Good morning. How hopeful we are that the Lord
would be pleased to bless us again this morning like he did
last night. It's good to see you all here. I want to read
a passage of scripture from Zechariah. chapter 12 if you want to open
your Bibles or just listen. The Lord's promise to his church. Verse 10 says, I will pour upon
the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This
is the house of David and these are the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The spirit of grace and supplication. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And in chapter 13,
verse 1, in that day, there should be a fountain open to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. We come to that fountain as sinners,
to have our uncleanness washed away by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then the Lord, in his spirit,
concludes the canon of scripture with this promise, and the spirit
and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. Let him that is a thirst, come,
and whosoever will. Let him drink of the water of
life freely, freely. Our first preacher this morning
needs no introduction, Todd Nybert. Matter of fact, I think about
a third of you all are from Lexington. Todd can't travel anywhere without
his entourage. We're so very thankful for this
brother. been a dear, dear friend of me and this church for 22
years. The Lord used Todd to bring the
gospel to Orlando 22 years ago. I'm very, very thankful for that.
I look forward to your message this morning, brother. Let's
go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to bless our time. our merciful heavenly father,
we thank you for the spirit of grace and for the spirit of supplication
that you poured out upon the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. Lord, we thank you for that crystal
clear river that flows from thy throne and from the lamb that
you've called us to drink from. Lord, we confess to you that
we live in a dry and thirsty land and we are a thirsty people
and we plead with you, Lord, that you would cause us, cause
us to drink. Enable us, Lord, to have our
souls refreshed with the hope of salvation in thy dear son.
Pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will be lifted up among us and
we will be drawn by your spirit unto him. We thank you for the
command to come. Lord, we pray for that ability.
We ask it in the name of thy dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 42 in your hardbacked hymnal, number 42. All hail the
power of Jesus' name. And let's all stand together.
? All hail the power of Jesus'
name ? Let angels prostrate fall ? Bring forth the royal diadem
? And crown him Lord of all Bring forth the royal diadem and crown
him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saved you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by
His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every
tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and
crown Him Lord of all. him all majesty I strive, and
crown him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throne
? We at his feet may fall ? We'll join the everlasting song ? And
crown him Lord of all ? We'll join the everlasting song ? And
crown him Lord of all Please be seated. Find your spiral gospel hymnal,
and we're going to sing number 23 now. Pass me not, number 23. ? Pass me not, O gracious Father
? Sinful, wretched though I be ? Though you might in truth condemn
me ? Let your mercy fall on me Love of God so everlasting, Blood
of Christ so rich and free, Grace of God so strong and saving,
Magnify them all in me. Pass me not, O blessed Savior. Let me hear your gracious call. I'm a guilty, helpless sinner. Savior, at your feet I fall,
Love of God so everlasting, Blood of Christ so rich and free, Grace
of God so strong and saving, Magnify them all in me. Pass me not, O mighty Spirit. You can cause the dead to live. Speak the word of saving power. Give me faith and make me live. Love of God so everlasting, blood
of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and saving,
magnify them all in me. Pass me not a poor lost sinner. If you will, you can save me. Reach down with your hand of
mercy. Saving others, Lord, save me. Love of God so everlasting, blood
of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and saving,
magnify them all in me. Bert Dunbar is going to bring
special music now. Blessed assurance, Jesus is Lord. Oh, what a Savior of glory divine. He is salvation, our substitute
Born of the Spirit, faithful and true This is His story, this
is His song Praising my Savior for the work He hath done This
is His story, this is His song, pleasing our Father for the work
He hath done. Perfect obedience, law satisfied,
just as demanded, our Savior should die. It is finished Christ
Jesus cried Precious blood offer God satisfied This is his story
This is his song Praising my Savior For the work he hath done
This is his story This is His song, pleasing our Father for
the work He hath done. Our Savior is risen, He sits
on His throne, interceding for His chosen below. God's spirit
is calling. All sinners will hear. Oh, merciful
Savior, have mercy on me. This is his story. This is his song. Praising my
Savior for the work he hath done. This is his story. This is his
song, pleasing our Father for the work he hath done. Blessed
assurance, elected of God. Glory and honor, his name we
adore. O weary sinner, Be of good cheer
Our blessed Redeemer Draweth so near This is His story This
is His song Praising my Savior For the work He hath done This
is His story This is His song Pleasing our father for the work
he hath done. Perfect submission. All is at
rest. I, in my Savior, am happy and
blessed. I'll be honest with you, I love
that hymn, the way he sang it, a lot better than one that's
in here. I sung that song and thought, man, I have assurance when I look
to Christ. As soon as I start wondering whether or not I have,
do you have full assurance? I said, no. So that was free. Would you turn to Matthew chapter
7? I'm so delighted being with you. I'm so thankful for this
church and for the friendship that we've had over the years.
