Word of Salvation – Vol.38 No.31 – August 1993

 

Are Many Saved?

 

Sermon by Prof. S. Voorwinde on Matt 22:14; Luke 13: 23,24;

Scriptures: Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 13:22-35

Also Heidelberg. Catechism L.D. 7: Q&A 20

 

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Back in 1979 the evangelist Billy Graham was conducting his third campaign in Sydney and my wife asked a neighbour to attend the crusade.  But the woman refused and she did so for a very specific reason: ‘Billy Graham is too divisive!’  That answer really surprised us because if anything we thought he was too inclusive.  He seemed prepared to work together with almost anybody who claimed to be a Christian.  But when our neighbour explained herself she was absolutely correct: ‘Billy Graham divides people into saved and lost.’

And you must admit that is being divisive in the deepest possible way.  Here is someone who dares to divide people not on the basis of skin colour, or political loyalty, or national background, but on the basis of their eternal destiny.  They are either saved or lost.  There is no sharper way and there is no more painful way of dividing humanity than seeing it as made up of the saved and the lost.

As I once read on a church notice board: ‘There are only two kinds of people in the world – the saints and the aints.’  In other words either you’re a saint or you ain’t.  It was a rather striking way of driving home a very profound truth.  And when we come to Q.20 in the Catechism we find that it is in whole-hearted agreement with Billy Graham and that church notice board.

‘Are all men saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam?’ and then you get that very sad and sobering answer: ‘No!  Only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His blessings.’

That is a Scriptural truth, but it is also a sad truth.  Here we come to a difficult doctrine, not a doctrine that is difficult to understand, not hard on the mind, but hard on the emotions.  And I trust that will become clear to you and really hit you as we go along.  This is hard to accept, but it is true.  It is in the Bible over and over again – not all are saved.

It almost becomes a theme, a sad refrain in even the most loved portions of Scripture.  Think of John’s gospel for instance.  In chapter one we read: ‘He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (12) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.’ (vv.11,12)

It’s a clear cut division.  Some received Him, others did not.  Again we get the same message at the end of the third chapter: ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.’ (vs.36).

So the division is obvious: receive / don’t receive; believe / don’t obey; eternal life / God’s wrath.  Even if you read the Bible rather casually you can’t help but come to this stark conclusion.  In God’s sight, and therefore in reality there are only two kinds of people – the saved and the lost.

But then maybe we can console ourselves with the thought that only a few people are lost.  Perhaps most are saved after all and the picture doesn’t look too bad.  If we have a humanitarian bone in our body we would want it to be so.  ‘All right, there are the saved and the lost.  But surely most people are going to be saved.  Doesn’t the Bible say that God is love?’

Once we begin to grapple with those questions we immediately come to our text in Luke 13: ‘Lord are only a few people going to be saved?’  We don’t know who asked the question.  We don’t know where it was asked.  We don’t even know why it was asked.  All we are told is that when Jesus was teaching his way through towns and villages en route to Jerusalem, someone asked Him this question.  It’s an age-old question.  Even before Christ in the years B.C. people were asking this question.  History tells us that the Jewish rabbis often discussed it, and they held widely differing views.  But eventually it seems to have been firmly held that all Israel would be saved, except for a few blatant sinners who excluded themselves.

So that’s probably the background, the mentality out of which ‘someone’ asked Jesus this question.  Most of the Jews, in fact a vast majority, would be saved and presumably the Gentiles on the whole would be lost.  So perhaps this might even have been a question to test Jesus’ orthodoxy, to see whether or not He held the common view prevailing at the time.

But how does Jesus answer?  How does He handle the question?  Listen to His answer:

“He said to them (not only to the questioner but also to everyone around), ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you will try to enter and will not be able to.’”

Now notice what He is doing.  He doesn’t give a direct answer.  The question had been about arithmetic and statistics: ‘Are only a few people going to be saved?’  In a way it is an impersonal and an academic question.  But Jesus’ answer is not in kind.  He turns it right around and issues a personal challenge to all who are listening.

‘Never mind whether the number of the saved is small or great.  In a sense, that’s none of your business.  It’s up to you to make sure you are one of them.’

That’s the all-important question for us as well.  ‘Do you belong to the saved?’  If humanity is divided into the saved and the lost – then where do you place yourself?  What side of the fence are you on – the right side or the wrong side?  There is no fence-sitting here.  There is no third alternative.  Either you are saved or you are lost.  It is either one or the other.  It’s an all-or-nothing thing and let’s make no mistake about it.  Let’s not toy with religion.  Let’s not pretend we are Christians.  We must mean business because this is the most urgent issue you can imagine.

