Luke 13:22-35 | Pastor David Deutsch

Summary

Pastor David Deutsch preaches out of Luke 13:22-35. In this passage, Jesus warns of the urgency to repent and align with Him, as the narrow door of salvation will soon close, particularly for the first-century Jews facing judgment. This message underscores the cost of discipleship and calls believers to prioritize God's kingdom and extend His hospitality to all nations.

Transcript

All right, good morning, solely open your Bibles. Finally, back to the Gospel of Luke after about a nine, 10 week hiatus. Luke chapter 13, and we're gonna jump right back into the hardest passage in the whole Bible. Luke chapter 13, and we're going to begin in verse 22. And I'm gonna read through verse 30, even though our passage goes all the way through 35, I will incorporate that into the sermon, Lord willing. Luke chapter 13, beginning in verse 22, hear the word of God. - Hear the word of God. - He that is Jesus went on his way through towns and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door saying, Lord, open to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets, but he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Apart from me, you workers of evil. 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 are cast out. And people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline a table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last, two will be first. And some are first, who will be last. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated, let us pray. Our God in heaven as we come to your word, to a difficult passage under any circumstances to swallow and to look at. We pray that you'd give us light, that you'd give us illumination, that you would give us understanding, that you would grant to us this morning why it is that you would have this passage before us and that you would teach us why it is that you would have Luke put this here. And why it is you would have us here. And so we entrust ourselves to you today. In Jesus' name we pray, in the name of God. Obviously this is a extremely challenging passage in God's word. And it is full of extremely hard sayings. And it's actually made more difficult because we oftentimes import into the passage questions and answers that are not there rather than actually receive the ones that are there. And so this morning I'm hoping that we can allow scripture to interpret scripture and maybe allow the context to be king and that that might actually help us understand this extraordinarily difficult passage. The issue at hand is that the kingdom of God is coming in Jesus. And it's coming with Jesus right now as he's moving towards Jerusalem. God's kingdom is breaking in with him. And at the heart of that kingdom, at the center of that kingdom is the hospitality of God. As Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem, as the kingdom is breaking in, the hospitality of God is being extended to those who are being swept into the kingdom. And God's plan for Israel is being fulfilled. That which we see at the end is moving in. And so what we see in verse 28 about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets in the kingdom of God. And in verse 29 about people from east and west and north and south reclining that table in the kingdom of God. That which is the future end. We've seen that breaking in to the present all throughout the gospel of Luke. That is what is happening. God's kingdom is coming. People are being swept into the kingdom and be moved into the hospitality of God. But there's a group of people that can't see this. And they're important people because they are leadership in Israel. The Jerusalem authorities, the Pharisees, the scribes, they cannot see what is in front of them. And because they cannot see what it is that's happening, they are actually harming the situation. Roll back with me to chapter 11 and look at verse 52. Look at what Jesus says. When he's handing out his condemnations, his woes to the Pharisees and to the scribes, which are called lawyers here, but they're the scribes. He says this in verse 52. "Woe to you lawyers, scribes, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves and you are hindering those who are entering. What is right before them, they themselves are not entering into. And what is right before them, they're not even entering into it. They're trying to keep the others from entering into it. They're doing everything they can to keep the people of God from entering into the kingdom of God and participating in the hospitality of God. They are really standing contrary to what it is that Jesus is, what he's doing and what is bringing. And because they are doing that, because they themselves will not enter the kingdom of God, and because they themselves are trying to keep everybody out of the kingdom of God and the hospitality of God, they've got something coming to them. Look back at verse 50 of chapter 11. Here's what Jesus says. So the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, will be charged against this generation. From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Because they are doing what they are doing, this generation of Pharisees, this generation of scribes, this generation of Jewish leadership, because they are opposed to Jesus and opposed to the kingdom and opposed to the hospitality of God. There is a judgment that is coming upon this generation that will take place upon them. And we know that that's gonna take place in AD 70. It's hovering over them now, and it's going to come upon them in 40 years. This is what Jesus himself is laying out. And if you look back at our passage, Jesus actually says this, go back to chapter 13, and look at verse 34, Jesus says this. He laments over Jerusalem, and he says, this is what's coming. This is what's on the horizon. This is what is looming. This is the window. This is the door. He says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together? Now watch this, notice that. This is how often I would have gathered you. I would have gathered your children. This goes back to chapter 11. The Pharisees and