the benefit of aiming
"Strive to enter through the narrow door, because I say that many seek to enter and no able "(Luke 13:24).
All Christian leaders know there is a serious decline in church. The popular solution is to be "progressive, prosperous" to "update" the service of song, bring in new translations of the Bible, get the pastor to remove the tie, and let people come to church dressed like a a beach party. All this is done because it is thought that the man "modern" in the twenty-first century has changed, and we must be "progressive" to lure and make it "Christian."
Now, of course, that kind of reasoning is absurd. This is a grave error why?
Because man has not changed at all. All changes that man boasts both, are external. There are changes in man himself, but only one way of acting, its environment as a man ... The man does not change. He is still the same person who has been inconsistent since the Fall of Adam.
So when we come to this verse, Luke 13:24, do not think that these people were different from us. External circumstances were different, but they themselves were like us - "the same person contradictory [that people have always been] since the Fall." And as some of you today, they had heard a great number of sermons from the Gospel. On many occasions they had heard preaching of both John the Baptist and Christ Himself. They could really say to Christ, "and taught in our streets" (Luke 13:26). And they were still there, still be saved after all those great sermons. After all, the salvation was what Jesus was talking about! A man asked: "Are there few that be saved?" And he turned this man and told the whole congregation
"Strive to enter through the narrow door, because I say that many seek to enter They may not "(Luke 13:24).
Then I say, because the nature human has never changed, and the Gospel has never changed, and Christ Himself never changed these words are addressed to those of you who are here today who have heard the Gospel be preached again and again without being saved. Make no mistake. Through this verse of Scripture, Christ is talking to you!
"Strive to enter through the narrow door, because I say that many seek to enter and can not" (Luke 13:24).
This verse leads us to an important question "I'm still trying, or am I out? Are you still struggling to get into Christ, or you're just killing time, sitting in church, not thinking that someday you will be saved? I hope this is not true! I hope and pray that you obey the commandment of Christ:
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24).
The Greek word translated "strive" is "agonizesthe." Means "strong effort" to "fight." We can put it, "strong effort, even fight to get in." Christ, who Himself is "the narrow gate." It means making every effort to enter into him, try to get into Christ.
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate "(Luke 13:24).
try with this in three ways: first, against what you have to work, second, why can you stop work hard, and third, how prepared you strive to come to Christ.
I. First, against what you have to work.
There is a downside to this effort. Obviously there would need to "try" if there was nothing against which to strive! No need to struggle or strive if you were not struggling or striving against something!
This is not an ordinary effort. It is a struggle is not an effort that occurs in the depths of your mind and heart. Very little emphasis has been given to this aspect of conversion in modern preaching. This is an internal effort.
is an effort to Satan himself. Have you forgotten about Satan? Do you think he will stand silent and let you have you come to Christ without a battle?
"And as he approached the boy, the devil threw him down and convulsed him" (Luke 9:42).
Nothing has changed. As I said earlier, there are different people in Biblical times. The Devil dropped this guy and shook him to stop to go to Jesus.
Why [the devil] overthrew the soul that came and shook him? ... Because he does not like losing ... his style is knock you down ... to stop you come to Christ, and take you to your network, where he can destroy you.
Satan is the great enemy of your soul. He is "... the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2: 2).
He is the one who "... has blinded the minds of unbelievers" (II Corinthians 4:4).
Is, "... the devil [who] removed from [his] heart the word, that [you] do not believe and be saved" (Luke 8:12).
So, I tell you today, you must "strive to enter through the narrow gate, because the devil will do everything it can to stop you come to Christ! Some of you will say it is too late when it's not too late for you. I tell some of you that this is not real there is no such thing as a true conversion. He will put all sorts of questions and doubts in your heart to keep you from Christ. "Many times when the soul comes to Christ, Satan violently injected unfaithful thoughts ... He works to inject blasphemous thoughts and says they are ours. "
"The Coming Conflict with Satan." Spurgeon clearly remembers how Satan filled his mind with evil thoughts a bit before being converted. Seven years earlier, at the age of fifteen years, he said: "... suddenly it seemed as if the gates of hell had been opened ... it seemed that ten thousand evil spirits were having a carnival in my brain ... Things I had never heard or thought before impetuously came to my mind, I could hardly hold his influence ... But if you fear that these thoughts are yours, you say: "I will go to Christ, though these blasphemies are mine ... I know that all manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven [by God]. Satanic thoughts must fight to come to Christ!
