I think it was three weeks ago since I last preached. Now for me, it’s like a long time alright already. And I’m pleased again this morning to be back here to now proclaim God’s truth to you. Now we are continuing our study on the parables of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this morning, let us look at the parable as recorded in the gospel of Luke chapter 13. So please turn with me to Luke chapter 13, and we’re going to look at verses 22 through 30. Verse 22 through verse 30 of Luke chapter 13.

Okay, as usual, let me first read our text. Luke 13, beginning in verse 22: “And He (that is Jesus) went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will 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 you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 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, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.””. Let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we pray again that as we come and open up Your Word that You might speak to us. Help us to understand Your truth that the Spirit of God might give us enlightenment and grant us understanding. We pray too that You’ll humble our hearts to examine our life in light of Your truth, that we may bow to the authority of Your Word. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Now the parable that we are looking at this morning here is one of those that we might call a kind of a borderline parable. We know there are long parables and there are very short parables. Short parables is more like just say a picture alright, and this is one of those shorter ones. We have other examples actually in this chapter for example in verse 18, Jesus says: “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed”. So this is like another borderline parable, just a picture of a mustard seed. And then we have another one in verse 20: “And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven”. Okay so here is another picture alright that of the leaven.

So we have all this what we call short or some people call the borderline parables. So the one that we are looking at this morning is one such parable. Now this parable is an important parable for us to study now because it is about salvation. It’s about entering the kingdom of God. And I hope this morning that such a subject is a subject of great interest to you alright a subject of great you know importance. A subject that you would want to hear about. And so this is what the parable is about. Now we actually have a similar parable in another gospel (maybe that one is even more familiar with many of you) and that is the one recorded in the gospel of Matthew chapter 7 alright- Matthew 7:13. Now here Jesus said, now this is part of His long sermon alright on the mount.

In verse 13 of Matthew chapter 7, Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who will go in by it.”. And so here in Matthew 7, we see a similar parable, except that perhaps the focus of both parables is different. There in Matthew, the emphasis there or the focus there is about the choice that you have to make. Now here is the narrow gate or the small gate, and here we have the big or the broad gate. And Jesus is there saying that we should choose not to enter the broad and the big gate where that is more appealing and more popular and more people want to go that way. But Jesus there is urging us to choose the narrow gate or the small gate.

Alright it’s not popular alright, not appealing, but He says that this is the gate that leads to life. That gate leads to destruction. And so there Jesus is emphasising on the choices that we have to make concerning the gospel. But here in this parable, I say though similar but the focus is different. And the focus here or the emphasis here is on the effort. So you look again at verse 24. And Jesus says: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”. So He is now saying to us look at this gate, this small gate into the kingdom of God. And Jesus in this parable is saying that you should enter this gate, but the emphasis here is that you should make effort. You should strive to enter through the narrow gate.

Is there anyone here who has not yet enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God? Now here is Jesus’ appeal to you if you have not yet enter the gate that you should make effort. You should strive to enter the gate. Now you see, there is a context to this parable as with many of Jesus’ parables. In other words, there was always this occasion or the reason why Jesus told the parable. And the context for this parable is in the earlier verses alright- verses 22 and 23. Now you see, the context of Jesus’ parable or of this parable is the question asked by someone in the crowd. So in verse 22, we are told that when Jesus was going through the cities and the villages, preaching and teaching the kingdom of God (that’s what He’s doing on His way to Jerusalem).

Then we are told in verse 23 that someone in the crowd (that so often happened) stood up and asked Jesus a question. And his question is this: “Lord, are there so few who are saved?”. Are there so few who are saved? Now you might perhaps expect Jesus to answer either yes or no to that question. It’s a simple question. Are there going to be few people who are saved or many? But Jesus did not answer that way. Jesus’ answer was this. He said strive to enter the narrow gate. In other words, Jesus, in His response to this man’s question, is almost like brushing his question aside and said that that is not the most important question. Wisdom is to ask not only the right question but the most important questions of life.

And so Jesus here brushed him aside and say that your chief and your immediate concern should not be that. But rather, your chief and your immediate concern should be: Are you in? It’s not how many will be in the kingdom of God. Will there be many or few? But Jesus says your question should be: Are you in, and how can you get in there? And Jesus, therefore, is saying that here is something that you should know about entering the kingdom of God. Here is something that you should know about entering the kingdom of God. In other words, He said there’s something that you should know about salvation. Yes, there are many things that we know about salvation already perhaps.

