Luke 13:23

The Bible says in Luke 13:23-24, “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.” This man asked Jesus a very important question. It relates to the most important question in the world for every person. Out of all the people born into the world, how many shall be saved? In response the first thing that Jesus said was to make sure that you are saved. Whether many are saved or few, you must make sure that you are among the children of God when God comes to take you out of the world.

Jesus used a very strong word when He emphasized to us to make sure we are saved. He said, “Strive to enter in at the straight gate.” The word strive is the Greek word from which we get the word agonize. It means to struggle, to fight for, to have the right kind of anxiety that motivates one to get up and do something. According to Jesus, there is something to desire and to seek after that is of great importance: your own salvation. How sad it will be for some to find one day that they could have been saved, if only they had desired it. The human will and the human motivation have a great deal to do with who will be saved.

Jesus did make it clear that there will be many who will not be saved. The attraction of the course of the world, the selfishness of human nature, and the deception of the evil one will keep multitudes away. They will not be saved because for one reason or another they will not enter in when they have the chance. Opportunity is like that. Opportunity knocks at your door, but if you do not answer, the opportunity will eventually go away. Today is the day of salvation; now is the accepted time. But afterwards will come the day of judgment.

Notice that Jesus called the door to the kingdom of God the “strait gate.” Strait means narrow. In the Gospel of John Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.” Peter said in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” If there is only one way to do something right, then there are a lot of ways to do it wrong. God has provided a way of salvation for human beings, but according to Jesus, there is only one way, and it’s narrow and strait.

Concerning those who will not enter the kingdom of God, Jesus gave another important piece of information in Luke 13:25-27 when He said, “When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut to 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 whence you are: Then shall you begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and thou hast taught in out streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence you are; depart from me all you workers of iniquity.” Why will some people not be allowed into the kingdom of God? In these three verses spoken by Jesus there is a phrase that He used twice that explains why some people will not be in heaven. In verse 25 Jesus said “I know you not,” and in verse 27 Jesus said, “I know you not.”

Religion is not important, but a relationship with God is important. If you have met Jesus spiritually in your heart and in your mind, then you know Him and He knows you. Salvation is centered around a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the emphasis of Rev. 3:20 where Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

One of the things involved when a person comes to have this relationship with Jesus is repentance from sin and forgiveness of sin. Sinful man cannot enter into the perfect environment of heaven without purification and cleansing that only Jesus can give. That’s why Jesus said in Luke 13:27, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.” All have sinned, and only those who have found forgiveness of sin through faith in Christ will enter into the kingdom of heaven.

In Luke 13:28-30 Jesus had more to say about the judgement day when some will be permitted to enter the kingdom of God, and some will not. Jesus said, “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. 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.”

Needless to say, the judgement day will not be a happy time for many people. Jesus described the judgement day and He said that there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Undoubtedly the “weeping” refers to tears of sorrow and tears of regret and tears caused by fear that will come over people when they can run no longer from God and they have no place to hide from the fact that they have rejected God’s salvation and have thereby chosen an eternity outside of the kingdom of God: an eternity in darkness and in loneliness and in the fiery torments of hell.

At the judgement there will be weeping, and there will also be what Jesus called “gnashing of teeth.” The gnashing of teeth is a phrase that paints a picture of people under great stress and in great torment of soul, undoubtedly caused by the situation they will be in: standing in front of the Holy God while under the guilt of their sins, knowing the terrible destiny that awaits them forever because they chose to reject God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ.

What a horrible day it will be. For many people it will be the worst day of their existence. But it does not have to be that way for you. This message of the judgement to come is a warning so that you can avoid the worst possible destiny. It’s the same reason that Jesus gave the warning that He gave in Luke 13:3 when He said, “Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” God is not willing that any should perish. He gives warnings, and He gives invitations. He died for you on the cross. But you must repent of your sins and turn to Jesus before it’s too late.

