Luke 13:22-30 · The Narrow Door

22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" 24 He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'

26 "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'

27 "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'

28 "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

The Narrow Gate
Luke 13:22-30
Sermon
by John G. Lynch
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One long, shadowy afternoon, when the light was more smoke than light, a young American of Russian descent wandered along a canal in Leningrad, searching for the Palace of Prince Yarosof, where the monk Rasputin had been killed. Leningrad in winter is not a cheery place. The sun rises late in the morning and sets about 4 p.m. Daylight, always weak and wintry, never rises above a sinister haze. In that light Alex sought his narrow door.

He didn't realize quite what he was seeking. Only when he found it did he know why he had wandered most of the day in that sinister, smoky light. He thought he was looking for the murderous palace where the princes had poisoned, shot, and finally drowned Rasputin, so immune to their murderous ways. But God had a new discovery in store for him. God was leadi…

CSS Publishing Company, TROUBLED JOURNEY, by John G. Lynch