God, they will be saved when they repent.

Observing the Mosaic Law had a purpose, but it did not justify; it made no one right with God. And neither do the laws of the New Testament, no less the customs many people make up and call Christian.

"Lord, are there few that are saved?" No, many are saved—but not the people he had in mind. But only the ones—Jew or Gentile—who repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.

The man was appalled at the Lord’s answer. And he wasn’t alone. For the Lord Himself was grieved that His own people so stubbornly refused to welcome Him.

Herod was trying to get at Him and not just Herod. In my opinion, the warning He got was meant to drive Him south into Judea—and into the hands of the Ruling Council of Israel!

They’re already planning to kill the Lord Jesus. And it won’t be long till He turns Himself in! In bitter irony, He says,

The Royal City had become Hateful Place. For many years, the rulers of Israel had persecuted and stoned God’s Spokesmen, and now, they would have one more crack at them: but this time, it would be God’s Son they would murder.

The Lord knows what’s ahead for Him and it breaks His heart. But not for Himself. It is Jerusalem that He’s worried about. He wanted to gather the people together as a hen brings her chicks under her wings, but they wanted no part of Him.

In rejecting their God, Israel was rejected by God. Their house was left desolate and they wouldn’t see the Lord again till they saw Him in judgment. But then, it would be too late for them. And too late for everyone who has not repented.

Today’s passage is not an upbeat one. I don’t know what Robert Schuller would do with it. But I have tried to be faithful to its teaching and to its spirit. We are not Israelites living in the First Century and enjoying the benefits of the Old Covenant.

But we, too, have our privileges; we have things most people don’t. We know who the One True God is; we have His Word; we attend His church, and so on. But these things—as good as they are—are not good enough. They do not make us acceptable to God.

Only repentance does that. God receives everyone who repents and no one who doesn’t repent. So have you repented? I know your repentance is not perfects, but it’s not about perfect repentance, but repentance that is real, from the heart, and ongoing.

Have you repented and are you repenting? If so, God accepts you with all your wrong-headed ideas and sinful ways. But if you haven’t repented, then God rejects you—even if you’re nice, moral, and religious.

The Table is being set in heaven: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be there; many others will too. But, will you be one of them? If you want to be, repent. And do it now. The invitation is sincere, but it is not without an expiration date. When it will expire nobody knows, but what we know is this: it’s valid right now for everyone who wants to accept it. So why don’t you? Now?

The love of God be with you. Amen.