I'm just thankful to be here. I'm going to read verses 13 and
verse 14. This is said to be one of the
hard sayings of Christ. Verse 13. enter ye in at the straight gate. For wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in
thereat because straight Constricted is the gate and narrow is the
way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Note the word broad and wide
and many And note the word straight and narrow and few. I want to be saved. I know I can't save myself. When
the Philippian jailer said, sirs, what must I do to be saved, he
understood he couldn't save himself. What must I do to be saved? I
need to be saved. I need to be saved from God,
my sins against him. I need to be saved from myself.
I'm my greatest enemy. I really believe that. I know
that. I need to be saved from my sins. I need to be saved from
the situations my sin bring me into. I need to be saved. That's what I need. And I want to have that salvation
that the Bible speaks of. I don't want to be presumptuous
about this. Whatever the Bible means by salvation, that's the
salvation I want. And I want you to be saved. Everybody
here. Romans 10, 1, Paul said, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. I want you to be saved the same
way I want to be saved. And the Bible was given so men
might be saved. That's the purpose this book
was written. said i didn't come to condemn
the world but that the world through me might be saved he
came to save christ jesus came into the world to save sinners
of whom i'm chief he said to a bunch of people in john chapter
5 who were not saved these things say i unto you that you might
be saved Anybody who wants to be saved,
not anybody who wants to get saved. I hate that language.
I got saved. Well, I got a cold. That's the wrong kind of language.
But I do know this, that anybody that wants to be saved by the
Lord will be saved. There's nobody ever that's asked
him for mercy that he turned away. Notice the words in our text,
many and few. Many, the great majority, on
this road to destruction. This road to hell is what that
is. And just a few on this narrow road that entered this straight
gate. Now, during the days of Noah,
There were perhaps hundreds of millions of people. I don't know
how many, but how many were saved? Eight. In the whole world, eight
people. When the Lord was going to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham interceded for the city, And
he said, what if there are 50 righteous people in this city,
will you destroy it for, if there's 50 here? He said, no, there's
50 here, I won't destroy it. And you remember that passage
where he kept going down and down, 40, what about 30, 20,
what about 10? Lord said, if there are 10 righteous
people here, I will not destroy the city. And there wasn't in
this great city. Now we're talking about what
the Bible says. We're not talking about what men say. We're talking about
what the Bible says. David made this statement, hath the godly
man ceased from the earth? Isaiah, the great prophet said,
Lord, who has believed our report? It doesn't seem like anybody
does. To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Paul said to the church at Philippi,
I have no man like minded. who will naturally care for your
state. All seek their own and not the things which are priced,
Jesus. One time somebody asked the Lord
in Luke chapter 13, Lord, are there few to be saved? And he said, you strive to enter
in. at that straight gate. For many,
many, there's the word again, many will seek to enter in and
shall not be able. Now, at any given time on the
earth, and this is scripture, this is not just somebody trying
to make the door narrower than it is. at any given time on the
earth, the number of God's people has always been few. It's always been a remnant. It's always been a small number. And that's scriptural. That's
scriptural. I am always troubled when I see
people who profess to be believers, try to make the gate wider and the road less narrow. I've seen over the years, almost
everyone that seems like they leave the church, that's generally
the reason, you're too narrow. Now we don't make this, the Lord
does. Have you ever heard somebody
say, You're all in a cult. You've heard that a few times.
