The Narrow Door | Sunday, October 25, 2026

I wasn't planning on being here this morning because today is a big day. My oldest turns 18 today, and so I was planning on not being here. I know I feel old. Now, when I say that, especially at the first service, they're like, "You're not old." And I go, "But I feel bold." Does anybody else here feel old? Yes.

Pastor Jason was supposed to preach for me today, but on Friday, he blew out his knee. He tore his meniscus, and so be praying for Jason. He was in the ER getting an emergency MRI on Friday evening to confirm that he had torn his meniscus. Then Pastor Mark, on our group text, said, "I think as a Christmas bonus this year, we're just going to give all the pastors gift cards to the Kaiser ER since that's where mostly they've been."

So, we're going to be in the Gospel of Luke this morning. If you want to take out your Bibles, we will be in the Gospel of Luke. As many of you know, I don't know if it's evident at all, but I like the color orange. My wife and I were on a trip a little more than a month ago, and we were in Rome. I found these glasses that make the world orange, and it makes everything more glorious. Let me tell you, if I'm blue and I put these on, it's like, "Ah, now I'm orange." It's amazing. It's so great.

We are in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13 today. Hopefully, you are there. As I shared several months ago, the Gospel of Luke takes a bit of a turn at about the halfway point. There are 24 chapters, and in the 12th chapter, there's a shift where Jesus's tone becomes a little more candid and laser-focused on people because he's on his way to Jerusalem. That really begins just a few chapters before that, in Luke chapter 9. He has a conversation on a mountaintop with three of his disciples: Peter, James, and John. We refer to this as the Mount of Transfiguration. On this mountaintop, Moses and Elijah appear to him. Luke's Gospel, chapter 9, says that...

Moses and Elijah spoke with Him about His decease that would soon come to pass at Jerusalem. A number of verses later, in the same chapter, chapter 9, verse 51, it says He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. Now Jesus is headed towards Jerusalem, and this is the last journey that will end at the cross. He knows exactly what He is headed towards. He is on the narrowest of paths, and nothing is going to distract Him. Nothing is going to deter Him from the path that He is on.

He is headed to Jerusalem, knowing what awaits Him: the cross. At the end of His experience on the cross, John's Gospel, chapter 19, records that He says a single word in the Greek language, which is translated into three words in English: "It is finished." He is on the path to accomplish and finish the work. The work for what? The work for our salvation. Our salvation is found in what Jesus accomplished there at Jerusalem. It is not found in the sacred functions of religion that we observe.

The challenge is that we have a tendency to think that religion is the path to enlightenment or righteousness. This isn't only true for the so-called religious or churchgoers; it's true for every one of the 8.4 billion people who live on this planet. Even those who are not religious, the people who tell you that they are spiritual but not religious, belong to a category that has come to be referred to in our culture today as the "nones." Not the nuns that wear the habit, but the "no-ones," those who are not religiously affiliated. Even these people are religiously non-religious. They are committed to all kinds of different causes.

Every single person you meet who says, "I'm not religious," has causes that they are committed to, whether it's climate change, pure clean water in other places, or whatever it may be. They are committed to something, and there is an aspect of that commitment that, in some regard, appeases their conscience. In those moments when they are alone, they realize that they are not as good as they show everyone they are. There is a part of us that needs to have that conscience appeased, so we engage in these religious or sacred activities.

We observe those things thinking that it makes us right, righteous, or enlightened, whatever it may be. This is true for every person who is living today, has ever lived, or ever will live. However, Christianity is wholly different from the other things that people commit themselves to religiously because it makes it clear that there is none righteous, no, not one. There is nothing that you and I can do to make ourselves righteous.

The prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 64:6, states that "all of our righteousness is as filthy rags before him." He, as the angels in the presence of God declare, is holy, holy, holy; He is three times holy and so far removed from us. In His presence, we realize how unholy we are. This was exactly Isaiah's experience in Isaiah chapter 6. When he saw the Lord high and lifted up and heard the angels saying, "Holy, holy, holy," there was a recognition where he exclaimed, "Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips." He realized his nakedness as he was exposed before the holiness of God.

Christianity presents humanity with the reality that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous. Even the good works that appease our conscience for a time—though only briefly—do not make us righteous. I would suggest to you that the wide path Jesus speaks about in the Gospels, when He said there are many who are on the wide path, is the religious path. The narrow path, which Jesus will discuss today, is the challenging one because it does not involve boasting in or trusting in our good works or our righteousness. Instead, it is trusting in something completely different: the finished work of Jesus when He says, "It is finished."

