Luke 13:22-29 NKJV

22And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”

And He said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.

We live in a day and time when “the gospel” being widely spread throughout the world and in my nation (the USA) is not the same gospel that Jesus taught and that his New Testament apostles taught. But it is a watered down, diluted, and altered “gospel” which is taught largely from taking Scriptures out of their appropriate biblical context to make them say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. And many are just flat out ignoring the Scriptures that do not agree with their way of life.

Therefore, the predominant “gospel” message being taught and accepted here in the USA teaches a faith which does not require death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living. But it gives free license to continue living in sin, and not in obedience to the Lord, all marketed under the topic of God’s grace. And even if some are teaching putting sin to death in our lives and walking in obedience to our Lord, many are teaching this as optional and not as required for salvation and for eternal life with God.

But pay close attention to Jesus’ words here. For us to be saved and on our way to heaven we have to be walking the “narrow” road by the grace of God, in the power of God, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. And the narrow way is limited, restricted, and controlled by God according to his teachings on what it means to believe in Jesus Christ and to know God and to have eternal life with God promised to us. So to follow Jesus we must deny self, die to sin daily, and obey God and his commands, in practice.

For one day Jesus is going to return, and we are all going to have to stand before him on the day of judgment and to give an account of what we did with his grace, with his salvation, and with his calling on our lives to deny self, die to sin, and obey his commands as a matter of life practice. And all those who did what he said, who surrendered their lives to him, who put sin to death, by the Spirit, and who walked in obedience to his commands, in practice, in the power of God, are going to be taken to be with him.

And then he is going to shut the door to eternal life with God. And many who thought they were saved by his grace, and that heaven was guaranteed them upon death, or when Jesus returns, they will knock on that door, and they will ask the Lord to let them inside. But he is going to say to them, “I don’t know you.” But they will say, “But I prayed the prayer to receive Christ,” and “I went to ‘church’ every Sunday,” and “I paid my tithe and I fed the hungry and I gave to the needy,” and he will answer, “I don’t know you.”

Why? Because they didn’t do what he said they had to do. They didn’t submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of their lives. They didn’t surrender their lives to him to now live for him and no longer for the sinful pleasures of the flesh. They didn’t put sin to death in their lives, but they continued to walk in sin. They didn’t obey his commands in practice, but they obeyed the cravings of their flesh, instead. They didn’t make Jesus the Lord of their lives but they continued to be lord of their own lives, choosing their own destiny.

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, just because we “pray the prayer” to receive Christ, or we proclaim him as Lord with our lips, or just because we get baptized and we attend weekly gatherings of “the church,” or we read our Bible or pray before meals or do good deeds, it does not guarantee us that we are saved from our sins, that we are in relationship with Jesus Christ, and that eternal life with God is ours to possess. Jesus requires that we die to our old lives of living in sin and for self and that we now surrender our all to him to follow him wherever he leads us in doing whatever he commands us to do, from now to eternity.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

Video talk on the same subject

His Way, Not Our Way
An Original Work / May 14, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love