I'm reading from the Gospel of
Luke chapter 13 this morning. Luke chapter 13. I begin in verse
22 where it says, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, He went
through the cities and villages teaching and journeying toward
Jerusalem. And then said one unto Him, someone
asked 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. He says, When once the master
of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, And ye
begin to stand without, to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord,
open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not which you are. Someone asked him, Are there
few that be saved? He didn't directly answer that,
although in another place he did say, Many are called, but
few are chosen. In verse 22 it says, ìHe went
through the cities and villages teaching.î And the Lord has His
gospel, His Word, His preachers have preached and taught in every
place. Paul wrote in Romans, ìHave they
not heard? Verily the sound, the word, the
truth has gone out throughout all the world.î And someone asked
him, are there few that be saved? Few that be saved. Well, he said,
strive to enter in. Strive to enter into the kingdom
of God. Strive. Note the term saved. is a laughable term today. The
modern world scoffs at the notion that we need be saved. The fact
is, now this is what the Word of God teaches, and those who
have been saved or being saved, they know that they once were
lost and now they're found. Mankind is lost. He doesn't know
it. He's lost. He needs saving. If you're lost,
you cannot save yourself. Someone else must come and find
you. And that's what Jesus Christ
came to this earth to do, to seek and to save the lost, He
said. We can't save ourselves. He alone
can and must. Save us. Find us. Mankind, Scripture
says, is dead in trespasses and sin. He's always very much alive
to the things of the world, the materialistic world and the pleasures
of the flesh and so forth. But spiritual matter? No, he's
dead. He has no interest, no thoughts
of God by nature. He's dead. He needs quickening.
He needs to be given life. Life is not offered. Life must
be given. The Lord came to save His people,
Scripture says, from their sin. Sin. Sin is the cause of all
the suffering and pain and sorrow and sickness and Anger, wrath,
malice, all the evil that's in the world. Sin, sin entered the
world. And then ultimately, death is
a result of sin. We need to save from sin. We
need to save from the penalty of it, which is death. We need
to save from the power of it that reigns and rules. bodies
and the minds and the hearts of unsaved people. We need saved
from the presence of it. And that's what heaven, that's
what the new earth is all about, a place wherein dwelleth righteousness. No sin. No sin. We need saved
from the God of this world, from Satan who holds people in captivity,
who takes the things of this world and tempts and seduces
people with it and they fall for it, everything. We need to
save from ourselves this old man within us. We need to save
from wrath, the wrath of God, from destruction, from death.
Only one way. Jesus Christ said, I am the way. He is the only Savior of sinners. He came to save. So He came preaching, repent,
repent. He came preaching, call. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. He came
preaching, cry, ask, seek, knock, shall be opened unto you. Strive
to enter in at the straight gate. If you don't strive, you won't
enter. If you don't call, the Lord won't. save you." So he
said in verse 24, "...strive to enter at the straight gate."
Many I say unto you, you say, well, seek to enter in and shall
not be able. Once the door is shut, the master
of the house rises and shuts the door. He says, you'll seek
to enter in and pound on that door. And he says, I don't know
you. Depart from it. In the story
of Noah's Ark, the Ark of Noah, that whole story is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All those in that Ark were saved. All those outside the Ark were
lost. They perished. The wrath of God,
the judgment of God, The anger of God fell on them outside the
ark, but those in the ark were saved. That's a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. To be found in Him is to be saved. To be in Him is to be saved. To be outside of Him, left out
of the kingdom of God, is to be damned, is to perish. Well, that ark was a hundred
years in being built. And the Scripture says Noah was
a preacher of righteousness, a preacher of the holiness of
God, a preacher of the justice of God, a preacher of the law
of God, the demands of God, the preacher of righteousness, which
man is unrighteous. The Scripture says there's none
righteous, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God, not one by nature. But some do. The reason they
do is God has mercy upon them. God calls them by His Word, by
His Gospel, awakens them, quickens them, gives them life, gives
them repentance and faith. And they ask, they seek, they
knock, or they wouldn't do it if He didn't give them life.