What is finished? All the work for our righteousness is accomplished by Him, not by our agony, but by His agony. Not by our suffering, but by His suffering. He was wounded for our transgressions; the chastisement, the punishment for our peace, was upon Him. By His stripes, when He was beaten, we find healing in His presence.

Righteousness, salvation, and forgiveness—what we are deeply seeking for in our souls—are not found in the sacred functions of religion that we observe. They are only found in Christ Jesus and His accomplished work, which was going to be finished in Jerusalem. He is on that narrow path.

Jerusalem. He knows what the finish line is. He knows where he's headed. We have a reminder in the text this morning that He is journeying towards Jerusalem. That's what the very first verse will say. If you have your Bible, open to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13. We are going to pick up the story in verse 22. If you would stand with me, Luke 13:22 is where we'll be.

We read, "And Jesus went through the cities and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem." Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who will be saved?" He said to those near Him asking this question, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you. I do not know you. Where are you from?' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence. We were there, right there with you. We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. You came to our town, our city.' But He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know you. Where are you from? Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.' There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves are thrust out. They will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and sit down in the kingdom of God. Indeed, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

God, I pray as we consider this text that You would give us open ears and open hearts to receive from You Your word that is challenging. This is a sobering passage of Scripture, as are so many during this series of stories as You are journeying toward Jerusalem. So God, I pray that You would give us open hearts that we would be willing to consider what it is that You are speaking to those who are nearest to You, close enough to ask You the very questions that we sometimes ask and wrestle with. God, speak to us, we pray. We ask this today in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated, Lord.

Are there few who are saved? Now, that's a question that every single one of us asks. To be honest with you, we ask it when we look around at the chaos and the brokenness of this world. When we look at the news or scroll through social media, or even just look at our own neighbors, we wonder if there must be few who are saved.

The inquisitor, the one asking the question here, has an implied expected answer underneath the surface, doesn't he? You can sense that you don't ask this question if you're not thinking that Jesus is going to say yes, it's such a very small number, and that you are part of that crowd. That's what we hope for when we look at the world and think, "It's going to hell in a handbasket."

You know how it is. You're the faithful ones. You're here at church, and as you pull out of your garage this morning, you look at your neighbors. Some of them aren't even up yet, and some are just doing things around their yard. They're not going to church, but you are. You think, "Oh, so few. I'm among the few." That's right; you'll be there, and you're going to partake of communion today. They're not going to partake of communion. Heathens, pagans—must be going to hell.

So we ask the question, "Lord, are there few?" You can sense that the inquisitor is just waiting for Jesus to say, "Oh yes, so few. So few. And you are the few, the proud, the many, the spiritual, the righteous." That's the hope, I think, underlying the question. Are there just a few? They're expecting a number—yes, 144,000, just 100. You know, the people who knock at your door say, "There are 144,000. That's it. It might be you."

But instead of saying, "Yep, there's just a very small few and you're among the few," He turns to them and says, "No, it's not about how many." The question is, "Are you among those who know Me?" That’s the challenging question.

You see, we can boast about many things. We boast in the fact that we go to church. We boast in the fact that we not only go to church, but we also do our devotions and pray. We boast in the fact that we've gone on a mission trip or served or given. We boast in all of these different things and say, "Therefore, because I do these..."

Sacred things are not necessarily bad. In fact, many of those things are actually quite good. You've heard me commend the Pharisees in the Bible because of their religious observance. They were more committed than you and me, and there's a certain part of that commitment that is commendable. However, that's not the issue. It's not about the list or the record of all the things I've done. It's not about the name written on the rolls of some church. It's not the fact that I descended from a long line of pastors. No, that's not what it is.

We often find ourselves reaching for all the things we can say we've done or who we are. Jesus says, "No, no, that's not what I'm looking for here." He instructs us to strive to enter the narrow gate. The word "strive" in Greek is "agonomi," which is where we get our word "agony." It's the same word that the Apostle Paul uses in one of his letters to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, where he says, "Fight the good fight of faith." We are to agonize over the agony of not just a whole bunch of works, but to fight the good fight of faith.

The agony comes into this area of faith, and what's interesting is the order in that verse when Paul speaks to Timothy. He begins by saying, "But you, O man of God, flee these things—unrighteousness—and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness." Those words—faith, love, patience, gentleness—where have you heard those before? Oh, in Galatians, they are the fruit of the Spirit. We are to pursue the fruit of the Spirit, which are not the product of our own efforts.

