Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
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Emotion
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Anger
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“Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
It’s a good question, isn’t it?
At least, I hope it’s a good question, because it’s my question too.
And I hope it’s a good question because I hear it from you all the time.
We want to know the same thing.
In Jesus’ day and age, this question was a common one.
Jews were a small group of people in a very large world.
And to make matters worse, Judaism in Jesus’ day was not united.
You had the Pharisees and Sadducees who disliked each other and were constantly fighting each other for power.
They each claimed that the other group was wrong.
Then there were the Essenes, who aren’t mentioned in the New Testament.
They were so unsettled with the situation that they created their own separatist communities where they worshiped their own way.
Each group and party claimed to have the truth.
So, who has it right?
Who’s going to make it in?
Will those who are saved be few?
“Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
It’s a good question, isn’t it?
At least, I hope it’s a good question, because it’s my question too.
And I hope it’s a good question because I hear it from you all the time.
We want to know the same thing.
In Jesus’ day and age, this question was a common one.
Jews were a small group of people in a very large world.
And to make matters worse, Judaism in Jesus’ day was not united.
You had the Pharisees and Sadducees who disliked each other and were constantly fighting each other for power.
They each claimed that the other group was wrong.
Then there were the Essenes, who aren’t mentioned in the New Testament.
They were so unsettled with the situation that they created their own separatist communities where they worshiped their own way.
Each group and party claimed to have the truth.
So, who has it right?
Who’s going to make it in?
Will those who are saved be few?
Throw into that whole scenario Jesus’ own ministry.
Over the course of His life and even recently in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has been making some pretty bold claims.
We heard just last week that Jesus is the dividing line between those who are “in” and those who are “out” even if we can’t see the fine distinctions all the time.
“I AM the way and the truth and the life.”
You’re either with Jesus or you’re against him.
There is no middle ground.
But how does that work?
Are there any exceptions to the rule?
Will those who are saved be few?
In Jesus’ day and age, this question was a common one.
Jews were a small group of people in a very large world.
We come up with all sorts of questions that fall under this overall idea.
What about someone who’s never heard about Jesus?
Say they live somewhere deep in a jungle or on an isolated island.
What about them?
Will they be saved?
What about someone who was raised in a Muslim household, but has started secretly learning about Jesus.
They like what they’re learning and are trying to follow Him, but can’t convert because of their family situation.
Are they in or are they out?
What about that person who calls themself a Christian, but struggles with a sexual sin of some sort, be it homosexuality or pornography or adultery or pedophilia?
Where’s the line?
Does any one of those sins put a person outside the realm of faith?
What about those leaders you keep hearing about, who faithfully proclaimed the Word of God for years, but who are suddenly caught in sin or out of the blue renounce the faith?
Will they be saved?
What about that person who prays and reads the Bible faithfully yet refuses to set foot in church?
Are they any different that that person who worships faithfully every week, yet doesn’t live out their faith from one day to the next?
Will those who are saved be few?
We come up with all sorts of questions that fall under this overall idea.
What about someone who’s never heard about Jesus?
Say they live somewhere deep in a jungle or on an isolated island.
What about them?
Will they be saved?
What about someone who was raised in a Muslim household, but has started secretly learning about Jesus.
They like what they’re learning and are trying to follow Him, but can’t convert because of their family situation.
Are they in or are they out?
What about that person who calls themself a Christian, but struggles with a sexual sin of some sort, be it homosexuality or pornography or adultery or pedophilia?
Where’s the line?
Does any one of those sins put a person outside the realm of faith?
What about those leaders you keep hearing about, who faithfully proclaimed the Word of God for years, but who are suddenly caught in sin or out of the blue renounce the faith?
Will they be saved?
What about that person who prays and reads the Bible faithfully yet refuses to set foot in church?
Are they any different that that person who worships faithfully every week, yet doesn’t live out their faith from one day to the next?
Will those who are saved be few?
We can—and do—play this hypothetical game all day long.
We love to know where that line in the sand is really drawn in the real world.
In scripture, Jesus tends to speak of salvation in pretty black and white terms, but we live in a world of grey.
We want to know where that line is.
Will those who are saved be few?
Jesus answer unsettling
We can—and do—play this hypothetical game all day long.
We love to know where that line in the sand is really drawn in the real world.
In scripture, Jesus tends to speak of salvation in pretty black and white terms, but we live in a world of grey.
We want to know where that line is.
Will those who are saved be few?
If you’ve ever asked these kinds of questions, I have both good news and bad news for you this morning.
I’ll go with the good news first: Jesus actually answers the question.
In a lot of places in the Gospels, someone asks Jesus a question and it seems like He doesn’t answer it at all, but jumps right over it to talk about something else.
But here, He answers the question about as directly as we could hope for.
He says, “Many will seek to enter and will not be able.”
There you go.
Yes.
Those who are saved will be few.
Many will try to get in but won’t.
But there’s bad news too: Jesus doesn’t leave us asking hypothetical questions.
We tend to ask our hypotheticals from a distance, impersonally, asking for the facts.
Jesus cuts through that nonsense and answers up close and personal, invading your personal space, drawing you into the question, where there’s nowhere to hide.
we ask from a distance, impersonally
He says to you, you “strive to enter through the narrow door.
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