Paul Walmsley at home said this to me last week. He said, well,
if I'm in a cult, Christ is the leader of it, and I'm OK with
that. Me too. Me too. But when people
attempt to make the gate wider and the road broader, I suppose
they think they're more merciful than God. And under the guise
of love charity, and a judgmental spirit, we're going to not be
so narrow. Now, I guarantee you this, we
can't be anywhere near as narrow as the Lord is in his word, can
we? Now, in the passage of scripture
I just read, and I'm so thankful for this, we're not given two
choices. Here's the narrow gate, here's
the broad gate, pick it out. No, he says, enter ye in. And
this is a command, and we're not given a choice. Enter ye
in. Come to Christ right now. Don't wait for anything to happen.
I hear preachers say, turn from your sins and turn to Christ. That works. That's what that
is. That's works. That's all it is.
Works. You got to do something in order to get to Christ. No,
don't. Let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly
dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. I know the song says is to feel
your need of him. But what about when you don't
feel your need? Even when I don't feel my need, I know I have a
need. The only fitness he requires is to have a need. of him. Enter ye in. I love that scripture in Revelation
22, 17 that you quoted either this morning or last night. The
spirit and the bride say, come. Not go away, not do something
first to make yourself fit, not give up this sin or start doing
this righteous thing. Not get your life straightened
out. The command is come. Enter ye in. Does that mean me? God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Are you in that group? Then this
means you, right now, enter in. Don't wait for anything. Don't
wait to get better. Enter ye in at the straight gate. And I love the way we're not
presented a choice. We're not told two different
things we need to figure out. Enter in. That's the command.
Enter in at the straight gate. And then he tells us and warns
us of this wide gate and this broad way that leads to destruction. And that means hell. I don't even like to mention
hell. You know who talked about more
than anybody else? the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Paul didn't
even mention the word. He talked about destruction.
I think he thought the word was too terrible to even think about. But that's what our Lord is talking
about when he says, when he speaks of this broad road that leads
to destruction. It's the road that leads to hell.
God's holy. And there is a place called hell. And he warns us about this wide
gate and this broad road that many are walking on to destruction. Now, the reason this gate is
so wide is because there are so many ways to get to hell. You can go in the moral lane
or you can get in the immoral lane. Both of them will get you
there. Go as an atheist. You can go
as an agnostic. You can go as a theist. You can
believe in God. All those roads go to hell. You
can go as a drunkard. You can go as a teetotaler. You
can go as a Calvinist. You can go as an Arminian. You
can go as a legalist. You can go as an antinomian.
Or you can even go as a legalistic antinomian. Somebody that puts
everybody else under the law, but they're utterly lawless in
their own lives. You can go as a left-wing liberal
Democrat, and you can go as a right-wing conservative Republican. You can go as a Baptist or a
Buddhist. You can go as a Catholic or a Protestant. You can go In
apathy and indifference, not caring one way or the other,
where are you going? Or you can go in the hotbed of religious
zeal and fervor. There are so many roads to hell. You can go to hell speaking in
tongues, doing miracles, witnessing, praying. You can go to hell as
an intellectual. You can go to hell as an infidel.
You can go to hell Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, middle
class, happy, sad, optimistic, pessimistic. It's a broad road,
isn't it? Plenty of room. Wide gate, easy to enter into. And we see this great multitude,
most people, most people, Whether religious or unreligious, most
people are on this broad road. Somebody says, can so many people
be wrong? Yes. Yes. Now remember, this is the
Lord's description. This is not some kind of idiot
preacher, although I am. But this is the Lord's word.
This is what he is saying. Now look what he says in verse
14, because straight, narrow, constricted
is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. Notice he calls it life. Let
me remind you. I mean, I know we're alive right
now, but this is not life. This is not a lie. Straight is the gate. Narrow is the way that leads
to life and few there be that find it. There are very few who
enter this gate and walk along this narrow and seemingly lonely
road, fraught with so many dangers and difficulties. It's not easy.
