Strive

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. Brethren, before I came back here in December, I had been invited a couple times to preach in the Netherlands. And one of the things that I did over there was I wanted to bring an overview of Matthew’s Gospel. Now that came out of a personal study that I had been doing for some time just on Jesus, what Jesus says. Brethren, I’m concerned about something. I kind of keep my ear to the ground as far as reformed circles, our own circles. And it feels to me like oftentimes we have a hard time hearing what Jesus says. <!–more–>We have taken certain Pauline statements, “By grace through faith,” or, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” which are absolutely true. But it’s almost like if you take those without the context of what Jesus says, you can almost not hear what those verses actually mean. And I’ve been feeling this, and so it’s led me to very systematically go through Matthew, Mark, and Luke – John, too, but especially those synoptic gospels – and really hear.

And you know what did this? We had a young lady in the church over in Manchester who was constantly struggling with doubt, with a lack of assurance. And I thought, if you just listen to Jesus, what does He say to people? What does He say to sinners? Because I think we would all agree what He says is what we ought to be saying. And as I am doing this kind of study, I feel like more and more people in the reformed circles– and now you can put yourself in the judgment seat and figure this out for yourself. But it just feels to me like we don’t really hear Jesus oftentimes. And I think that’s really problematic. And as I’m thinking through all of this, I came across a clip by Paul Washer where he was speaking to reformed people. And he told those people, “Your Bible is bigger than Romans and Ephesians.” Amen to that. I heard Andy saying how he constantly was asking pastors, “What are you preaching on?” “Romans in the morning; 10 commandments in the evening. Ephesians in the morning; we’re going through the Second Baptist Confession in the evening.” And he gets all fired up, and he said, “Brothers, we need to remember the red letters. We got to go there. We need to live there.”

And I think again, when we had this preaching class several weeks back, months back now, it just made me recognize. Jesus says things like the kingdom is taken by violence, by grace through faith. It’s almost like by grace through faith, we want to rest. But I think we can miss what that rest looks like. Jesus says, “Strive to enter.” And He says, “You better–” In this portion of scripture we’re going to look at, the number of times He says, “You.” Now let’s look at it, Luke 13:22. And I’m going to read down through the end of that in verse 30. “Jesus went on His way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Someone (now we don’t know who this guy is; it’s just someone) said to Him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ 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’ll answer you, “I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say–”

Now, you just think if you’re in the crowd and the number of times Jesus is saying “you.” It’s almost assuming you are on the outside. “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence. You taught in our streets.’ He’ll say, ‘I tell you. I do not know where you come from. Depart from Me, all 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 cast out. And people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at the table in the Kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” You know what? Nobody can dodge this. Nobody can escape this. You either enter that door or you are left out. Nobody can say, “I check out. No, thank you.” Every one of us are here.

Now here’s the thing. You think about this guy, this someone. We can imagine he’s a Jew. And we have some idea about what the Jews’ mindset was about their relationship to Abraham, and they were the people of God, and how Gentiles fit into the whole thing. And we don’t know who it is, but we have some idea of how he might have been thinking. But what we do know for certain is we know the question. The question he asks, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Now, I think if you and I are honest, that question interests us. I mean, yeah, wow, if people are saved, but where did it come from? Why did that guy feel like he needed to ask it? What was going on in his mind? I figured this. This guy probably doesn’t show up right here. He probably wasn’t away on a long trip, and Jesus came and he knew nothing about it, and all of a sudden he shows up in town, and he hears Him for the first time. He likely has heard other things that Jesus said. Now, whether he was actually there and heard him directly, you’ve got to know, Jesus was the buzz of the town. And what He said was also being re-communicated. It was being restated. People were wondering, what is this guy teaching?

And as he’s listening to Jesus, you can imagine, some of his thinking, some of his presuppositions, some of his ideas, are being shaken. Anybody that listen to Jesus, you know this. Jesus shocks us. Even today, even after you sit for this long as a Christian, however long you’ve been saved, you come to Jesus and still the things He says tend to shock us. He disrupted people’s ideas. Brethren, I had my ideas. Did you have them? I mean, for 25 years of my life, I had ideas. And then they were building, they were growing, the syncretistic Catholic idea where a bunch of stuff just morphed together in my mind. But I had ideas. My ideas were Mary is really important. I had ideas. I’d seen these pictures. I remember going to my grandmother’s house, seeing these pictures of Jesus. He looked effeminate. He looked weak. I felt like Mary was more important. But we all have these– remember we were talking a few weeks back about these strongholds that we tear down with divine weapons. And what are they? They’re speculations, they’re opinions, they’re ideas. Brethren, Jesus came and He shook those strongholds. He shook our ideas, and He’s shaken them up.

