Word of Salvation – Vol.11 No.29 – July 1965
- The Narrow Door
Sermon by Rev. W. F. Van Brussel on Luke 13:24-28
Scripture Reading: Matthew 7:13-29
Psalter Hymnal: 334; 48:3; 48:7; 121 (tune 456); 443; 452
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
On one of His preaching tours in Galilee, Jesus was asked by somebody, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
We do not find any particulars to determine whether this man intended to tempt Jesus, or whether his question was merely one of curiosity.
What we do know is that Jesus brought this question into the open by addressing His answer to the crowd that were around Him. And from His reply we learn that there are questions of infinitely higher importance with which man must busy himself.
This answer is found in the parable on the narrow door.
We can find three things of extreme weight for each one of us in the reply of our Lord Jesus:
- We must strive to enter while the door is open.
- We must always remember that some day the door will be closed.
- We must realise that the closed door
will cause a great deal of disappointment.
1. So, first of all, we must strive to enter in through the open door, narrow though it may be. We shall never become enthusiastic about this invitation, or rather: this exhortation, unless we know what is behind this door. To what does it give entrance?
In the parable the Lord Jesus speaks of a house in which the Master receives His guests who are to partake of the great feast which He has prepared. This house stands for the Kingdom of God, not in the earthly sense, but the spiritual Kingdom.
When all the heirs of the Kingdom will have arrived, they will partake of the great Messianic Feast of Salvation. This is the Kingdom and the everlasting feast to which the door gives entrance. And what is the meaning of this door?
The door which gives entrance to the Kingdom of God and to eternal salvation in this connection – is conversion.
That is why the Lord tells us to strive and enter in.
Of this door it is said that it is narrow. This makes us understand immediately that nothing large and bulky can pass through it. No impenitent and unbelieving heart can pass through this door of conversion. It indeed is a narrow door!
Thus we hear our Lord Jesus calling each one of us to repentance. He does not exclude anyone of His hearers. Although this question was asked by only one person, our Lord answered the question before the crowd. He calls all of them. Right now, He calls each one of us, too!
Could we ever say that this call of His is not well-meaning? Do we have a right to claim that the Lord Jesus does not mean what He says when He calls each one of us? He certainly does mean it! A thing which we must notice here is that our Lord warns us against speculative and curious questions. We so easily start discussing things, and we like reasoning concerning certain views and aspects. But the Lord Jesus makes clear that we ought to be concerned with life questions, and especially with the questions regarding our own personal tie of fellowship with Him.
It goes without saying that all who hear this call of the Lord Jesus ought to obey. Man is in duty bound to strive and enter in through the narrow door. Man is enjoined to humble himself before God and to accept the promise of salvation by faith. Man must repent. Man must strive to get in. For now the door is still open!
This is the day of salvation. You see, Jesus calls each one of us to enter in through this narrow door. He calls sinners to repentance.
Have you obeyed the Lord’s call?
Have you repented?
Have you believed?
Now is the time! The door is open, now!
* * * * *
- For we ought to remember that some day this door will be shut. When will that be?
Jesus undoubtedly refers here to the great day of judgment which is the final day of reckoning. And thus judgment-day can be said to be the day of this final closing of the door of the Kingdom. With respect to the world as a whole, that is! For as long as the present world stands, and we live, we must hold that the door of conversion is still open to all. Thus, with respect to the whole world, the door will be closed on judgment-day. But there is a preliminary… a preparatory closing of this door. That is at the moment when death comes. That, too, is a shutting of that door, is it not? For this particular person who dies, anyway! That, too, is a decisive moment, for any person.
Then the day of grace is past. That is, for the individual who passes away, no new opportunity will be given to repent. There is no second opportunity for a man’s salvation, once a person has passed away. All who claim so, build on merely human and unbiblical inventions. This closing of the door will boil down to a lasting , even everlasting separation. Christ has taught this with strong emphasis.
This separation will be made between man and man in general as is stressed in verse 29, where it is stated that men shall come from all the four corners of the world and sit together at the table in the Kingdom of God.
But in our text emphasis is laid on the fact that a separation will be made between church-people and church-people, members of the covenant and members of the covenant, between believing and unbelieving people of the church.
