The Door of God

of Luke and we find ourselves
this morning in Luke chapter 13. The passage is there in the
bulletin with space for notes, if you prefer. Some of you know, I’ve talked
about this particular little shop with a number of people,
there is a shop here in town. It’s really, you know me, I love
woodworking, I love tools, I love working with that kind of stuff.
And so the first time I set foot in this little shop, I was really
impressed. Nice, clean little shop. And
what they do, they make doors. In comes, in one end of the store
or the big old warehouse, wood, raw stock. And I mean, not the
kind of stuff that you buy at the stores, rough cut lumber. And eventually the stock is milled
out and all of the doors are made custom, special. And the wood comes in and it’s
milled out and chopped up and pieced together and hundreds
of different doors are made. And it’s amazing to watch the
process of these doors being pieced together and cut and processed
and milled and fitted and glued. It’s an amazing process to watch. And it provoked in me just this
observation to look and to see how many kinds of doors there
are. And there are doors of all kinds. There’s doors that have the split
in the middle. Doors that have a split down the middle. There’s
narrow doors and big doors and thick doors and thin doors and
glass doors. All kinds of doors. And you know
what? God has a door. God has a door. You know what I began to wonder?
If God wanted to order doors, what would they look like? You think about the kingdom of
heaven, you know, and you think, you know, you heard these descriptives
and some extra biblical and of all these accoutrements that
would be there for the kingdom of heaven. What would the doors
of heaven look like? And you know what? Jesus already
told us. Jesus already gave us the specifications
for the door of God. If you would, I want to pick
up this morning, just just beginning in verse 22, just these nine
verses. Where Luke records of Christ,
he was passing through from one city and village to another,
teaching and proceeding on his way to Jerusalem. Remember, we’ve
seen this before. Nothing will deter Christ. He
is already headed for the cross. He knows it. And he’s teaching
and he’s step by step proceeding to the cross. And someone said
to him, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? He
said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For
many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once
the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin
to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord, open to
us. Then he will answer and say to
you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin
to say we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our
streets. He will say, I tell you, I do
not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.
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 yourselves being thrown out. And they will come
from east and west and from north and south and will recline at
the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who
will be first. And some are first who will be
last. And so ends some of the most
solemn words in Scripture, echoing perhaps different in substance
than those in Matthew chapter seven, but essentially the same
in substance. Depart from me, you evil doers. We don’t know who the individual
was. It’s interesting to read all the different interpretations
and speculations really as to what his motive was. We’re not
given in a single iota of information that that would tip in the direction
of him having some kind of sinister plot to stumble Christ, to trip
him up, to make him some kind of a public embarrassment. In
fact, just to the contrary, we do note that he calls Jesus Lord. At least an outward measure of
an ascent to Christ and to his lordship. I don’t believe the
man was trying to trip Jesus up at all. I think the man’s
heart was pierced by all that he’d been hearing and all that
he’d been seeing. But here’s Christ proclaiming
the kingdom to these people, and yet all that are following
are this ragtag band. Just a few. The interesting thing is, This
question that is asked, how many? How many are being saved? Jesus
doesn’t even answer. And I think it was out of mercy
that he didn’t answer. It doesn’t cater to the man’s
nonsensical question. And it really isn’t a nonsense.
I mean, it’s a popular question in our day and age. How many? In essence, Jesus says, don’t
worry about how many are saved. The real question is, ask yourself
if you’re one of them. That’s in essence what he says,
not only to the man, but to the whole crowd. It wasn’t what we might call
in a classroom, a stupid question, there are those. I went to the
conferences last week. The Q&A’s are never my favorite
because you get usually some egghead that wants to cut his
teeth on one of the speakers and make a name for himself by
asking a zinger question. You’ve been in class when they
ask those questions. There are such things as stupid questions.