We know that salvation is by grace alone. If you have been in this church for long enough, you know that that is what we believe that salvation is by grace alone. And salvation is through faith alone. And salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. Now we know many things about salvation, but here is something else Jesus said that you ought to know about salvation. Something else, He says, that you ought to know about salvation. And what is that? And Jesus says here, and it is this. That you also need to know that salvation requires effort. Salvation requires effort. Now that may sound surprising. I thought this is grace church? We thought we believe that salvation is by grace alone. And yet we see in the Bible Jesus is saying here strive. And strive here means to make every effort.

Now strive of course gives you the connotation of effort, of being diligent. And that is what Jesus is saying here that there is this thing that you must know about salvation and that is salvation requires effort. Not that we are saved by our own effort, but that effort must be there to seek it. Effort must be there to seek salvation. Now we see in chapter 12 and verse 31. And Jesus said that the people of the world in verse 30 seek after many things. But then He says in verse 31: “But you seek first the kingdom of God”. There must be this earnestness in seeking salvation, in seeking after the kingdom of God, in seeking to enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God. This is a constant emphasis in the Bible.

Do not think that because we believe that salvation is by grace alone, therefore we are simply to be passive about this matter of salvation, about this matter of entering through the kingdom of God. That is not what the Bible teaches. We are not to be passive. But rather, we see in the Bible these terms like “making effort” or “striving” or “being diligent”, just as the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 29 where he said he who seek Me. And God said he who seek Me shall find Me if he seeks Me diligently. You see what the Bible is saying that there ought to be this diligence, this effort, this great you know earnestness in seeking after God and His salvation. And so that is what Jesus is saying in this parable recorded by Luke in Luke chapter 13.

Strive, He says. That ought to be your immediate and perhaps your most important concern in life. Yes, we are concerned about many things, especially in this time. But this, Jesus, said ought to be your most immediate and important concern and that is to make every effort to seek after the kingdom of God, to strive to enter the narrow gate. And so we’re going to spend the rest the remaining time here this morning to consider this urgent appeal by the Lord Jesus Christ, to consider this urgent plea by the Lord Jesus Christ that we should be diligent or we should strive to enter the kingdom of God. Let us now consider this urgent appeal by the Lord Jesus Christ first of all by considering what does it mean.

What is Jesus saying? Now what does He mean by striving to enter the narrow gate? Strive to enter the narrow gate, what does it mean? Now what do you think Jesus had in mind as He looked at the crowd and as He appeals to them, as He tells them to do this? What does it mean to strive? Let me tell you four things what it should mean, at least four things. I think there will be many other things, at least four things what it should mean. Firstly, do not give excuses. Do not give excuses. That seems to be what Jesus is saying here in the first place to this man who stood up and asked Him that question about the kingdom of God. Do not give excuses under the cover of so-called unanswered questions. The so-called unanswered questions.

Why are you not ready to enter, Jesus says. Why are you still lingering there? There are many people who are like this man. They have heard the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has been preaching the kingdom of God through the villages and the cities. And this man probably was among the crowd following Him. And he heard the Lord again and again emphasising that we should repent and enter the kingdom of God. And Jesus is asking that question. There are many people like that, but they have not yet enter. So, why are you waiting? Why are you not ready to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? For that many people, it is exactly like this man. He says: Lord, until all my questions are answered alright, I’m not ready yet to embrace You.

I have a lot of questions. I met with people who want to meet up with me and have many questions. They have many questions. They ask me questions like: Do you believe in the doctrine of election? Well, you’re asking questions like: What about these other people who have never heard the gospel? You see, there are many people who want all their questions answered before they are ready to make the next so-called move towards embracing the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why they are not ready, and that’s why perhaps this man is not ready to say: Lord, I have one more question. Are there many or few who are in the kingdom of God? What was Jesus’ response? I said Jesus’ response was to basically ignore his question. He said you can leave that question to God.

Alright perhaps one day you’ll have all the answers when you’re in the kingdom of God. You can stand before God and you can ask God a hundred and one questions or a thousand and one questions like will babies be saved? Now people like to quarrel you know and debate over that question, even though the Bible has no clear answer to that. But we want answers. Or we ask questions like: What about those who have never heard the gospel? Those in Timbuktu, would they be saved? I said leave that to God. Or people ask questions like: How do I know if I am one of the elects? You see, if you want all your questions to be answered before you come to Christ, you may never come to Jesus Christ. You may never come to Jesus Christ.