We shall do well to ponder these truths and realities time and again. In this parable our Lord Jesus teaches that some of the members of the covenant will be within the house, within the Kingdom and the halls of joy, and that these will be within to partake of the great feast of salvation.
But others stand without. They will not have entered in, and will not be in the house. They will not be in the Kingdom, but shut out! There will be a door between them. And this is going to be a closed door. They will be separated for ever.
We may wonder who will be the one to come and shut the door. This will be the Lord Jesus, the Master Himself.
Today, Jesus is still inviting and urging sinners to enter in through the narrow door. Today Jesus is urging covenant-members to repent, to turn away from sin, and to return unto God in faith. This is in order that they may partake of the great feast of salvation in the heavenly Kingdom of the new Jerusalem.
Now, this self-same Jesus will shut the door.
First He is presented as the Master of the house Who has prepared the feast. He is pictured as sitting down to await His guests to arrive. He expects them to come through the open door. But, finally, we see Him arise and walk to the door, and close it. The season of grace is ended, then, for ever. The door is closed!
This moment will definitely come, that the door will be shut. The time of grace will have ended. And this Jesus Who now calls you and me, will then close the door. Jesus, the Saviour is also Jesus, the Judge.
On which side of the door will you and I be, then? Will you be within, or without?
You ought to decide on this question, right now. Not tomorrow, but today!
* * * * *
- This fact of the closed door will cause a great deal of disappointment, since it is hard for man to believe that this moment when the door will be closed, will ever turn up.
n vs.24 it says that many will seek to enter and will not be able. This has been applied erroneously – wrongly – to some who are now seeking to enter in through the narrow door; now, in this life!
But it is clear from the Scriptures that those who now are eager to get in, are allowed in. Would Jesus ever invite people, and then, as they come, close the door in their faces? That is a horrible thought which can never find any ground in the Gospel. This mistake can only be made, when certain statements in the Bible are taken out of their context.
Here the text has reference to those who shall try to enter in after the door is closed, that is to say: when it is too late! It is not in this life, but hereafter, when the day of grace is passed.
It is good to ask ourselves the question on what ground such people did expect, or rather will expect, to enter in, and to inherit salvation. We must listen then to what they say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets”. We used to go to church, we confessed our faith and partook of Holy Communion; we also had our children baptized.
We can learn from this that they build their expectations solely and fully on a merely outward relation to Jesus and His church, but they have always lacked faith and humility.
Yet, it is reasonable what is done to them, is it not?
That is what Jesus explains, anyway. The Master of the house will disown them. He will say to them: “I do not know where you come from”. I do not know you!
They claim to know Jesus, but Jesus does not know them! That is to say, Jesus does not know them as belonging to the spiritual family of God. They have not passed through the narrow door!
Jesus will send them away, out of His blessed presence. As long as they were still in this life, Jesus kept on calling them and inviting them most cordially: “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!”
But they did not come through this narrow door. And now Jesus says to them: Depart from Me! That is the punishment meted out to them for not heeding the call of Jesus.
Do not overlook that Jesus calls them “workers of iniquity”, Jesus does not find anything good in them! Just realise what this must have meant for these proud Jews. And do not forget to ponder what this means for a church member, today.
It is not that the saved people, in themselves, are any better than they.
But these people have never really humbled themselves before God, and have never accepted the Gospel of salvation as it is offered in the Bible, which is God’s own precious Word. They never hated sin. They never loved Jesus truly. They will all be unmasked in the end, one by one!
It is stated here that they will be thrust out. They are for ever outside of the Kingdom of God, and do not share in the blessings of eternal life. There will be weeping, because of both their sufferings and their remorse, particularly the latter.
And there shall be gnashing of teeth, indicating their anger and hatred.
And their misery will be the worse through the knowledge that other church members whom they have known are within, and that they are eternally rejoicing at the feast with men such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These will be with all the saints in glory.
Congregation, again we are reminded of the necessity of pondering the question whether we not depend merely on our outward relation to Jesus and to His church. We cannot depend on outward forms alone, for then we shall be disappointed in the end.
For people such as Jesus does not know, He is definitely going to send away. They are even called “workers of iniquity”, although they may have been church-members all their life long.
It is a terrible experience – it must be – to be shut out for ever. And do not forget, this is a reality, for sure! But now, the door is open, still!.
And Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless sea,
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying, “Christian, follow Me!”
Amen.