I think this was an honest, heartfelt question. I think the man saw
what was going on. And in fact, according to the
widely held Jewish tradition, which was affirmed by the rabbis
over and over again, Israel as a whole was to be saved. But
to hear Christ teach even on one occasion, you would have
to wonder if that was true. Who’s wrong? Jesus or the rabbis? How many people are going to
be saved? Part of a regular feature of
Christ’s ministry to a prize to educate those that were in
his hearing, that not everybody was going to be saved. That the
way was narrow. Luke chapter 4. He told the Jews on that occasion,
I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in
the days of Elijah when the sky was shut up for three years and
six months, when a great famine came over all the land. And yet
Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, to an
unbelieving heathen. Luke, chapter six, we thought
he turned his gaze towards the disciples and said, blessed are
you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of heaven. He didn’t
have anything, as we saw there against rich people. What he
was talking about was those who are poor in spirit, those who
are broken over their sin. Those who are righteous need
no Savior, Jesus said. And he left it up to them to
judge themselves if they found themselves to be righteous, they
had no need of Christ. Luke, chapter six, later on,
we saw it again. Why do you call me Lord, Lord,
and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and
hears my word and acts on them, I will show you what he’s like.
Those are the people that are saved. Those are the saved people and
on and on through Luke’s gospel, Luke chapter seven. When Jesus
heard this, he marveled when Jesus heard this, he marveled
at him and turned and said to the crowd that was following,
I say to you, not even in all of Israel have I found such faith
of all the places in the world. He should have found faith in
Israel, but he didn’t. But here comes one who, in my
opinion, and we don’t have much more than that to go on, seems
sincere in his question. And it may be the wrong question,
ultimately speaking. Christ clarified it. But the
man is worried and he’s curious. Perhaps he’s worried about his
family. Perhaps all of the data and all of the teaching of the
Pharisees over all the man’s life, now we’re coming into question. And he’s worried, perhaps, about
his family and his friends and his fellow churchgoers. And he says, Lord, are there just a few? Are there
just a few that are being saved? And as I said, rather than appeasing
his curiosity, which motive we have no idea
of determining Jesus mercifully calls him and everyone within
earshot, including us. To look not at how many. Don’t
ask the question, how many? Don’t focus in on how many will
be in heaven. But who? And he forces the question on
everyone who has ever heard or read this passage. Am I one of
them? That’s the real question. That’s
the real question. And in essence, Jesus says there’s
a door. There’s a door and you need to
know how to recognize it. It’s got specifications. It’s
a very well determined, very clearly defined door. And don’t
you just love those people? You walk in. I walked into a
hospital not long ago. You ask them for directions,
and they give you directions, go right and then left, and then
two rights and then a left, and hospitals are famous for adding
on and glomming on, and the more, you know, you walk down these
corridors and everyone looks the same. And they always, you
know, in those kinds of situations, they always have to add this.
You can’t miss it. Well, let me tell you. If they ever say that to me,
I know I’ve been set up because I almost every time I’ll miss
it. You have to know which door to look for. You have to know
where you’re going. Men don’t like to ask directions
anyway, so even when we ask, generally we don’t listen to
the descriptive that carefully. But let me tell you this door.
This door, you need to know what you’re looking for. You need
to know what the door of God looks like. You need to know
its specification. You need to know how to open the door. You
need to know how to walk through. I want to look at the door of
God. I want to look at what Jesus
says about the door of God. I believe in this passage He
gives us five descriptives, five little features, if you will,
about heaven’s door that equips the hearer to know
without a doubt in his mind if he’s walking through the right
door, if he’s walking into eternity with God in heaven or not. First of all, the door of God
is a difficult door. It’s a difficult door. Look at
verse 22. He’s passing through from one
city and village to another, teaching, proceeding on his way
to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few
being saved? And he said to them, strive. Strange start to the answer. And in essence, that is his answer,
strive. Everything else is subordinate
to that one command. And it’s an interesting word,
people. The word is the Greek word for agonizomai from where
we get our English word agonize. In essence, he says to the man
agonize, agonize to get into the kingdom, struggle, strive. One described it in these terms.