It's not convenient. Upon this road, we're called
upon to deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily, willingly,
and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But those on this road
are headed to a place called life. No sin. Can you imagine that? No sin,
no sorrow, no separation, no conflict, a place of indescribable
bliss and glory, having the presence of Christ, seeing his face and
being perfectly conformed to his image. Now, I've already
quoted this passage of scripture, but the Lord warns us of those
who will seek to enter and not be saved. Turn with me for a
moment to Luke chapter 13. I don't know what prompted this
man to ask this question but God the Holy Spirit obviously
did so this would be recorded in scripture. Then said one unto
him verse 23 Luke chapter 13, then said one unto him, Lord,
are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, strive. Literally, you strive. You don't
need to worry about anybody else. You strive. Whether there's many
or few, you strive to enter in at the straight gate, for in
this warning is so chilling for many many will seek to enter many I say
unto you there's something very powerful when the Lord says that
I say unto you I love that scripture ending up the sermon on the mount
he's fake as one having authority and not like the scribes. I love
that slam against the scribes. Many, I say unto you, shall seek
to enter in. And the scripture says, they
shall not be able. They'll seek. Lord, Lord, have
we not preached in your name? Have we not cast out demons in
your name? In your name, have we not done many wonderful works? Then shall I say unto them, depart
from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. Many will seek to enter in and
shall not be able. What prevents them from entering
in? There's the question. What prevents them from entering?
Are they too sinful? Too evil? Nobody this bad can
be saved. I remember talking to a man once
and he couldn't quit smoking. And he said, I know I'm going
to hell because I can't quit smoking. is there some seem to prevent
you from entering in that you can't give up that you can't
let go of and that just keeps you from hearing if you could
just get that straightened out in your life then you could go
in if there's some scene that prevents
you from entering in everybody is going to hell amen everyone
you can't be too sinful entering it's not that you have to quit
whatever fill-in-the-blank to enter in the only thing that
prevents a man from entering in is is righteousness that which
makes you to be to get in this constricted narrow gate. That's it. This gate is so narrow that the
only way that you personally and I personally can get in is
if all I have is Christ. If you have anything else Well,
I have some experience and I have some victory over sin. And I've
got to change life that proves God's done something for me.
I'm so different than I used to be. Surely something has happened
to me. You're on the broad way that
leads to destruction. You've got something other than
Christ. The only way a sinner can enter in this straight gate
and stay on this narrow way is if all they have is Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Nothing more, nothing
less. Somebody once asked a preacher,
if all I have is Christ, is that enough? He said, it is if He's
all you got. If you got anything else, it
won't work. Is all you have Christ right now? Do you have anything
else you can plead other than Him only? Knowing that the only
way you can be saved is for Christ's sake. No reason in you. That is the only person who enters
in. Now this way, and I love the
way Christians are called in the book of Acts, people of the
way. I like that, don't you? I want to be one of those people.
People of the way. Now, let me give several scriptural
descriptions of this way. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John chapter 14 verse 6, I am the way. He didn't say, I'll show you
the way. He didn't say, I'll lead you
on the way. He said, I'm in. I'm in. No man cometh to the
Father, but by me. Now he didn't say beside me or
behind me or holding on to me, but he said by me. The only way I'm here, you can
be brought into the Father's presence. is if I am in the Lord
Jesus Christ so that when he comes to the Father I do too. No man comes to the Father but
by me. He is the way that excludes all
other ways. Now the only way we enter in,
the only way we get to the Father is if we are in Him. Somebody says, well how can I
get in Him? You can't. God's got to put you there. Of
Him are you in Christ Jesus? Now, while this way is very inclusive,
very inclusive, it doesn't make people to be damned who would
have otherwise been saved. It saves people who would have
otherwise been damned. It's very inclusive. This is for you. Enter ye in. That's the command. Not wait
for something to happen. Enter ye in right now. Come just
as you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. Enter in. It's very inclusive, but it excludes
all other ways. I am the way. And this way is called in the
book of Acts the way of God. I like that. The way of God,
not the way of men. You know, there's nothing appealing
in the gospel to the flesh. Nothing. Nothing. Not a thing. There's a way that
seemeth right to a man. The end thereof are the ways
of death. This is not the way of men. This is the way of God. And Peter calls it the right
way. All other ways are wrong. All
other ways. They're wrong. They won't get
you there. This is the right way. And this is called the way
several times in the scriptures, the way of righteousness. Now the only thing that is going
to satisfy a sinner's conscience is not just forgiveness. I'm
going to have to have perfect righteousness before God or my
conscience cannot be satisfied. I'm going to have to have perfect
righteousness. This is the way of righteousness. His. Psalm 71 16, I've made mention
of thy righteousness. even thine only. Now this is
the way that I, that every believer can be perfectly righteous before
God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God. You know that's the only thing
I find any satisfaction in. I know I don't have any righteousness.
