KSB Youth Conference 2001
Thursday morning, 13 December 2001
Ferny Jaegle
Lk 13:22 - 27
Jesus passes through the villages and gives the people the opportunity
to follow Him. These days of the Youth Conference, Jesus also passed through these benches
giving each the opportunity to come to Him. Were you too busy to attend to Him, or did you
find Him? He waits for you to open the door to Him. He will not force His way into your
life.
vs 24: "strive to enter in at the narrow gate". This
word strive means to agonize. It means to put in every possible effort to enter in. Jesus
made it clear that it is not easy to be saved. In fact, humanly it is impossible, as Jesus
said, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man
to enter heaven. Jesus wants us to be completely moulded into His likeness that we may be
useful in His Kingdom.
v 25 - Here we see clearly that God's grace is only extended for a time.
There comes a time when the door will be shut. And if you are not inside the Kingdom you
will be left outside. If you want to fly with an aeroplane to another country, you need a
ticket, passport and visa. So too, to enter heaven, God requires you to have His ticket,
passport and visa. The time to get it is now. Do not wait until it is too late. And when
you have obtained it, make sure that sin does not enter again. This will disqualify you
for heaven. Remember that each of us will have to stand individually before God and give
account.
Make sure that you are not late when God speaks to you. Remember how God
Himself eventually shut the door in Noah's day. Then, when they wanted to enter, it was
too late. So too today, there will be a time when God shuts the door of grace. There was
once a preacher who sinned by getting angry at someone. He did not want to humble himself
and confess his sin. Later he had to stop preaching. Years later he became sick and on his
death bed others pleaded with him to come to the Lord, but he only said, "I refused
to repent in God's time, now it's too late."
Therefore, make sure that you enter in while the door of grace is still
open. |
