Sunday Service – Today Jesus 95

23/7/06
<Luke 13:22-30>

MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ENTER THROUGH THE NARROW DOOR

• God loves us and He loves us right now, at this moment even when we are still
full of weaknesses.
• Therefore, when a person understands the depth of God’s love, he should be
able to hear God’s voice all the time.
• There is only one path for us to take, i.e. the path of Immanuel.
• Man is created in God’s image. We are not animals. Therefore, we must stand
in the presence of God as the most glorious created being. Then we’ll see that
we are able to change others even though we are ordinary. We’ll be able to
testify in our problems.
• Therefore, we will have to take the narrow road. The only true joy comes from
taking Christ road; the only true hope comes from doing God’s will.

Read <Luke 13:22-30>

• For the unblessed, it is not only difficult but totally impossible for then to enter
the narrow door. However, for the blessed, it is difficult for them not to enter
the narrow door. After all, no one needs to try hard to love his own father,
unless of course he is an illegitimate child
• Therefore, what Jesus Christ is asking is whether do we possess the life to
enter the narrow door
• God didn’t give us a religious life. He had given us the Gospel
• We must understand the difference between religion and Gospel
• We’d tried very hard not to sin in the past. But after receiving grace, I realised
that it’s not about trying hard not to sin. In fact, I have now come to hate sin,
and yearn to live for loving God and men
• In the past, I’d spent lots of effort wanting to pray. However, now I had realised
that I cannot live my life without praying, for the temptation and evil of the
world is so great. Therefore, I cannot don’t pray!
• You have to know the difference between religion and Gospel
• In the past, I strive to evangelize. But after receiving grace, I realized people
needs the gospel. Therefore, my heart goes out to them. And as I pray for
them, answers were given me. Thus, people who had problems with the lives,
families, and career will come to me.
• Before we receive grace, we used to try to attend worship service. But now,
we yearn for the time when the blessed congregation comes together.

• In today’s verse <Luke 13:22-30>, we read that there were people asking
Jesus if “only a very few people are going to be saved?” However, Jesus
didn’t give them a direct answer. Instead, He told them to “make every
effort to enter through the narrow door”
• The mystery of “entering through the narrow door” is not about how
zealous or fervent we are, but rather, whether the Lord knows us! (i.e. Have
we met the Lord before)
• Look at Abraham, Isaac Jacob and all the prophets. What do they have in
common? All of them possess the life of Gospel. It is therefore, not about
putting in efforts to give anything to God but rather, the life that we possess.
Does our life have the content of the prophets?
• Therefore, to those that have possess this life and have meet God correctly,
Jesus Chrsit said: “those who are last will be first and first who will be
last”

1. Enter through the narrow door

1) Distinguish (分别)
• Enter through the narrow door is about having a distinction from the
people of this world
• How is it different?
• People of this world are “spiritually blind”, no matter how rich or
successful they are. They do not know where their lives come from and
where they will go after death. They do not know the real purpose of
working, eating, marrying, rising children, living their lives, etc. They
only know that they need to do all these things and then leave this
world one day.
• For believers, at least they know that they belong to God and they
know who their Creator is. They know where their lives come from and
where they will be going. They know why this world exists and they
know the reason why they are given 70, 80 years of lifespan.
• Therefore, because people of this world live in ignorance, the longer
they live on this world, the more sins they commit and greater the
curse and judgment that will be upon them. Thus, the longer they live,
the greater problems their mental, physical body, families,
interpersonal, descendants face. As a result of their sins, tragedies and
accidents will befall them and the world
• For the blessed believers (i.e. believers whose eyes were opened), they
will have more joy, hope and crowns as they live another day. They will
live their lives with such beauty and assurance, and with more of it as
they are about to leave this world.
• People of this world use their own strengths and efforts to live their
lives on earth. They had used their own strength to store up, to earn, to
sweat, to plan, to scheme, etc.
• For the blessed believers, they work for God’s kingdom and they know
that everything were planned / prepared by God. Even if they do not to
receive the thing that they wanted, it is also God’s provision for them
not to be able to receive them. For to receive what comes from God
Himself is full provision.

