So What is the Narrow Way Which Jesus Spoke About to the Jews?
Q: I would like to know what this is??
Okay, this is the outline of the message that has caused some controversy where I preached today. I supported everything with Scripture, but I did say that it is not works or words that save, it is faith in Christ and repentance. I will not retract anything I said, unless it can be shown, Biblically, where there is error. Since I appealed to Scripture for everything I said, I don't think it can be successfully challenged Scripturally.
Luke 13.22-27 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"
And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, "I do not know you, where you are 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 you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'
Few Will Be Saved Jesus responded the gate is narrow- few enter. Salvation is not a magic trick or saying words, it is coming to God in repentance with faith.
Many Will Not Be Known. Many will think they are saved, but Jesus does not know them. Works do not save. Words do not save. Repentance and faith in Christ save.
Many Will Be Lost Many think they are saved and will end up surprised and in hell.
All are Sinners
Romans 3.10-11 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.”
Romans 3.23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
There is a Price for Sin
Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 20.15 anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Isaiah 53.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Hebrews 9.22 according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Salvation is Only Found in Jesus
Romans 10.9-10, 13 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
Acts 3.19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out
Acts 4.12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Salvation Makes Us a Part of God'’s Family
John 1.12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Galatians 3.29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
WHO IS IT THAT JESUS WAS TALKING TO???IF WE ARE SAVED WHEN WE ASK HIM IN TO OUR HEARTS THEN WHO IS HE TALKING TO???WHO IS OUTSIDE?? TRYING TO GET IN??Please hELP ME WITH THIS I WANT TO MAKE SURE I WILL BE WITH THE LORD!!THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME WITH THIS!!
Okay, this is the outline of the message that has caused some controversy where I preached today. I supported everything with Scripture, but I did say that it is not works or words that save, it is faith in Christ and repentance. I will not retract anything I said, unless it can be shown, Biblically, where there is error. Since I appealed to Scripture for everything I said, I don't think it can be successfully challenged Scripturally.
Luke 13.22-27 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"
And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, "Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, "I do not know you, where you are 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 you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'
Few Will Be Saved Jesus responded the gate is narrow- few enter. Salvation is not a magic trick or saying words, it is coming to God in repentance with faith.
Many Will Not Be Known. Many will think they are saved, but Jesus does not know them. Works do not save. Words do not save. Repentance and faith in Christ save.
Many Will Be Lost Many think they are saved and will end up surprised and in hell.
All are Sinners
Romans 3.10-11 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.”
Romans 3.23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
There is a Price for Sin
Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 20.15 anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Isaiah 53.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Hebrews 9.22 according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Salvation is Only Found in Jesus
Romans 10.9-10, 13 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
Acts 3.19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out
Acts 4.12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Salvation Makes Us a Part of God'’s Family
John 1.12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Galatians 3.29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
WHO IS IT THAT JESUS WAS TALKING TO???IF WE ARE SAVED WHEN WE ASK HIM IN TO OUR HEARTS THEN WHO IS HE TALKING TO???WHO IS OUTSIDE?? TRYING TO GET IN??Please hELP ME WITH THIS I WANT TO MAKE SURE I WILL BE WITH THE LORD!!THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME WITH THIS!!
A: Your sermon is absolutely to the point. There is nothing wrong with this outline that you have used to preach a sermon. I will certainly expound metaphor of "The Narrow Way" that Jesus used to bring out a truth.
Jesus was in a Journey towards Jerusalem and He was teaching all the people who were living in the nearby cities and villages. They were learned Israelites who had the knowledge of the Scripture greatly without the saving faith in Jesus (Luke 13:22). These religious Jews who thought that they need no salvation because of following the law of Moses, were challenged by Jesus to believe in Him to get saved eternally and so were perplexed due to the tradition they followed. They knew that many did not believe in Jesus' radical message of salvation by faith because they believed in salvation by works through following the written Law of Moses which was their local tradition for centuries past (John 5:39-40). So naturally the question that came to their mind and that which they asked Jesus was, "Lord, are there few who are saved?” (Luke 13:23, a). In other words they were asking Jesus, "If people can be saved only by faith alone, then in the whole of this Jewish nation, only few will be saved as most of them followed only the tradition of their elders and the Law of Moses to get saved from sin and death (Mark 7:8-13; John 9:28; 5:45-46)." The reply that Jesus gave to these religious hard nuts was this one, "24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’" (Luke 13:24-25). In other words Jesus was saying to these religious Jews, "Try your best to be saved by faith through grace, many will try to continue with the law of Moses and the traditions of the Jewish elders and will not be able to get saved from sin and death (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 6:23). Once I rise up from the dead and close the door of salvation to the Jews (Rom 11:25; Matt 15:24; John 4:22; Matt 21:42-44), then you will stand outside the kingdom of God in the eternal doom of condemned state of sin, by being seperated from God's life-giving presence and will cry out saying, "Please save us! Please save us!" Then I will say to you, I do not know you because you have not been really saved by faith and have not been really brought in to eternal relationship with the real God as His Children (Luke 16:19-31; Rom 8:9; John 1:12)."
