Luke's Gospel, chapter 13 and verse 22. We're speaking about the Lord Jesus here and it says, Luke tells us, And he went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the straight gate.

For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. 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. Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. 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. 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. And behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. Amen. May the Lord bless this reading from his word.

We notice here that Luke is telling us in these verses that once again the Lord was about the business of ministry to those around about him. The Lord Jesus, we discover in these gospel accounts, was constantly active and conscientious in his ministry. those three and a half years that he spent in Jerusalem and Judea and Galilee and in the surrounding areas were spent caring for the bodies and souls of the poor and needy amongst the Jews. And he was gravitating inexorably toward Jerusalem, where he would lay down his life as a ransom for his beloved people, the elect of God. And I think it's a pleasing example that we have from the Lord in just little verses like this, which show us how industrious the Lord was about his business. Here he was doing his father's will and each of his people can learn from this to be careful and conscientious with our own time and with our energy. Ours is not to be an itinerant preacher like the Lord or have a ministry like the Lord, but we are pilgrims journeying in this world and we are labourers together in the service of our King. To the extent therefore that the Lord enables us, let us do so with an eye to the way in which the Lord himself laboured faithfully for the well-being of his church and people, and we likewise endeavour to emulate him in that. The question is asked here of the Lord as he is going through this village, this town where he is preaching. Someone asks the question.

It doesn't appear to be one of his disciples. Often, if it is a disciple that asks the question, we see that we're told that. So here is a question that is asked. It's verse 23. And I think it's a question, the question is, one said unto him, then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And I think it's an interesting question. We could dwell upon the context in which it was asked, and I may allude to that in a moment. Let me just say this, however, first. I think that that is a question that many of us have asked from time to time. Many of us think to ourselves, Lord, are there only a few that are saved?

Perhaps when we perceive what appears to be widespread religion but little in the way of genuine spirituality and saving faith in the professors that we meet. There does appear, although increasingly it is a very superficial religion that we have, perhaps more broadly in Europe, but certainly in the United Kingdom and in the United States, in the Western world, it appears to be a very superficial Christianity that prades itself rather than any deep-seated or deep-rooted reality of faith.

Be that as it may, It's likely that the question was asked on this occasion because some Jews had the idea that all Jews would be saved because they were children of Abraham, because they were Jews. Just like there are some people who think that because they're born in a Christian country, whatever that means, or because they are christened when they are an infant, or because they have a Christian name, whatever again that means, that in some sense they are all Christians. I was speaking about this to someone recently. We very often hear things being said about the Christian community in Nigeria being attacked by Islam, or Christian community in India being attacked by Hindus, or Christian community here or there being and I do think that we always need to be careful who we are thinking about when we read about these Christian communities because they are probably Christian insofar as they are not Hindu or they are not Muslim. It is not to say that it is true believers. These are ethnic troubles and ethnic conflicts which very often get summarised in newspapers and in news reports to make it appear as if this is Christians that are under attack. We need to just be aware of the distinctions between those who are truly the Lord's people and those who make that claim.

And this is what probably was behind the question asked to the Lord on this occasion. Some Jews had this idea that all Jews would be saved simply because they were the children of Abraham, while others they thought that it would only be those who were righteous and obedient to the law of Moses and followed all the rules and regulations of their faith who would be saved.

We could expand upon that a little bit and point out the fallacy in each of those situations. But that's likely to be the idea that was behind this question. And as is often the case with the Lord, he did not answer directly, but he turned the question into a personal challenge. And again, I think that that is a very interesting thing to observe. You know, sometimes people try to catch us out with questions. They might sort of say, oh, well, here's the quandary, here's the question. Where did sin come from? Or how is it that this happens? Or that happens? Or why is there so much trouble in the world? Or why is there so much sin? And all these questions are laid at us almost, I think, just as a means of deflecting away from the reality that it is every man's responsibility to confront the demands of a holy God.

