Grace and peace be yours through Jesus Christ who is the door to eternal salvation. Amen.

Lord Jesus, you are the only door to salvation. Keep us safe and secure in our faith in you so that we may enter through this narrow door in order to enjoy the wide variety of glories in your heavenly kingdom. Amen.

An assistant coach at Ohio State once told how he and another coach were looking out a window one day and saw legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes slowly easing into the last empty space in the parking lot – a space barely wide enough for a car. But Coach Hayes couldn't get out of the car once it was parked. There was less than four inches on each side and he couldn't open either door. A moment passed, and then he backed the car out. Now, as the assistant coaches stared in disbelief, Coach Hayes got out, walked to the back of the car, planted his hands on the trunk and slowly pushed the car back into the space.

I suppose if you are determined, no space is too narrow. Squeezing into a parking spot, fitting into a tight pair of jeans, cutting the legs off a sofa to make it fit through the door. I guess if you try hard enough, no space is too narrow. Except one. Jesus says in our lesson for today, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."

This morning we focus on the question of whether the way to heaven is easy or is it difficult. We will see that there is a way that is narrow and it leads to life. But there is also a way that is wide and it leads to destruction. The narrow door is open and it is easy to enter. However, there will come a time when this door will be closed and impossible to enter.

In our text, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. But this is no ordinary trip, no vacation to see his relatives. He didn’t pack his sandals and swimming trunks for a quick dip in the Jordan River. No, Jesus had set out for Jerusalem knowing that at the end of the trip, he was going to die.

As he travels through the towns and villages he encounters all sorts of people on his way. One of these people ask him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" This question is rather strange because it seems to be more concerned about how many people would be saved rather than how they would be saved.

But Jesus doesn’t answer him right away. Jesus switches the emphasis of salvation away from the number of people being saved and instead focuses attention on how people may be saved. Jesus says, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many will try to enter and will not be able to." You see, the important question isn't how many will be saved, but will you be saved? Jesus wants his hearers to understand that they can't take entry to God's kingdom for granted. The way of entry is narrow.

In Matthew's Gospel Jesus speaks of a gate rather than a door. "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 the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) Someone has diagramed the narrow gate and the wide gate as two open-ended triangles. One triangle is like a teepee with no base. The open end represents the "wide gate" which appears to lead to freedom: anything goes, anyone can come in. But the freedom is an illusion. As a person moves on through life, it becomes more restrictive and confining.

The other triangle is like a V. The point at the bottom represents the narrow gate. Once we enter that gate, we discover that life opens up for us more and more, until finally we reach the "end" and find it is eternity in the freedom and grace of God!

There are many narrow doors that lead to freedom and a fuller, richer life. Education is one of those narrow doors. The more education you have, the greater your options. For example, a young man quits school because he wants to be free. At first it's great! No studies. Sleep late. Earn money. As time passes, however, he is prepared only for an increasingly narrow band of jobs reserved for the unskilled. He has entered the inverted teepee that gets more narrow all the time. If he had made it through the narrow door of education, he would have had a world of opportunity.

Physical fitness is also a narrow door. How marvelous of a machine the human body is, but like any piece of equipment it must be used properly. Neglect or abuse of the body is a wide door that narrows quickly, if we are not careful. If we exercise by playing basketball, walking, or using Richard Simmons workout tapes, we can be physically fit. Instead, many of us have become couch potatoes. We eat too much. We sit too much. We grow too much. And the doors become more narrow because we become more wide. We become like one poor fellow who always wanted to look like a Greek god. As time went on, however, he looked more like a Greek restaurant.

Narrow doors lead to freedom and a fuller, richer life. Jesus said, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door; for many will seek to enter and will not be able." Jesus was talking about a very specific door, of course – the door to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Education and physical fitness are all narrow doors. But the most important door of all is the narrow door of the Kingdom. Like the other narrow doors, this door leads to freedom, and a fuller, richer life in Christ here on earth and all the blessings we enjoy when we enter heaven.

Jesus describes heaven as people coming from the east and west and north and south to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Entrance into this banquet hall is by a door. This door is narrow. That narrow door is a symbol for Jesus himself. A person enters the banquet hall of heaven only by way of Jesus, not by good works or Allah or Buddah or anything else.