That’s why Jesus speaks with such a note of urgency:
‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door’.

Now in the original Greek this expression, ‘make every effort’, is the word ‘agonise’.  In other words, ‘agonise to enter through the narrow door’.  It was a term used to describe athletes competing in the games.  As we look forward to the Olympic games (in 1996) I think we can picture the expression on the athletes’ faces as they ‘agonise’ to be the first to get to the finishing line.  If you see a runner in slow-motion on television, then on his face you can see the strain, the exertion, the sweat.  And before that there were months, if not years, of agonising and solid training.  He spares no pain, he makes every effort to win the gold.

Let that be an inspiration and a challenge to us as we strive not for earthly gold but for that crown of glory that will not fade away.  Picture the athlete as he crosses the finishing line and you will have some idea of what Jesus has in mind in our text: ‘Strive, (agonise) make every effort to enter through the narrow door.’

Now what is this door that Jesus is talking about?  Obviously it is part of a larger picture.  He is comparing the kingdom of heaven to a great house.  You enter it through a door and that door is narrow.  So the picture is really a little bit unusual.  You have a big and beautiful house but the only way to get in is through a narrow door.  Our effort is not to push the door open, it is open to begin with, but after a time it will be shut and locked.  So we should let nothing stop us from entering while it is still open.  The only problem is that the door is narrow and we have to squeeze our way into it.  A house we once lived in had a door like that – if you wanted to get in under the floor of the house.  It was about two feet by two feet and to get in there you had to crouch down low and get on your hands and knees.  It wasn’t something you did too often.  Now that was the door under the house.  For the house of God’s kingdom it is the front door.  In fact it is the only door.  There is no other way of getting in.  You have to struggle and squeeze and bend to get through that door.

Now you may ask: ‘Why does Jesus use this imagery?  Why does he make it sound so difficult?  Why this narrow door into the kingdom?’

One of the commentaries answers quite beautifully:

‘It is readily seen why Jesus pictures the door as being narrow.  It portrays the repentance by which we enter Christ’s kingdom.  Only bent quite low, made utterly small, disrobed of all righteousness of our own, and wholly willing to have the coat of our sinful nature removed from us down to the last rag, can we get through.”

This picture of the narrow door certainly makes several things quite plain.

It explains, for instance, why Jesus could say: ‘Let the little children come to me for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’  The reason is obvious.  When you’re a kid it’s far easier to get through that little door.  If the door of the kingdom is anything like that little two by two door in my old basement, then it’s far easier for a child to get through than for an adult.

It’s also far easier for a young person to get through than an older person.  That’s why in the Old Testament it says, ‘Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.’

How much simpler it is for a teenager to get through that little door than it is for an old man with a walking stick.  And how true that is in the spiritual realm.  The older you get the harder it is to become a Christian.  So if you’re young don’t put it off.  Don’t delay.  There is no time in the future when it will be easier to repent, when it will be easier to enter the kingdom, when it will be easier to go through that narrow door.  When it comes to turning to God in faith there is no time like the present.

When I was a teenager taking catechism one of our teachers was a very enthusiastic young minister.  He was very concerned about us and he warned us.  I have seen very few people become Christians over the age of 23.  If by then you haven’t given your life to the Lord, it is unlikely that you will ever do so.’

Now mind you he was talking to teenagers who had been brought up in the church, and of course there are exceptions and he was speaking from only his own experience.  But I think that many of us in the ministry would say that a person coming to the Lord later in life is the exception rather than the rule.  In any case, whatever your age, don’t waste any time going through that narrow door.

Jesus Himself gives the reason: ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and not be able to.’  And when will that happen?  The next verse tells us: ‘Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door.’  That can only mean one thing.  The house is the kingdom and the owner is Christ.  One day He is going to shut the door to His kingdom.  One day that narrow little door is going to be latched from the inside.  Then no matter how loudly you knock or how hard you bang, that door will not open.  It will remain forever closed.

When an unrepentant sinner dies or when Jesus returns, it is the owner of the house closing the door and by then it will be too late.

As an old preacher once said: ‘There is a time coming when many will repent too late, and believe too late, sorrow for sin too late, and begin to pray too late, be anxious about salvation too late, and long for heaven too late.  Myriads will 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 don’t wait before it’s too late.  Enter today through that narrow gate.

So that’s the first thing.  Jesus does not set out to satisfy someone’s curiosity: ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’  He puts things in their proper perspective.  He turns the question on the questioner: ‘Friend, you’d better be sure you belong to the saved.  Don’t you worry about how many there are.  You must worry about yourself.  First things first.’

