Luke 13:25-30 When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut to the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door… I. SOME OF THE HUMAN RACE WILL BE SHUT OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WHO HAVE CONFIDENTLY EXPECTED ADMISSION. 1. Of this number will be all those who, leave the world relying upon their own righteousness. 2. Of this number are all those persons who place their reliance on external religious services. 3. Of the same number is the enthusiast. Enthusiasm is a reliance for religious knowledge, dispositions, and duties on immediate and supernatural communications from God. No such communications exist in fact. Those which are mistaken for them are only the suggestions of a wild and heated imagination. 4. Of the same number also are those persons who rely upon a decent and amiable behaviour. 5. Of the same number also are they who rely upon what are called the moral duties of life. 6. Another class of men who will be exceedingly disappointed hereafter, will consist of those who rely on what may be called a religious character. 7. Persons who believe themselves to be religious because others believe them to be of this character constitute another class of those who will experience this dreadful disappointment. 8. Another class of these persons is composed of those who place their religion in the knowledge, and not in the obedience of Divine truth. 9. Another class of the same persons is formed of those who place their reliance upon their zeal. "It is good," saith the Apostle Paul, "to be zealously affected always in a good thing" (Galatians 4:18). A cold, stupid, heartless professor of religion, absorbed in the concerns of this world, gives little evidence that his profession is sincere; and, if he be a Christian, is a disgrace to the name, and a spot upon the character of religion. Yet there is a zeal which is not according to knowledge. 10. Another class of the persons under consideration is formed of those who place their hope in a faith which is without works. II. OTHER PERSONS, WHOM THESE EXPECTED TO SEE SHUT OUT, WILL BE ACCEPTED. 1. Of this number there will be a multitude of such as, in this world, have lived in humble and despised circumstances. 2. In this number will be found great multitudes who have been our own friends, companions, and equals in the present world. 3. In this number will be included also a multitude of persons who, in this world, appear to be religious, and are, on that account, despised by others. 4. Of this number also will be found those whose acknowledged characters and opinions have, in many respects, been different from ours. III. THAT THE DISTRESS OCCASIONED BY THIS DISAPPOINTMENT WILL BE VERY GREAT. Weeping and gnashing of teeth are glowing images of extreme anguish; and this anguish is, by our Saviour, attributed to the two-fold disappointment mentioned in the text. What less can be believed from the nature of the subject? The disappointment will follow strong and high-raised expectations, and, in many instances, undoubting confidence. It will be a final disappointment. It will be a disappointment of every object for which we can hope, of every good which we are capable of enjoying. Concluding remarks: From these solemn and affecting considerations we can hardly fail to derive many, and those most important, practical lessons. 1. We are strongly urged by them to the most watchful care in determining what the genuine religion required by the gospel is. 2. With these solemn considerations in view, let me also urge every member of this assembly to examine the ground of his own hope of salvation. 3. These considerations strongly urge us to entertain very humble apprehensions of our own character. 4. These considerations powerfully compel us to exercise charitable thoughts towards others. (T. Dwight, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: |
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