I had these ideas that most people were going to heaven. I had ideas that it was hard to go to hell. I had ideas that it was easy to get into heaven. I had ideas that Jesus just virtually begged me to be saved. That’s the idea. My lofty opinions that were raised against God, it’s like all of a sudden I came face to face with MacArthur’s Gospel According to Jesus. He dealt with all these statements of Jesus out of the gospels that I’m wanting to hit on and emphasize right now. And I was confronted by that. And suddenly it shook me to the core. I had this idea that basically the priests and popes, they were the ones that were really in the know. I had an idea that a Bible basically emanated some kind of supernatural power. It was like the thing with vampires and the cross. It was like if you had a Bible in your room, somehow it kept the demons away and it was kind of this holy thing that sat over there. Those were my ideas.

This guy had his ideas. This someone, you can imagine he’s hanging around. And I’ll tell you, if you look right there in Luke, in the fairly immediate context leading up to this point, you know the kinds of things that he heard? I mean, if you’re in the crowd and you start hearing things like, “If anybody would come after Me, the guy’s got to deny himself. He’s got to carry his cross daily and follow.” He says things like, “Whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, that guy’s going to be the one that finds his life.” You get this guy that comes up to Him and says, “I’ll follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus looks at him and says, “Foxes have a place and birds have a place, but the Son of Man does not have anywhere to lay His head.” If this guy was hearing any of these things, or it was coming through the grapevine and coming back to his ears, he’s thinking Jesus is constantly trying to thin the crowd.

John 6, “You guys want to go away too?” You don’t get the feeling He was trying to amass as many people as possible. In fact, very often He said, “Don’t tell them who I am. Be silent about– Don’t go to the Gentiles.” It’s like, doesn’t He want the whole world to know? And then even when He’s got a crowd, people are going away one after another. He turns to His twelve and He says, “Guys, you want to go too? Now is the opportune time, they’re all going.” Now you know what Peter said, ‘You’ve got the words of eternal life.” Brethren, He does have the words of eternal life. Let’s listen. I mean, in chapter 12, just one chapter before this, He says to the whole crowd, not just to the rich young ruler, He says, “Go sell your possessions and give to the poor.” If you’re this guy and you’re hearing this kind of stuff, you’re feeling like this is not a popular message. Right? I mean, if this is the Messiah, this is the way– And you know what he’s talking about. You know what’s on the table here. He says, “Are there many who are going to be saved?” Salvation is the thing on the table. You can’t get away from it.

And you know what happens when you get in this very chapter? I mean, I don’t know if he was around at the beginning of the chapter, but I find this very interesting. He said, “Guys, you know that tower in Siloam that fell on 18 people?” He said, “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” Now get this. It was in Jerusalem. It fell on Jerusalem Jews, not Gentiles. It fell on Jews. It fell on 18. You know what Jesus says? They all perished. You know what that means? In Jesus’ day, take a random 18 people, have a tower kill them. The likelihood is all of them are going to hell. Now, if that guy was around when that got said, you can imagine. Brethren, is this how you think? I mean, before God opened my eyes, my thinking was most people went to heaven. It was the bad guys– Police officers were good. The robbers were bad. But even then, were they that bad to go to hell? I just kind of had this idea, well, God would never throw me in hell. You got to be really bad. People say all the time, “I’m not a murder. I haven’t raped anybody.” As though what? I mean, we have this idea. If this guy was around and he was hearing this kind of stuff, and it’s like this tower fell on all these people and they perished, they’re shaking up all of his presuppositions. Jesus does that. He comes along and He shakes us. “Lord, are there few who are going to be saved?”