the scribes and the Jerusalem leaders are keeping their people from coming, not only themselves, but their people. And Jesus is saying, I would have gathered the children of the Pharisees, the children of the scribes, the children of the Jerusalem leaders. I would have gathered you as hands to me. I would have done that. As a hand gathers her brood on her wings, and you were not willing, you're shutting them out. So guess what? Verse 35, behold, your house is forsaken. Your days are numbered. Your house is over. Your house is finished. Jerusalem finished. The temple finished. The city finished. Jesus says it right here. So in our context, we need to see what's looming. What's coming is that there is a judgment that's coming. There is a wrath that is coming. A looming first century generation judgment that's going to come against the temple, the house, the people, their city, everything. That is on the horizon, and that is the context of our passage. And so as we go now to verse 22, we understand what they're facing, what wrath they're facing, what judgment they're facing. And this goes on back in chapter 13, if we looked at it, Jesus said to them, he said, "Look, just like when Pilate mixed the blood at the temple, "if you don't repent likewise, you will perish "at the hands of the Romans, at the temple. "These buildings fell down in Siloam. "If you don't repent likewise, you shall perish." I mean, everything that Jesus can say about the coming down of the city, about the destruction of the temple, about their entire way of life coming to an end. In this generation, this is what he has said, this cloud is before them. This is the judgment that is surrounding them, and this is the context for our passage. So in verse 22, it says, "He Jesus went on his way through the towns of Viljus, "teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem." And we'll look at that journey and toward Jerusalem a little bit later. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" There's your question, okay? So let's look at this for a little bit. The first thing that you guys need to understand is the tense of this, okay? This sounds like he's asking a question about end of days, okay? But the tense is in the present tense. And so it should be read this way. "Lord, are those being saved few? "Are those being saved right now few?" And you see, our problem with this is that we read our own modern day evangelicalism into this question rather than allowing his first century Jewish understanding to govern his own question. So here's how we hear a question like this. We hear a question, are there few being saved to be governed in a Billy Graham kind of way, crusade way, or a Greg Laurie kind of crusade way, all right? So someone comes forward and they say, are there just a few gonna be saved at the end of time before the rapture? Okay, that's what we hear. And then Jesus answers, and our expectation is Martin Luther. Well, believe, you're justified by faith alone, right? And then we expect the free offer of the gospel, right? The gospel is gonna go out. A free offer of the gospel, right? Well, guess what? None of that happens in this passage. None of it happens. Are there few being saved? Jesus doesn't answer the question. And he doesn't answer the question with a Reformation Martin Luther answer. He answers it with strive. And he doesn't answer with a free offer of the gospel. He answers it with this, we're gonna close the door. And then people are gonna knock on that door. Well, no, no, no, Jesus, you're wrong because we already know that you knock at our hearts and we decide whether to let you in. This passage here where we're knocking on the door and you're deciding to let us in does not compute, does not compute, does not compute, right? Because when we read our post second grade awakening, evangelistic matters into this stuff. Can you imagine how confusing this would be if I got up here and preached this this morning in that way? Whew, everyone of you would leave going, man, I wonder if I'm one of the few, am I striving hard enough, has the door closed? I mean, can you imagine the shaky ground, right? Aren't you glad? So, well, then what is it? Well, the issue is this. There are other ways, listen, this is important. There are other ways of seeing salvation in the Bible. Now, and this is not that it's not tied to eternal salvation, but the question is, are there few that are being saved from what? Right? What's he asking? What question is he, what has he been surrounded with that he would be asking about being saved from what? So let me give you a couple of scenarios that might help you understand this, okay? If you were living in 722 BC, so listen, follow me. If you were living in 722 BC and the Assyrians were on the horizon and they were going to come and they were gonna bring God's judgment into the Northern Kingdom, right? And then you ask this question, are there going to be a few who are saved? You're asking the question is, are there gonna be a, is there gonna be a rem that left after the Assyrians come in and destroy us, right? That's the question you're asking. Or if you're asking this question in 587, 86 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar's knocking on the door, right? He's coming and you ask the question, as Nebuchadnezzar's coming and he's gonna destroy the temple, he's gonna do exactly what the Romans are gonna do. He's gonna destroy the temple, he's gonna destroy the city. And you ask this question, as Nebuchadnezzar's rolling in, are there, is there going to be a few that are saved? You're asking is there gonna be a rem that left after all this destruction takes place? Or imagine you're living in the days of Noah, right? You're living in the days of Noah and Noah's building this boat, right? This is very, there's this very much language just like First Peter, by the way. You're living in the days of Noah and he's preaching righteousness, building this boat. You've never seen rain before. But guess what? You've got the entire time that Noah's building this boat to get on board with Noah's message, right? You got right up until