Lesson this morning is in Luke
chapter 13, verses 22 through 30. Most of which is an answer to
this question, are there few that be saved? Now, you can take
that question two ways. You can say he's asking Will
there just be a few that are saved? But how he meant it is,
among those who think they're saved, are there few that be
saved? And that's how I believe he's
asking the question. Let's read these verses together. 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 has shut the door, And you 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 which you are. Then shall you begin to
say, we've eaten and drunk in thy presence. Thou has caught
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." Now these are not worldly men,
these are religious men. Followed him, talked to him. And he said, there, that is where
these workers of iniquity are cast, there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. when you shall see Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God,
and you yourselves thrust out. You're going to be on the outside
looking in. 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 they are first, which
shall be last." Now, our Lord had some sharp
rebukes toward the Pharisees and doctors of the law who constantly
tempted him and baited him with trick questions, trying to expose
him as an imposter. And they followed him around
and sharply rebuked him about it. He was rebuked, you remember,
by the ruler of the synagogue in last week's lesson. He received
some sharp rebukes by these men. And then, having done so, they, being ashamed,
Luke 13, 17, they were ashamed of themselves, and not wanting
to appear in a bad light to the people, asked this question,
are there few that be saved? Try to imagine, here's Christ
standing before the people, teaching. Multitude loved Him, received
Him. He healed them, He fed them. He cast their demons out. He was beloved. And here's these
Pharisees, these pretenders of religion. And then just try to
picture this man coming up and putting his arm around the Lord
and pointing out there and saying, are there few that be saved?
Are there few? Now that's how the question was
asked. And I know this is not our Lord's true disciples that
he's talking to, because in verse 27 he calls them workers of iniquity. These are the men who have been
hounding him and trying to attract him. And I'm surprised to hear
every now and then somebody say, well, that message was for so-and-so. He should have been here. or somebody else. If I indeed have God's message,
it's for those that are here. That's who it's for. It's for
me, and it's for you. It's not for somebody that wasn't
here. If it had been for them, they'd be here. But it's for
those who are here. Never do that. Never say, boy,
That was for old Solon. So, you know, I'll get the tape
and give it to him. No, it was for you and for me. But that's exactly what's going
on here. See, he wanted to side with the
Lord. He wanted that affection that the Lord had from these
people. He wanted that reputation. He wanted that love. He wanted
that respect that the Lord had. And he comes up here by the Lord,
and the Lord's rebuking these people, constantly rebuking them. And so they bring this question
up, you know, we're saved. Are you saying that a lot of
these people out here are not? Are there few? From the safety of Abraham's
bloodline and their ancestral covenants, this proud man sits
aloft, looking down his nose at the crowd, and he says, are
there few? that shall be saved, that is,
few besides us. Now let me tell you something. It's not about how many. This
work has never been about how many. I've heard grace preachers
try to defend a higher number and trying to say, you know,
that Satan will never outdo the Lord in the number. It's not
about the numbers. It's about, it's about if. It's about if. If I be saved
and how am I saved? And why? Why would God save me? Salvation's a great work. Wondrous
work of God. It's not something run-of-the-mill. It's not something normal. People talk about salvation like
it was normal. Just make up your mind. Well,
that's what I do when I buy flour. What kind of flour am I going
to buy, you know, or what kind of beans am I going to buy? Salvation
ain't like that. Salvation's a wondrous work.
It's a great work. Had not the Lord purposed to
save some, nobody would be saved. Isaiah said, except the Lord
of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd have been like Sodom and
Gomorrah. We'd be in cinders right now. Smoke would be rising
up off our burnt bodies. At the dawn of creation, sin
entered and death passed. That's the reality. That's where
we're at. Psalm 58.3 says, the wicked are
estranged. Have you ever looked that term
up to see what that means? It means removed from a place
and put at a distance. In divorce court, the lawyers
use this all the time, referring to the estranged wife. You were once a loving couple,
but now you're separated and you're hostile. You can't get
along. It means to alienate. And he said, the wicked are estranged
from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. None good under the curse of
sin in the sight of God. We can compare ourselves with
one another. Say, well, I'm better than him. What's that? None good under the curse of
sin. Scripture said there's none righteous,
none that understandeth, and none that seeketh after God.