Now, look, if Jesus had said most people are going to heaven, what then? No one’s surprised. No opinions get rattled. Why? Because that’s what we expect. Most people think they’re good enough to meet God, and apparently they’re right. Brethren, the truth is, the truth is dreadful. And you and I feel it, and you and I don’t like it. We don’t like what the truth is here. That out of the vast majority of the 8 billion people alive on this earth, Lord, are there few? We know He gives the answer in Matthew chapter 7. Here, He gives the answer a little less directly, but He gives it nevertheless. Few? Let me ask you this: why are there so few? And in the next chapter, Jesus doesn’t come along and say, “Well, because God elects so few.” You know what He says? He says this: “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.” Okay. Jesus says many are going to be on the outside of this door wanting to get in, and they’re not going to be able. Many are invited. Lots and lots of people. They’re invited. But what? At the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

Brethren, I’ll tell you this: with all your ideas about limited atonement, you better be able to say that to people. You better be able to say, “Everything is ready.” It is no hollow offer to offer indiscriminately that what Christ did on that cross has made it ready for them to come. The idea here is that salvation to the uttermost is being offered. That’s what you get. Why do so few get saved? Because what happens? It says, “They all alike began to make excuses.” Everything is ready on God’s part. Christ is willing. Christ is telling the crowds this. Christ willing to receive sinners. Sinners aren’t willing to come. They got excuses. Why? Because they’ve got a wife. They’ve got land. They’ve got oxen. And they’re wickedly married to their idols, and they won’t come. And we’ve got some in here like that. You’re coming. You’re playing with the truth. But there’s that thing in your life, or those two things in your life that you just can’t imagine giving up. That’s exactly why people don’t come. They hear the invitation, but they won’t come. And so few get saved. And you know what happens? Jesus knows this, and in the face of this reality, He says this, Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Now they’re seeking to enter, but it’s too late. They’re not playing the excuse game anymore. Now they’re desperate. Verse 25, “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’ll answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.'” It’s like with sovereign authority, He says to us, He exhorts us, He presses us, “You need to strive.” But brethren, He speaks with infinite kindness because He’s telling us to strive to get through this door. And what’s on the other side of that door? On the other side of the door is the city of refuge. It’s like Moses, Noah rather, getting closed into the ark, away from the destruction and the doom and all that is outside. He’s bidding, “Don’t stand out there shivering in the cold. Come in through this door. This is the place of rest. This is the place where paradise is. Outside that door is the sword of vengeance. The city of refuge is in there. The avenger is on the outside. Get in here. But you’ve got to strive to get in.

Who wants to be left outside shivering in that cold? I mean, if anything, brethren, if anything, why are so many seeking to get in? Because it is desirable. It is more desirable than having cars and houses and stuff and money and a beautiful wife. It is more important that you get through this door. And in the end, when it’s too late, you see how bad they want to get in. Why? Because there is a great desirableness to get through that door because what’s on the other side is the best things imaginable. On the outside, woe is you if you are on that outside. You and I have to get through. This has to do with us. This door has to do with you and me, and we’ve got to get through. And there is one way that He says to get through. And the thing about this door is it’s not going to be open forever. Your death is going to come, and Christ is going to return, and that door is going to be shut. And Jesus doesn’t paint the picture that many get in. The many are where? The many are on the wrong side of the door. They’re not on the same side as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets. They’re on the side that in that day you don’t want to be on. And yet many are going to be on it.

So the likelihood is we’ve got a fair number of people in this room that are going to be on the wrong side. Why? Why are they on the wrong side? Well, if you take verse 24 seriously, and Jesus is telling you that there is a way to get through the door, then what you have to figure is true of those who are not on the right side of the door. They didn’t strive. Lots of excuses. No striving. You know what that word is. Agonizing. Agonize! Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait. Is it only me? Or is Jesus making it sound hard, difficult to get saved? Now, wait, let’s take a closer look at this. Look at verse 24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Wait a second. Is that what we tell people? Do people get saved by striving or by not striving? We need to be crystal clear on this. Which is it? You know what I ask myself? Would I answer this man this way? And think about it. You’re in Jerusalem, likely a Jew who has a mindset that because of his Jewishness, that makes him good. Because of the law that he knows, that’s a positive with God. And like the rich young ruler, you got this idea that you’ve actually kept the law.

