Strive to Enter - Part 1

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. In real time, it is August 21st, 2026. In noco time, it is August 25th. He sounds like he's sitting by himself in a room laughing at his own jokes. You can write me, Mike, at nocompromiseradio .com.

I just got an email the other day. Somebody ordered a bunch of books. If you order 10 or more, I can drop ship them through Amazon, through me for 40 off. Working on a sanctification primer, didn't quite get it done.

My wife and I were going to work on our parenting book this summer, didn't quite get it done. So I've written, I don't know, half of the parenting book, but she wants to have her style and her take. And at the end of the chapters, maybe one of the children's, adult children now, take on whatever that topic was.

So we'll see what happens. If I ever want to retire, maybe the retirement book is the parenting book. Common parenting mistakes. I'm an expert in doing that. On the positive side, wonderful side, the Lord has saved all my children and has given them a love for the local church.

And when I became a pastor, I did not want them to despise the church or hate the church or this thing, air quotes, took away my dad's time and his affections and his love. And he ignored me. And so praise the Lord that didn't happen.

My wife was a constant reminder for that not to happen. And of course, there are things that I would do over again, but spending time with my children, I would not do over again. And I've said to many pastors that are younger, and I said to myself when I was younger, I'm 66 now, became a pastor at 36, you know what, one day they'll fire you, you'll leave, you'll die, you'll retire, something like that.

And you'll never say, I should have been in more committee meetings. Who should we use for the dumpster service? You know, they should have a class. Maybe they talk about this in pastoral ministry class, and I just didn't listen to Dr. Montoya.

Maybe that was it. How do you decide on what copier? Should you lease it or should you just buy it? What about trash companies? What about who gets keys to the church? Anyway, today I want to talk about a topic that is kind of in the news.

My friend Steve Meister at Emanuel Baptist Church in Sacramento just saw him this summer, and he's doing well, and his wife Jen is doing really well, and I'm encouraged by that health-wise and spiritually-wise.

And he preached a sermon a while ago, I think in front of some pastors, about Matthew 7, enter the narrow gate passage. I believe it's 7, 13, and 14. And I think it riled some people up a little bit, maybe in the legalism camp.

And, you know, there's a couple different, I don't know, wings of the Reformed Baptist world. I don't typically call myself a Reformed Baptist. If you call me that, that's fine. I'm a crypto-presbyterian.

No, I'm just kidding. I believe in believers' baptism. That's certainly true. Immersion, after you believe. But, you know, in the old days with Arbucke and other things and Al Martin, and now there's kind of a couple different—well, I mean, I guess there's federalism, and there's a Reformation Bible kind of—see, I'm talking out of my league.

Anyway, I do know this. Meister preached a sermon, and some people didn't like it. And so it started up again, this discussion of, well, law, gospel, is there preparation needed in order to come to faith, what does repentance mean, where is it in the order of the history of salvation, is repentance a fruit of faith, or do you have to repent in order to believe, is this—if I say repent, do I mean believe?

If I say believe, do I mean repent? All these kind of things. Now, I have come up to Luke chapter 13, and I have a mirror passage to Pastor Steve Meister's passage, and that is this. Jesus was asked a question in chapter 13, verse 23, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?

That's the question. Now, it comes right off of the heels of everything in chapter 13 is about repentance. If you don't repent, you're going to likewise perish. People ask Jesus questions, what about this situation, what about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices, and Jesus says, what about you?

Then they come to Jesus and say, well, you know, that tower fell—or actually, Jesus says that the tower fell, a Salome tower, and killed people. You know, are they worse? What do you think of that? And I tell you, when you see these things, you ought to say to yourself, how do I stand before God?

Because unless you repent, you'll likewise perish. Then Jesus gives a parable about a fig tree where there's no repentance. There's a healing that Jesus does on a woman who's been sick for 18 years with some demonic, satanic thing, and the leadership there, they don't even acknowledge the mercy and kindness and compassion of the eternal Son.

This shows a lack of repentance. So everything here in chapter 13 is about repentance and the lack thereof. And then Jesus tries to encourage the disciples by saying, with the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of leaven, that it's slow, but it's sure, it's pervasive, don't worry, there's the right way to think about things.

So today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, I want to talk a little bit about what does it mean to strive to enter through the narrow door? Probably a Jewish person that came to Him, and do we mean you have to stop sinning in order to come to Christ?

Does this have effect on the marrow controversy? Do we have to forsake sin in order to come to Christ? Is there an amount of preparation needed? Or do we have to fit this in the rubric of, well, we know we're saved by faith alone, category of justification.

Full stop, separate category, that faith is not going to be alone in the category of sanctification. They always go together, but they're separate. We distinguish, do we not? Who says that? We distinguish.

Just kidding. So when He says strive to enter, what is He saying? Do you need to do some works and work hard in order to get to heaven? It's a narrow door, people are trying to get in, and what must you do to make it through?

Because the text says, I tell you, many will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord, open up to us, then He will answer and say to you, I do not know where you're from.

And I think Meister addressed that later in verses 23 and 24-ish, somewhere down there in Matthew 7. Then you will begin to say, back to Luke 13, 26, we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.

And He will tell you, or He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you're from. Depart from Me, all you evildoers, quoting from Psalm 6. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.

And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some who are first will be last. So, we could talk about the importance of this, because there are going to be some who think they're in, but they're not.

They think, well, since we've heard Jesus talk, we've had meals with Him, He's taught in our synagogues that we're good, and they're not going to be. There's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. There's a place that we would call hell, eternal torment, where the worm dies not, a pit.

There's all kinds of descriptions of hell. So, this is an important issue, because each of us have an eternal soul, and when we die physically, our soul keeps going. And so, where do we go? And we need to be a forgiven people.

You can just walk through the words. We need to be reconciled to God. We need to have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The price paid for redemption to buy us out of the slave pit of sin and Satan in the world is the blood of the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

And so, there's a payment that has to be made, not paid to Satan, but the ransom payment is Jesus's life as a representative and substitute, and therefore, this is a big deal. So, when someone said, are a few people being saved, it's the right question or the wrong question.

Actually, it's not that great of a question, because Jesus doesn't answer. He says, strive to enter through the narrow door. You've got questions about Pilate and sacrifices and Pool of Salome, or Tower of Salome, rather, falling down.

Well, what about you? And so, today on the show, the real question is, what about you? Where do you stand when it comes to God knowing you and you knowing God? Are you a believer or not? Are you a repentant person or not?

That is the real question. Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. And so, really, the theme of chapter 13, Luke, is repentance. So, I could put it in another way.

Have you repented? Have you repented? So, today on the show, strive to enter the narrow gate. I think this will complement Pastor Steve Meister's sermon as we think through this issue. I mean, people ask some pretty wild questions.

I don't know if you could ask Jesus one question what you would ask, but I don't think, are just a few being saved is the right question. What I did not say earlier, and it's good to say now, Luke 13 .22, the previous verse to the question, Jesus was passing through one city and village to another, teaching and proceeding on his way to Jerusalem.

So, Jesus has his face proverbially set to Jerusalem, and he's going from city to city to city, village to village to village, and he's not staying. That's the point. And so, if Jesus were to stay for an extended time period, then you might say, well, I can ask him all kinds of questions.

Why didn't you just kill Satan when he fell? Do animals go to heaven? Do you ever laugh? Why did you make mosquitoes? Can you make a rock so heavy you can't lift it? Why do we have to sleep? What will we do in heaven?

Why did God choose Israel? Will we get born in heaven? Will we be able to travel instantly in heaven? I found some of these online, by the way. Were dinosaurs a Noah's Ark? Will we recognize each other in heaven?

You could ask all kinds of questions. I found some other ones online that were kind of humorous. Why do churches have potlucks? Why do some people raise their hands during worship? Why do churches have stained glass windows?

This is kind of anachronistic here. Why do we sing three verses of a hymn and skip the fourth? Can you open your eyes when you pray? There are all kinds of questions you could ask. He, this man, we don't know who it is.

My guess is a Jew. That's a pretty good guess, especially in light of the discussion later, first and last, in the inclusion of the Gentiles in the great kingdom. This Jewish guy asked the question, are just a few being saved?

Now, you know what? The four soils in Luke 8, only one soil is a good soil, so one out of four. Maybe there's not a whole lot of people getting saved. Lots of people say they want to follow Jesus, and then they stop following Jesus.

They don't think He's the only way. They don't think He's the eternal Son. They don't think He's the Messiah. They're waiting for some second-coming type of Messiah. They don't understand His humble first coming and His triumphant second coming.

I mean, He was triumphal in His first coming, too, but you know what I'm saying. Maybe it's, well, there's people that, you know, it's like the Old Testament precedents. You've got just a couple guys make it into the promised land, the spies, and then everybody else dies in the wilderness.

I mean, typically the Jews would think, we Jews make it in, everybody else doesn't. That's kind of the backdrop. I think that's the one that you have to have in your mind when someone comes up to Jesus and says, are just a few being saved?

Maybe He's saying, are just people like us, Jewish people, being saved? We're just one country in the world, and just us? You know, I don't know how many countries exist in the world, but one out of 100, one out of 300, whatever the number is, I don't know exactly.

Why would I not know that number? Because it always changes. I guess I could always ask Siri. Hey, Siri, how many countries are there currently in the world? Let's see what Siri says, because off we go, and you never know what's happening.

So it says it's working, and now it's probably listening to everything else. And actually, it says it's working with chat GPT, so out of all the countries in the world, we're the only ones, right? Just a few being saved.

And they ask Jesus that question. Well, of course it's not working, so we don't care. We're back to the show. Mike Avendroff, No Compromise Radio. What does strive mean? It's probably going to be a two-parter, so that's all right.

Okay, here's one thing that I think is important for us to do, and I want to say Meister did it as well. There are chapters before Luke 13. Duh. I know, but there are chapters before chapter 13. What would those chapters 1 through 12 teach us about Jesus and his salvation?

And so I just thought I would walk through it, because here's what it's going to teach us, that Jesus is the Savior. He saves monergistically, alone, by grace alone, Christ alone. I keep wanting a coffee here.

And that the response to the saving work of Jesus, the saving person of Jesus, is faith. That's the response. Now, if you want to say, it's faith with repentance, that's fine by me. If you want to say repentance, that's fine, because when I say one, I mean the other—it's repentance and faith.

It's not as if repentance is something you do in order to be saved. You believe, and God, in time, grants you repentance, etc. I mean, God grants you faith, even. My point is this. Is there some type of preparationism?

Is there some type of, I have to forsake sin in order to come to Christ? Is there some works-based, when I hear the word strive and agonizo and work hard and sweat and toil, is there something with those concepts and the word strive that tends to a work salvation, are doing something in order to be saved?

Now, we could go to Romans, and God saves the ungodly, or He justifies the ungodly. Jesus came to seek and save sinners in chapter 19. But what about the first 12 chapters? Chapter 1, verse 45, blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

That's what Mary had. She believed God's promise. That's the blessing. Chapter 1, verses 68 and 69, Zechariah's prophecy, he has visited and redeemed his people and raised up a horn of salvation for us.

God alone is the Savior, and He gives forgiveness and salvation. Chapter 1, verse 77, the angels say in chapter 2, verse 11, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

He, the only one, is the only Savior. He's Lord, He's the eternal God, and He's the one that does the saving. So what I'm trying to do is establish precedent and saying, of course, systematic theology-wise, we go to Ephesians or Romans, wherever else we want to go, but even in this book, the Gospel of Jesus According to Luke, that is trying to show you Jesus and have you believe with certainty, or keep believing with certainty, chapter 1, verse 4, Simeon in Luke chapter 2, for my eyes have seen your salvation, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.

Jesus is the Savior. Even in chapter 3, John the Baptist pointing to Jesus, because He who is mightier than I am coming. We're not looking to John, his baptism, his religion, or anything else. He's hoping for Jesus.

In chapter 4, Jesus announces His preaching ministry and why He's sent by the Father. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind.

Jesus is the one who fulfilled all of God's Old Testament types and shadows and redemptive plan. Jesus said in Luke chapter 5, your sins are forgiven, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

It is Jesus alone. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He says to the woman in chapter 7, your sins are forgiven, your faith is saved, you go in peace. Sins are forgiven, so it's faith alone.

Of course, that faith won't be alone, but it's faith alone, and Jesus the Savior alone. Luke 8, 12, the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

So, you have to admit that Luke chapter 1 through chapter 12 is not talking about salvation by human efforts, salvation by accomplishments of people. It's grace. Grace incarnate, Jesus is the Savior. The Son of Man is going to have to suffer, be killed, and be raised on the third day, chapter 9.

Later in chapter 9, this is my son, my chosen one, listen to him. It is Jesus and Jesus alone. And we are to believe and to trust and to accept everything he said, just like Mary, who's taken the good portion.

We realize that human achievement can't save. We are sinners, we can't be saved by our works because our works are tainted. We're saved by Jesus Christ through faith. That's what's happening in Luke, right?

You wouldn't deny that. So, when we come to Luke chapter 13, verse 24, strive. I don't want you to lose your mind. I think Pat Ebenroth talks that way. To lose your ever-loving mind, is that what he says?

Mike and Pat on the pactum. So, we come to this passage, and we have to remember what we've already learned. We're just not parachuting in, forgetting everything before and forgetting everything after.

I mean, the good news is, this guy asked the right person. If you're going to ask anybody a question, and you want the real answer, Jesus is the right person. Except sometimes, when we ask questions, we don't have the right priorities, and we're thinking, oh, who knows if you could ask Jesus any question, I wonder what it would be.

Infra or supra? Amil, premil, postmil? You know, you'd ask a lot of those kind of questions. How does responsibility and, technically speaking, free will jive with—you wouldn't say jive to Jesus, but how does it work with sovereignty?

You might ask some of those. So, you're asking the right person, but the right question isn't being asked, because this guy says, are a few being saved? And Jesus says, what about you? So, I ask you the same thing.

You've got a lot of questions for God, but the real issue is, what about you? Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He's not sticking around. You don't have time to ask him all kinds of questions. One ancient writing said, all Israelites have a share in the world to come, for it is written, thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

So, just a few are being saved, but us Jews, we're going to be saved. We're Israelites, so we're the repenters. Just a few being saved? I think a Pharisee is probably the one who asked the question. Hey, we're tithing mint and seeds and cumin, and of course, these other people aren't.

So, for us, before you ask any other question, for you before you ask any other question, for me before you ask any other question like, how can God be good and let people suffer? Why would a loving God send people to hell?

What about people who've never heard the gospel? What about these passages destroying the Canaanites? Then we need to ask the question, are you right with God? Are you going to heaven? Have your sins been forgiven?

That's essentially what Jesus is saying. Have you repented? Have you trusted the Lord Jesus and repented? That's the question. So, I ask you, have you? Have you done that? Because Jesus said, this is very important.

This is top priority. Think about it. You can have the world by its tail, and you can be rich, and you can have everything, and you can have health and friends and family and kids and grandkids. By the way, I'm up to five grandchildren now.

I just met Evie and Mason and was very happy with that. Jesus says, strive to enter. Well, hey, I think he's talking to a Jewish person, and did they not have the covenants? Did they not have the law?

Did they not have Moses? He's not talking to pagans here. He's talking to believers, and so you can see why it's important for us as well. And we want to grant assurance to people and show them from the Scriptures how they receive assurance.

But it is good to ask the question, are you really a Christian? Right? We're not talking about church membership and ministry, and if you're a pastor for 30 years and all that stuff, are you really a Christian?

Are you believing? Very practical, right? Theology, I think, is very practical. You need to be thinking about repentance. Young man who comes to me and asks the question, says, Jesus, just a few being saved.

Wait a second, have you repented? The issue for us all, the big issue is sin. No wonder Jesus comes on the scene and says, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Our biggest problem, sin against a thrice holy God, and God is just.

Only those who repent are saved. Now, I haven't gotten into, like I have in the past, what does repentance mean, and where does it flow, and where does it go in time and logic and everything else, but the question is, have you repented?

And by the way, if you—because we're needing to wrap up chapter part one—if you've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusted Him, His person, His work, His promises, trusting in the risen Savior who paid for your sins at Calvary, the sinless one, born of a virgin, if you're trusting in Him, knowledge, assent, and trust, if you're resting in Him, then you have repented.

Because repentance is the sure fruit of faith. So I could say, have you repented? Have you believed? Because if you've repented, you have believed, and if you've believed, you will have repented. That's just the way it works.

Repentance is the sure fruit of faith. This is not work hard to get in. This is trust the Lord, and He grants you repentance, and you repent. Have you repented? Westminster Confession about repentance, a sinner out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God, and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ, that leads to the faith part, to such as are penitent, so grieves for and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with Him in all His ways, in all ways of His commandments.

Or as John Murray would say, there's four things when it comes to repentance. Change of mind, respecting God. Number two, respecting ourselves. Number three, respecting sin. And number four, respecting righteousness.

So you change your mind about God, you change your mind about yourself, you change your mind about sin, you change your mind about righteousness. And Jesus said, unless you repent, you're not going to have eternal life.

You're going to perish. Chapter 13, verse 3. Chapter 13, verse 5. The parable of the fig tree, verses 6 through 9. It's all about repentance. Paul said in Acts chapter 20, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

They go together. Twin graces, as R .L. Dabney called them. Inseparable graces. You can't really believe in Jesus without turning from sin, because it's the fruit of that. You can't truly turn from sin without trusting in Jesus.

Sinclair Ferguson said, we cannot separate turning from sin and repentance and coming to Christ and faith. So, I mean, logically, we can talk about it. The question is, have you repentance? Have you repented, rather?

I just looked at the time and it messes up. Turning from sin is not the cause of salvation. It's not the condition of grace. It's the consequence. Jesus is the Savior. Didn't we see that in Luke chapter 1, verses 1 and following through the end of chapter 12?

Of course. So, today on the radio show, I've talked some about striving, but we still haven't wrapped it all up. Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the one that grants repentance, but you need to repent. That's the question.

Have you repented? Because you need to. You need to strive to enter through the narrow door. That's what Jesus is talking about. My name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.