The door is narrow, but it is wide open. It is open to everyone – from the north, south, east or west. We are not limited by skin color or race or whether you root for the Packers or some other team. People from all over the world may enter through this door and find their places at the banquet of salvation. How do we get through the door? We begin walking through this open door when we recognize our sins, say we are sorry for them, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our forgiveness.

As our Hebrews reading mentions, we deserve to be standing before Mt. Sinai where God gave his commandments to the Israelites. We should be trembling with them. We should be filled with fear because we cannot keep God’s commandments. God has every right to angry with us. If the people were to stone an animal that touched Mt. Sinai, how much more punishment do people like us deserve who actually understand what we are doing is wrong. There should be no pardon for our sin-troubled hearts. There should be no peace for our sin-torn consciences.

That is when Jesus steps in. He is the door to peace. He is the entrance to pardon. He is the gate to salvation. All because he bought us back from hell with his death and resurrection. Through Jesus we can walk away from Mt. Sinai with its terrible laws and climb Mt. Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem. We now have a place of honor reserved for us at the banquet table because Jesus has opened the door of his heavenly home for us. How do we enter through this door and receive the freedom and fullness of all these blessings? Simply believe that Jesus is your Savior and all this is yours. Simply trust in Jesus and the door to heaven is open and easy to enter.

However, one day this narrow door will be closed and impossible to enter. But, I've heard people say that it is unchristian to say Jesus is the only way to heaven. They call Christians "narrow-minded." Yet, we have no problem with narrow criteria in other areas of life. A few years ago in the Super Bowl when the Tennessee Titan’s receiver was tackled only a yard from the end zone, the referees didn’t say, "Oh, give it to him anyway! Don’t be so narrow minded!" That would be silly wouldn’t it?

Yet when we read that the entrance to God's kingdom is narrow, it upsets many. As though God has no right, or no reason, to set limits on entry. Jesus goes on to explain what makes the door narrow. He says "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.'" Jesus is telling us that the time is limited. The door is narrow in the sense that time is running out. Do you remember that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indiana Jones has to get out of the cave as the trapdoor starts to roll down? So he dives under it, then reaches back to get his hat just in time. It's a bit like that. The time is fast running out.

Jesus describes it as being like a man inviting friends to a great feast. He says to be on time and enter the door. Soon the door will be closed and Jesus will be telling those on the outside, "I don’t know you." Jesus is encouraging his hearers to come to faith soon, become a part of God’s family now, before it is too late. Because, Jesus says, that it will be no good to complain later that you always meant to come to faith one day. Jesus will then say to you, "I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!" It isn’t enough for you to say, "I was baptized as a child. I was confirmed in the church, doesn’t that count for something? I, um, went to church regularly on Christmas and Easter."

The unbelievers will be left on the outside looking in. The outside is a place called hell. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In New York City a street evangelist was urging those who would listen to him to flee from the wrath of God to come. " I warn you," he roared, "that there will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth!" An old woman in the crowd shouted snidely: " Sir, I have no teeth!" "Lady," the evangelist responded, "teeth will be provided!"

Outside of the banquet halls of heaven, in hell, there will be eternal tears. There will be no happiness. There will be sorrow forever. There will also be gnashing of teeth. The fire will not be quenched. There will be suffering and terrible pain that will not be destroyed. The unbelievers will see the believers sitting at the banquet tables with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets. That will make their suffering worse. They will see all that they missed out on. They will have to say, "What fools we were not to believe in Jesus and enter heaven."

Friends, eventually the time will come in each individual’s life when the door to salvation will be closed. When God’s message of salvation is ignored, he may take that message to somebody else. Then the door is closed. When a person dies without faith in Christ, the door to heaven is closed. When the end of the world comes and Judgment Day is here, the door to the banquet hall of eternity is closed forever. No more entrance. No more chances. Jesus is the owner of the house and he will personally close and lock the door.

The message is clear – do not delay. Enter now. The door to heaven is narrow, but it is still open. It is open today. It is open to us. It is easy to enter this door through faith in Jesus. But, tomorrow the door may be closed. Tomorrow may be too late. When the door is closed, it will be impossible to enter eternal life.

You know, Jesus doesn’t really answer the question he was asked. He never tells us how many will be saved. Rather Jesus is telling us, "It doesn’t matter to you how many will be saved. Just be sure that you are going to be saved." Amen.

Come from the east and west and north and south, and take your places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Amen.