THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

Christ is willing to receive sinners, but sinners are not willing to come to Him.Therefore, few are saved.We also find here a serious exhortation:73A SERIOUS EXHORTATION (13:24-25)“He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, becausemany, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of thehouse gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading,'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where youcome from'” (Lk 13:24-25).We are told that when our Lord Jesus Christ was asked whether few would be saved. Hesaid to struggle to enter in at the narrow door. The Greek word agonizomai is the word fromwhich we get agonize. The idea is to agonize, struggle, contend, strive, labor fervently, 1 makeevery effort to make sure we enter in God’s door that leads to His kingdom. Since the verb is inthe present tense a literal translation is “Keep on striving to enter.”Entry into the kingdom of God is not automatic. It is the result of an agonizing struggle.The struggle to enter in must be so intense that it is best characterized as “an agony of soul andspirit.” 2 He addressed these words to the whole company of His hearers. He did not think it waswise to simply gratify the curiosity of His questioner by a direct reply. Instead He chose toemphasize with him, and all around him, their own immediate responsibility. In looking out fortheir own souls, they would soon find the question answered. In making every effort to enter inat the narrow door they would soon find out whether the saved were many or few.Jesus wants us to know in no uncertain terms what our responsibility is. The door isnarrow and the enemies of our souls are many. We must be active. Instead of inquiring whatother people are doing and whether many of our neighbors, relatives and friends are servingChrist, we must make sure that we are in fact doing so. The unbelief and indecision of others willnot excuse us at the Day of Judgment. We dare not follow the crowd to do what is popular,something that ultimately ends in destruction. Rather, we must be willing to go against thecurrent of our times and swim upstream. Whether many go with us or not, our resolve must be to"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door."