But once you have gone through that narrow door then you do get an answer to your question.  Experience tells us and the Bible teaches us that sadly enough only few are saved.  After Jesus had told the parable of the wedding banquet and He had mentioned those who had turned down the invitation and also the man who refused to wear the wedding clothes, He then comes to this very sobering conclusion: ‘For many are invited but few are chosen.’ (Mat.22:14).

Then in the Sermon on the Mount, amidst so much teaching that is challenging and encouraging, Jesus throws in a word of caution: ‘Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life and only a few find it’ (Mat.7:13,14).

So those are the very words of Jesus, brothers and sisters:

– Many called, but few chosen.

– Many on the broad road, few on the narrow road.

‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’  And He could very simply have said ‘Yes!’.

All you have to do is look around you.  Compare the ways of the many with the Word of God and if you are honest you will soon come to the conclusion that the saved are few.  It is an awful conclusion.  Our souls naturally turn away from it.  But Scripture and the facts combine to prove that it is so.  Salvation is offered.  All things are ready on God’s part.  Christ is willing to receive sinners.  But sinners are not willing to come to Christ.  Hence few are saved.  It is really that simple, and that awful.

And it really is awful, brothers and sisters.  This is a truth that sticks in your throat.  Believers are a minority in this world and not a majority.  Many may enter the house through the narrow door and no matter how much feasting and rejoicing there may be in that house, those outside still number more than those inside.  The Bible says that the wrath of God abides on them.  They are outside in the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Once I picked up a Christian tract that started out like this: ‘There is such a place as hell – most people are going there.  Are you one of them?’

I didn’t like it at all.  I hated it.  But I had to admit it was true.  In one congregation when I preached a sermon about God’s wrath and eternal destruction, there was a visitor from the neighbourhood who didn’t agree with what I said.  He took the trouble to write me a letter and part of it read like this:

‘We have no need to believe that our God will burn about an estimated 90-95% of His creatures forever.  This I cannot believe of our God who is almighty, who has sent His Son to save us, and whose name is love.”

Well, you can forget about the estimated 90-95%.  I didn’t say that and Jesus never said it either, but somehow the words of this man find an echo in our own hearts.  We sympathise with his sentiments, and we run the danger of wanting to be more loving than God Himself.

So what do we do with this awkward bit of Jesus’ teaching that indeed only a few are saved and that many will be lost?  Well, what did Jesus do with this doctrine?  How did He hold it?  What does he say later in the chapter in Luke?  ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’ (vs.34).

Listen to the tenderness of His lament and here you see the heart-break of God.  Later on we read in Luke’s gospel that ‘As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it’ (19:41).  When Jesus taught the doctrine of the many and the few He meant what He said, but it broke His heart and brought tears to His eyes.

And Jesus wasn’t the only one.  In Romans 9 the apostle Paul begins his teaching about Israel and that only a remnant, only a fraction, will be saved.  But now listen to his opening words, feel his emotions at this point: ‘I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit.  I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.’ (Rom.9:1-4a).

Yes, indeed, Paul held to the doctrine that few would be saved, but he held it with grief and sorrow in his heart.  Again in his letter to the Philippians we have a statement of deep emotion: ‘For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.’ (3:18).  Like Christ, Paul wept over those who were enemies of the cross.

Well, brothers and sisters, that is our answer, that is the only answer to the objections raised by the man who wrote me that letter.  Yes, these are terrible doctrines.  There is a hell and many will perish.  They are unattractive doctrines and we cannot believe them without tears.  We can’t believe these things in a cold and detached sort of way.  Like Christ and Paul we must have sorrow and grief in our hearts.  Do you ever experience that kind of sorrow?  Have you ever mourned and grieved over an unrepentant sinner?

What Jesus felt for Jerusalem and what Paul felt for his fellow Jews is what many Christian parents feel about their children.  But I trust that it is not only the parents of straying children who experience these emotions and who know in their own hearts what Paul and Jesus must have felt.  How often do we have feelings for the lost?  How often do you experience sorrow and grief for those who are still outside and who have not yet come through the narrow door?  Do you ever feel for them?  Do you ever weep for them?  If not, then all our efforts at evangelism will make a hollow sound.  We will be like noisy gongs and clanging cymbals.

And so today you can go home with a very simple answer to the question which is also the title of my sermon: ‘Are many saved?’  The answer to that question is ‘no’, but that answer is very cold and very harsh if you can’t say it with tears and sorrow in your heart.  A number of years ago I spoke to a Reformed minister who was speaking about a colleague who had recently gone to be with the Lord.  In his time he had been a well-known evangelist, and his friend summed the man up in one sentence: ‘I could never speak to him about the lost without it bringing tears to his eyes.’  How is it with you?

AMEN