2) Walk on the path of Jesus Christ today

• The most accurate definition of “entering through the narrow
door” is to walk the path of Jesus Christ. This is the narrowest path.
• Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a King, came in the most humbled way so
as to “deceive” people. Thus, the rich and successful ones will not go to
Him. Those who think their lives are ok and they are fine living their
current lives will not come to Him.
• Jesus Christ is in fact the King of kings, but He live His life on this world
with full submission, full obedience. For obedience is better than
 sacrifice. Obedience, to many is the hardest to do because it seems to
restrict our flesh. But to Jesus, obeying God is the most liberated thing
to do
• Jesus Christ kept quiet when those prosecuting Him started accusing
and ridiculing Him. Keeping quiet is the best because though he has no
sins, he needs to bear the sin of His people.
• Jesus Christ, for his whole lives seek to be alone to spend time with
God. Being alone and enjoying God’s presence is always not easy for
men all like to live in talks and the presence of people. However, Jesus
often finds time to be alone. He seeks God and communicates with God
when He is alone. But he is not one who shuns away from people. He
mixes with tax collector, prostitute, and religious people, yet he always
sustains his holiness.
• These are the mystery of walking the narrowest path.

3) Make every effort to pray

• We need to pray as we must always know the perfect will of God and
obey. For without prayer, we will very quickly be lured by the likings
and ideologies of this world.
• Therefore, when a person who lives in this world sees the need to turn
to God every moment in every situation, he has chosen the narrowest
path.

2. Known by Jesus Christ: Evidences?

• The day when the narrow door closes will come. It is either the day when
we leave this world or when Jesus Christ has come again.
• Once it is close and you are outside the door, Jesus Christ will tell you that
He does not know you.
• Therefore, do we have evidences that we are known by Jesus Christ right
now? Being known by Jesus Christ means having met Him.
• You have met Jesus Christ before when you’d received the conviction, the
joy before. It does not matter how weak we currently are.
• However, we must have the evidences that Jesus Christ has already known
us. And we need to have the evidences now, not when we meet Him in
time to come.
• It is not a guessing game if Jesus Christ has really known us or not.
• Every relationships start from having met each other. So how to meet God?

1) The Trinity
• There could be many “John” in a large congregation. Therefore, we will
need to have the picture of the person we are looking for, if we want to
find the correct one.
• Likewise, there could be many “gods” in this world. To find the only true
and living God, we will need to do so by having:
(i) His very own Word that reveals Himself. If not, the God we find
might be just another of the millions of gods that men had
created.
(ii) And this word has come in the form of flesh before (i.e. Jesus
Christ) to show us his thinking, his ideology, his views, his
examples, his works, etc.
 (iii) And through hearing the word, believing in Jesus Christ (His
incarnation), the spirit made us believe and dwell in us.
• As we could see, God in his form is unseen. Therefore, anyone who has
known God through his 5 senses has not met the complete God yet.
• Therefore, it is incorrect to know God through the physical things
created by men, nor by man’s ideology.
• Therefore, if a person had heard the word of God, thus believe in His
incarnation (Jesus Christ), and now call upon His name through His
spirit, he already has the most complete evidence that he has met God
in the right way.
• For such a person, the Almighty God has come into his life; He has
already been known by the Trinity God already. If there is the case, then
there are no reasons for you to be sad, worried, unsatisfied, etc,
anymore. We must restore the highest pride of being known by God
Himself.

2) Converse with God

• You will not know how much God has loved you unless you’d constantly
talked to Him. You will not understand God’s very intention in every
situation unless you converse with Him frequently.
• A couple who was separated for decades will not be able to have a very
close talk when they were first reunited. Likewise, you cannot really
communicate with God if you only talk to Him in an emergency or once
in a blue moon
• Although you have known God, you will not really know His desire, His
personality, His concern, etc, unless you are always in close
communication with Him
• However, if you are one who has always been talking to God, you can
even hear God’s tone, emphasis, etc in different times. You will know if
God is calling your name in a gentle, comforting or disciplinary tone.
• It should be our goal to talk more with God than to talk more with men
and receive from him every of His perfect will.

3. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets

• What are the relationships between all the prophets and us? And what are
the relationships between the prophets and God?
• While the prophets represent Jesus Christ in the past, we represent Jesus
Christ of this age
• Examples of representation of Jesus Christ: Abel and the offering of blood;
Noah’s ark (only those inside the ark are saved); Abraham who submitted
and went to the land of Canaan (the place where Christ is to be borne).
Jacob who give birth to the 12 tribes of Israel presents the 12 apostles of
Jesus, etc
• Therefore, we must value ourselves ( 看 重 自 己 ). But in what ways do you
value yourself? Where are the evidences of me having valued myself?
• The most absolute answer is: You would have value yourself most correctly
if you placed your life into the Bible. By placing our lives in the Bible and
seeing our lives fulfilling itself exactly as the prophets, we are putting our
lives at the highest value.
 • The highest value of your life comes after you saw your life as a
representation of Jesus Christ and all the prophets
• We cannot represent Jesus or the prophets using our outstanding school
results, our high position in the Company, or our blissful family
• Entering the narrow door means that I saw that I am experiencing what
Abraham, Isaac or Ruth had experienced before, I am walking through
what the prophets have walked through, and being affirm that I will receive
what the prophets have received.
• Yet many ask: “with my poor conditions/profile, how can I dream that I am
King David, Moses, etc”?
• But we must see that no matter how successful David or Moses seems to
be, they had their turns of being at the low positions too. They have their
turns of being renew and mould by God Himself. And in high or low
position, they also have the heart for God and obey Him.
• When you’d realised that you’ve taken the path of Abraham, David, Moses,
etc, you will know that your names are already recorded in the Book of
Life, and your life is one which God will raise up to represent Jesus Christ in
this age.

