Morning, brethren. Let's be turning
to Luke chapter 13. Luke 13. And our text is gonna
begin in verse 22. And he went, our Lord went through
the cities and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. So our Lord is making his final
journey to Jerusalem, and this is where he will accomplish the
redemption of his people. He will save his people from
their sins. This is why he's going there
as the Lamb of God. And so he's going there as the
substitute of his people to take their place. to stand in their
place, their room instead, under the wrath of God to put away
their sin, to satisfy the debt of sin that we owe to God, that
we cannot pay and live. We cannot pay and endure the
wrath of God, but he's going there to deliver us, to satisfy
the debt, to settle the debt, and to deliver us from the hand
of justice and to give us life in himself, life in the Lord
Jesus Christ, to know the true and living God. And as he was
teaching the people, as he's going on the way, Then said one
unto him, said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? Are there few that be saved?
Now, at its heart, the passage today, our text that we're gonna
be looking at, this is looking at all who have the advantages
of the gospel. All right, now, first, it's here,
it's pictured, the object is here in the Jews, here. It's first pictured there in
the Jews. And they have the advantages
of the oracles of God. They have the advantages of the
scriptures and the prophets. And it's looking at all those
who have those advantages, but who have never felt the power
of God, who have never heard it in their heart. They've not been made to know
the true and living God in spirit and in truth, so as to believe
it by living faith. But there's a distinction that
the true and living God makes in his people. There's a distinction
whereby his power, his life, his grace, our hope in the Lord
goes past that natural fleshly form of religion, that outward
form of religion, to where the Lord speaks to our heart and
turns us from dead things, dead letter things, dead form of religion
that cannot save. He does this for his people.
And so what we're going to see, what the Lord shows us here and
in the experience of his grace, what the Lord shows us that it's
not of our salvation, is not of our power, it's not of our
doing, but of God. Now, we're not told who asked
the Lord, or like why he asked this of the Lord, or what his
motivation was, why he asked, Lord are there few be saved?
We're not told why he asked that, but this is our Lord's response
in verse 24. He says, strive to enter in at
the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able. Now, the word strive
means to fight. It means to struggle. It means
to labor. That's what that word And so
it's suggesting here that we're going to endure a fight, a struggle,
to enter in that straight gate. And that word straight means
narrow. When it says straight gate, it's
talking about a narrow gate. It's not wide, it's narrow. It's
a difficult gate. It's a gate that not many are
going through at all. And so, he's saying there that
in the face of strife, in the face of adversaries who oppose,
strive to enter in the narrow gate. The narrow gate. Go in
through the straight gate that only a few ever enter. As opposed to the gate, that
wide gate where everybody else is going, as opposed to that
one, you strive to enter the straight and narrow gate. And so our Lord explains these
gates a little more. If you turn over to Matthew chapter
seven, he spoke of these gates on the Sermon of the Mount as
well. And Matthew records it in chapter
seven. And let's turn there. He says in verse 13 and 14, Enter ye in at the straight or
narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.
Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew's account, in
this account, our Lord goes on to tell us, when we're reading
this, so stay there in Matthew 7, the next thing that our Lord
talks about is the false prophets who turn you to the flesh to
bring forth fruit. And we've looked at this a few
times, but I want you to see this in the context here of going
through the straight gate as opposed to going through the
wide gate. All right, and so the next thing
he says in verse 15, we're gonna see is he begins to speak of
false prophets. All right, and what the Lord
is showing us here is it's not, this is not of the flesh. You
are not going to save yourselves by the flesh. You must be, we
must be made new creatures. We must be born again because
this flesh is always going to choose the way of ease and comfort.
This flesh is always going to go that wide way. The way that
everyone else is going here. And so this has to be clarified
to us. Proverbs 14 verse 12 says that
there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but it is the
way of death. It is the way of death. It seems
right, it feels right, But it's the way of death, and so many
seek to enter salvation according to the flesh. Many seek to enter
salvation by their flesh. It's a way that's very common
to man. You might think, well, they wouldn't
be religious if they're evil. Yes, they would, and we see that
with the Pharisees. They opposed Christ, and they
opposed those that would have entered in. Just because we're
religious does not mean that we have entered into salvation
in that narrow gate. We need Christ. And so it's not
the flesh that enters. And the way of the false prophet
is a fleshly way. So let's look at that, picking
up in verse 15, Matthew 7, verse 15. Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. So, the false prophet looks just
like an angel of light. Satan looks like an angel of
light, so it's no wonder if his ministers appear as ministers
of light. We're talking about being good,
and doing good things, and being religious, and getting right
with God, and getting some religion in your life, and straightening
up, and putting away bad things. It sounds very good. It sounds
like the truth. And he says, you shall know them
by their fruits, And here's the key. Do men gather grapes of
thorns or figs of thistles? Well, he's talking there. When
he says thorns and thistles and bramble bushes, when he's talking
about that, those are the products of the curse. That comes forth
because of our sin and rebellion and Adam in the garden. When
he said, no longer is the earth going to yield to you its bounty. It's not going to be easy. But
by the sweat of your brow, by laboring and suffering and fighting
against it, it's going to produce thorns and thistles for you.