He said, the struggle is fierce. Our opponents are Satan and sin
and self. And so to strive means to exert
oneself to the full. To strain every nerve in our
struggle with these opponents. And you have to ask yourself. Describe the way I conducted
my Christian life this past week. Did I strive in prayer? Did I
strive in the reading of Scripture? Did I strive in the grace of
God to live a life that honors God and proclaims Christ in all
that I do? Did I strive? He’s used this
little word in both military and athletic contests, primarily
the latter. To describe that kind of concentration,
the discipline that goes into it, the conviction and the effort
and the practice that was needed to win the games in that day
were these strenuous contests, sometimes to the death. Now,
I wonder if you put that imagery in your mind, If you really remember
that this striving is a striving for life or death, I wonder then
how we would live our Christian lives. He says that Christians were
to be like men who were contending for the mastery of a particular
discipline in order to win life or death. No middle ground. Straining every nerve is the
one descriptive habit. People don’t get the sense. Don’t
write me an email later this week that I’m preaching works
salvation. That’s not what he’s saying.
He’s not saying that if we just work hard enough, we’ll get ourselves
into heaven. It’s all by grace. But the amazing
thing to me, I said it a couple of weeks ago, I don’t exactly
know what my words were, but it amazes me constantly what
allows people to be taken out of church, out of ministry. It
amazes me the nature of of people’s modern day Christianity. Can
it really be described as striving? Can it really be described as
a hard and difficult, strenuous effort? That’s what it is. Very first
thing Jesus says. Not how many are going to get
into heaven, but if you if you want to be one of them, you’re
going to have to strive. It’s going to be agony for you.
It’s going to be a difficult effort. Not an easy pursuit. Christianity
isn’t an easy way. Christianity isn’t just professing
Christ on one occasion. Sitting back then, the rest of
your born days and coasting of some sort have suggested that first and
foremost, this is a difficult door. What do I mean by that?
What did Jesus mean? Did he mean that this door is
difficult to open and that we’ve got to force our way through
it? Perhaps you’ve had doors like
that. Those great big heavy doors, you know, you go to the door
and you reach down for the handle and you find out it weighs like
a thousand pounds and your fingers come off in your hand. That what
he’s saying, it’s a difficult door to open. Is it difficult to find? This
door is so narrow, we know it’s a narrow door. Is it so difficult
to find this pathway to Christianity? Not in our country. Churches
on virtually every corner, the gospel going out every which
way over the airwaves in print preached almost constantly. It’s difficult to fit through.
Is it that narrow? Remember the cat call on the
playground, fatty, fatty two by four couldn’t fit through
the bathroom door. Is that how narrow the door is? We’ve all experienced those heavy,
misadjusted, impossible to open doors. What does Jesus mean? It’s interesting here to pursue
this answer, both Matthew and Luke essentially contain this
image. This general illustrative illustration
of a narrow door, a narrow pathway. The exhortation recorded by Matthew
gives the reason why we are to pursue the narrow door as opposed
to the wide door, the narrow way as opposed to the broad way.
Luke’s account here provides the reason why we are to labor
so strenuously. This striving is in the pursuit
of a particular door. What he says is that we are to
strive to aim for a particular door. And you know which door
it is, it’s already there in the text, I’ve already hinted,
it’s the narrow door. And so he says, strive, describing
the effort expended to pursue that specific and particular
door, the only door. Everything is against us, people.
There are other doors available. There are wider doors. All of life is a grand, wide
open door. And it’s much easier. Unbelievers
are against us. They don’t want us to go through
the narrow door. Even some churchgoers against us. They don’t like our
strictness. Weak doctrine is against us. That mitigates against
us. Our own flesh calls us away from
this narrow door. In other words, the difficulty
is staying on the narrow door. The difficulty is keeping our
hand on that handle of the narrow door. That’s the striving. That’s
where Jesus says, don’t let go. Don’t let go. One described it
this way, said to strive is to be diligent in the use of means.