Have you ever tried in your own strength to produce patience? It's a lost cause. You might think, "I'm going to make myself patient." I don't know about you, but I can see my impatience in many different ways. For example, when I click "buy it now," I want my package by 7 a.m. tomorrow from Amazon. If it's not there by 7:05, I get frustrated.

In the world, where is that guy? I'm looking for the driver on the map. You have done it too, or maybe you're just as impatient as I am. You're the person who pulls up to Starbucks and orders on the app before going in because you don't want to wait for the whole process. Actually, you are wiser than I am; you don't get your coffee at Starbucks because it's way too expensive. But we are impatient. So, where does patience come from?

According to the Scriptures, it comes from God by His indwelling Spirit. Paul names the fruit: love, patience, gentleness in this passage. Then he names the fight. The fruit precedes the fight. The agoni, the fight, is not to lay hold of the presence of God in our lives, but it is because we have the presence of God residing in us, which came by grace through faith. From that comes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

This striving of faith is not a striving of works to obtain; it is a striving from having been saved. Ephesians chapter 2, a passage that some of you have already memorized, states, "For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." The progression here is important. Grace brings salvation.

How do we apprehend or lay hold of that grace? We might think it must be all our good works, our church attendance, or the fact that we've given and served. No, no, no. I lay hold of that grace, that saving grace, by trusting. That is what the word "faith" means. The problem with the word "faith" in English in 2026 is that we tend to think of it only as a mental acknowledgment. However, the word should actually convey more trust. I've trusted in Christ's finished work, His agony, His suffering on the cross. I trust in that. Because I've trusted in Him and not in myself, He gives me unmerited, undeserved favor—grace.

That is what grace is. "For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Point number one, if you're taking notes this morning: we strive to enter by faith, not by works. The religious impulse that even non-believing, non-Christian anthropologists have acknowledged resides in humans. Every human seems to have this religious impulse, which has been referred to by secular authors as the religious gene.

It's like, what is it in us that makes us feel the necessity to do sacred things, to be devoted to idols or whatever sort of work it may be? What is that drive in humans? It's there. I think God actually put it into us.

However, the striving that God is looking for is not a striving of our good works; it's our striving of our trust in the finished work of Jesus. We strive to enter by faith, not by works. On Monday, when you fail—and we all do—and our conscience accuses us, we tend to try to run to all of our good works to cover our sin rather than confess our sin to the Lord and say, "God, give me your grace and your forgiveness."

Paul understood this, and I referenced it in a message a few weeks ago: I am what I am by the grace of God. Even though I labor and work hard, ultimately, I'm not right with God or have a right standing with God because of the things that I have done. I have a right standing with God because Christ has made me to stand in His grace. Because He has made me to stand in His grace, then I do these things as worship unto Him.

That's exactly the progression that Paul gives us in Ephesians 2:8-10. "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." This follows grace; it follows salvation and forgiveness. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That word "should" is important; it's an ethical imperative, the ought of the passage.

I have been, in the past tense, saved by grace through faith. Now, because I am saved, I ought to walk in the good works. How do I know they're good works? Because they are producing good fruit. What kind of fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. That's the evidence, the demonstration of the presence of God in my life. I ought to walk in the good works which God prepared beforehand.

I will suggest to you today that that's the narrow way. The broad way is the religious way. Every one of the eight and a quarter billion people that live on the planet today or have lived in the past has this religious impulse that we must do good things to deal with our shortcomings.

My bad things. One of the images associated with Islam is the scales of justice. One day in Islam, you'll stand before Allah, and all of your good works will be put next to your bad works on the scale. Hopefully, your good works outweigh the bad. That hope is not only true for Islam; it's really true for every human religion except one: Christianity.

As I would suggest, Christianity is not of human origin. It constantly affirms from Genesis to Revelation the inability and sinfulness of humanity and our necessity, our need for salvation from another source—not from my own doing or my own good works. However, it also says that good works are important. In response to the last song we sang before I came up here, we praise the Lord not just with the fruit of our lips but with our lives. Our lives become worship to God for what He has done.

This, I would suggest, is the narrow way. The broad way is doing all the right things in the right order at the right time and descending from the right people, according to the law, blameless, and zealous, as Paul would say. Jesus says there is a narrow door—narrow because it's the only option.