When we encounter religious, self-righteous people, should we tell them to strive? Would you tell a Catholic that? But Jesus doesn’t care. Jesus has no reservation. And here’s the thing. We all have to face Jesus. You can’t get away from Him. Don’t try to find shelter from Jesus under Paul’s teaching. Don’t go there. Because if there was anybody committed to the reality of what Jesus taught, it’s Paul. Don’t try to hide there. Brethren, we’ve got to come face to face with this Messiah as He’s presented in Scripture. We have to face Him. And you can’t get away from the fact that He said, “When it comes to the kingdom of heaven, the violent take it by force.” You say, “Wait a second. This is just not jiving with the way I think.” Brethren, let me tell you this. You know what our commission is. Our commission is to go into all the world. We have a responsibility to take the good news. What is that good news? I mean, brethren, wouldn’t you say that we ought to learn from Jesus what that good news is? I mean, brethren, is there anybody else here that agrees with me that Jesus is the best evangelist? He’s the prototype. What He said is what you want to say.

Brethren, the fact is that whatever technique He used, whatever approach He used, whatever method He had at His disposal, whatever words that He says, brethren, doesn’t that set the pattern? I would say that it does. And so, Jesus, can you imagine Him looking you in the eyeballs and saying, “You want salvation, you better strive for it.” Wow. How am I to understand that? I’ll tell you, brethren, however you understand that, I hope you understand this: whatever striving He’s talking about is the most important striving in all this universe. There is no more more important. Striving to be successful in your workplace; striving for this, that, the other thing; striving for the perfect lawn; striving for the perfect garden; striving to have so much money saved up for retirement; striving for all these different things. Brethren, this is the striving that matters more than any other striving. You’ve got to be convinced to that. “Strive to enter through the narrow door. Many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Okay. As I tell the guys in the preaching class, take it at face value. What does it sound like it’s saying? Jesus assumed, have you never read? There’s assumptions all over scripture that if you would just read it and pay attention to what you’re reading, you would understand. Yes, there’s some hard things to be understood, but the vast majority of Scripture was written to pretty common people. We don’t have to think that it’s only the theologians that can understand these things. I would just say, what does this sound like? Brethren, does anybody else agree that when you use a word agónizomai, agonize, strive; when you use a word like that, it is indicating that some kind of exertion is required. The work is great. The enemies are strong. We’ve got to be up and doing. You want to wait for nobody. Don’t worry about what others are doing. Their unbelief, the unbelief of others is no excuse.

Look, if you have to go to heaven alone by striving while other people sit back and don’t strive, then go. Up and be doing. That’s the kind of thing that you get from this. You’ve got to go alone, resolved by God’s grace to go alone. The command is plain. It says strive, not randomly. It says strive to enter. There is a place that you are striving to get to. That’s the issue here. You’ve got a responsibility to exert yourself. So don’t sit there in your sin, waiting for God to do something, with this vain, hyper-calvanistic notion that you can’t do anything until God zaps you, God does this, God draws you. That’s not what Jesus says. He says, “Up and strive and follow Me.” You want salvation? You want to get through that door? Then don’t sit there blaming the sovereignty of God for your inactivity. You don’t want to do that. Up immediately. Follow him. The subject on the table is salvation. Strive for salvation.

But brethren, we say, “Wait. By grace through faith. What’s with all this striving?” Brethren, listen, we all, I think, can fairly well assume. Jesus is not misleading us. He’s not trying to confuse us. And the truth is if we’re going to be faithful to the souls of men, don’t be afraid to talk like Jesus talks.

Now, I find in my Bible that there is a perfect place to interpret all of this. And I want you all to turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 3. And I want you to see this with your own eyes. I want you to get an idea. Go to chapter 4 because I want you to see this. Chapter 4 verse 11. The ESV reads this way, “Let us therefore strive.” If you just take those words as they’re found in the ESV, it sounds just the same. Now, Jesus is telling us to strive to get through the narrow gate or get through that door. Here, the author of Hebrews says, “Strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” So, you see, what Hebrews is dealing with, “What must I do to enter the eternal rest of God?” What’s the answer? “Strive to enter.” Or If you’ve got the KJV, it says, “Labor.” One translation says, “Make every effort.” Some translations say, “Be diligent.” But the idea here is putting forth an effort. Make every effort. Strive. Strive to enter. Strive to not fall like the disobedient Hebrews in the wilderness.

But here’s the thing I want you to see. Here’s the thing that I think you’ve got to grasp. Striving and believing are not set at odds here. Notice this. Look at chapter 4, verse 3. Down in 11, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, which can be translated, fight.” 4 verse 3, “We who have believed enter that rest.” You know what that teaches us? Making every effort to get through that door and believing to get through that door are not at odds with each other. I hope you can all see that. It’s not a contradiction. God is not saying there’s two different ways that we can possibly enter His rest, either by believing or by striving. Believing and striving are obviously two ways of saying exactly the same thing. What’s He talking about? Brethren, it’s the same thing that we’re going to see in James when we return there. You show me your faith without works, and I’m going to show you a faith that’s dead. What He’s talking about here is a faith that strives. There is no kind of faith that’s going to get you through that door except the faith that strives. Striving faith. That’s the idea here. Energy is required. We need to apply ourselves, and Christ works through that striving.

