One day, on His way to Jerusalem, someone asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Jesus answered; LUKE 13:24-27 “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. 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.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me all you evildoers!”
He instructed them that they should make every effort to enter through the narrow door. (MATTHEW 7:14 Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.) To enter the narrow door we must humble ourselves, become smaller, deny ourselves, sacrifice ourselves, become less so we can squeeze through the door to enter the Kingdom, be overcomers and rule and reign with Him. We can’t get through the narrow door with a big head. (Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.)
Jesus here is the owner of the house and the house represents His Kingdom. In LUKE 13:29 He talks about people coming to take their place at the feast in the Kingdom of God. They are the overcomers who will reign with Him. The ones that went through the narrow door of life and there is a place for them.
Jesus is saying that many will want to enter in and have a place of importance with Him at that time, but will not be allowed it because that was always the desire of their hearts in the world. The desire for position and recognition. The problem was that they always tried to get it by fleshy motivations instead of servanthood and sacrifice. These people are Christians who served God and called Jesus Lord, Lord; but did not do what He said concerning discipleship and developing their character in Christ. Their hearts were deceived from the way of truth because they obviously were knocking on the door expecting to be let in. But Jesus will have to say, “I don’t know you (we never had an experiential relationship) or where you come from. (What house do you belong to, certainly not mine!)
Because these Christians were not humble enough to go through the narrow gate, they obviously had a problem with pride in some form. Pride is associated more with self and works and position than servanthood and grace.
They were probably good people by man’s standard but not a pure heart and so they were functioning more on performance than relationship and love. They thought they had earned the right to be there. The deceitful heart is a scary thing. It causes you to think you are okay and you are not. This is why we must have an accountable practical relationship with others in the body that we allow them to speak into our lives.
The second incident we want to look at is where Jesus says, “I don’t know you!” in MATTHEW 25:1-13.
In this situation He says it to the five foolish virgins. It also speaks about the time of His coming and what it will be like. The five foolish virgins did not have enough oil in their lamps. They had not been obedient to be doers of the word so it was not a light unto their path. They were in spiritual darkness and could not see clearly so they were not ready. They could not go in even though they went to a good church because they needed their own oil, or their own spiritual relationship with the Lord.
Their hearts were also deceived. They were knocking on the door saying, “Open the door for us.” They had taken Jesus and salvation for granted and still thought they belonged on the other side of the door. They were not humbly asking if they could come in, but were telling Him to open the door. But again, Jesus said, “I truly do not know you.”
Holiness is not something you can become in a couple of months or even years, but it comes about by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit throughout our life. We must see the need for holiness at the time of the coming of our Lord. I PETER 1:13-22
I can never assume that I am ready because I have never experienced what is coming. Therefore I can not know how it will affect my heart and my life. God has prepared me for what I have to handle now but I have to allow him to prepare me for what is coming. Thinking that I am ready now, that I can handle whatever is coming, is the first step to a deceived heart. Remember the key to knowing that you are not ready is thinking that you are ready.