We live in a culture in 2026 in America that hates claims of exclusivity. It is the question, is it not? Anytime you see a well-known minister, pastor, or clergyman on an interview show on the news, whether it's CNN or MSNBC, they can be talking about a school shooting, and at some point, it's going to shift to, "Do you really believe that Jesus is the only way?" That question always comes up.

I can't tell you how many times over the years I've seen Larry King asking John MacArthur or others that same question. Maybe you've had that question from a skeptical neighbor or friend: "Are you saying there's only one way? What about all those other people?"

Here's the right answer. It drives me crazy when I see these guys on news shows and they kind of soft-pedal the response.

MacArthur wouldn't, but so many do, and you can see they get uncomfortable. There's really a simple answer to this. I'm not saying anything, but let me just read to you this verse from Jesus in John 14:6. He said, "I am the way." The direct article, "I am the way, and no one comes but by me." So, I said nothing. Now, I'm just trying to interpret what that says. How do you interpret that? That's the right answer, Greta. Like, that's the answer. How do you interpret that? The words are pretty simple. He said, "I am the way. No one comes to the Father but by me." What do you think it means? Do you see some loophole there?

Oh, John 10:9 states, "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved." That's pretty exclusive. The door is narrow. As I was thinking about this on Friday, I couldn't help but be reminded of something that happened, I don't know, two or three years ago. My wife and I bought a new couch. We have this room upstairs; it's kind of like a den. So, we bought this couch at Costco. You have to love Costco. They delivered it for free. It's great.

The couch arrives, and both Andre and I are excited about it. We wrestle the couch up the stairs and down the hallway, and then we get it to the door. We realize the couch is three-quarters of an inch too big for the door. I'd like to say that I had patience and self-control in that moment, but I did not. And neither did my lovely wife. For the next hour, as we struggled and strove to angle and re-angle that couch through, we finally got it through the door, but it was hard. We both agreed that if that couch ever leaves that room, it will be by a chainsaw cutting it into pieces.

But we struggled and strove, and that's how so many try to get through the narrow door. They try to wrestle and angle and re-angle everything that they're carrying. What are they carrying? They're carrying their record of all their good works. They're carrying all their religious resume. They're carrying their pride. This has to get through the door. Don't you know what I did?

God has made the door such that we have to be stripped down from every other thing. It's just you and God. It is appointed unto man to die once, and then comes judgment. The door is narrow, and there's nothing else getting through that door because everything else is three-quarters of an inch too big. You can try all you want.

Charles Spurgeon said, "There is no believing in Jesus with a proud heart." The door isn't the problem; what we're carrying is the problem. It won't get in, and it won't get you in. We come to Him by faith and faith alone. This word is such a hard word because of what Jesus says next. For many, I say, you might want to underline that word "many." It's one of those small, sobering words in the Bible. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Jesus said this in other places, such as Matthew chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. "For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." But then the words of Christ get even more challenging. Not only does He say many will not be able to enter, He says this: "When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door." The door is open, but though the door is open now, it does not mean the door will always be open. The door shuts.

When does it shut? Many theologians would say it certainly shuts at death. Now is the opportunity; now is the open door. When the door is open, it's open, and when it's shut, it's shut. You have all been in this situation before. You're sitting at the gate at the airport, and I just made some of your blood pressure increase. You see that person come running, "Wait, wait, wait!" But the door is closed. They get to the gate and they say, "Sorry, the door is closed."

"But I can see the airplane! It's right there. It hasn't even left yet. Just give me some grace." No, the door is shut. The regulation says the door is shut, and you're not getting through the door. Maybe you've been in that place before. The way that air travel is in 2026 probably reflects what you've been through before because air travel today is terrible.

As you know, it's one of those things in our society that gets more and more expensive every single year, and the quality goes down. You might wonder, "What in the world is going on? I thought it was supposed to get better if I pay more." No, it just gets worse.

So many times, they leave just a little bit of time for you to make it from one plane to another. Of course, you always arrive at Terminal A and need to get to Terminal X. It's like, well, where is Terminal X? It's five counties that way, and you have five minutes to get there. We have a tram, though. You get to the door, and they say the door is closed, but the plane's right there. It doesn't matter; you're not getting on.

Jesus told a story in what's called the Olivet Discourse when He was talking about His return, His second coming. He tells the story about the wise and the foolish virgins—ten virgins in total. Five were wise, and they had oil in their lamps, while five were not. Oil in the Scriptures is most frequently associated with the Holy Spirit. The wise virgins had the oil of the Holy Spirit; they had the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the others did not.