And yet men talk about men coming to God like it was nothing, just
a matter of making up your mind, Walter. The Holy Ghost says destruction
and misery are in their ways, and at their best state they're
altogether vanity. Job said they drink iniquity
like water. Salvation is not about us making
a decision or simply deciding to be saved. Salvation is beyond
the reach of the sinner. That's the wonder of it. It's
not in your power to have it. You can't take it. You can't
climb out of that pit. It's beyond us. It's an act of
God and God alone. He said many will seek to enter
in, Luke 13, 24. Why can't they? What's this? They shall not be able. They shall not be able. The simplest
things that God commands you to do, He has to do for you and
in you or you wouldn't do them. You'd never repent. You'd never
believe. You'd never love. You'd never
do any of those. It's not in your ability. Many shall seek to enter in,
in their head. I'm doing this. I'm going to
do that. These men who were talking to the Lord here on that day,
they'd been to seminary. They had degrees. They were lawyers,
Pharisees, highly respected men, religious men. But they had no ability. And oh, what a heart and mind
changer it is to discover by the grace of God that salvation
is of the Lord. You can't have it like you thought
you could. You thought it was just sitting
there and all I got to do is give it. All I have to do is
take it. Oh no, it has to be given. It's the gift of God. We had
no right to it. A natural man will never be attracted
to the sovereign grace of God. It'll never happen. He'll hate
it every time he sees it. A natural man will never avail
himself of the ways and means of God. The Bible said that the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
He's not going to avail himself of these things. God has to put
it in his providence and bring him there. or put it on the heart
of some friends and carry them there. Their foolishness unto him. You
may not have to sit and hear a preacher. I'd like to know
how many times people threw that in my face. No, I didn't say
that. God did. You'll hear him or go
to hell, one or the other. How can you hear without a preacher?
That's what the Holy Ghost asked that question, not me. A natural man cannot submit to
God. His mind is enmity against God. He's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. A natural man cannot love God. Christ said, I know you that
you have not the love of God in you. It's not there. You're
not going to blow on a hot coal. There's nothing there but ashes.
You know what he said through his prophet? He said, I've given
you beauty for ashes. For ashes. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. Salvation in Christ by the free
and sovereign grace of God is nothing short of a miracle. It's
a miracle of God's grace. We ought to rejoice when When
somebody comes in and they're all long-faced and mad, and they
come in two or three times, and then all of a sudden you look
and the big tears are rolling down, man, we ought to rejoice. How we ought to rejoice. How
it ought to bring back to us the day the Lord first opened
our eyes. In 1 Thessalonians 1-4, he says,
knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. How and why? Verse 5, for our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but it came in power. It came in
the Holy Ghost, that is, with revelation and in much assurance. What assurance? Assurance in
the sufficiency of Christ as our righteousness in sin bearing
substitute. It came with assurance. Verse
6, you become followers of us and the Lord. I'd like to know how many people
I know who have died in a wool cavernous, but would not submit
to a man for anything. And yet how many times have we
told in the scriptures, submit yourselves one to another. Obey
them that have the rule over you, as they that watch for your
souls. God speaks to men through a man,
Hebrews 13, 17. That's what I just quoted to
you. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. Submit yourselves. Don't fight.
Don't kick. Submit yourselves. He watches
for your soul. He's not trying to give you a
hard time. He's not trying to run you off. He watches for your
souls. He sees the pitfalls. Obedience is an unnatural act. for a sinner. He can't do that. He might say it with his mouth,
but his heart ain't in it. I remember standing, when I first
joined the Navy, I'm standing there and this guy, boy, he was
eating us up. I mean, right in your face. You
just haven't lived until you stand before a company commander
or a drill sergeant and he's right here in your face. Boy,
he's calling you everything but a milk cow. And you're going to stand there
and you're going to say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But in your
heart, you're ripping his throat out. There ain't no submission. There's no obedience in a man.
Obedience is an unnatural act for a sinner. And when he does obey, it's a
strong evidence of God working in him. when he does obey. You have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered to you, being then
made free from sin. Oh my. And he's not called on to trust
a man alone. That's not what he says here. He says you become followers
of us and the Lord, realizing that the Lord has put this man
in this office, whatever it is, the Lord has established this
relationship for you, and as long as this man's following
the Lord and showing you in the book what he's saying is true,
you need to follow him. That's what he's saying, that
you become followers of us and the Lord. We're to trust those who serving
God in truth and humility. And then verse 7, look at this.
You were examples, model believers. Model believers. You were examples
to all them that believed. They're just one body, one faith,
one spirit, one baptism, one hope of your calling, one God,
one Father, one Gospel. We ought to be every believer
is an example of another believer because God saves the same way. And that's what Paul said. You just become an example. This
is how God saves sinners, by His grace. Religions are not all of God. And then look at this, verse
8, 1 Thessalonians 1. From you sounded out the word
of the Lord. That becomes priority. You wanted
somebody else to hear this. You heard it. It changed your
life. It revealed God's glory to you.
Don't you want somebody else to hear it? From you sounded
out the word of the Lord. And the gospel is the preeminent
work of the church. The church is the pillar and
ground of the truth. There's nothing a believer wants
more than to see an ignorant sinner brought to a saving knowledge
of Christ. Don't you want that? All my soul. And then watch this. Verse 9,
1 Thessalonians 1. You turn to God from your idols
to serve the living and true God. You're not walking with the God
of your imagination. You're not walking in the vanity
of your mind like you once did. When you pray, you know who you're
praying to. When you serve, you know who
you're serving. He's Lord. You didn't make him Lord, he's
Lord. And every child of God lives
a life that's turning to God. It's a constant turning to God. What's he turning from? His idols. Verse 10. and to wait for his son from
heaven. He waits with expectation. He
waits with excitement. You know, one day, we'll be having
a meeting, or maybe we'll be home, or maybe we'll be out cleaning
brush like Yvonne and I was this week. I don't know what we're
going to be doing, but one day, just like that, it's over. It's over. And it's not the end
of things, it's the beginning. It's the climax. And we ought
to be looking for that with excitement. We ought to be looking at that
with expectation. We shouldn't stare at the grave
and get all down. No, that's graduation day. You go to be with them. Salvation is a wondrous work,
it's a miracle of grace. And let me tell you something,
God's elect, those chosen in Christ before the world was,
God's people, those he made covenant promises for and promises to,
God's church, those for whom Christ came and lived and died
and rose from the dead, those for whom he intercedes in glory,
those to whom he sends his preacher and his spirit caused by his
effectual grace. God's elect are few. That's what the Lord told that
man. Are there few that be saved? Oh yeah. Yeah, there's few. And you ain't one of them. That's
what he's telling you. You're gonna be on the outside.
You're gonna see Abraham and all these men that you idolize. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
all these. We'd be not born of fornication.
We have Abraham to our father. You're going to see Abraham sitting
down in the kingdom of God and Moses. We have Moses to our father. If you believe Moses, you'd rejoice
in me. You believe me, Moses wrote to
me. You thought that old tabernacle
and those sacrifices and all that was something Moses come
up with? Those were typical things. They
pointed to me. Moses wrote to me. But you won't come to me that
you might have life. You want to hang on to Moses. Yeah, he said, God will make
the few. They've always been few, and they always will be.
I have no reason to believe that we'll ever be in a majority.
None. There was a world of lost sinners
in the antediluvian world. Noah alone found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Would you say that was a few? A vast army marched out of Egypt. Only Caleb and Joshua among those
that are 20 years old or older entered into the promised land.
All the rest of them died in the wilderness. There was 85
prophets at Carmel, only Elijah knew God. When Nehemiah returned
to Jerusalem, he said, I and the few that are with me. And after the captivity in Babylon,
they came to Jeremiah in repentance and said, we are left but a few
of many. They've always just been a few.
Our Lord said, straight is the gate and narrow is the way which
leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Does that mean they stumbled on it?
No, it means the Lord arranged for them to have it. That's what
it means. And what are the vast numbers
of self-righteous religionists that now fill up the great cathedrals
and synagogues and churches everywhere in this country and in the world.
What does our Lord say concerning them? He said, many shall seek
to enter in and shall not be able. With man, he said, it's impossible.
He turned to his disciples and said, without me, you can do
nothing. You think you can do something? You can't do anything
apart from me. You take your best gift. Take
your house. I'm going to donate it to the
church. Take your best gift and give it. It's unacceptable to
God apart from Jesus Christ. Our works are acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. That's what Peter said. I'm the way. Boy, that messes up theology,
don't it? I am the way. I've read books that thick. Big old three-inch-thick books. Read all the way through there
talking about the way. You do this, you do that. You
learn this, you learn that. On and on and on and on it goes. Christ said, I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the truth. And I am the life. No man, are you listening? No
man cometh unto the Father but by me. Peter said to the Jews at Pentecost,
this is a stone which was set in awe of you builders. Who's
he talking about? He's talking about religious builders. Building
monuments to themselves, building big crowds, building organizations,
building a nation. You builders, you looked at Christ,
the stone, and said, well, this don't fit in our building, and
you threw him aside. You called him out. This is the
stone which you builders have set it not, which has become
head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. And it's both the plain declaration
of Scripture and my personal experience that there's three
major obstacles that prevent men from coming to Christ alone
for salvation. Three giant obstacles. Their
inability of nature. You can't supersede your nature. Can't do it. God don't make you
able. You're not coming in. That's
all. You know at the end he talks about the master. You're telling
him to open the door. Why don't you open it? People
tell me all the time that's what you got to do. Open the door. You ain't going to open that
door. The master opens that door. It's their inability of nature.
They shall not be able. It's their unwillingness. They
don't want to. Huh? They don't want to. Here's condemnation. Light come
into the world. Men love darkness rather than
light. They don't want that. They like their religion. You
know, you go tell somebody, you need to come hear this, man.
You need to come hear this gospel. What do they tell you? Oh, I
go to church down here. What's going on down there? Oh,
they all love one another. They do? There's going to be few, he said.
Are there few that are saved? The gospel calls men to repentance
and faith. And every time the gospel is
preached, men and women are called. They're called. Come unto me,
Christ said. He looked at that crowd. He didn't
point. He said, come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy
laden. I'll give you rest. In Proverbs 1, verse 24, he said,
because I've called and you refused. You's unwilling. He said, come
on. You said, no. Because I've called and you refused,
I've stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But you said
it not all my counsel. You wouldn't have any of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity,
and I'll mock when your fear cometh. Then shall they call
upon me, but I won't answer. They'll seek me early then, but
they won't find me." Unbelief. There's the obstacle. Unbelief. But there are a few. Thank God
there are a few. Are there a few? Oh yeah, but
there are a few. There's a remnant, he said, according
to the election of grace. David wrote, blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he
may dwell in thy courts. That means blessed of God. This man, this blessed man, he
doesn't get a general call. He gets an effectual calling.
One accompanied with power and revelation. One that leaves him
willing in the day of his power. My people shall be willing. He
don't say to anybody he's unwilling. But you're never going to be
willing unless he makes you willing in the day of his power. And then listen to this. He said,
strive to enter in. Like a runner in a race, like
a soldier in a battle, like a man dying trying to stay alive, strive
to enter in. For there's coming a day when
mercy's door is going to be closed, and the river of grace ain't
going to flow anymore. He's going to shut the door. Then shall they cry for the master
to open the door, Only to hear him say, I know
you're not what you are. What's he telling them? He's
saying, I don't know you. What are you doing here? What
are you doing here? I don't know you. Depart from me, he said. You
workers are ridiculous. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Here's what he's saying to them.
He's saying, I have no interest in you. I called you, and you refused.
I had the door open, and you didn't want to come in. I've
got no interest in you. You have no cause to be here. And to hear him say, depart from
me, you workers of iniquity. And then listen to this. He said,
one day you're going to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. and wonder of wonders. You're
going to peek in there and you're going to see the heathen. You're going to see the heathen.
God saved them. The last first and the first
last. You're going to see the heathen
saved by grace, sinners to the chief, saved and singing. the praise of Christ, and you
yourselves on the outside looking in. It's not the few or the many
that's the question. It's this, am I saved? Am I saved? And that's what the Lord told
this man who asked him, are there few that be saved out of this
whole nation of religion, out of all these scribes and Pharisees,
out of all these people, are there just a few? Just a few
going to be saved? Well, he said, straight is the
gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it. The
Lord said there's few, but thank God there are a few. There are
a few. Had he left man alone in the
garden, there wouldn't be a few. There wouldn't be any. We've
been like Sodom and Gomorrah. All right, thank you.