Prayer, reading of the Scriptures, attendance at worship, fellowship
with God’s people, striving. He says, search the Scriptures
with care, attend to the preaching of the Word with constancy, neglect
no opportunity, pray earnestly for spiritual light, knowledge
and grace, contend with every enemy that opposes the salvation
of the soul. That’s what it is to strive. Matthew Henry, the great commentator
of the New Testament, said it is a hard matter to get into
heaven. You’d never know it in our day and age, because it seems
like, especially after the last election, everybody, you know,
sixty six percent of the people must be evangelical Christians. Based on the polls. Matthew Henry
said it’s a hard matter to get into heaven. and a point that
will not be gained without a great deal of care and pains of difficulty
and diligence. We must strive with God in prayer,
wrestle, strive against sin and Satan. We must strive in every
duty of religion, strive with our hearts. Does that describe your week? Does that describe your overall
effort in Christianity from the time that you first named the
name of Christ? Jesus wasn’t the only one to
say this. Paul took up the same argument in the book of Philippians.
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, don’t
just make a profession of faith. In essence is what he said. Not
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work
out your salvation with fear and trembling. Why fear? I’ve already become
a Christian. I’ve already placed my faith
in Christ. I’ve already dealt with my sin. Then work it out. Work out what God has already
worked in you. Put to use God’s grace. Jesus
said it in countless different ways. Take up your cross. Christianity
isn’t a life of ease. I told you a minute ago, everything
is going to make it. Everything is calling you to
let go of that door handle. Everything is calling you away
from the narrow way. Apostasy calls you away. We’ve
all had friends that, oh, yeah, love the Lord. I’m professing
Christian. Next thing you know, they’re
they’re waning. Next thing you know, they’re
on the sidelines worshiping at the first church of St. Mattress. Well, Falling away takes its
toll. Falling away takes its toll.
You know, there’s not a whole lot of helps. We had a gift certificate. It went into the Bible Superstore. Doesn’t the name itself just
woo you in as a Christian? The Bible Superstore. And people other than the Bibles
in there, I don’t know if there’s anything worth purchasing. Not
much. And how sad a store called the
Bible Superstore has so little to offer. Shouldn’t it be selling
the greatest books in all the world, regardless of what their
profit margin is? Sadly, the books they sell, not
only are they not profitable, I believe that they’re harmful.
In many, many, many cases that mitigates against our effort
to pursue this narrow little door. And yet it says here, it’s an
interesting passage, strive to enter through the narrow door
for many. There are going to be all kinds
of people trying to get in the narrow door. After it’s closed. Very faintly, said John Gill,
in a superficial manner, from mere natural affection, from
a principle of self-love after they see the door slammed shut.
Now, suddenly, they want to get in. They didn’t strive, they
wanted the easy way, and sometimes it’s just plain too late. Jesus says we’re to strive, we’re
to make a maximum sustained effort to pursue a particular door. Let’s look at the second feature
of that door, the narrow door. It’s not only a difficult door,
it’s a narrow door. We’re accused of that sometimes,
aren’t we? Being narrow-minded. Now I find it to be a good thing.
The man said, are just a few being
saved? And Jesus doesn’t answer his question, but He does say,
you need to examine yourself and don’t worry about who else
is there. Are you one of them? And Jesus here gives a purposed
anomaly. Something that on the face of
it doesn’t make sense. Because if you look at it, a
door is supposed to be used for access. He could have called it anything
other than, he could have called it a narrow slit in a rock. But he doesn’t. He calls it a
door. It’s a means of access. But the anomaly is that he calls
it a narrow door, which restricts the access. This past week at the conference
is a new feature of the conference where they would have these great
big broad doors, 3,500 men there trying to fit through in just
under two minutes. And instead of opening all the
double doors, they would open only one so that they could check
our badges. It restricted the access. And
it slowed down the process and those without badges weren’t
allowed in. The narrow here describes just such a door. It’s the specific
door after which we are commanded to put forth such great effort.
It’s the maximum effort to pursue a particular door, the narrow
door. Everything is against us, as we’ve already seen. And in
fact, the longer we go in our nation, The wider, the broader,
the more irrelevant the so-called narrow door seems to become to
the church. We’ve widened it. We’ve called
in the carpenters and said, well, it’s really not all that narrow.