But they do, they call, they ask, they seek. That's how you
know He's given them life. They ask, they seek, they come
to Christ, they believe, they repent, they come to Christ. Those inside that ark were saved. were brought in that ark by Noah,
the animals came because Noah went out and found them and brought
them in. Well, the door of that ark stayed open for seven days
after it was complete. Now the work of salvation was
completed by Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree. There's nothing
left to be done. He did all things necessary for
salvation of His people. He fulfilled the law. He brought
in an everlasting righteousness. He paid for the sins of His people. And He said one day, stood up
one day, coming to me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll
give you rest. Do you know the name Noah means
rest? Christ is the rest of His people. They rest in Him. They believe Him. They trust
Him who finished His work of salvation. He is their rest. He is their Sabbath. And they
are in Him and believe Him and trust Him. And they are saved.
They are saved. Well, the door of that ark Noah's
Ark stayed open seven days. People, I believe that we are
in the very last of the last days. The Gospel is still being
preached. I am preaching to you this morning. Come to Christ. Come. Come. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Come, come to crying. The door
is open, the door of God's mercy, the door of God's grace, the
door of salvation. Come. Well, there came a day,
and our Lord said this, when God shut that door. He shut the
door of Noah's ark. And then the rain began to fall.
And the judgment and wrath of God fell upon planet Earth. And
millions of people died, perished. God didn't love them. He loved
those in the ark. And that's the truth. And our
Lord said, there's coming a day, as in the days of Noah, when
the Son of Man is coming. And the door of mercy is open
right now. So I say, come unto Christ. Come. Come. And he says
here in our text, strive to enter in. Strive to enter in this straight
gate. Many, I say, after the door is
shut, they will seek to enter but won't be able. Now let me
ask you two questions. What is the straight gate and
what does it mean to strive? What is the straight gate? Well, a gate is a barrier, a
fence, a wall, something in a fence or wall that bars the way into
one place. The gate must be open unto you
to be let in or let out. It's a passageway in and out
of a city or a pasture. Christ, Jesus Christ, is the
straight gate. He is the way, the only way into
the kingdom of God, into heaven itself, eternal life. He said
that. He said, I am the door of the
sheepfold. A gate is a barrier in a wall
or a fence. It bars the way. The wall separates
those on the outside from the inside. You can't climb over. If you do, our Lord said in John
10, those who attempt to climb over or get in some other way
are called thieves and robbers. You must come one way, the gate. And the gate is locked and you
have no key and you can't get in of your own will or of your
own power. Jesus Christ is the gate. He said, I am the door. He said,
I am the way. He has the keys of hell and death. You can't just come in when you
want to. He must let you in. Well, how? How does one get in the gate,
get into the kingdom? How does one come to God? They
come by Christ. How? They ask. They seek. They knock. He said that. It
shall be given you. Seek, you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened. Lord, here's what it means to
ask. Lord, would you let me into your
kingdom? There was a thief on the cross right beside the Lord
Jesus Christ when he was being crucified. He never did anything
good his whole life. He was nothing but an evil, wicked,
vile sinner. And he looked to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He heard His words. He heard
everything Christ said from that cross. And the Spirit of God
convicted him of his sin. And he looked to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He looked over at the Lord beside
him. And he said one thing, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. Lord, would you
let me into your kingdom? You're king, you're lord, you're
the master, you're the owner, the ruler of this whole planet
earth and heaven itself. Would you let me into your kingdom?
He said, I will. Christ is the way. He must let
us in. He must bring us to God. What
does it mean to strive? What does it mean to strive?
There is a story of old Jacob. One time he was left alone and
a man came and wrestled with Jacob. That man was the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he wrestled with Jacob and
Jacob said this as they were wrestling, I will not let you
go until you bless me. I will not let you go. I won't
go away. I'm going to keep striving. Striving means to wrestle in
prayer and seek, ask, call until the door is open. Strive to enter
in. Strive to enter in. Ask, seek,
knock. That's what it means. There's
another scripture our Lord said the kingdom of heaven suffered
violence and the violent take it by force meaning Open unto
us, please Please and all who do all who strive all who? Seek to enter in Shall enter
you have the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ on that Strive,
he said. Many, after it's too late, will
say, let us in. He will shut the door and say,
I know you're not. You're not my people. You're
not my people. Have you heard his word? Oh,
strive to enter in. Come to Christ. Amen.