And that is what Jesus is saying to this man. Stop giving excuses under the cover of so-called unanswered questions. What Jesus said is this. The important question is not how many would be in the kingdom of God. The important question is whether you are in the kingdom of God. Are you saved? Never mind how many will be saved. Maybe a million people, maybe a billion people, maybe few, maybe many, but what about you? Now that is what Jesus is saying to this man. Are you saved? That is the important question. The important question is the question asked by the Philippine jailer in Acts chapter 16. Man or sirs, what must I do to be saved? The important question is the question asked now even in the gospel here in chapter 10.

Luke 10:25, asked by that scribe. He came to Jesus and he said: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”. Now that is the important question. What must I do to be saved? What must you do to enter into heaven to receive eternal life? Do you have the answer to that question? Yeah, you might have a thousand other questions, but not this question. Jesus says this is the immediate and the important question. So do not give excuses. Come. Stop you know giving all kinds of reasons. And secondly, to strive also means that you must be serious. You must be serious about the kingdom of God. You must make it a matter of priority.

The question of salvation ought to be the question that is uppermost in your mind. That day in day out if you are not yet in the kingdom of God tonight, when you are in your bed, pull up your pillow as it were and sit and think why are you not yet in the kingdom of God. Are you in or not? Be serious about this question. That is what Jesus means here. To strive means to be serious to make every effort to hear the gospel. Look at what Jesus said earlier on in the gospel in Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. In another parable, He says this. In Luke 8:12, listen to what Jesus said here. Luke 8:12. Jesus said: “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts”.

Why does the devil want to take the Word out of people’s hearts? Why does the devil want to stop people from hearing the Word of God? Why? Have you ever asked the question: Why the devil is so intent that people do not hear the Word? Why the devil is so intent to make sure that churches don’t preach the Word? Why the devil is so intent that you don’t read the Word? Do you care whether you pay attention to the Word of God or not? Do you care whether you hear the Word of God or not? I tell you, the devil cares. He wants to make sure that you don’t hear. That is what this verse is talking about that this Word that falls by the wayside soil, we are told here that the devil makes sure that the Word is out of your heart.

Why? He says here: “lest they should believe and be saved”. Because the devil understands the importance of the Word of God. He understands and believes what Paul said in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Many people do not believe in that. Many Christians don’t believe in that. We don’t believe that faith comes by the hearing of the Word of God. And that’s why we are not earnest and diligent in proclaiming the Word of God because we don’t believe in the power of the Word. But the devil believes. It’s amazing. He believes a lot of things more than we do. And because he believes in that, he wants to make sure that you don’t hear the Word. And if you do hear it, he wants to take it away from you.

And then Jesus said, Luke 8:18- “Therefore take heed- take heed how you hear.”. Therefore you must be careful. You must be diligent. That’s what Jesus is saying here. You must be earnest in hearing the Word of God because it is so important; because it is one that leads to salvation. Isn’t that what Paul said to Timothy that from childhood you have known the Holy Scripture which is able to make you wise unto salvation? You see, Timothy’s mother and his grandmother understood that. His mother and grandmother had that great conviction that the Word of God is able to make you wise unto salvation. That’s why they pay attention to teaching their children. How many parents believe in that, that we would teach our children? We believe that without the Word of God they will not be made wise unto salvation.

They will not be saved as far as we understand from the Word of God there is no faith if there is no Word, for faith comes by the hearing of the Word of God. And that’s also the reason why you see every writer in and of the Bible understands this and is fully convinced of this. And that’s also the reason why the writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews 2:1, he says: “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard”. A constant plea by biblical writers to pay earnest heed to the Word of God. He says we must pay the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. Why? Verse 3: “for how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation”.

If we neglect the Word of God, you know what are we neglecting? When you neglect the Word of God, do you realise what you are neglecting? Nothing less than eternal life, nothing less than salvation, nothing less than entrance into the kingdom of God. Now that is what Jesus is talking about- the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. Are you there? Have you entered? Are you diligent? Are you making every effort to enter through the narrow gate? Are you? That’s what it means. What does Jesus mean when He says strive to enter through the narrow gate? He means first of all don’t give excuses. All the people like to give excuses. They’re always not ready- always not really.

How long have you been in church? There are many people who have been attending church for years. Until today they still say I’m not ready. I tell you, you will never be ready if you always have excuses. Strive, don’t give excuses. Strive, make every effort. Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. But there is one more thing what it means. It means that do not resist the prompting of God. Do not resist the prompting of God. What does that mean? Now you turn with me to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 4, and look at verse 9.

