Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Well good evening everyone.

Welcome to those of you that are new with us.

To those of you that are returning, welcome back.

I’ve missed you over the past few weeks for some of you, and for others the past few months.

I’ve got several announcements for you, and I’d like to get them out of the way.

So let’s open our bibles to Luke 13 tonight.

If you’re new with us…this is what we do.

We get together, we worship our God, and then we open his word together.

And we believe in God’s word without apology.

We believe that Gods word is exactly what it says.

Slide

Long story short.

We believe this book has the ability to change your life tonight and every night.

Meaning, changing the entire course of your life.

This book has the ability to open your eyes and see a truth that you’ve never seen.

This book, contains more potency to change your life in 8 verses than every textbook you’ve ever read or ever will read.

Slide

We preach here not to change your mind....not to bring some sort of academic achievement or social justice....we preach, trusting that the Spirit of God will change your soul.

That the spirit of God would open your eyes to the truth in here, the things it reveals about God, and the things it reveals about us.

So I want to encourage you tonight…lean in to the word of God.

Be faithful to be present, and God will be faithful in more ways than you can count to meet you and speak to you.

So, that’s my preamble.

It’s important I said that to share with you the culture we strive for on Thursday nights.

Now, here’s the text.

We are in the Gospel of Luke.

Ever fall semester this ministry is in the NT and last fall we started the Gospel of Luke and this fall we are going to finish it.

We are going through the Gospel and just taking a small passage from each chapter to give us an overview of both Jesus’ ministry, and message.

And tonight, we are in Luke 13, verses 22 to 30.

Go ahead and make sure you’re there, I’m going to read the whole passage now.

So in this part of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is traveling towards Jerusalem to eventually be arrested, beaten, and killed.

And as he heads towards jerusalem, he is teaching through various towns and villages.

Particularly, he is teaching Jews, that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and that they need to repent to be saved.

And that is who this passage is directed towards.

The Jews.

Jesus is traveling, and someone asks him there in verse 23, “Lord, will those saved be a few?”

This was actually a pretty common question asked of rabbis and teachers in Jesus’ day.

In fact, it was an ongoing debate because some Jews believed all Jews would be saved no matter what…because they were Jews, and others believed that only the faithful jews would be saved…or a select few.

Sound familiar?

Some people believe everyone will be saved…some people believe only a few will be saved.

So this person asks this question, and this person themselves is most likely a jew because they address Jesus as Lord, Kyrios, which is a title of respect that someone gives when they respect the person as a teacher or master…and it’s the title that Jesus’ disciples gave him.

Also, this person is most likely a Jew because Jesus includes them in his statements in verses 25-30 by saying “you” instead of they when talking about the Jews that think they are saved.

So, this Jew asks Jesus a common theological questions…how many are going to be saved?

And Jesus, in true fashion…doesn’t answer with a theological answer, but instead answers with a heart application.

He answers with a command.

And it’s a scary command, because what he says is...

The number of Jews doesn’t matter…because it’s what you do that saves you…and what you’re doing…isn’t good enough.

That’s why this message is titled, Not Good Enough.

Because, guys…the message that Jesus preached to these Jews…is the message that he preaches to us still today.

We as a culture are so caught up in who is going to be saved…if it’ll be people who are part of a different denomination, it it’ll be homosexuals, if it’ll be people who do good works, or value good things...

We concern ourselves so often with whom Jesus saves that we don’t stop to evaluate if we are saved.

And what I mean by saved…is the classic and biblical belief that there is a heaven and a hell.

There is a place of paradise with God and glory, and a place of eternal damnation with the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And the point of this passage tonight, is that Jesus is revealing that there will be people who think they are saved…but aren’t…and someday it’s going to be too late.

Just like, it’s possible and probable that there are some of you in the room right now who think that you’re going to be saved…but you won’t be…because what you’re doing isn’t good enough.

And…if you don’t change it now.

If you don’t understand that now…if you don’t submit to the truth and understand what IS good enough…it’s going to be too late someday.

So tonight, I’m going to be telling you, through this passage…what isn’t good enough to save you.

And then, at the end, I’m going to tell you what IS good enough to save you…and I’m going to give you an opportunity to do that.

So here’s the first one.

Slide

Desire Isn’t Good Enough to save you.

(v.

22-25)

Meaning, just wanting to be saved isn’t good enough to save you.

Look back at the text.

Verse 24 right after this question is asked.

Luke 13:24–25 (ESV)

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door.

For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

So there will be those…that seek to enter.

Meaning they want to enter.

They want to be saved.

Or at least…they say they do.

They say they want to be saved…but a day is going to come when the door is shut on them…and it’s too late to be saved.

Whether, because the door is shut from the ending of their life…death.

Or…the door is shut because because the end of days has occured and the final judgement is happening.

Either way..there will be a group of people who seek to enter, and find out they can’t enter.

Seek to be saved, and find out they can’t be saved.

We find out in verse 27 it’s because they were actually workers of evil..meaning their life was characterized by ungodliness.

But here in this verse we learn something from this...

By seeing that there are those who will say they want to be saved…but won’t be…we learn that just desiring salvation is not good enough to save you.

Just wanting it is not good enough.

Giving verbal affirmation to heaven or God is not good enough.

Look back at verse 25...

Those people who are knocking call him Lord.

They say “Lord, open to us”..So just acknowledging him as Lord with your mouth…is not good enough to save you.

No one who has an actual right mind on them, and is taking it seriously and has even a little grip on the realities of hell…wants to go there.

I went to St. Ambrose yesterday…I bet that if I walked around with a microphone and interviewed the students I met with and said..

“Excuse me miss…would you prefer to go to heaven or hell”

I would bet that the answer is almost always going to be heaven.

And if they say it’s hell…it’s because they don’t understand what Hell is.

But my point is…many say they want to be saved.

You are not unique or special if you say you want to be saved.

Many desire to be saved.

But Jesus says not everyone will.

In fact, he calls the door to salvation a narrow door.

Narrow as in, a small space.

Guys, as much as we may all want to get in my car and go get some Whitey’s ice cream…as much as many of us say we would want that…only so many of you are going to fit in my chevy traverse.

Only so many will make it to the narrow way…and Jesus says in verse 24 there…strive to do it.