And that's what the Lord does here. He turns this question around, as he often does, and he sends it back like a speeding arrow right to the heart of the questioner with a personal challenge. And it's good for us to remember that pattern with the Lord. And it's also good for us, perhaps, to take a little bit of an admonition from that. When we are asking such questions, it's probably the best answer for us too, the answer that the Lord gives.

When we find ourselves inquiring curiously into matters that need not concern us, I'm reminded of Jesus' response to Peter when he inquired about the apostle John's role as an apostle and as a minister in the church. Peter says to the Lord, well, so much for me, but what will this man do? And Jesus just dismissed his prying, saying, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. And so here, the Lord closes down this unwise, this unhelpful speculation by making the issue intimately personal. As if to say, let me tell you what you really ought to be thinking about. What about me? What about me? Where do I stand? in the light of this Gospel revelation. Am I one of the Lord's people?

Have I entered in at the straight gate? A straight gate is a narrow gate or we might think of it as a gate whose access is strictly controlled and The rest of this passage that the Lord is speaking here, down to the end that we read, verse 30, it's a powerful denunciation by the Lord of the futility of false religion and the awful state of many who hope and expect to be saved, who hope and expect to be welcomed into heaven. but who will find their way blocked and access into heaven denied because of their sins remaining unforgiven and the iniquity that remains. We don't use the word straightened or straight very often these days. I think I've mentioned in the past when we have used it, sometimes It might be seen on a map where it's, I don't know, like the Straits of Gibraltar or some narrow passage of water is sometimes called a strait, but it just means that it's constricted, it's narrow, there is that funneling down, that channeling down to where it's difficult to gain access. And this is the way in which the Lord describes the entrance into heaven. And it's worth noting, I think, that it is sin that keeps a soul out of heaven.

The Lord isn't asking us to inquire here about predestination or election. The Lord is clear when he speaks to this man, assuming it was a man who asked the question. His command will be in that day, depart from me all ye workers of iniquity. There isn't a reference here to eternal election or anything else.

It is simply a recognition that those who work iniquity and thereafter we can enlarge upon that, and have not had their sins forgiven. It's the workers of iniquity, where that iniquity still rests on their account, that will be prohibited from entering in. And there will be in that day no denying the truthfulness or justice of the accusation that is levelled by the Lord against those who are turned back.

We see this also in Revelation chapter 21, although there it is a little bit more expansive. But in Revelation 21, verse 27, we are told, there shall in no wise enter into it, into the New Jerusalem, into heaven and into glory, there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth. neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. It is the sin of the individual that will keep that door, that gate barred against them.

Those who will enter in are those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, those for whom Christ has died, those whose sins have been forgiven, those who are fitted with a righteousness that is acceptable to God, and those who the Lord God has shown grace and mercy to. all those loved from before the foundation of the world, all those for whom a redeemer has been appointed and a substitute has been found and propitiation has been made. Lord Jesus calls on men and women to strive to enter in at this narrow gate.

Some might wonder whether that implies works of some kind, but the sense is rather that it is each person's responsibility before God, before their God and Creator. to acknowledge and repent of sin. It is each person's duty to attend to what God has revealed of himself and to be diligent to seek the way of truth and life in the scriptures and pursue mercy. That no man or woman do so by nature is due to their hardness of heart.

But there is also another striving that becomes those who find access by the grace of God. Because even for believers, races have to be run, battles have to be fought. We're thinking about this at some length in our Lord's Day studies in the book of James. earnestly seeking greater truth, looking for more light, endeavouring to have a deeper knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is admirable, desirable. It is a mark of grace. It is indicative of the spirit of God in the life of a man and a woman. And there is not a believer who does not know something about having to strive in their Christian life.

The picture of the door being closed by the master of the house can readily be applied to the shutting up of the gates of heaven against all those who are not fit to enter. But equally, we could apply that same principle in other ways as well, because there are other doors that shut from time to time in the experience of men.

The door of the preaching of the word appears to be closing in our land, in our day. It is no small thing if the Lord withdraws his ministers from a people or from a nation. That does not mean there isn't any religion. That does not mean that there isn't any religious rituals. but where once there used to be congregations of faithful witnesses throughout our lands, it appears to me at least that there are fewer and fewer places where grace and forgiveness of sin by the blood of Christ is faithfully preached any longer. Many of those churches are now closed.

Their doors are closed. and consequently the means and the opportunity to hear the gospel is increasingly rare. And it's a sad condition for any nation when the door of mercy shuts and gets shut up because the gospel is no longer preached in its towns and in its cities.

And we can notice how close some appear to come to the door of heaven. They appear to be genuinely shocked that the door is shut when they try to gain access. These people cry, Lord, Lord, open unto us. They know enough to identify Christ as Lord, but their knowledge is superficial and it is natural. They've pursued a form of godliness without the power, without true spiritual experience.

In that day, says the Lord, he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are. I don't know where you've come from. I don't know of what family you belong. I don't know you as my body. I don't know you as my people. You're not of my fold. You have not been called Heather with a holy calling. Listen to the protests in verse 26 that these people make. Then shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence.

And there are many who take communion, who eat the bread and drink the wine, that is ostensibly taken as communicating in the blood and in the body of Christ, understanding what it is to be recipients of His grace and mercy through the application of His blood. There are many who eat the bread and drink the wine that the priest dispenses, who share in the practices and the patterns of outward Christian religion, but who are merely sacramentalists in their activities. They go through the motions of ritual, in order to placate their conscience, perhaps, but they know nothing of the true presence of Christ in their hearts.

Some of these people said, thou hast taught in our streets. We heard you preaching. We heard you preached. But it isn't the attendance at the means of grace that saves. It is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself has to be the centre of our trust.

And how close some people come to the Kingdom when they can be literally said to be knocking on the door and yet they never enter at that straight, that narrow gate. the Lord was speaking here as we've learned on his way to Jerusalem, he was speaking to Jews and there's no doubt a particular application to be laid against the Jews who had so much given to them in the Old Testament dispensation and yet pursued idolatrous worship and yet pursued self-righteousness and rejected the Messiah. When when he came amongst them.

This does not minimise the broader application against all men and women in every age. This does not minimise the broader application against all men and women in every age. But that narrow interpretation leads the Lord again to open this broader view to those who had eyes to see, that view of the rejection of the Jews who rejected Christ and the ingathering of the Gentiles who graciously were given faith to believe. And a day will come when the true nature of faith and the testimony of the prophets and the patriarchs will be vindicated, while those who are without faith will be left weeping, wailing and comfortless.

When the Lord speaks about those that come from the ends of the earth, I found it a little bit amusing to reflect that here today we have a claim to being from the East, Germany, from the West, Seattle, from the North, Uist, and from the South, Brisbane. The scriptures are fulfilled in our very gathering here today. God's elect are gathered from the four corners of the world, which is why the gospel is to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Just to wrap some of these thoughts up, the word behold draws attention to the things that have been said and those called last will be first and foremost among the people who sit at the Lord's table and populate the kingdom of heaven.

Those to whom Much was given in the Old Testament times, by way of revelation and ministry, will find themselves left without. And once again, the Lord Jesus has distinguished between men and women, as the Gospel always does. Between those who have the advantages of the Gospel privileges, but who never feel their power, and the true seed of faith who are in the covenant of grace and peace. All the outward practice of religion, though it come ever so close to the truth, is not sufficient to bring sinners into glory. Grace alone makes the difference, and faith that comes by grace in the lives of those called and brought into a knowledge of the truth.

These passages are not designed to frighten the children of God. They are designed to convict those who are at ease in Zion, who are hypocrites and who yet may find forgiveness if they hear and receive these admonitions in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let each of us here, as God gives us grace, lift our eyes above the bare eating and drinking and hearing and attendance at the preaching of the gospel, and lay hold on Christ himself, the power of his blood, the comfort of his peace. For by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Amen.