Yes, brethren, this takes a power beyond ourselves, but we’re looking to the One who’s given us all these promises that He’s going to empower us as we seek to go through that. Brethren, this is the kind of thing where, “Go into the land of Canaan.” “Okay, but the river’s at flood stage.” “Go, put your feet in that water.” But see, until they put the feet in the water, those priests did that, the waters didn’t hold back. Faith goes down there and says, “We got to get across. We got to take the promised land.” Faith is going to go down. Faith works, faith acts, faith obeys. Energy is required. We apply ourselves. Christ works through our strivings. He works through our joys. He works through our groans. He works through our sighs. He works through our desires and our hopes and our actions. And there it is. And brethren, I’ll tell you this. What jumps out at me is this. Look at chapter 3 verse 7 of Hebrews. This author is going to latch on to Psalm 95. And he says this, “The Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Now remember what He’s talking. He’s talking about entering that rest. How do you enter that rest? You enter the rest by doing what the author of Hebrews does. You take things like Psalm 95 and you apply them to you and to your life.

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put Me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart. They have not known My ways.’ And I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'” You see, they didn’t enter. They didn’t strive to enter. And the thing is, what this author of Hebrews latches on to is what he read in verse 7, “Today, if you hear His voice.” When you get down to 13, “Exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Go to 3 verse 15, “As it is said, today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” You go down to 4 verse 7, “Again, He appoints a certain day, Today, saying through David so long afterward,” and the words already quoted from Psalm 95, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The writer of Hebrews is not just interested in what the striving looks like. He’s equally interested in when the striving needs to take place. Do you see that? The author is grabbed by this. He’s gripped by it. He reasons, “Hey, today.” And even though David wrote so long afterwards, and then Hebrews is written so long after David, still he looks back and he says, “Wow. That’s for us. That’s for our day. If we can call any day Today, if we can call any day Today, that is our day. Psalm 95 proclaims a rest that must be entered today. You know what? Today’s the day to strive to enter that rest. And you know what? He’s largely talking to people that he assumes are Christians in Hebrews. And yet he’s telling them to strive to enter? Strive to enter? Wait, aren’t we already in or out? Brethren, I’ll tell you, every indication about this striving is that this is the kind of striving you do today, and that you do every day. Remember, it’s from faith to faith. That’s what it says in Romans 1. You live by faith today. You live by faith tomorrow. As long as it’s called Today, we live by faith, we’re striving by faith, we’re striving to enter that God’s rest.

Brethren, the basic strategy for striving to enter God’s rest is to live the Christian life today. You cannot get away from that reality. Look at Hebrews 3:13, “Exhort one another every day as long as it is called Today.” That’s what I’m doing to you right now. I am exhorting you. It is today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. There it is right there. You’ve got to hold onto every day, as long as it’s today, and all the todays, until we get to the end. And you’ve got to hold that original confidence. You’ve got to live by faith today, as it is said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Holding fast isn’t something you do yesterday and now it’s done. It’s not that pill you take. Look at 14, “We have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence.” Our confidence. You see, the faith, we hold on to it. We run. Today, God speaks. Today, you’ve got to hear His voice. Today, we trust His voice. Today is the day to obey that voice. Today, we exhort one another not to be hardened.

Brethren, this is no small matter. You cannot live the Christian life tomorrow. The Christianity, the Bible is the today kind of Christianity. Faith strives today. Today is the day. We fight to not fall into the same kind of disobedience of the Hebrews in the wilderness. Brethren! They wouldn’t face the giants. That happened on a today. And you know why they didn’t? God said, “You go in there, I’ll be with you.” We got giants. Giants of sin. Giants of darkness. Giants of an unreached world. Giants of our own weakness. And God’s given us promises. And you know what they said? “We’re grasshoppers. Can’t do it.” There’s todays when you reason, “I’m a grasshopper. I can’t do it,” when God has given you the promises that He’s given. Brethren, do you realize, there are todays that you live the Christian life, or there are todays you begin to drift away. They were drifting. Today is when decisions are made to slow down – a little more rest and relaxation – or to press ahead.