When the bridegroom returned, those with the oil were able to go in with Him. However, those who did not have the oil came to the door and found it shut. The bridegroom said, "Assuredly, I say to you, I did not know you." What they lacked was not activity; what they lacked was the evidence of the presence of God.

But the door is open now. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6, says, "Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation." Not only is the door open at this moment, but the book of Revelation pictures Christ as knocking at the door of our hearts, saying, "Just open to Me, and I will come in and dine with you." He knocks at the door.

Point number two: the door is open now, but it won't stay open forever. They come to the door, and Jesus responds to the question, "Are there few who will be saved?" He says, "No, there are many who are going to show up, and the door will be closed. They will say, 'Please let us in. We drank in Your presence, and You taught in our cities. We were near in proximity to You.'"

We were right with you. We heard you speak. So, can't we get in? And He says, "I do not know you. Where are you from?" Twice He says this: "I do not know you. Where are you from?" That's an interesting question. Where are you from? Well, I'm a descendant of Abraham. I'm from the right place, the right family, the right time. What do you mean, where am I from?

It's interesting that this phrase, "where am I from," is used in an exchange with Jesus and a very religious man when He says, "You see the wind, but you don't know where it is from." So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. This same word is associated with being born again, or literally, John 3:3, being born from above.

The question is not what have you done, what family are you from, what city are you from, or what church do you go to. The question is, where are you born from? Do you have the presence of the Spirit, the evidence of the presence of the Spirit in your life?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives this same frightening caution. In Matthew 7:21, He says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" And I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness."

That's a hard passage, maybe one of the most challenging passages in the Gospels. Many will say to Me, "Lord, Lord," and He will say, "Depart from Me, you practice lawlessness." This is a hard passage because it's about people in the pews in the church. Many will say to Me, "Lord, Lord." They have the right words. "Did we not do all these good things?" They have the right deeds. And He will say, "Yes, but I'm not sure who you are. I don't know you."

"But we go to church. We observe all the sacred functions. We do all the things." Charles Spurgeon, speaking on this same passage in Luke 13, said, "If attendance at the temple could save the..."

If Caiaphas, the high priest, were to hear the word, he would be in glory. If hearing the word were enough, then Herod the king would be in heaven. They were among the last to see Jesus, the last to hear Him before He was crucified. However, hearing Him and being near to Him was not sufficient.

So, what is the proof that you are among those who belong to Him? It is not the practice; it is the presence and the evidence of that presence, as Jesus said in Matthew 7:16: "You will know them by their fruit." When they say, "Lord, Lord, did we not do all these things?" He responds, "I do not know you." How do we know that we know Him? You will know them by their fruit.

Anytime I read about the fruit in the Scriptures, I am immediately reminded of Paul's words to the church at Galatia. He writes, "For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control." There are other virtues connected with the Spirit, but this is a great list of nine virtues mentioned here. They are not the product of my religious effort. Try as you might, you will not produce patience or self-control through your religious routines and efforts. Many have tried, and many have failed. These virtues are produced by the Spirit.

Principally, it says the fruit, singular, of the Spirit is love. What does Paul say about this very same kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13? He writes, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels," which demonstrates spiritual gifts and religious acts, "but have not love, I become like a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal." He continues, "And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Furthermore, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

I may do all the spiritual things, but I am looking for the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Principally, it is love. It is a love that is patient and kind. It suffers long and does not envy. It is not boastful. Without the fruit of love, all the religious activity, the sacred functions and duties, are nothing. If preaching, Spurgeon said, could save a man, Judas would not be damned. If prophesying could save a man, Balaam would not have been a castaway. We may preach with the tongues of men and of angels, yet if we have not love, it profits nothing. And yet for all that, Christ may say to us at the last, "I never knew you."

Love is the first demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit, the evidence of God's presence. From that follows joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. John makes it so clear in 1 John 4 when he says, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." That's the "I do not know you" of Luke chapter 13.

Point number three: the proof isn't the practice; it's the presence. The presence of what? Not us being at church, in church, or in the right place. It's the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives. The fruit isn't how we get in; it is the evidence that He is in us.

Jesus says to the group around Him, after they ask this question, that they will come from the east and from the west. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You will see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they are right there, the patriarchs, the fathers, and you are thrust out. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and people will come from the east and the west. From where? This is actually a callback from Jesus to the book of Isaiah, where Isaiah says, "In the kingdom of God, there will be people who come from the east and the west, the north and the south, from places like Syria."