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24).
But there is another enemy with whom to fight. You must fight the enemy of your own carnal mind:
"Because the carnal [fleshly mind] is enmity against God" (Romans 8:7).
Unless you start to realize that, for the Fall, your entire relationship with God is wrong, do not understand that your biggest enemy is yourself. Your own heart is wrong. Sin is not "primarily a matter of action," "The sinfulness is a bigger problem than sin. 'The carnal mind is enmity against God' ... Until the person comes to know the truth about itself will not approach the gospel with a right spirit. Without self-knowledge can research, discuss and argue but do you no good. "
You'll round and round, "a form of godliness" (II Timothy 3:5) until you realize that your own heart is completely sinful. All you can do is ask, like Nicodemus. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). All that Nicodemus could say was: "How can this be?" (John 3:9). "How I can be born again?" "How I can come to Christ?" - All that kind of question shows that you still trust your own sense of reasoning. "I can argue this. If you only get a little more information I can figure out how to get to him. " A person can go on for years, turning and twisting, without ever being converted. "You can research, discuss and reason, but do you no good. " Instead of arguing and reasoning, you must:
"Strive to enter" (Luke 13:24).
Fight your own pride, your own unavailable to come to Christ. Strive to see yourself as a sinner condemned, whose heart is not willing to trust in Christ, whose pride he wants to understand what a sinful man can not understand, that all he wants is to "learn more" - instead of being itself as it is - an enemy of God. Have you ever faced the question of your attitude toward Christ? Have you admitted to yourself that you are a rebel against Him? Have you admitted to yourself that you feel you know more about this than him? If not, you can never experience true conversion. "Strive to enter." Fight your own mind and heart, until you can say honestly and truly, in the words of the old hymn:
I surrender, and leave everything I know,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24).
II. Second, why can you stop effortlessly.
I know that bother the ears of some, but the simple fact is in the pages of Scripture. Can you stop work hard to get to Christ because you are "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God" (I Peter 1:2). Who would dare say that the election is not taught in Scripture? We understand it or not, there is, in the pages of the Bible, looking at his face, "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded" (Romans 11:7).
If it is true that you are not "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God" then, of course, do not "strive to enter through the narrow gate." If that's the case, I sit and hear sermon after sermon without thinking deeply, without concern for your soul, without thinking about eternity, without anguish in the heart, until "the householder has risen up and shut the door" (Luke 13:25) .
"And he closed the door. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open! But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, do not know you "(Matthew 25:10-12).
"Strive to enter through the narrow door, because I say that many seek to enter and can not" (Luke 13:24)
before the door is closed, and be sentenced to the "lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). Strive "to go" now, before it's too late!
Strive to enter through the narrow gate "(Luke 13:24).
III. Third, how prepared you strive to come to Christ.
short, "If you keep trying, you will be saved." Jesus said: "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12). "I just decided to enter the violent and force. " "If you keep trying, you will be saved." On the other hand, if you do not keep trying, you will not be saved!
Someone said something I never thought of before. He said: "Your effort must fail! "The benefit is in failure." What did he mean? This is a profound point, and worth thinking about it for days! "The benefit is in failure." See, when you struggle with all your heart and all your soul - and failed - can bring you at last to the limit. Then you can say with Jonah
"When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord"
(Jonah 2: 7).
When your soul fails under heavy work effort you will see that Jesus always was right when he said those wonderful words that you've ignored for so long:
"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest "(Matthew 11:28).
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me can do nothing. (Joh 15:5).
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