#1397 Luke 13 Part 4 Fight

 

22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Luke 13: 22-30 ESV

Luke 13: 22-30

…8All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.… John 10: 8-10

He went on His way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem - His ministry, though short, was very thorough, and you see the finish line here, "toward Jerusalem". This is the same ministry His disciples pick up and pass down to us, teaching the gospel, preserving the true gospel, and here is yet another presentation of the gospel that would sadly go unnoticed in the evangelical churches of our day.  

Warren Wiersbe has an interesting note that "The events recorded in John 9–10 fit between Luke 13:21 and Luke 13:22. Note in John 10:40–42 that Jesus then left Judea and went beyond the Jordan into Perea. The events of Luke 13:22 thru Luke 17:10 took place in Perea as the Lord gradually moved toward Jerusalem." (Borrow Be compassionate) - Precept Austin

Lord, will those who are saved be few - Humans ask dumb questions, and I think if I knew, which this man probably does not, though he calls Him, Lord, that this is the Lord of Glory, I would ask, "how am I ever to be saved? Is my name written in the book of life?" How is anyone to be saved for that matter, knowing that God is holy and that this is the bar which no one is so near to that they can even see or touch? Look, I'm a Calvinist, I have no issue with acknowledging that the gate is narrow, but I have also been told to share the gospel, to love my enemies, and that God's word does not return void. I study to grow in my faith, but also to have an answer for unbelievers, because they don't have a glowing E for Elect stamped in any visible place that I can see on their person. I pray for the opportunity to talk to them, for the questions to arise, and for my life to live up to God's words. So the vast amount of people in every age go down the broad path, the way that leads to destruction, but that is not a statement of indifference. I didn't make the narrow gate, I am shocked it was even provided, and I didn't deserve to have Christ take my debt upon Him and bring me to the gate, the gospel. I wouldn't have found it; it wasn't in my fallen nature to do so, and I am so grateful, regardless of the number, that I am numbered with the saints, and that none that the Father has given to the Son will be lost. 

John Stevenson observes that...

This is one of those types of questions that you hear from unbelievers: "What about the man in Africa?" Jesus doesn’t immediately answer it. He says, "Instead of worrying about the man in Africa, you should be worrying about the man who is standing in your sandals." Do you see it? The man asks, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And Jesus answered, "Make certain that you are one of those few." - Precept Austin

13Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. 15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.… Matthew 7: 13-15

…7The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus. 8And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it— only those who walk in the Way— and fools will not stray onto it. 9No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.… Isaiah 35: 7-9

…13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.” 15Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.… Matthew 22: 13-15

Strive to enter through the narrow door - He answers the man with a command. I am sure this was not the answer the man was fishing for either. "Hey, no worries for you, you are a son of Abraham from such and such a tribe, you are part of the few by default, born into it." People love answers like that. It's like in Meet Joe Black when Brad Pitt tells Anthony Hopkins that a man like Anthony has nothing to worry about. That's a broad way answer, that's looking at yourself and finding some inherent good, some work that you have made an idol of, a new gospel around. I did, I said, I am, I'm related to, someone told me. If someone told you that you are saved, I hope His name is God, because He says that there is only one way. He's going to provide a Lamb, that is the whole story of the OT, God's provision of Christ, pointing to His sacrifice, nothing about you and your good works or family ties can be found as any support to the true gospel. All you bring is need, "I need that Lamb" in order to avoid God's just wrath. This is the fight, to deny self, which is to deny all access that you feel you deserve by being born, by works of merit, by repeating a prayer with organ music playing in the background. What did you believe? What are you hoping in? What did God say?