And Jesus speaks to those who were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He says, "You may not be there if you think it's only about your lineage and your practice, but ultimately it's about more than that. Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

What does he mean by that? The ones who thought they would be first were those who were of the family of Abraham, those nearest to him. They were born in the right places and to the right people, and they observed all the right things. Yet, he says that's not actually what is going to make you right before God, the God who is holy, holy, holy.

Jesus is on this narrow road towards Jerusalem that ends in the cross. He knows that's where he's headed, and his words become very pointed as he goes in that direction. Before he reaches that mountaintop and the cross, he will gather with his disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem. There, he will partake of the Passover feast, but he will also institute a new feast with them, involving the bread and the cup, which we will observe in a moment.

What is striking about that whole scene? Who was sitting next to him when he partook of the bread and the cup with his disciples? Judas Iscariot. If ever there was one you could say, "Well, he knows Jesus," yet he was a thief and a betrayer. Just being in proximity and being associated with those who are called by his name, his disciples, does not make one a child of God.

From that upper room, Jesus would go to a garden called Gethsemane. There, we read in Luke 22:44, "And being in agony,"...

The word by the root that is used here is "strive to enter by the narrow gate." The same root word, meaning "being in agony," describes how He prayed more earnestly. Jesus agonized and suffered in the garden and on the cross. Why? Point number four: we strive to enter because He agonized to open the door. He has made the way open. That's why He could say, "I am the way."

Buddha did not struggle to open the door. Muhammad did not struggle to open the door. Papa Leo does not struggle to open the door. Christ struggled once for all to make the way open. He says the door is narrow. There are no good works, no record of all the things that you've given up or given to get in. There's only one way, and it's trust in the finished work of Christ.

This is so crucial and essential for the faith of Christ that He gave us something tangible to remind us of it throughout all the days. He gave us the bread and the cup to remind us that it is by His suffering, His agony, the brokenness of His body, and the shedding of His blood that we are given a way into the open door. He gave it to us so that we would remember.

I'm going to invite Anthony and the team to come back up as we begin to remember this. When Paul recounts this and talks about the Last Supper with Jesus and His disciples in 1 Corinthians 11, he says, "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat the bread and drink the cup." You see, this is a very personal thing wherein we examine ourselves and ask, "What am I trusting in? Am I trusting in my attendance, my giving, my serving, my observance of..."

Ritualistic religion? Or have I trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ, His body broken, His blood shed? There's only one way. It may sound like a bold claim of exclusivity unless it is the truth. It would actually be a merciful thing if there's only one way to tell you there's only one way. Jesus repeated multiple times, "I am the door. I am the way. There is no other way."

God, I pray that You would help us even at this moment as we prepare our hearts and examine ourselves before we partake of the bread and the cup. Would You, by Your Spirit and by the truth of Your Word, reveal if there's something in me that is trusting in me and not in You? Lord, clearly this is not a monologue against good works because we do good works from the position of having been saved by grace through faith. But Lord, I pray that You'd help us to never trust in our hurried, busy activity and that we trust in the completed, finished work that You accomplished on the cross. We pray this today in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."

I think Jesus said many wonderful and beautiful things, but among the most beautiful is when He said in Matthew 11, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We find ourselves so hurried and tired, caring about the record of our religious efforts and duties. He doesn't say try harder; He says come to Me.

He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it. He gave it to His disciples, saying, "This is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. Let's partake together." Likewise, He also took the cup after...

They had eaten, and He said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. Do this in remembrance of Him. Let's partake together."

Would you stand with me? Lord, oh, the sweetness of the goodness of Your grace—unmerited, undeserved favor that You have poured out upon us in abundance. The Scriptures say that in the ages to come, we will, in eternity, learn the greatness of the riches of Your grace. We don't even begin to comprehend it now. But, Lord, we are grateful, and we are thankful.

I pray, God, that our joy and rejoicing in Your grace, our praise of You, would not only be here in this place, in this room, when we gather together and sing songs and read Your Word, but that when we go from this place, our lives would be lived as worship unto You. In whatever we do, in word or deed, let us do all as unto You, Lord. Teach us what that means this week in a greater measure.

We won't fully comprehend it in every way, but I pray that to a greater degree, we would understand that we can worship You in all the things that we say or do. That it would be done as service unto You for Your glory.

God, I pray that You would produce in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters here the increase of the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Cause it to be evident in our lives so that when You come, as we saw a couple of weeks ago, and You look at the fig tree looking for fruit, You would find much—not for our boasting, but for Your glory.

We praise You, Jesus.