the time of what? Until what? Until the door shuts, right? Because that door was so big that the Bible tells us that what? God shut the door on the boat. Noah didn't shut it. So think about it, a few people get into Noah's boat, right? A few, according to Peter, get in eight souls. The door shuts, the water comes. Can you imagine the uh-oh, right? Uh-oh, we should be on that boat. And then you start knocking on the door. Now I believe, now I believe. But guess what? You're drowning. The door's been shut, okay? So if you allow yourself to get into the world of the Bible and allow yourself to see that there are historic judgments that take place that bring God's wrath into history in which there is a window of time to get on the ark, a window of time to become a part of a remnant that's going to be saved. And then if you're not a part of that, you're gonna be a part of the people, the part that gets judged in every way. This starts to make this passage seem a little more understandable when we consider that there is this historic judgment that's about to come in 40 years that's going to be very similar to these other judgments that have already taken place in history. And this is probably the question that this person is asking. This question has been there before. Are there few being saved like there were few being saved in these other judgment situations in history before? And so that's what I posit to you. It's not, are there going to be the four frozen chosen people in heaven that the miserly electing God chose? No, this is a historically conditioned question. Are there a few being saved right now, a remnant being saved in the context of this great judgment that's coming against Jerusalem? And I believe the answer would be, the answer is gonna be yes, there is a remnant. There are only a few in the first century, but that's not the whole story as we're going to see. And so, but look at the answer that Jesus gives then in verse 24. His answer is get in that door, man. Don't stand outside that art, get in that door now. Right, verse 24, strive to enter the narrow door. So notice that his answer is not like just believe. That word is agonizomai, right? In the Greek, agonizing, right? That strive. And contextually, I think if you go back to chapter 13 and look at the first verses of chapter 13, if we allow context to determine, I think what Jesus means by striving here is 13, 3 says, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Verse five says, "I tell you, unless you repent, "you will all likewise perish." The striving here is you gotta turn to me. You gotta connect to me. You gotta be a part of me and what I'm doing. If you're not a part of me and what I'm doing, Jesus says, then that door, I'm that door. You gotta connect to me right now. And the reason, part of the reason why it's narrow is because of everything you're gonna have to lose. A first century Jew would have to lose so much to attach himself to Jesus. He would have to lose hearth, home, family, life, so much. We've already seen all these dividing passages where Jesus says, "I came to bring a sword." Here, you have to leave father, mother, brother, sister, take up your cross, follow me, consider the cost. All these things are here that these people need to understand that this is gonna cost them in many ways, everything. Especially when the siege of Jerusalem happens, right? They're gonna have to get on the house tops and go and become exiles. And so what Jesus is recognizing the great cost here. Secondly, he says, strive to enter the narrow door. Now I want you to recognize that this is different from Matthew, okay? Everybody wants to tie this to Matthew. I don't think this is, Jesus is doing something else. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Jesus has two gates. Why does a gate and narrow as a gate? He's presenting two ways. Jesus is not presenting two ways here. He's presenting one way with a little bit of time. There's a difference here. That's a narrow gate that's hard and a wide gate that's easy. This is a narrow door and it's shutting. So you better get in before it shuts. It's a timing issue. You'll see, that's what the issue is time. And exegetically you can see that. And someone for strive to enter through the narrow door. Why? Why? For many I tell you will seek to enter and not be able. What? What? What does that even mean? That there's gonna be a whole lot of people who are gonna try to get in that door and they will not be able to get in that door. Why is that going to be the case? 'Cause the door's gonna shut. That's why. Look at verse 25. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, that's why. So this is a completely different way of seeing things. The door's not going to remain open to this generation of Jews indefinitely. It is a generational issue that Jesus is speaking to. This generation of people who he is facing, these particular Pharisees, these particular lawyers, these particular scribes, these particular people of who these are their leaders, he is saying to them right now, you've got a narrow door and it's open. And I'm here. Attach yourself to me because the door's gonna shut on you. It's gonna shut on you. It's a historical door that's gonna shut on you. 