Jesus clearly told what more these religious Jews of that present generation will say to Him after their death. Jesus then said, "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 you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 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, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”" (Luke 13:26-30). Jesus was saying that these religious people will appeal to the physical connection that they had with Him as a Jew and the son of Abraham, Issac and Jacob their physical fathers. But these unbelieving Jews have failed to understand "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50) because of rejecting the salvation by faith only message that Jesus preached to them when they lived in that generation in which Christ came and preached to them. Once a man dies, his eternal destiny cannot be chaged by their own effort anymore. As the Scripture also says and agrees with the preceding point by saying, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." (Heb 9:27). After their death, they will be resurrected on the day of the White Throne Jugment once more in their natural body again in a condemned state with sin nature still residing in them and will only be allowed to face judgment for their lack of salvation which they did not seek while they lived on earth (John 5:28-29; Rev 20:11-15; Acts 17:26-31). The eternal hell will be set up by God in such a way that they will be able to see clearly those who were saved by faith in Jesus for eternity ahead in the New Heavens and Earth (Isa 66:22-24), so that they will be seeing all the Gentiles and the Jews together who were saved by faith in Jesus, right from the time of Adam to the last man who lived physically in the Millenium rulership of Jesus sitting down in the kingdom of God, resting eternally with God in His kingdom as His sons and children (Rev 20:4; Matt 8:11-12; Gal 3:26-29). Seeing this awesome happiness and serenity all those who were saved by faith experience, these unsaved unbelievers will show their remorse, anger and hate against God and his sons by weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mark 9:42-48; Matt 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30, 41, 46; Luke 13:28). But at that time it will be too late for these people to think of getting out of the eternal torments that they foolishly brought upon themselves by choosing the Broad way of tryng to get saved through their works (Rom 4:4; Matt 7:13-14). God is not a debtor to pay anything to any man, especially for the works that he has done in order to save himself from condemnation, sin and death, which God had never ever demanded from any man.
Finally when Jesus said, "And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last." (Luke 13:30), He was actually saying that the last person to be saved by faith will be quick enough to be the first one to enter the kingdom of God with their glorious sinless bodies compared to those who try to get saved themselves by their own works and end up only to rise up in their sinful body after all the righteous people get resurrected after the Millenium rule of Jesus Christ and just before the White Throne Judgment (John 5:28-29), only to face eternal death through the evaluation of their works which could not save them from sin and death. So this is what was clearly explained by Jesus in a metaphor. The bottom line is, "Narrow way" means "Salvation by Faith", "Broad way" means "Salvation by Works". Praise the Lord!
You have perfectly spoken about Salvation by Faith in Jesus alone and your are right to every word. You need to stick on to this Holy Spirit conviction with which you preached, Praise the Lord! You need not retract this message when people do not want to accept it. Many did not like the radical message of Jesus who spoke by the Holy Spirit conviction that there is only one "Narrow way of Faith to get Saved", so also many will not like this message in our generation and might face the sad and irrevocable condemned state in eternal fire of Hell. If Jesus' message of salvation by faith only was not accepted by all whom he preached to in His generation, we as His disciples cannot be greater than Him (Luke 6:40; Matt 10:24). Thanks and Blessings......