4. Systemic way of living (生命系统)

• “those who are last will be first and first who will be last”
• Many Christians, though have been in church for 10 and 20 years, do not
have the kind of life that is as those who has just accepted the Lord. This is
because the beginning of their Christian living is incorrect.
• The most important start of a Christian living is to have met God. The
fastest process of spiritual growth is through prayers. And the most
abundant fruit is obedience. Once you submit and obey, your life naturally
receives the love, joy, righteousness and freedom of God.
• Everyone have weakness and problems. However, the biggest problem
that a believer will have is when he is not being truthful to himself
(upright) with the Word of God
• There are people who behave like Moses or David whilst in church, but
behave very differently when they are at home, at workplace, or when
they are dealing with people outside church. These could be your
weakness too, but at least you need to be truthful and acknowledge your
weakness and is willing to strive towards perfection through the word of
God, not living your own way and life as if there is nothing wrong.
• God’s desire is our obedience (i.e. our hearts). Obedience is better than
sacrifices. When God wants us to obey, it is not because of the matter
itself, but it's the heart which God is after. Only an obedient heart can
contain the full and unlimited blessings of God.
• E.g. if you mourn, grumble and lose your joy just because you’d received
$20 less in increment, this means that you do not have the life to contain
any blessings beyond $20 in value.
• E.g. if u complain and mourn because of your grades differences in studies,
this means you do not have the life to contain the blessings which
exceeded far beyond a good qualifications.
• Can you see the narrow door? Can you enter through the narrow door?
• Therefore, how to live in obedience? We however do not preach about
blind obedience here. We preach about the most gospelized content one
must have before he could live in full obedience. Thus, we need:
 • A Systemic content in our life:
1) The mystery of Born Again (to receive a life that is living)
2) Receive the Covenant (Establish Covenant with God. i.e. to believe fully
the blessings and love God has bestowed upon me).
3) Receive conviction of the Holy Spirit (Only upon establishing a
covenant with God can one receive the right conviction from above. Or
else, it would be his personal motives and ideology).
4) With the right conviction, then a person can converse meaningfully
with God.
5) With that, one will be able to receive all answers (i.e. perfect will) of
God in every situation and any circumstances.
6) Then one will be able to walk with God in full obedience.
7) He will thus see the fruits (i.e. evidences) of his obedience.
8) He will thus be able to testify and evangelize.
9) His words will drive out demons and heal those who are sick. People
will follow him and thus, he will raise disciples.
• We must confirm this systemic content in our life and not let it become
another theory. One who has confirmed this systematic content in his life
will naturally go through the narrow door.
• Without this word of God being formatted in our life, our life will go through
many upheavals, and many a times, we will naturally choose the wide
door.
• I prayed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for our church: We should not
strive to enter through the narrow door, but to strive to possess the life
that will naturally enter through the narrow door.

PRAYER AND SHARING TOPICS

1. The Lord says “make every effort to enter through the narrow door…
many will try to enter and will not be able to … but the Lord will
answer ‘I don’t know you or where you come from’”. How does the
path of believing and obeying the Lord differs from the path in which
the people of this world is pursuing? Do I have the assurance that the
Lord knows me? What are the evidences? How does the Lord lives in
me today?

2. “You see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the
kingdom of God” Am I the Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and prophet of this
age? If so, where are the evidences? Today, have I possess what
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets had possessed? Did I believe
in the same personality, content, and method as what they’d believed
in? Have I seen that I’m walking on their paths today and
experiencing what they’d experienced before?

3. “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who
will be last.” In your prayers, ponder upon what is the discipleship
system that will stabilize a person’s life and enable him/her to grow
in the fastest way. Have I already possessed the mysteries that were
hidden in every stage? Am I able to use it to rise up another person’s
life?