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 and then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from. You see, they should have known that. Jesus tells them this, right? You've preached on this Pastor John Noyes. You preached on this back in chapter 12. Look at what Jesus says. In chapter 12 and verse 56, Jesus says this to these Pharisees. He says, you hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but you do not know how to interpret the present time. It's right in front of you what's happening, but you're blind to it. Signs, I mean, not to start singing the song, signs, signs everywhere, signs. They're all right there for you to see, but you can't see them. You're not interpreting the present time. It's all there for you to see. They should know this, but they're blind to what's in front of them. And you'll notice what Jesus says. The very thing that would be such a stumbling block to them is the very thing that will be the cornerstone of the kingdom and the hospitality of God. Notice that little phrase that's Luke slips in there. He says, when the master, when once the master of the house has risen, see that, that is a veiled anticipation of the resurrection of Jesus. All right, when he rises from the dead, he becomes the cornerstone of a new temple, of a new house, of a new people. And if we read the book of Acts, he says that's the resurrection of a stumbling block all the way through that to that generation of Jews. All the way through the book of Acts, up to AD 70, that resurrection is a stumbling block. And finally that resurrected one closes that door through the Romans who come and accomplish what it is that they are accomplishing. Now, how do we know that we're really dealing with these first century Pharisees and things like that? Well, they give themselves away, right? They give themselves away when they start talking about their pedigree, right? Their pedigree. So notice verse 25, what Jesus says. Now again, you gotta pick up on this. You gotta do a close reading because if you have Matthew echoing in your head, you're gonna miss this. In the Matthew passage, Jesus says, I don't know you. Here, I want you to know that Jesus says, I don't know where you're from. Twice. So look at it. Verse 25, they're knocking at the door. They're saying, Lord open to us, okay? And the first answer as to why, once the door shuts, he doesn't open to them is, I do not know where you're from, right? 'Cause their pedigree, their expectation is what? What we're Abraham's children. Of course you don't know where we're from. What's wrong with you? We're Abraham's children. You should know that. Secondly, verse 26, then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence. Luke is the hospitality gospel, right? And guess who Jesus spends most of his time eating with in the gospel of Luke? Who? Pharisees, right? He said Pharisees houses all the time, eating and drinking with them. In chapter seven, he's at a Pharisees house. In chapter 11, he's at a Pharisees house. In Pastor Jeremy's passage next Sunday, he's at a Pharisees house. Jesus is always eating with these Pharisees. We know exactly who he's talking about here. We ate and drank with you. And then if you read those passages, they don't go well for the Pharisee. But now they're using that as their pedigree for like, hey, we had you in our house at least. Yeah, we didn't attach to you. We didn't provide hospitality to you. And we really didn't accept your hospitality either. But hey, we know you. We know who you are at least. No, sorry. That's an in you taught in our streets. But then Jesus says, I will tell you, I do not know where you come from. You see, 'cause if we go back to Luke chapter three, we remember these words from the baptizer. He said to them, you bag of snakes who warned you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruits and keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham. You said they want to use their pedigree and they want to use their tangential attachment to Jesus to get into there. But that is not enough. And then Jesus just says it like it is in verse 27, you are workers of evil. If you look back at chapter 11 and verse 39, that's exactly what he calls them. Chapter 11 and verse 39, he says, and the Lord said to them, now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness, that's all you are. And so it's pretty clear who Jesus is speaking to as those who will be knocking on the outside of the door. But it's also this beautiful thing that Jesus has been slowly grafting in these children of Abraham that we would not expect. So if you look back at chapter 13 and verse 16, this was Pastor Minx Sermon from a couple of months ago. This woman who was bent over and who couldn't stand and she was healed on the Sabbath day, which is the anticipation of the beginning of the Jubilee that Jesus was bringing. Jesus goes out of his way in chapter 13 and verse 16, he says this, and not not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. So you see what Jesus is doing, he's reconfiguring who the children of Abraham are. He's reconfiguring who his people are and the people who think they're in are actually out and the people who think they're out are actually in. And there's a window, there's a door that's closing and a limited amount of time for that particular generation to get in because there's a particular historic judgment coming their way, okay? Rolling their way because of the blood of all of the prophets, their house is going to be left to them. This is happening, okay? This is happening. So this is what's happening to this generation. Are there a few that are being saved from this judgment that's coming? Well, yes, there is a few, a remnant. Well, no, and no, not only just a few being saved at all, because it's not as though the purposes and promises and covenants of God have failed because look at verse 28, Abraham is there, Isaac is there, Jacob is there, the prophets are there, okay? They're there. Those fathers who we would expect there are there. But listen, those people in the first century who expected to also be there are not. Look at verse 28, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and at the end of verse 28, but you yourselves are cast out. There's a dividing line here. There's a dividing line here and Jesus is the dividing line. Jesus is the dividing line. You guys are out, but the father that you think you had is in and lo and behold, a few are being saved now, a remnant, but a few are not just going to be saved ultimately because look at verse 29, God's explosive promises that are baked into the prophets and people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God. The promises of God do not fail. The covenants of God do not fail and the prophecies of God do not fail and the purposes of God do not fail because only a remnant gets saved of Jews in the first century. As a matter of fact, the remnant of Jews that get saved in the first century is the way and