There are todays that our faith says with Jonathan, “God can do this by many or by few.” John loves it, “Little is much when God is in it.” Jonathan could say, “We’re pretty little down here, just me and my armor bearer.” Whoa, look at that. The enemy’s up there at the top of that hill. You ever climbed? I like to climb hills. You climb a steep hill, you’re pretty tired when you get to the top. That’s the last thing I’d want to take up the sword when I got to the top of the hill and start battling an enemy that’s all fresh and been waiting for me. Jonathan, that’s pretty foolish. We’re going to have two funerals tonight, and this is not going to go well. But you know what he said? He said the same kind of thing that David said. “There’s a God in Israel. The enemies of God, who are they to do what they’re doing and say what they’re saying and to blaspheme our God and to deride Him?” Brethren, we need some people like Caleb and Joshua who say, “You know what? Our God is with us and our God has given us promises.”

And there are todays when you take God at His Word and you say, “That’s it. Into the battle, many or few. We storm the strongholds of the enemy.” That’s the kind of thing you got. Brethren, there are todays when Christians stop evangelizing. There are todays when Christians stop. When you kind of say, “You know what? I think normal Christianity is just kind of mundane, lackluster.” If I went to the ballet before I became a Christian, now it’s okay just to keep on going.” And I’m not knocking that and saying– but, brethren, there are todays when we stop giving as much and todays when we stop being so involved in trying to reach out to the widow and the orphan and visiting the needy. Brethren, there are todays when you entangle yourself with a hundred thousand things and forms of fruit-hindering, heart-hardening, flesh-pleasing distractions. Brethren, is that not the case? There’s todays when it happens. There’s todays when we let down our guard. There are todays when we stop praying, stop fasting. Todays when we take it easy. Todays when we begin to coast. Todays when our arms hang down. And it’s like we start wondering, is this worth it? Is this really what it’s all about?

Brethren, going to the Apostle Paul, he resonated with the same thing: Do you know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Brethren, I’ll tell you this, don’t only run. Make sure you run so that you win. That’s exactly what’s being said here. Brethren, those who will have heaven, you’ve got to run for it. Run, man. I so often come back to that picture. Man at a desk. Next, here comes a man. He says, “Put my name down.” And he took up that sword, and he went out on that field. And there were those that were resisting him. There was a whole group of them. They were out there with swords. And it says, “After he gave and received many wounds, he went through that door into that city.” And Pilgrim is standing there and said, “I think I know what this means.”

Do you?

Violence!

And brethren, I’m not talking like every one of us has to go to Kathmandu. This violence happens right there with you, mother, when you’re with your children, when you’re interceding for them, when you’re on your knees, when you’re pleading with the Lord; right there where you’re at in your workplace as you’re determining about sacrifice, you’re determining about what you’re going to do with your life, what you want your kids to do with their life. Do you want them all gathered around you and living up and down the same streets? Is that what we’re after? Or has God given us a quiverful so that we can launch these children out? God save them and send them. Brethren, there are days when we feel the pull of this world and it causes us to break our stride. Be violent for it. Many run. Few obtain. That’s what Jesus says, “Strive! Strive! Strive!” Why? We got to keep going. We got to keep pressing on. We got to keep believing God. We got to keep going, brethren. We’ve got to keep going. That’s what Jesus said, because many are going to try to get in. Running happens today. It doesn’t happen yesterday or tomorrow. There are todays, brethren, when we cry, “Lord, have full dominion over me, in my home, in my work, in my character, every word that comes from my tongue, every thought of my heart, all my feelings toward my fellow man, my entire possessions, all my money, all my stuff. Lord, all of it, entire possession.”

There are todays, brethren, when we just repent of this self-life and selfishness and self-will and self-exaltation. Brethren, there are todays when we die to self, todays to strive forsaking all. That’s what Jesus said, “Unless you forsake all, you can’t be My disciple.” There are todays when we die to things. There are todays when we take on the giants. You know what? There are todays when we read– Brethren, I’ll tell you this. If you come across any text in the Bible that says this kind of person goes to heaven, this kind of person doesn’t, Well, you know what you want to be doing today? Striving to be the guy that does. If there are characteristics of the children of the devil and the children of God, you should be striving to do the things that exemplify being a child of God. If you read that those who live according to the flesh are going to die, that by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, brethren, then you should be doing that today. If you read that those that say they know Him and they don’t keep His commandments are liars and the truth isn’t in him, well, what should you be doing today? Strive for it, man! Strive! If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. Strive! That’s what Jesus said. Jesus said exactly things like that.