When Jesus spoke of the judgement He gave an interesting phrase when He said in Luke 13:30, “There are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” At the judgement God will turn the tables. God sees what man does not see, and God knows what man does not know. There will be surprises at the judgement. There will be people who everyone thought would be in the kingdom of God, but who will not be there. This group will primarily be made up of religious people and religious leaders. There will be other people who will end up in the kingdom of God who no one thought would be there. These will be some of the great sinners of the world and some of the outcasts. Some of them may get saved by Christ just before they die, like one of the thieves on the cross. Salvation is by grace through faith. It does not matter how good you are compared to other people. You are still a sinner who needs forgiveness through faith in Christ.

In Luke 13:31-33 the Bible says, “The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart from here: for Herod will kill you. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” We are at the point in the life of Jesus when there are only a few days left. He knew it. He was on His way to Jerusalem to die: to die for the sins of the world. The religious leaders were becoming desperate. They viewed Jesus as a competitor and a threat. Of course, if they had been wise, they would have realized that the teachings of Jesus would have strengthened their religion and thereby strengthened their own positions. Those who are not able to grow with new ideas and new team members coming in from the outside are actually endangering their own survival. That which does not grow and strengthen, weakens and diminishes.

But the plots against the life of Jesus had already started for some time. The Pharisees no doubt enjoyed bringing this bad news about the plots to kill Jesus. There is something wrong with those who enjoy bringing bad news. Compare this to Jesus who brought the gospel, which means good news. The Pharisees told Jesus to flee or He would be killed. Jesus responded by saying that He was going to take three days to journey to Jerusalem; but His journey was not to avoid being killed. His journey was so that He would be killed in Jerusalem.

Notice what Jesus said about Jerusalem in Luke 13:33. He said, “It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem had become already a city of bloodshed and violence, a city of treachery and hypocrisy. It’s still that kind of city. Of all the cities in the world Jerusalem should have been at least the one city where a prophet from God would have been welcomed and where especially the Son of God would have been welcomed. But there was too much competition, too much deceit, and too much hatred. If a good person or a decent person or a godly person went to that city, they could expect to be murdered. It happened to many of the prophets from God and it would happen to Jesus.

But Jesus went there willingly. He went there knowing what would happen because of His great love for the lost souls of mankind. “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Think about what Jesus would face in Jerusalem that would result in His death: the self-righteous religious hypocrites, the uncaring and unthinking mob, the cold and calculating political leaders, and His own weak disciples. As Jesus thought of these things that were just a few days away, He did not think of Himself. But He did think of the spiritual condition and dark destiny awaiting the people of Jerusalem. He had compassion on them.

He lamented their poor spiritual condition and the sad destiny that they had chosen by refusing God’s will. Jesus said in Luke 13:34-35, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, You shall not see me, until the time come, when you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” The people of the city of Jerusalem had committed great sins. They had killed and stoned the prophets that God had sent unto them. But God is a forgiving God. In spite of the greatness of their sins Jesus still offered to gather them to Himself with healing and forgiveness in His wings, just as He does for all of us.

But what kept them from becoming forgiven? The answer to that question was made clear when Jesus said, “You would not.” The will of man is the final determinant in salvation. God’s heart bleeds for you. His Son bled for you on the cross. His great invitation is there inviting you to faith in Him, but God created you with a free will. You must make a choice. You must make a decision to surrender to Him and follow Him. In the day of decision and at the time of visitation the people of Jerusalem could not make that decision. They could not surrender their will to God’s will. The made a decision alright, but the decision that they made was to reject God and His salvation that is found in Jesus Christ. There is something within each person, a decision process that builds to a climax concerning their relationship with God. By making a final and eternal decision to reject God, the people of Jerusalem sealed their own doom. They chose a path that would take them down and away from God. Such a path can only end in destruction. “There is way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” Forty years after Jesus was crucified, Roman soldiers utterly destroyed the city of Jerusalem.

If the great, eternal God offers to take you by the hand and guide you through life, you are more than taking a risk by not allowing Him to do so. You are doing a very foolish thing. What Jesus said to Jerusalem, He says to us all because He is not willing that any should perish. Jesus came into the world not to destroy the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

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