Jesus, you know, maybe he was having a bad day. There are two ways, Jesus says,
narrow and broad. Matthew 7.13, I told you, echoed
this passage. Listen to Matthew 7.13. Enter
through the narrow gate. Same imagery, it gives the reason
for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction,
and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small
and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who
find it. In essence, there he would have answered the man’s
questions. Yes, there are only a few being saved because most
are on the Broadway. The first church of Broadway. One described it this way, he
said, the account that is given of the bad way of sin, the good
way of holiness, but there are two ways, right and wrong, good
and evil, the way to heaven and the way to hell. In the one in
which all of us are walking There is no middle place. There’s no
middle way as to this narrow way. That’s
the disadvantage of it. The disadvantage lies in its
narrowness and its solitude. You know what he says there?
He says, not only is it restrictive, it’s difficult. It’s going to
be a lonely journey, people. And if you’re looking for popularity,
that puts you already on dangerous ground. If you’re looking for
lots and lots of company, you could find it. I’m just not sure
it’s the door you would want to enter. You know what this
echoes the Old Testament scriptures, there is a path and it’s a narrow
path. Deuteronomy 30, 19, I call heaven
and earth to witness against you today that I have set before
you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life
in order that you live, you and your descendants. Psalm 16, the
Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will
perish. That’s what Jesus had in mind.
There are two ways, two destinies, two groups of people. Scripture
repeatedly points it out to us. The sheep and the goats and all
the other passages. There are two ultimate ends of
all men. Destruction or life. The course
that leads to destruction is like a broad, broad way. I had occasion in Illinois to
go river rafting, right? And if you float near the edge,
you know, you just kind of meander down. You can kick back, pull
the paddles in, lean back, catch the rays. But you know what? If you cruise out over into the
middle, steer into the middle, that’s where the current is.
And I would present to you that that’s where I think the majority
of our churches in this day and age are. People are steered right
into the middle of the current and it’s racing down the Broadway. It’s a narrow door. It’s telling
the men about one of the documentaries, you know, I love documentaries
and this interesting one was telling the men about it. In
1940, there was a plane crash of this bomber. went down into
Lake Mead, kind of a famous deal. It was on a secret mission. They
did a dive onto this ship and they rescued all six of the men.
One of the men was back in the secret station recording secret
data. And as a result, after the plane
crashed into the drink, he had to crawl down through this very
narrow tube to safety. There was only one escape hatch.
The problem was he still had his parachute on. About halfway
through the tube, he got stuck. And he almost drowned. People,
you can’t go into heaven with all your stuff, you can’t go
in with your chute, you can’t go in with your sin, you can’t
go in with your own righteousness, you can’t go in with your worldly
goods and your works. And that’s what Jesus means is
the narrow door. It’s Christ in Christ alone,
faith alone in Christ alone or not at all. One pastor said it this way,
in order to enter by the narrow door, one must strip himself
of many things. Such as a consuming desire for
earthly goods, the unforgiving spirit, selfishness, self-righteousness. Many pass by this door through
carelessness. They will not be at pains to
find it. They are well as they are. Remember that bumper sticker
somebody saw not too long ago? I was born well enough the first
time. That’s the mentality. I don’t need Christ. I don’t
need Christ because I don’t believe I’m a sinner. You know what Jesus points out
is that’s the crowd mentality. I’ve said it before, you know,
so often little Johnny gets in trouble and it’s all because
of Johnny’s friends. Well, the crowd does have that
effect and the broad way is that crowd and Jesus says there’s
a door. There’s a door that you need to enter and it’s a narrow
door. It’s faith alone in Christ alone. One pastor urged this, he said,
there must be a new heart and a new spirit. Old things, they
must pass away. The bent of the soul must be
changed. Corrupt habits and corruptions must be denied. Self must be
denied. The body kept under corruptions
mortified. Temptations resisted. Duties
must be done that are against our nature. We must endure hard
hardness, wrestle and be in agony. We must go to all things and
walk in care and search. Much tribulation in an afflicted
way, they hedged about with thorns. How many would sign up? Not many. Not only is the door of God a
lock. It’s a locking door. Verse 24, strive to enter into
the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will
not be able. And then these are the words
that echo those dreadful words in Matthew chapter 7, verse 22,
depart from me. And he presents this image and
it all supports verse 24. This image of a homeowner at
one point getting up and locking his door for the night. See, the context was simple.
The Pharisees were used to locking everyone else out of the kingdom.
Only they measured up. They kept everybody else at bay
and kept dangling this standard, this impossible to live up to
standard like a carrot before them. They were used to locking everyone
else out in this sense, Jesus tells them the truth, they are
the ones going to be on the outside looking in. They’re going to
be the ones that forget their key. John Calvin urged it in these
particular terms. He said, many will seek to enter. Jesus added these words that
we may not be deceived by the vain hope as if the multitude
of our companions would be of any help to us. The flesh is
willing to flatter itself and many who now give themselves
every indulgence promise to themselves an easy entrance into life. Thus,
men practice mutual deception on each other and fall asleep
in wicked indifference. How tragic. Isn’t that true,
don’t you? The most people that you ask
about, you know, are you going to hell? Oh, yeah. Been a good
person. Been a good person. In fact,
the truth of this is, though, people, this is one of the most
direct passages I think I’ve ever seen in Scripture. And it
doesn’t have you to look at your neighbor. It doesn’t have you
to look at your co-worker or your boss or anybody else, not
even your spouse. You know what it has you to look
at? You. I don’t even know how many there
are here, but it’s overwhelming. Listen to this. Once the head
of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin to stand
outside and knock on the door saying, Lord, open to us. Then
he will answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, we
ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets.
And he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me all you evil doers. I believe that what Jesus did
for that man who wanted to know how many, was give him the greatest
act of mercy that perhaps is even recorded on the pages of
Scripture. That it was recorded not just there for him and not
just for the Pharisees. It was recorded for us. We must
examine our hearts. We must look at this and say,
am I pursuing the difficult door? Am I striving? Am I trying to
get through this narrow door? before it’s locked. No outward privileges, said one,
even though Christ is taught in our streets. I mean, how many
times have you heard that? I went to such and such a church.
I’ve sat under so-and-so’s teaching for many, many years. I was baptized
in the River Jordan. No external acts of communion
with Christ. You know, I’ve heard people say
they’ve had a Bible study every day for X amount of years and
yet seemingly the grace of God has not touched and changed their
hearts. My grandmother was an interesting lady. She not only had a lock set,
standard lock set on most doors, she had a double deadbolt. Not
just one deadbolt, but two. And then a series of these chains.
Not just one chain, but several. And you’d knock at grandma’s
door and it would take a full 15 minutes for her to complete
the process of unlocking the locks and undoing the deadbolts
and undoing the chains to let you in. Most people probably
gave up. You know, the interesting thing
is grandma’s door could be unlocked. But the image that Jesus presents
to us here is this is this is not a temporary locking. This
is a locking and a closing and a sealing forever. In fact, the
men and I in our steering committee joked one time we were talking
about the tardiness at worship and how we could do that, and
we said maybe we could lock the doors one Sunday at nine o’clock. The doors are locked. You know
what a message that would send. You know, you think, boy, the
men have lost their mind. But, you know, wouldn’t that
be an act of mercy? Because the following Sunday, you know, we’d
throw the doors open wide once again and everybody waltz in
on time. But this door will never be reopened. This door is a door with a timed
locking mechanism built into it, and once it’s locked, it’s
locked forever. There’s a fourth feature to this
door. I’m going to go. So. So there were five descriptors
of heaven’s door, the door of God is a difficult door, a narrow
door, it’s a locking door. And get this, it’s a windowed
door. Many of you came by our old house
over on Troutman when we first moved in there. To me, the purpose
of a door is to be a door. But somebody had this to put
a giant window in the middle of their front door. We ended
up changing out the door because repeatedly people would come
to the door and you know, you know, they’re gawking in at you
at everything. It’s not like we have anything to hide, but
you know, to me, the purpose of a door is to be a door. And here again, the interesting
thing is here, the context points to the Pharisees because they
erroneously figured that in some kind of sick way they would be
in heaven, smuggling, peering down through the crack in the
golden floor, looking at all those people in hell with disdain. Jesus says if there’s a door
with a window in it at all, it’s going to be a one way mirror
and it’s going to be the people in hell looking up to heaven, not the other way around. Look
at verse 28. where he says, 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 being
thrown out. I don’t know what the door looks
like in heaven. I don’t know how this functions.