the way in which the preparation for which this explodes out to the nations. Some are broken off so that some might be grafted in, according to Paul in Romans chapter 11. And so it's amazingly significant and so you look at verse 30 and I want you to notice the word some, right? There's no all there. We're expecting all who are first will be last, right? The Jew first and then the Greek and so it's all of them. No, it's not all of them. And behold, some who are last will be first and some who are first will be last. There's a remnant of the Jews that are first and they're coming in through that narrow door and they're there. And then some who are last, they're gonna be first too. Okay, so it's not, Jesus lays it out for us. The pattern and the plan and the purpose of the gospel in history embedded here historically for us. Well, as we move, as we roll through that then, this is what's happening. We go into verse 31. The Pharisees, they're not even hearing any of this 'cause they're completely blind. Everything Jesus is saying, their concern is their own hides. And so at that very hour, some Pharisees come and say to him, get away from here for Herod wants to kill you. They're just concerned for the political moment and their own hides and what it would do to them if Herod came after Jesus at the moment. It doesn't fit their scheme. And I love verse 32. Jesus says this and he said to them, go and tell that fox. I guess it's okay for Jesus to call a politician a name. So Jesus, you're not applying Romans 13. I don't know, just take it up. I guess, so I'm just saying, I've thrown it out there. He's the righteous man and he's calling. I'm just throwing against the wall. I'm leaving it there. I love this. Tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform the cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finish my course. In other words, yes, I'm doing exactly what I'm doing. When I want to do it, where I want to do it, how I want to do it and it has nothing to do with you and I'm not worried about you. I'm not afraid of you because my day is coming and it's already been fixed, shut your mouth. I got a third day coming. You have nothing to do with any of it. He's just not, listen, the kingdom of God should not be worried about the political machinations of any day at any time anywhere. You guys get that? The political machinations of any country, of any place, can do whatever they want, whatever they want, however they want. It doesn't affect us. It might affect us by way of suffering and dead new. It'll never affect the kingdom of God. The kingdom, we just do what we do. We stay the course and we stay the course 'cause time is ordered by God, right, amen? That's a sermon on its own. Nevertheless, so Jesus says, this is gonna happen. The third day, this is all gonna happen. Verse 33, I must go my way today and tomorrow in the following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. So I'm coming to Jerusalem. I'm coming to my journey's end. It's gonna happen. And then Jesus cries over Jerusalem. He says, I'm gonna have my end in Jerusalem. Verse 34 and 35, Jerusalem's gonna have their end, but that's not going to be the end, you see. The end is the hospitality of God and the kingdom of God, full of people from east and west and north and south because that third day happened, you see. Jesus goes and answers the end for it all in Jerusalem. The end of Jerusalem opens the door for all of this to go to the nations. That house is forsaken because Jesus becomes the cornerstone of a new house of which we are. It's amazing. And so all of that for us to say that happened, okay? That happened. Are there a few being saved? Not now. Not now, the gospel is going to the nations now. This happened then so it could free the gospel up to spread to all of the nations. So the Abrahamic covenant that all of the nations would be blessed in Abraham, that thing is on fire right now around the world. And that's what we're a part of right now. This was a historically conditioned situation so that the last of the scaffolding of the old house could come down. So the new cornerstone house temple of the Lord Jesus Christ could explode all around the world. Amen. It's beautiful. And so what that means is this, as solely then, what does that mean for, I told my wife this morning, I go, how do I apply this? She was like, I don't know. I said, neither do I. So let me just close with this, right? The Pharisees were so blind, they could not read the room. They missed it. They missed the kingdom and they missed the hospitality of God and they missed their calling to extend the hospitality of God. I think it's easy for us to get caught up in all the confusion of things as well. I was thinking this morning before I left, there are three things on people's minds today when they come to church. None of them are the sermon. There are two football games, the Rams today, and then the college football game tomorrow night, Notre Dame, house date, and an inauguration. That's what's on everybody's mind. That's what I have to fight today. That's the confusion of what I have to fight today preaching this sermon. But the gospel clarity is this in the midst of the confusion of all things. We come to church on Sunday, we are the church on Sunday. It's just this simple. We gather every Sunday to receive the hospitality of God because this passage is fulfilled every Sunday morning here. Secondly, our mission is to go out and to compel others to come and gather at this hospitality of God. It's just that simple. We receive the hospitality of God, we extend the hospitality of God. And our world needs the hospitality of God far more than it needs the Rams to win. And dare I say, far more than it needs the inauguration tomorrow, far more. Now I hope that happens tomorrow. And I'm fine if the Rams win today. But the most important thing that's gonna happen all week long is about to happen right here at this table. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, in heaven, seal this word unto us for the honor and glory of your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.