Will Those Who are Saved be Few?

Luke 13:22-27 ESV

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 to 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. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’”

Parallel Passages

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV).

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV).

The Lesson

This is a very solemn lesson to be learned but a very necessary one, as well. For we can’t just make a profession of Jesus Christ as Lord and expect that God is going to let us into his heaven. We can’t just “say the magic words” and now we are in, good to go! We can’t just go through the motions of religious exercise and expect that God should be good with that, but while we continue to live for ourselves and not for God. It doesn’t work that way! It has never worked that way!

For our salvation from sin is not the “easy way” that so many make it out to be. For so many people are teaching that we can just pray a prayer or we can just make some acknowledgment of Christ or we can confess him as Lord with our lips and now we are “in,” good to go for eternity. But that has never been God’s design, but it is the design and the will of human flesh to make our salvation to be so easy that nothing is required of us at all in the way of surrender, obedience, repentance, and submission to God.

And so we have many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still floundering in their sins living mediocre “Christian” lives, going through the motions of “religion” but while they still sit as lord over their own lives, and while their true worship is not of God but of a man-made god that serves us while we are not required to serve him at all. For they have bought into the lies which tell them that a mere profession of faith in Christ secures them salvation from sin and heaven as their eternal destiny.

So, Jesus Christ is “setting the record straight” here by what he taught. Not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only the ones DOING the will of God the Father. For we can’t enter into the kingdom of heaven by the flesh nor by worldly means and methods nor by man-made religion. We have to follow the commands of God (New Covenant) by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, and in his power, wisdom, and strength.

For there is a reason why the way and the gate into heaven is narrow. It is restricted. It is limited. It has rules we must follow. For Jesus made it clear that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For in essence he said that if we hold on to (save) our old lives of living in sin and for self that we will lose them for eternity. But if for his sake we die with him to sin (lose our lives) and live to his righteousness, we have eternal life (see Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23).

So many people these days, though, are trying to turn this narrow way into a broad (all-encompassing) way which does not require obedience to our Lord nor the forsaking of our sins. And they are trying to make the hard way, the way of the cross of Christ, into an easy way to get into heaven. But Jesus said we have to obey him, in practice, and sin must not be what we practice, or we don’t have eternal life with God. And he said if we follow him that we are going to be hated and persecuted, not well liked.

Thus, many people today who are believing that they can make a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and that all their sins are now forgiven (past, present, and future), and that heaven is now secured them, and it can’t be taken away from them, regardless of how they live, are in for a rude awakening when the day of judgment comes and the Lord tells them he doesn’t know them and that they are to depart from him because they are workers of evil.

So, please know the truth and please follow the truth, for your eternity depends on it. For the Scriptures are very clear when they tell us that if we walk in sin, if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what faith in Christ we professed with our lips. So, we must die with Christ to sin, not just once, but in practice, and we must follow our Lord in obedience to his ways if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. See these Scriptures:

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263