I don’t know if we’re going to have, you know, some kind of a picture, a window
screen, closed circuit TV into heaven. I don’t know. But the
image is definitely presented by Christ that somehow, some
way, the people in hell are going to know. In fact, remember the rich man and
Lazarus? Lazarus wasn’t aware of the rich man who had treated
him so harshly. Lazarus was in heaven enjoying
the bliss of heaven for eternity. But that wicked rich man, somehow,
someway, was able to look up and observe Lazarus being comforted
by Abraham. Is it too far-fetched to think
that those who reject Christ will hear the echo of every sermon
that proclaimed Christ that they ever heard? Every passage of
Scripture, every gospel tract, every testimony, every piece
of God’s general revelation of Himself playing forth as a constant
and overwhelming image in their mind? Is that too far? To me,
that describes hell quite accurately. It’s a windowed door. Jesus says they’re going to know.
For all eternity, they’re going to know. But finally, this door,
the fifth and final descriptive, not only is it a difficult door
and a narrow door, a locking door and a windowed door, it
is a separating door. You’ll say, of all the points
that I made, that is the least profound. And it is. That’s what
a door is. That’s what a door does. It’s a divider. It’s a means
of separation. There are some on one side and
there are some on the other. That’s what a door does. And
thank goodness for doors. But note this. He says, not only
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Then he adds believers from every corner
of the earth. Look at verse 29. They will come
from east and west and from north and south and they will recline
at the table in the kingdom of God. Nothing made the Jewish elite
angrier than that to think that somehow they were going to be
left out of God’s kingdom. But there’s Jesus. He’s saying,
you know what, people, there’s a door. And if you don’t change,
if you don’t humble your hearts and place your faith in Christ
alone, you’re going to be on the outside looking in. I’ve always believed that there
will be surprises both in heaven and in hell. Matthew Henry echoed that same
thought when he said plainly, when we come to heaven, we shall
meet a great many there whom we thought little to have met
there. We didn’t expect them. Hey, what
are you doing here? But we’ll also miss a great many
whom we fully expected to have found there. Many who stood fair for heaven
came short and others seemed cast behind, he said, and thrown
quite out of the way. We’ll win and wear this prize.
And Matthew Henry enters this stark exhortation, which is really
just an echo of Christ’s own strive, strive to enter. Let’s examine our hearts. Oh, Lord God, we see so much of the Christianity
of our day on this broad, drifting, way, some racing towards an eternity
in hell. We see some that don’t even want
to approach a door that we see far too many approaching the
wrong door. And Lord, it would be sad enough
if it weren’t true, even in our own church. We know that your word is true.
And we don’t doubt for a minute that there aren’t some even in
our midst this morning. who are not striving after the
particular and narrow door, drifting along. They quit fighting long ago. Lord, we pray that if there are
any of that mind, that You would lay hold of their hearts. Even at the Lord’s table, that
You would pierce their hearts and remind them of Christ and
what Christ did on their behalf. Can any effort on our behalf
be too great? Grant us Your grace, Father,
to examine our hearts for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Just one brief passage of Scripture. I’ve already encouraged that
the table is open to any of our guests. If you are a Christian,
if you have proclaimed Christ and profess that he is the only
way of salvation, you are not only welcome, but I believe Scripture
admonishes you to partake and worthily. Romans three. But now, apart
from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe,
for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. Being justified as a gift by
his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. whom
God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This
was to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in the forbearance of
God, He passed over the sins previously committed for the
demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present
time so that He would be the just and the justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus Christ.” What great news as we approach
the Lord’s table. If you…