I want you to turn there. Luke 13. It’s the words contained in the portion of Scripture that I want to look at, where Jesus says, “Strive to enter in.” That’s the name of my message. Strive.
Ephesians 4:17, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you, Christians, must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned…
Well, open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 4. It seems like every time I preach, either you’re getting farther away from me or I’m getting farther away from you. I don’t know which it is. Let’s look at chapter 4 verse 3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.”
Hebrews chapter 12, I want to read verses 5 through 13. “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises (KJV, NKJV, NASB, all put scourge. It sounds a little more severe than chastise, right? Scourge sounds severe. And that’s what this word means.) God chastises every son whom He receives.’