And you're going to have to labor to bring forth something that
you can eat and survive on. And so what the false prophet
does is he turns you, not to Christ, but he turns you to the
flesh. He starts whipping you and beating
you and telling you, you better do better. or else you're going
to perish in the way. And he turns you to that flesh
to produce that which only God can produce. We're not going
to bring forth salvation not by the law of Moses, right? That only seals us up under the
curse, because the law was given to show us our sin, that we are
sinners, that we cannot save ourselves. And it's not the strictest
of religion is not going to save you, just like the Pharisees.
As Paul said, I was in the strictest sect of the Jews, a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. Even so, now listen closely to
this one. Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. So the question is, well, how
can I be part of a good tree when I'm born out of a corrupt
tree. When the seed I come forth from
in Adam is corrupt, it's defiled, it's ruined in sin and death.
How am I, that's evil, going to produce good fruit? Because
a good tree cannot produce, cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And so the good tree is Christ. He bears his fruit in due season. He brings forth. He's the fruitful
one. He's the living tree and the
good tree in whom we must be rooted and grafted in. And what
he's talking about is we that are born of a corrupt tree, of
a false and wicked way, of a corrupt seed, you must be born again. And that's what he's showing
us to see. He's bringing us to see that
I'm by nature not of that good tree. By nature, I'm corrupt. And I don't know how to bring
forth that which is good. I don't know how to please the
Lord in all my ways and bring forth that which is good. Lord,
save me. Lord, deliver me. Lord, root
me in Christ. Lord, give me that new birth,
which my Lord said, ye must be born again. Give me that birth.
Give me your spirit, Lord. And that's what he does in his
children. Because I can't just do it. I
can't just fix myself and turn it around and start doing good
and pleasing the Lord. Because I'll either be successful
in it and be puffed up and arrogant and proud, and be evil toward
my brethren who can't do it, or I'll fail miserably, which
that would be the better thing, to see what a sinner I am. And so we must be made new creatures. Otherwise, it's just another
wide way of religion. It's just another way that men
are going, that all flesh walks in. Now, let's see this back
in our text in Luke 13. We'll go back to Luke 13. Now, these are those who did
not strive to enter in by the narrow gate, but figured they'll
go the easy way, in which all flesh seeks to come to God, but
never finds it. And so, this brings us here to
the end of the age. Now, our Lord says in verse 25,
when once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut the
door, All right, now this is when they begin to seek to enter
in. Now they realize something's gone amiss here, but they shall
not be able to. 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 they begin to
say, now listen to the description of the outward form of religion
here. Then they shall begin to say,
we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught
in our streets. So already you know this first
happened there with the Jews when Christ came to the Jews
and they heard him. and he did many miracles in their
midst, and he ate with the publicans and the sinners, right? And so many heard, many saw wonderful
works, and they saw those things, and they appropriated that, they
took that to themselves, that we're children of God. This is
wonderful, the things that we're seeing here. Isn't this great?
But there was no heart for Christ. They didn't see their need of
Christ, the Savior. They just saw this as an outward
treat, if you will, but it brought nothing within. It was just an
outward form of dead-letter religion. And he shall say, I tell you,
I know you not whence you are. Depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity, those who heard Christ. And so it's that workers
of iniquity is an easy definition to declare of all those who are
of that corrupt tree, that all we are is flesh, workers of iniquity,
regardless of how religious you appear to be. And that's what
he's saying. So there's many that keep ordinances
that come to church week after week and partake of religious
things. They eat the meal that's served
to them, and they think, oh, that was great there. And they
take part of the ceremonies. But there's no power of God given
to them, whereby they're made to know that they're sinners,
that they're made to know he's the Savior and the salvation,
and that we need his spirit, his grace, his salvation to deliver
me from death. I'm not just working my way out
of this. I cannot pay off the debt. Not
to mention, I'm a wicked man by nature. I'm an evil man by
nature. I need to be born again and have
the Spirit of Christ in me, living in me, and dwelling in me, and
causing me to walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, looking
to Him, seeking Him. trusting him for all my salvation. He must do this work of grace. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Well,
if I'm dead spiritually, how am I going to worship him spiritually?
If I'm ignorant of the truth, how am I going to worship him
in truth? I must be brought home to the heart by his spirit and
his grace. We must be new creatures born
again. And that's what he's bringing
us to see. Don't start looking at the flesh
and start looking and picking apart each of your works. All
our works of the flesh, apart from Him, they're all corrupt
and corroded, but He brings it forth. It's Him that blesses
us. It's Him that fills us with His
grace. It's Him that does things even
when we're ignorant of them. When, Lord, when did we feed
you? When did we visit you in prison? When did we do anything
for you, Lord? The child of God is often ignorant
of the good that the Lord works in them. The Pharisee, all they
can see is, well, I did this, and I did that, and I do this
thing and this thing. Aren't I good? They're looking
at their works, but the child of God is often very mindful
of our own weakness. We're often very mindful of our
insufficiency for the race. And we're often we're made to
look back and not be pleased at all with the things that we
see in ourselves. And we're all and but it brings us to cry to
him. And to breathe out, Abba, Father, save me. Have mercy on
me, Lord. Because it's a living faith. And he turns the heart. And he
causes us to seek him. We're not going to see in ourselves
what we think we should see. We're going to see everything
in him and cry out to him, Lord, save me. Make me part of that
number of your people. Lord, deliver me. Separate me.
from that evil tree, where I can only bring forth corrupt and
evil fruit, and fix me, root me in you, Lord, so that you
receive all the praise, honor, and glory." So this way of God
is contrary to the flesh. Lord, are there few that be saved?
Well, he said, many are called but few. are chosen." And that's
the scriptures tell us that. Few are chosen. It's neither
the works nor the will of man that saves a man, but the grace
of God. It's the will of God to show
us mercy and compassion. Christ said, no man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I
will gladly raise him up. at the last day. Even so then,
Paul said, at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Romans 11 5. There is a remnant,
and a remnant is a small piece. If you've ever had carpet put
in your house, that little strips that they save that you can use
to replace stains and whatnot, that's a remnant, just a tiny
little piece out of the whole thing. It's a remnant is saved. And so our Lord is teaching the
sinner that He is the Savior of all that come unto God by
Him. He's the Savior. He turns us
from trusting the flesh for wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption that of God. That instead of us, that it's
of God, are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. That according
as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Not what you do or what I do
or what we're doing, what he has done. We're giving him all
the thanks and the praise. All our crowns are cast before
him because he's worthy. of praise and honor and glory. And so if we are of that chosen
remnant of God, there's going to be a revelation of His grace
in Christ and worked in us, wrought in us. We're going to see Christ.
We're going to believe Him and trust Him. Ephesians 2, 8 through
10 says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. not of works, lest
any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." Let's see a picture of those
ordained works. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. So here's that work which the
Lord does in his people, and you'll be amazed. It seems so
simple, yet it's so opposite to the flesh. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 1
And verse 4, where Paul is describing those who are of the election
of God, chosen of God, chosen by him unto this salvation. He says, knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God. Now, if you're elect of God,
he makes you a new creature. He gives you that new birth.
He gives his spirit. If any man have not the Spirit
of God, he's none of His. Well, then, if you are God's,
He gives the Spirit and makes you a new creature in Him. And
Paul lays out five reasons whereby he knew these were the elect
of God. And he says, in verse 5 here, For our gospel came not unto
you in word only. Many are on the wide way where
this gospel comes in word only. I'm a Christian because that's
how I was raised. Mommy and daddy were Christian, so I'm a Christian.
It comes in word only. That's the word there. But it
didn't come just in word only, but in power. and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake." So, God's elect hear the Word
of Christ, they receive that Word, they believe Christ by
faith, who He is and what He's accomplished for me, the sinner. And each man and woman saying,
me, I'm the sinner. Christ delivered me. He gave
his life for me, to purge me of my sins, to put away my sins,
and to give me life in him. Each one knows, every child of
God is made to know what Christ has done for them, the sinner
saved. We're the sinner saved. He's
delivering us. And verse six, here's the second thing, ye became
followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. And so we're made followers
of Christ. As he said, I'm the good shepherd.
The porter openeth the door to me. The Holy Spirit opens at
the heart of the sinner, removing the veil of flesh that keeps
us in blindness and darkness. And Christ enters in, and we
hear his voice and follow him. We follow the true and living
God. So that we're made followers
of Christ. And rather than just be satisfied
with the dead outward form of religion, with just the ceremonies,
no, we hunger and thirst for Christ's righteousness. And you
that are His are made to know your sin and made to stay upon
Him lest we fall away. But He keeps us, so He'll show
us from time to time this nature and this flesh and we'll see
our weakness. That we might run back to Him
and it's all of His grace. That we might stay upon Him and
not be turned to the left or to the right and removed from
Him. And so in spite of all the afflictions,
in spite of the trials and difficulties, we continue in Christ. Because
we've probably all known people who made a good profession for
a time, but when all the trials and afflictions started coming,
they got going far away. And they left and fell away.
But you that endure unto the end, that's his work. That's
his grace for us. We see the third thing here,
verse seven and eight, so that you were in samples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia, for from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to God word is spread abroad so
that we need not speak anything. We don't have to say anything
because there's a commitment to Christ. There's a love for
Christ and his people and his gospel. There's a commitment
to Christ crucified who saves his people to the uttermost.
And then on the fourth thing here, verse nine, for they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how ye
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, where
there is God-wrought repentance, he turns us from being satisfied
with the vain junk trinkets of religion in this world. He gives
repentance to turn from dead things and trusting our works
and having confidence in ourselves and our traditions and our customs
and our family and our background and being turned from all that
to the true and living God. to coming out of the whore of
Babylon, which is all the religion of this world, and being drawn
into Christ, and fellowshipping with his people, going without
the city, in spite of the fact that everybody else is back there,
and going with Christ, bearing the shame, as Moses went out
from Egypt, out from the family of Pharaoh, and became one with
the people of God, bearing their shame and the hatred that they
bore. That's what the Lord does. He brings us to his people. He brings us to Christ and his
people. And then, verse 10, and to wait for his son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come. So that we live in expectation. On the tippy-toe of faith, some
say, we live in expectation of the return of Christ. Looking
for him. hearing his word, believing his
word, trusting him that this is not our inheritance. This
is not the end. This isn't about getting all
that you can get here. This place is dead, and it's
all burning up. And it's not lasting. But he
keeps us looking to Christ, looking to him. So those are just five
things that the Lord works in his people that are his chosen,
his elect. It's a walk of faith. And so
we do labor and strive, but not to be justified, but because
we are justified. The Lord gives us a heart to
serve and labor in his kingdom. Just the card I received from
Claudia once in a while is just an encouragement to me. And your
words, and your fellowship, it's just an encouragement to me.
It's what the Lord does in his people. He gives us that desire
to serve one another, to love one another, to care for one
another, to think of one another. Because it is encouraging to
know that brethren care and love you, are praying for you and
think of you. It's a great encouragement, a
great encouragement that the Lord gives us. And so in that
light, here are some of these scriptures where Paul gives us
examples of our striving to enter in the narrow gate. He said,
for therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust
in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially
of those that believe. That's 1 Timothy 4.10. We do
labor and suffer. Again, not to get myself saved,
but because I love him who loved me and gave himself for me. 1
Timothy 6.12, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal
life, whereunto thou art also called and has professed a good
profession before many witnesses. And then here what he wrote to
the Colossians, Colossians 1, 28 and 29. Whom we preach, warning
every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also
labor, striving according to his working which worketh in
me mightily. And so We see here that the spirit
and the desire, the heart that the Lord gives his people to
strive in his kingdom, in his gospel, to turn you from dead
things to Christ, and praying for you, and you praying as well,
Lord, deliver me from that evil tree of which I'm born into by
Adam, and make me a new creature. Turn this wicked heart, turn
me from death and give me life in Christ. This word is just,
it's given as a beacon to the sinner who sees what they are
and sees Christ as all and flies to Christ, flees to the tower,
the strong tower of our salvation. That's why he gives these words,
to show us our need, to shake us out of the deadness of this
flesh, to see our need of him and to desire to desire Him,
that He would conform us to Christ. 4, verse 28 and 29, 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. Who are these men? They're men
of faith. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were
before the law ever came. They're men of faith. And that's
what we all are, all of God's people are men and women of faith,
of faith. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. And you that are of faith 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. In other
words, it's not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles also,
verse 30, and behold, there are last which shall be first, and
there are first which shall be last. All the Gentiles who were
last were, by the grace of God, made first and brought in and
blessed in this way. And now it's been some 2,000
years, and there's an outward form of the church. And we don't
want to become just like what the Jews became, in that deadness
and just outward form of religion and missing Christ. And so this
word is as important and needful for us in our day as it is in
every generation. that you would strive to enter
him, the straight gate, that is, through faith in Christ Jesus
as new creatures born of his grace. I pray he take that word
and minister it to your heart in a good ground. Prepare to
receive it, and let it be fruitful in you, brethren. Amen.