Introduction:

The word "heaven" is found 422 times in the Bible. We can learn a lot about heaven from the Bible. God is in heaven. There will be great rejoicing in heaven. Heaven is like a priceless treasure. The angels are in heaven. Satan was kicked out of heaven. Heaven is like a great feast or celebration. Jesus left heaven, came to earth, and returned to heaven. I can could go on and on about how the Bible describes heaven.

But today we want to look at these specific verses where Jesus talks about heaven. In his teaching about heaven, He tells us to enter through the narrow door. Jesus also warns us that we don't want to be left outside of heaven. With this in mind, may Jesus' teaching move us to use our time of grace wisely.

1. Enter through the narrow door

In Luke's account we hear of Jesus traveling toward Jerusalem. The Savior was teaching in the towns and villages along the way. He is our greatest example to proclaim the gospel whenever we can.

As Jesus' is teaching a person came up to him and asked him a very strange question. He said, "Lord, are only a few going to be saved?" This is a question strange because that man was more concerned about how many people would be saved instead of how people are saved. It was a strange question, but the man went to the right person. Let us remember that when we have questions about salvation, we should always go to Jesus in His Word. He has all the answers that we need in the Holy Scriptures.

Jesus seemed to ignore the man's strange question because Jesus was intent on giving him the information that he really needed. Jesus took the opportunity to teach a lesson on heaven by saying, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door." He describes heaven like house that we want to get into. There is only one door, and Jesus describes it as the narrow door. The main verb in that sentence describes a continuing struggle to enter the narrow door. Jesus teaches that we should never stop, but continue making every effort.

The Son of God added, "many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." Jesus expressed very clearly that not all would make it to heaven. In fact, he said many would not. They would try, but fail.

But isn't God a loving god? Does he not want all to be saved and join him in heaven? God does want all to be saved. God is a loving god. Then why is the doorway to heaven so narrow? God is also a just god. He declared that in order get into heaven we must be perfect. But we are not. We are born sinful human beings. We continue to sin every day. If God just looked the other way and ignored our sin, he would have gone back on His Word and would not be just.

Think about your darkest sin. You know the one that I am talking about. It is the sin that you hope people don't find out about. It is the sin that can keep you up at night. Should God let you into heaven with that sin? The answer is no. Every one of our sins should bar us from heaven's door. That is the horrible truth.

But the beautiful truth is that God is also merciful. The Almighty Lord, in his loving wisdom, gave us a door to heaven. It is not a wide door in which everybody travels through, as our post-modern would have us think. It is a narrow door as Jesus teaches us in the Gospel for today. That narrow door is Christ himself. That is revealed to us by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Jesus uses a different word there but it expresses the same truth. In John 10:9 Jesus said, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved".

Only through Jesus perfect life, innocent death, and resurrection could we be saved. Only through the loving sacrifice of the perfect God-man would our sins be forgiven. Remember that dark sin you were ashamed of. It is gone. It has been erased and God sees it no more. Nor does He see any of your sins. They have been removed by the blood of Christ. Remember the empty feeling of despair because we ought to be banned from heaven because of sin. That despair is replaced with God's loving invitation to join him in heaven through faith in Christ Jesus as the Savior.

Jesus teaches us that there is only one way into heaven. We are to enter through the narrow door. And that narrow is Jesus Christ. If we put our trust in anything else it is futile.

2. Don't be left outside

Jesus gave the inquiring man an answer. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Jesus explained that many would try and fail. The Savior then gave the man a warning. In essence he was stressing to the man how much he did want to be left outside of heaven. For the opposite of heaven is hell. The Lord described that horrible place. Jesus said that hell is when God closes the door of heaven to you. All those who are too puffed up with their sinful pride won't fit through the narrow door of Christ. Those who are trying to get into heaven on their good deeds refuse to enter through the door. Those people will be left out of heaven.

Jesus also described hell as specific place, not an imaginary one. He said there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell. In contrast to that, listen to how heaven is described in Revelation 17:7, "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." In heaven there will be no more tears, pain, or sorrow. It will be a great feast where believers will celebrate and rejoice with God.

But Jesus also warns that those who reject him as their savior in this life will be rejected by God in eternity. Hell is God saying to a person, "I don't know you." Those are horrible words for a person to hear from God. In contrast, how comforting are these words of Jesus, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." By God's grace we have been saved by Jesus Christ and we can confidently say with King David, "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

3. Use your time of grace

The greatest teacher of all time finished his lesson on heaven with the words, "Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last." These words teach us as Christians to use our time of grace wisely. First we are to be on guard at all times that we, who have been made first in God's kingdom, do not let our sinful pride make us last in God's eyes, for that means condemnation. But rather, we are to use the days that God has given us on this earth to study God's Word, praise him in worship, kneel in prayer, and serve him with our lives.

And as we serve our Lord with our lives, we are to use our time of grace to proclaim the gospel. Our loved ones, friends, neighbors and coworkers may be taken from the world at any moment. We cannot let our opportunities slip away from us. Use the time you have been given to tell people about the narrow door to heaven, Jesus Christ. Go forth with the gospel with an unabashed boldness. We heard Jesus' horrible description of hell. We also heard Jesus' comforting depiction of heaven. We know what hangs in the balance. Let the gospel move you to proclaim the one way to heaven, faith in Christ Jesus as the Savior from sin.

The prophet Isaiah wrote, "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near." We have limited time to carry out our mission here on earth. However we must remember that it is never too late to tell someone about Jesus. Do not give up on anyone, whether it your son or daughter, brother or sister, mom or dad, or anyone. Remember the thief on the cross. He was a man who committed crimes that were punishable by death. And yet in the last hours of his life, he was brought to faith and Jesus proclaimed to the dying man, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." The last was made first. Heaven was his.

Conclusion:

Jesus has taught us a valuable lesson about heaven. Let us strongly declare with the Apostle Paul, who wrote in Philippians 3:20, "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." And as we wait, we, as believers can joyfully sing, "I'm but a stranger here, heaven is our home. There at my Savior's side - Heaven is my home - I shall be glorified; Heaven is my home. There are the good and blest, those I love the most and best, and there I, too, shall rest; Heaven is my home." AMEN.