Jesus was in a Journey towards Jerusalem and He was teaching all the people who were living in the nearby cities and villages. They were learned Israelites who had the knowledge of the Scripture greatly without the saving faith in Jesus (Luke 13:22). These religious Jews who thought that they need no salvation because of following the law of Moses, were challenged by Jesus to believe in Him to get saved eternally and so were perplexed due to the tradition they followed. They knew that many did not believe in Jesus' radical message of salvation by faith because they believed in salvation by works through following the written Law of Moses which was their local tradition for centuries past (John 5:39-40). So naturally the question that came to their mind and that which they asked Jesus was, "Lord, are there few who are saved?” (Luke 13:23, a). In other words they were asking Jesus, "If people can be saved only by faith alone, then in the whole of this Jewish nation, only few will be saved as most of them followed only the tradition of their elders and the Law of Moses to get saved from sin and death (Mark 7:8-13; John 9:28; 5:45-46)." The reply that Jesus gave to these religious hard nuts was this one, "24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’" (Luke 13:24-25). In other words Jesus was saying to these religious Jews, "Try your best to be saved by faith through grace, many will try to continue with the law of Moses and the traditions of the Jewish elders and will not be able to get saved from sin and death (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 6:23). Once I rise up from the dead and close the door of salvation to the Jews (Rom 11:25; Matt 15:24; John 4:22; Matt 21:42-44), then you will stand outside the kingdom of God in the eternal doom of condemned state of sin, by being seperated from God's life-giving presence and will cry out saying, "Please save us! Please save us!" Then I will say to you, I do not know you because you have not been really saved by faith and have not been really brought in to eternal relationship with the real God as His Children (Luke 16:19-31; Rom 8:9; John 1:12)."
Jesus clearly told what more these religious Jews of that present generation will say to Him after their death. Jesus then said, "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 you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 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, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”" (Luke 13:26-30). Jesus was saying that these religious people will appeal to the physical connection that they had with Him as a Jew and the son of Abraham, Issac and Jacob their physical fathers. But these unbelieving Jews have failed to understand "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50) because of rejecting the salvation by faith only message that Jesus preached to them when they lived in that generation in which Christ came and preached to them. Once a man dies, his eternal destiny cannot be chaged by their own effort anymore. As the Scripture also says and agrees with the preceding point by saying, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." (Heb 9:27). After their death, they will be resurrected on the day of the White Throne Jugment once more in their natural body again in a condemned state with sin nature still residing in them and will only be allowed to face judgment for their lack of salvation which they did not seek while they lived on earth (John 5:28-29; Rev 20:11-15; Acts 17:26-31). The eternal hell will be set up by God in such a way that they will be able to see clearly those who were saved by faith in Jesus for eternity ahead in the New Heavens and Earth (Isa 66:22-24), so that they will be seeing all the Gentiles and the Jews together who were saved by faith in Jesus, right from the time of Adam to the last man who lived physically in the Millenium rulership of Jesus sitting down in the kingdom of God, resting eternally with God in His kingdom as His sons and children (Rev 20:4; Matt 8:11-12; Gal 3:26-29). Seeing this awesome happiness and serenity all those who were saved by faith experience, these unsaved unbelievers will show their remorse, anger and hate against God and his sons by weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mark 9:42-48; Matt 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30, 41, 46; Luke 13:28). But at that time it will be too late for these people to think of getting out of the eternal torments that they foolishly brought upon themselves by choosing the Broad way of tryng to get saved through their works (Rom 4:4; Matt 7:13-14). God is not a debtor to pay anything to any man, especially for the works that he has done in order to save himself from condemnation, sin and death, which God had never ever demanded from any man.
Finally when Jesus said, "And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last." (Luke 13:30), He was actually saying that the last person to be saved by faith will be quick enough to be the first one to enter the kingdom of God with their glorious sinless bodies compared to those who try to get saved themselves by their own works and end up only to rise up in their sinful body after all the righteous people get resurrected after the Millenium rule of Jesus Christ and just before the White Throne Judgment (John 5:28-29), only to face eternal death through the evaluation of their works which could not save them from sin and death. So this is what was clearly explained by Jesus in a metaphor. The bottom line is, "Narrow way" means "Salvation by Faith", "Broad way" means "Salvation by Works". Praise the Lord!
You have perfectly spoken about Salvation by Faith in Jesus alone and your are right to every word. You need to stick on to this Holy Spirit conviction with which you preached, Praise the Lord! You need not retract this message when people do not want to accept it. Many did not like the radical message of Jesus who spoke by the Holy Spirit conviction that there is only one "Narrow way of Faith to get Saved", so also many will not like this message in our generation and might face the sad and irrevocable condemned state in eternal fire of Hell. If Jesus' message of salvation by faith only was not accepted by all whom he preached to in His generation, we as His disciples cannot be greater than Him (Luke 6:40; Matt 10:24). Thanks and Blessings......
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment