“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!’”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭13‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ ‭

On the strength of Jesus’ death and resurrection, He is the entry point, and the way by which people access God’s rule and live in it according to its constitution. He is also the model of the life lived under God’s authority. 

Jesus had to smash the misunderstanding that the Jews were automatically citizens of God’s kingdom because they were born into the Jewish nation. 

Jesus came from heaven as the God-man, not only to announce the restoration of God’s rule on earth but to be the way into God’s realm, not by natural birth or inclusion in the covenant by being a member of the Jewish nation. Only by faith in Him and union with Him in His death and resurrection and God’s work of grace by His Spirit, can anyone become a citizen of the heavenly kingdom. 

If Jesus’ hearers leant on their natural birth as the reason for their inclusion in God’s kingdom, Jesus had to utter the warning…

“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!’ There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭13‬:‭25‬-‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As Paul explained, their forefather, Abraham, had to make this transition by his deliberate choice to believe God. 

“What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” …It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith…Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham…He is the father of us all. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭3‬, ‭13‬, ‭16‬, ‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So too, they, the people who heard Him, and we who read the message, must make the same decision to believe the message about Jesus, who he is and what He did. 

What did God do through Jesus?

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So…

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved…Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬-‭10‬, ‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God responds and intervenes by a supernatural act of grace. 

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 The consequences of not responding to what God has done through Jesus, are clear and horrific…

To be continued…