NARROW DOORS Luke 13:22-30; Pastor Tom Olson August 25, 2013 What prevents us from going through a narrow door? The baggage… It can be material baggage that prevents us from making a move that will lead to many blessings. It can be unseen baggage such as fear, pride, or unbelief that prevent us from going through God’s narrow door. COLLEGE: To get to college you have to go through a narrow door of leaving home and friends and taking with you minimal possessions. JOB: To get a good job you may have to go through the narrow door of moving to another state. My first teaching job out of college was like that. I packed a suitcase, flew to Anchorage, Alaska, interviewed and basically started housekeeping and teaching school with the clothes on my back and in my small suitcase. RETIREMENT: To downsize your home you will need to let go of many possessions. The Ripkos are going through that right now. DEATH: To go from life to eternal life we have to let go of everything…the narrowest door of all. You must go through the doors in order to get the benefits…. Narrow doors often lead to great places, like a cave with buried treasure. In today’s gospel text Jesus talks about entering the Kingdom of God through a narrow door and how few there are who are willing to let go of their baggage and enter. I. THE IDENTITY OF THE NARROW DOOR Luke 13:22-24 "Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” In another passage Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but by me.” The narrow door to the Kingdom of God is Christ himself. He lived the perfect life that we could not live, without sin. He willingly died on the cross so that His holy blood could be shed as a payment for all our sins. I once was able to visit the Billy Graham center at Wheaton College near Chicago. There is an interesting “narrow door” in the display area. You go on a walk through the gospel and then come to a narrow passage in the shape of the cross. After you “squeeze” through there you enter a room depicting heaven with the “Hallelujah Chorus” playing. But to get there you have to go through the cross. What do we need to let go when we come to the narrow door of the cross? We need to let go of the burden of sin. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9 What a deal. Jesus Christ forgives all our sins at his cross and makes us children of God and heirs of all the blessings of heaven. Don’t let pride or love of sin keep you from entering the narrow door of the cross. Why do so few enter the door? Some are offended by the cross. Others think the cross is foolishness. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God! II. THE KEY TO THE NARROW DOOR Luke 13:25-27a “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.” Someone once asked me this question: “When you die and God asks you why He should let you into heaven, what will you tell him?” That question troubled me when I was young. I knew that I could not get in to heaven because I had sinned many times. Finally God showed me the answer. That answer is…JESUS. Now there is a very important distinction we must make here. The key to heaven is not, knowing about Jesus…the key to heaven is having faith in Jesus and a personal relationship with Jesus. Notice than many wanted to get into the locked door because they knew about Jesus, such as, where he walked and where he ate. But the Father in heaven told them to depart because He did not KNOW them. We can know all about President Obama and if we go and knock on his front door we will get arrested and thrown in jail. But his own children can even knock on his bedroom or office door and get let in because they KNOW THE PRESIDENT PERSONALLY…He is their father. Do you know the Lord personally? Do you have faith in Jesus as your Savior? It is the key to the door of the kingdom of God. III. THE BENEFITS OF ENTERING THE NARROW DOOR Luke 13:27b-30 ‘Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”’ BENEFITS: I was looking over the benefits package of working at Progressive Insurance in Cleveland where Josiah may work in a year. They are very good benefits. But my benefit package in heaven is better yet. There are many benefits of entering the kingdom of God through the narrow door of the cross. 1. One is to avoid the pain of rejection. Those who reject the Lord may be popular in this life but in the life to come they will be shut out from the wonderful feast that God has prepared for His children. Those who reject Christ now may be laughing and partying and indulging in the sinful pleasures of this life but their time of weeping, sorrow and regret is coming. 2. Another benefit of coming to the Father through Jesus is enjoying the fellowship of the great heroes of the faith. In that day we will be feasting with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets. I am looking forward to having some conversations with them, aren’t you? 3. A third benefit of entering through the narrow door is feasting in Jerusalem with believers from around the world…from east, west, north and south…seated at the table of salvation. What a wonderful experience that will be…all of God’s grace. CONCLUSION: There is a wonderful old Scandinavian hymn in our book about this very passage and it sums it all up well, Hymn #627: “There many shall come from the east and the west And sit at the feast of salvation With Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the blest, Obeying the Lord’s invitation. But they who have always resisted His grace And on their own virtue depended, Shall then be condemned and cast out from His face, Eternally lost and unfriended. O may we all hear when our Shepherd doth call, In accents persuasive and tender, That while there is time we make haste one and all And find Him, our mighty defender. God grant that I may of His infinite love Remain in His merciful keeping; And sit with the King at his table above, When here in the grave I am sleeping. All trials are then like the dreams that are past, Forgotten all trouble and sorrow; All questions and doubts have been answered at last; Then dawneth eternity’s morrow. Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!” Is there a narrow door to blessing in this life that your baggage is keeping you from entering? …perhaps apologizing to someone to restore a relationship? Is there love of sin or pride that is keeping you from going through the narrow door of the cross to eternal life? Perhaps today is the day to let go of sin and embrace the cross… Pray…
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 22:23:57 +0000
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