…11This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” 13When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they marveled and took note that these men had been with Jesus.… Acts 4: 11-13

5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14: 5-7

Strive (agonizomai in the present imperative calling for us to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) to enter by the narrow (stenos) door (thura) - KJV (based on Textus Receptus) has gate instead of door > KJV = "strait gate" (pule).- Jesus says entering to the Kingdom of God (aka "salvation," "born again,") is not easy, but calls for Spirit energized agonizing effort. It's not just that "God has a wonderful plan for your life," so come on in! That soft sell Gospel is deadly and deceives the person who hears it into thinking all they have to do is pray a prayer (just "Ask Jesus into your heart") or make a decision to follow Jesus! (See easy believism) Then they think that since they have done this, they have "fire insurance" to protect them from eternal Hell. This is a very dangerous teaching, for then it is very difficult to tell someone like this that Jesus said the "gate is small" and you must strive to enter by the narrow gate! Strive (agonizomai) smacks of self-effort, as if sinners could do anything to merit salvation. Jesus' main point is that salvation is not the easy way some teachers (even so-called evangelical) promote it to be. It calls for self-denial (Lk 9:23+), for love of Jesus greater than love of even one's relatives (Lk 14:26+) or one's possessions (Lk 14:33+), etc. It calls for taking up a cross (Lk 14:27+). And yet it is still a narrow door that is entered only by grace through faith alone in Christ Alone! Although it is discussed more below, note that strive is a command in the present imperative calling for life long agonizing effort, a striving which will only end when we enter into glory! The implication is that once we are in the narrow gate, we cannot take our foot off of the gas pedal, so to speak! This makes sense to me, because I know that I must fight the strong lusts of my fallen flesh every day (not to mention fighting our other two mortal enemies, the world and the devil), knowing those ungodly desires can be conquered in the power of the Spirit (Ro 8:13), but also knowing they will return to tempt me to commit sin (1Pe 2:11). I think this is why Paul uses the same verb agonizomai in some of his very last words to Timothy - "I have fought (agonizomai in perfect tense) the good fight." (2Ti 4:7+) - Precept Austin

I do not know where you come from - Look at the context of this, it says that many will seek to enter, but then the time frame, the Master has risen and shut the door. The door was open before, and I have talked with several people, myself included in this, that didn't want to give up the way they were living at the moment. For me, I had no lasting sense of urgency, if strive means to fight, I was fighting in the other direction. If I heard something, read God's word and was confronted with conviction about my sin, I fought hard to stifle that out. If I quit doin one thing, "conquered" one symptom of my sin, then I thought that made up for all else. I even for a time came to believe that there was a God and it was the God of the Bible, but His call to repent fell on deaths ears, so I wanted to imagine that it meant enough that I believed in His Being. I thought that that deserved a trophy, and in my antinomian mind really anyone who was nice or smiled at me deserved a trophy as well. I was like Uzzah, I thought my hands were clean enough to steady the ark, and as my time approached, as soon as I knew it was near, then I would wash my hands somehow and say, "remember God, I said the sinner's prayer at children's church at Aloma Baptist back in the 1970s, look it up, You have to let me in." I would never admit that I had looked at eternity, looked at the here and now, and chose to follow my own way, make up a different Christ. I would have died never entering and the door that had remained open my whole life would now be closed. 

D L Moody - WHO are we to strive with? Not with the gate-keeper. The gate-keeper stands with the gate wide open, and he says, “Come in, come in!” All the striving is with the flesh; it is with this old carnal nature of ours....MANY a man would be willing to enter into the kingdom of God, if he could do it without giving up sin. People sometimes wonder why Jesus Christ, who lived six hundred years before Mohammed, has gotten fewer disciples than Mohammed today. There is no difficulty in explaining that. A man may become a disciple of Mohammed, and continue to live in the foulest, blackest, deepest sin; but a man cannot be a disciple of Christ without giving up sin. (Sermon) - Precept Austin

We ate and drank in Your presence - We had communion with You, hung out, heard you teaching. We went to the rally where You fed the five thousand, and we believed in You. Believed what? He says, if you love Me, keep My commandments. He tells Peter, if you Love Me, feed my sheep. Obedience is the real sign of whether you ate with Him in such intimate fashion as Lord and friend. Obedience, action, reveals that you actually learned what you were taught, that it became part of you. 