Genesis chapter 4, beginning in verse 9: “Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”. What have you done, Cain? What have you done? You have sinned. You have committed a grievous sin. You have murdered your own brother. What have you done? God was speaking to Cain. That was kindness. That was the kindness of God. If you have sinned against God and God speaks to you through His Word; if God has brought someone into your life to tell you about your sin and ask you to repent, that is kindness because the Bible says unless we repent, we perish.

If you do not repent of your sin, you will perish for eternity. And so for someone to come and warn you, that is kindness. That’s what we see here. And then we read in verse 13: “And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!”. It seems that he comes under some kind of conviction. He could see what God is saying. He could not deny the fact that he has done something wrong. And someone comes to you when the Word of God is brought to bear on you, I mean it will make you see that you are a sinner. This is what we see here in Cain. But then, his response.

So what do you do? What do you do when God speaks to you through His Word or through a brother or a sister or a friend and bring you under some kind of conviction to make you realise your wretchedness and your sin? What do you do? Verse 16: “Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of the Garden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.”.

Can you see the problem here with Cain? God spoke to him. He was under some kind of conviction, and then he just brushes everything aside and goes about his life as usual. He goes about his life as usual. He married, he settled down with a family, he bears children, he built his city, and so on and so forth. He built his career and he built his life. Now what Jesus said is this. Strive to enter through the narrow gate, and that means do not brush aside all these prompting by the Holy Spirit. Very often God promises. Very often God makes us to realise things perhaps through the preaching of His Word, perhaps through your own reading of the Bible, perhaps through confrontation of a friend who comes to you about your sin and about your life.

Or perhaps just through the events of life in this world as we see the world gripped by fear of death. Every day we hear of people dying. We look at the numbers. Or perhaps you have just attended the funeral of someone- a friend, a family member, or a loved one. And perhaps kind of you, God might be prompting you to think about eternity, about the weightier things of life. And after the funeral, after the event, after church, you go out and you go about life as usual. Now strive means don’t. Do not resist the prompting of God. And fourthly, to strive means this. It means that do not just hang around the gate alright- do not just hang around the gate.

Many people love to talk just about the gate. They like to hang around the gate. They know quite a fair bit about the gate alright, about that story there about the gate, about the entrance. They know it very well. They know the gospel well. They’ve heard it many times, and they are always around the gate. They are always near to the sound of the gospel preaching. They are there in the church. They’re always there when we have the youth camp or the church camp, or the GenTim or the youth activity. They’re always there. They’re always around the gate, but they never enter. But they never enter. They’ve heard. They’re around there, but they procrastinate. They never enter the gate.

What Jesus is saying here is this. It is not enough just to hear about the gate, not enough just to admire the gate. Some people love the gospel. They love to debate. They love to talk about the gospel, but they never embrace the gospel themselves. Jesus says that is not striving alright. Strive means don’t just hang around but enter. That is what Jesus is asking us to do. That leads us to the second thing Jesus is saying here. First is what it means. Second, as we consider Jesus’ plea here is to understand why we must strive. Jesus says strive to enter through the narrow gate, but why? Why must we strive to enter through the narrow gate? Let me give you three reasons why. Three reasons why we must strive to enter through the narrow gate.

Number one, because it is hard. It is hard. That’s why you must make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. Listen to the Lord Jesus here in the gospel of Luke alright chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, and here again when many people were following Him, huge crowd, Jesus turned to them and said to them all. Jesus said to them all: “If anyone desires to come after Me (verse 23), let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”. There are people who want to make us believe or to think that is all very easy. It’s all very easy until they hear what Jesus says that if anyone wants to come after Me, anyone wants to follow Me, He says, note. Let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Does it sound easy? Does it sound like you know a walk in the park? Strive, we must because Jesus says because it is hard. It is narrow. It is hard. Verse 24, Luke 9: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”. Following Jesus Christ is like losing your life. And then towards the end of the chapter in verse 57: “Now it happened as they journeyed on the road”. Perhaps these people have heard what Jesus is talking about and there’s this man with his bravado as it were. He comes to Jesus and he said to Jesus: “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”. I will. And Jesus said in the following verse: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head”.

Does it sound easy? Strive to enter through the narrow gate. Now you see, to enter the kingdom of God, to enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God is a call to follow Jesus. Remember that. It is a call to follow Jesus. And to follow Jesus, the Bible tells us is to forsake your sin, is to deny yourself, is to forsake the world. Do not love the world, John says. Do not love the world.