Jesus did say, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Now, is He Lord, or are you?

Where are we at? I think it’s a valid question. Would you say that if Jesus said something like that, that we should get to the end of our life, and when we face God on Judgment Day, the hope would be that our life was characterized by that, if Jesus is commanding us to do that kind of thing? “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me, take up his cross daily.” I mean, this is the kind of thing. Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Brethren, that’s for today. Today, whoever loses His life for My sake, brethren, if Scripture says that he’s going to gain his life, then, brethren, we need to be thinking, today is the day to lose my life. Think about the parables that describe the true and the false. Okay, you get five wise virgins, five foolish virgins. Well, what did the five wise ones have? They had oil. Then I would say this. Today, you better go get the oil. You better be stocking up on the oil. Or you got this. The foolish guy took his gifts, buried him in the sand, while the other guys they were out busily working with what Christ gave them to have something in return when Christ came. Well you better be busy doing that.

You go to the next parable and what do you have? You have sheep and goats. If those on the right were visiting and caring for and bringing into their own home needy people and hungry people and thirsty people and imprisoned people and sick people, don’t you think you ought to be doing that? Brethren, that’s for today. “Unless you forsake all that you have,” that’s for today. Lay your dreams, your ambitions, your desires, your longings on the altar. Brethren, He’s worthy. Haven’t we heard that today? Worthy. He is worthy to be followed. And this is all in kindness. He’s leading us on. Brethren, He’s not messing with us. He’s telling us the way through this door. He’s telling us the way to be with Him forever. Today! No passivity. All out fight. Today, put the armor on. Fight the good fight of faith. Have you ever thought about that? Fight the good fight of faith. Do you know that that word there both times is our same word for strive. It is agónizomai and agón. Fight. You know what He’s saying? Strive the good striving of the faith. And Paul said when he got to the end, that he fought the good fight of faith. This is a fight. If you’re going to take this life seriously, it’s a fight.

Now, brethren, we’re resting in Christ. We’re resting in what He did. But brethren, I’ll tell you this: that faith that saves is a faith that takes Him at His Word. It recognizes Him as Lord. It takes His promises. It’s going to live on those, and it’ll send you into that land to fight the giants. Because if you say, “No, I’m not going to go fight the giants.,” where’d they end up? They didn’t enter that rest. They weren’t doing this kind of striving.

Brethren, not in your own strength. You’re trusting Him, but this is all for the glory of God. This is abiding in Christ. And brethren, the question, “Lord, are there few saved?” I would just say to you, what does that matter? You know what matters? Are you saved? Are you going to get in in the end? You. You. That’s the issue. What matters is that you be one of them. You matter. Strive. Strive. This is not for the timid. This is not for the weak. Brethren, Christ does not save us to be timid and weak. In ourselves we might be. Brethren, as we were singing, “Oh God, our help in ages past,” and it talked about sitting under the shadow of the throne of God. I’m imagining that team over there in Lebanon. See, the news, they’re all about Hezbollah versus Israel. You know where the true battle is. It’s right there on the spiritual front lines of what those guys we support over there are doing. You imagine you could look into the spiritual realm, I guarantee you this: I will guarantee you that every demon in Lebanon knows who [undisclosed] is. I will guarantee you that, and we will find that out.

Brethren, they’re living by faith. Kevin been communicating with me regularly this week talking about, “Pray for me. I’m afraid. This bomb blows up. I’m afraid. I can hear them off there.” But you know what he’s doing? He’s standing his ground. And they said to him, “If you feel like you have to go home, go.” And they’re saying, “No.” You see, boldness doesn’t mean that there aren’t fears that we wrestle with. I can guarantee if you’re going to the promised land to face giants, there’s something kind of fearful about a giant. But brethren, when you come to recognize that our God is with us, Christ doesn’t save us to be timid and weak, but to rest in His strength. He saves us to declare war on sinful deeds of the body, to declare war on the devil. The devil has set his sights on us, all those that keep the commandments of God and hold to this testimony of Christ. That’s what Revelation 12 tells us. He’s declared war on us. But we recognize this: The gates of hell are not going to prevail against the church. And He will crush his head under our feet. God will crush him. The God of peace will crush him under our feet.