1“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.” 3“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.… Isaiah 58: 1-3

…4traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these! 6They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions,… 2 Timothy 3: 4-6

…21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls. 22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. 23For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,… James 1: 21-23

I do not know where you come from - They had come a different way, which was not The Way. 

1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 3Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?…

…4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe? 6So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”… Galatians 3: 1-6

Depart from Me all you workers of evil - For eating and drinking with Jesus, or for listening to Him teach? Neither, but for thinking these things of light acquaintance a means of salvation. You ate with Him but did not know Him as salvation. You heard Him teach but did not obey His voice. In treating Him so lightly, as such a passing fancy, an emotional event, a "Jesus movement", you did yourself no favor but you also worked evil because you brought men a gospel that doesn't save. You tried to enter another way that is no way. You pointed men away from the door that was open to them in life, and now that they realize the folly, it is too late. 

Steven Cole comments that "Salvation requires our urgent attention because there is a great difference between casual acquaintance with Jesus and a personal relationship with Him. Those who are shut out seem surprised. They call out, “Lord, open up to us!” But He says, “I don’t know where you’re from.” They reply, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” They were acquainted with Him. But the problem was, He was not acquainted with them. He tells them, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from Me, all you evildoers.” If you have a genuine personal relationship with Jesus, you will not continue in your evil deeds. Salvation is God’s free gift, apart from works, but those who are truly saved will make progress in holiness, apart from which no man will see the Lord (Heb 12:14+). Now, not later, is the time to make sure that you have a personal relationship with Jesus, not just a casual acquaintance with Him. One major evidence of such a relationship is that you are growing in holiness, not just outwardly, but in your heart. Thus salvation requires our earnest effort and our urgent attention. (Luke 13:22-30 The Narrow Door) - Precept Austin

But you yourselves cast out - They saw Abraham, and that was a way to many a Jew, "we are sons of Abraham", well he's in the Kingdom and you're not. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob passed down to you their sin nature. They, like all men, are impotent to save. Sharing the same gene pool with them only makes you a sinner like them, and those that protest that they didn't eat the fruit in the garden like Adam, have eaten a whole orchard since, solidifying their place with Adam. 

…7The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.” 9Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”… Revelation 21: 7-9

…14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates. 15But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.”… Revelation 22: 14-16

Some are last who will be first - It is fascinating throughout Jesus' ministry that He reaches out to the lowly, the tax collectors, prostitutes, the people seemingly furthest away, but once their heart is touched, their spirit quickened, they see that vast and devastating void, that impassible fiord, but the words of Jesus bid them come. "I didn't come save the righteous," he tells them, "but to call sinners to repentance." That's me, that's me, and Jesus is my only hope in this. 

Spurgeon suggests this means that "Many who, today, seem to be unlikely to be converted, those who are “last” in character, will yet be “first” in repentance; and there who are “first” in privileges, and even in hopefulness, who will be “last” in the great day of account. May we take home to our hearts this solemn warning!"

Some are first who will be last - Again "some" is added but not in the Greek. The first in context most likely refers to the Jews, who were the first to be privileged with God's favor and the first to receive His gracious call to come into His Kingdom, but who failed to enter because of their unbelief, even as many of the Jews in the Old Testament failed to enter His rest after being warned (cf He 3:7-9+ Heb 3:10 11+) - "And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest (katapausis), but to those who were disobedient (apeitheo)? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief (apistia)." (Hebrews 3:18, 19+) Notice that unbelief is not just a mindset or a heart attitude, but is manifest by disobedience, failure to obey the clear instructions/commands of God.

MacArthur - Jesus’ concluding statement, And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last, further intensifies the shock these lost Jews will feel. Not only will Gentiles be in the kingdom, but they will also be equal with the Jews who are there. In the realm of salvation “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for [the redeemed] are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28; cf. Eph. 2:11-16). (See Luke Commentary) - Precept Austin