Now that is what it means to enter through the kingdom of God. It is to follow Jesus. It is to deny yourself. Now you can see that it is quite a decision. It is no simple matter. Therefore, it is often a struggle. These people when they have heard Jesus alright what Jesus said to them, now they realised that they would have to sit down and count the cost. Sit down and count the cost about following Jesus Christ.

Secondly, why must we strive? First, it’s because it is hard. Secondly, because a time will come when it will be too late. A time will come when it will be too late. Look at verse 24. Luke 13:24, and Jesus continues here in the second half of 24. He said: “for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able”. So for many, you see you must strive, He says to enter through the narrow gate. And then He gives the reason. For many. The reason is that for many will seek to enter and will not be able, when in fact the sentence should actually continue through the next verse, say: “When once the Master of the house has risen and shut the door, you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us.’”

In other words, the door will not be always open. And here we have the constant reminder from the Bible about salvation. Today is the day of salvation. So the door may not always be open. There will come a time when the door will be shut. So Jesus says here for many will seek to enter. Now that day when the door is shut, when the Master comes and shut the door, He said many will seek to enter. Amazingly is that the implication, the implied thing there is that even on that day people were still knocking at the door and said let me in. Now let me in. It is a sad thing to hear those knocks. It is sad that on that day you see here many people crying outside: Let me in, let me in. But it will be too late.

It will be useless, Jesus says. And these people in verse 26: “then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence”. You can hear the noises outside the gate and say: Let me in, let me in. Then the Master said: No, the door is shut. He said: Master, no, no, wait, wait, wait. Listen to me. Only on that day that you are going to reason with the Master? On that day you begin to tell Master what? You see these words he said: Do you remember we ate and drank in Your presence? You were, you know we were there. You broke bread. And then they said You taught in our streets. Now, these words are going to come back to haunt these people. You taught in our streets. That was what Jesus was doing all the time.

Verse 22, remember Jesus was going through all the villages and all the cities. That was His mission. He came to preach the kingdom of God, Mark tells us. And Jesus was faithfully doing that, and these are the people. They are outside not because they have never heard and now they say we have heard. You were the one teaching and preaching in our street. You came by. We were there. We heard You, but we are outside. Hearing alone is not enough. It’s not enough. Coming to church alone is not enough. Doing all these things is all not enough. On that day many people will say: Eh we were in church every Sunday. Why are we still outside?

And the Lord says to these people: Depart from Me. Get lost, you workers of wickedness, of iniquity. You’re not one of Mine. I do not know you. This is, something is going to haunt these people when you hear the Lord saying to them I do not know you. Why strive to enter? Because a time will come it may be too late. And finally, why strive to enter? Because of the joy of being inside and the horror of being outside. Listen to what Jesus said here. Verse 27: “But I say to you, ‘I do not know you. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity.’”. And then verse 28: “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is a phrase used by the Lord often in the Bible to describe destruction in hell, where these people who are outside, they are going to face the judgement of God. They will be punished. They will be cast into hell forever and ever. They will be tormented. They will suffer. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The horror of remaining outside on that day will be too terrible to describe. The Bible has tried to describe it in many ways to give us some inkling, some ideas of what it means to be outside on that day. He says it would be terrible on that day to be outside that door. But strive also because of the joy of being inside.

Listen to what He says: “when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out”. Oh, you can only peep in as it were. You see Abraham, you see Isaac, you see Jacob, you see all the people of God, all the men and women of faith, all those who have embraced the Lord Jesus Christ. You see them inside and they are feasting and they are enjoying bliss and eternal happiness with Christ. But you are outside, weeping and gnashing of teeth. That’s why we ought to strive to enter through the narrow gate because of the joy of being inside and the horror of being outside.

Let me ask you: Are there some among us this morning perhaps still taking salvation lightly, not giving it the priority that it deserves? Are there some among us perhaps who are too preoccupied with other things in life and think nothing of the kingdom of God? Are there some of us perhaps still hanging around the gate admiring it? You love to debate about the gospel, but you never embrace it. Then consider. Hear and consider the tone of urgency in this parable. Strive, make every effort to enter- to enter the kingdom of God before it’s too late. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we know that once the Master has come, the door will be shut and many will remain outside and cry- and cry out: Lord, Lord, let us in. Lord, we pray that You might help us to understand the urgency of this plea that each one of us in this hall, that everyone who is listening here this morning may take heed to Your plea and to make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.