Brethren, He empowers us, and we can do this. We can do it to the end. It’s hard. It’s not for cowards, not for the quitters. Brethren, I’ll tell you this, Jesus says to one church in Revelation, “Don’t let anyone snatch your crown.” I hope that fits into your Calvinism. Don’t let it happen. Strive. Stay three steps ahead of anybody that would take that crown off your head. The kingdom’s taken by force. Yes, we need strength beyond our own. Lean on Him. Cling to Him. What say you? Can you say like that guy in Pilgrim’s Progress, “Okay. Okay, I got to pull my sword and receive and deliver many wounds. Put my name down. I want that city.” I hope you can say with boldness, “Yes, put my name down.” And then there’s this: The door will be shut. We’re told the time’s coming. The master of the house is going to arise. He’s going to shut the door. And you know what happens? Most get shut out forever. It’s the end. God’s patience with sinners is over. That door of mercy that was open for so long, shut. These people are desperate. Can you imagine the desperation as it’s sinking in? You will say anything.

And if they would have come desperate just a day before, Christ would have heeded them. But they weren’t desperate then. Now they’re desperate when it’s too late. It was open for so long. That blood of Christ that offered hope to sinners is never more going to be offered again. The door shuts. And the master of the house, He’s got all these people from north, south, east, and west, along with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets. And this is the marriage supper of the Lamb, and they’re going to shine in the kingdom of their father, like the sun at noonday. It is glorious in there. But notice what’s happening outside. Many will seek to enter. They’re not able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, you begin to stand outside and knock at the door saying, “Lord, open to us,” saying anything they think might prevail with Him. A day before, Jesus would have been open to them. It doesn’t matter now whether they weep, argue, scream, negotiate. No striving. They can’t strive now. It’s all to no avail.

And He says this, “I do not know–” It’s interesting. Instead of saying I don’t know who you are, “I don’t know where you come from.” You’re a foreigner. It’s like He’s saying that shadow of the throne that we sang about in that song, you didn’t come from there. You didn’t come from under the shadow of My wings. I don’t know where you came from. I don’t know your people. I called and you remained somewhere else. Foreigner. I don’t know your country. I don’t know the place you made home. JC Ryle says, “There’s something peculiarly striking in our Lord’s language in this prophecy. It reveals to us the dreadful fact that men may see what is right when it’s too late for them to be saved. There’s a time coming when many will repent too late and believe too late, sorrow for sin too late, begin to pray too late, be anxious about salvation too late, long for heaven too late. Myriads shall wake up in another world and be convinced of truths which on earth they refused to believe. Hell itself is nothing but truth known too late.”

So I say this: Strive to enter the narrow gate. Follow Christ, all out, eyes on Him, trust Him, onward. Fight the good fight of faith. Strive, strive, strive. We’re not at the end of our race yet, brethren. Only those who strive are going to enter. This is striving faith. Fight the good fight of faith. Agonize the good fight of faith. Fight to believe. Fight to keep trusting Him. Fight to see how big a God we have. Fight for it, brethren. Fight. Fight to stay awake. Fight to keep running. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight to keep your nose in your Bible. Fight to stay on your knees. Fight to keep loving one another. Fight for the unity of the church. Fight! Fight against sin. Fight. Look at His promises. Fight to keep those promises fresh in your mind, all the way to the end.

Brethren, I know we got fighters here. I so imagine glory and seeing so many of you there, and us looking at each other. And it’ll be the smile to one another of men who said, “Put my name down,” sisters who said, “Put my name down.” And we were out there in the midst of that battle together, and we made it through that door. And we’re going to cast all our crowns at Christ’s feet. And I imagine being on my face and you being on your face, and some of us looking sideways at one another, and it’s like, We made it! We made it! And we will sing His praise forever and forever because in the end, we’ll know He got us through. He carried us. He was our help. Oh God, our help in ages past. We weren’t alive in ages past. But you know what? Those witnesses in Hebrews 11 were. And by faith, they made it. By faith, they pressed on. By faith, they kept going towards a city that they could not see. They kept going. By faith, they kept going. By faith, they fought. By faith.

Father, help us to strive to enter precisely as Jesus instructed us. What words. What a Savior. What truth. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.