I know you don't either. I'm sure Bible says there's none
right no not one there's none that understands there's none
that seek it after God they've all gone out of the way they've
together become unprofitable that's me and you there's only
one righteousness the righteousness of Jesus Christ still winner
is and every believer in the way has his perfect righteousness
and I love to think about judgment day I love to think about judgment
day Because on judgment day, when my life is exposed to the
universe, it'll have nothing to do with what happened between
September 9th, 1959, the day I die. It's the perfect life
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is my, that's
the way of righteousness. Don't you love being saved by
his righteousness? It's called the way of peace. The way of peace. Having been justified. Romans
5.1. Being justified, literally having
been justified. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. If you're justified, you know
what that means? That means you didn't do anything wrong. It
means you don't have any sin. It means you've only done that
which is right. It means you don't have anything
to feel guilty about. It means you stand perfect without fault
before God, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now that's justification. I've
said this before and I always felt bad when I said it. Justification
is just as if you've never sinned. Yeah, but I have. Justification
is not just as if I never sinned. I never sinned. That's justification. That is the way of peace. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. The only thing that gives me
peace is what God gets peace from, His Son. God's at peace
with me because of His Son, and that's the only thing I get any
peace from. I don't get any peace from anything
about me, my preaching, anything about me. Him only. The way of peace. It's called the way of life.
All else is the way of death. In Hebrews 9a, it's called the
way into the holiest. I love that. The way into the
holiest. And the reference is to the Old
Testament, holy of holies. Who could get into the holy of
holies? Who could enter in? Only one person. The Great High
Priest. If me or you would have entered
in, we would have been smashed immediately. Only one could enter
in to the Holy of Holies. It's no different today. Only
one enters in. Him and those in Him. He's also called in Hebrews the
new and living way. This narrow way that we're to
enter in through this very constricted gate where the only way you have
room to get in is if all you have is Christ. It's called the
new and living way. Now that word new means freshly
slaughtered. The blood of Christ, and I've, you know, it's fearful to even
talk about His blood, but the blood of Christ is never old.
It's always poignant to the Father, always new, always fresh, always
powerful. It's always present. And you
commit, I commit some sin for the 10 millionth time, Same sin
even. And you know, the blood of Christ
is still always new, powerful, and fresh to the Father and cleanses
me from all sin. All the time. I like what Peter called it also.
He called it the way of truth. And listen to me, anything other
than what I'm saying is a lie. Anything other than what I'm
saying is the only way to the Father, Christ being it. Anything
else is deceitful. It's a lie. It's false. It's
not real. This is the way of truth. I got
a letter not too long ago from somebody who said, you think
the only people that are saved in Lexington, Kentucky are the
people at Todd's Road Grace Church. I've never thought that, but
I'll tell you what. The only people in Lexington,
Kentucky that are saved are the people that believe the gospel
that we preach. I'm not trying to figure out,
well, I don't know other churches, you know, what they preach, but
I know this. We preach the gospel. And there's only one gospel.
And this is the only gospel. All other ways are lies and deceit. This is the way of truth. And
Paul said in Acts chapter 24, verse 14, This I confess to thee,
after the way which they call heresy. So worship I, the God
of my fathers. Do you mean to tell me that you
can tell sinners that if all they have is Christ, they don't need anything else?
What about good works? What about a changed life? Why, that's heresy. After the
way which they call heresy, so what's the next word? Worship. Now you only worship an absolute
sovereign that you cannot control. You're in his hands. Whatever
he does is right. you worship. So worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written. In closing, let me say these
things about these people who have gone through this straight,
constricted gate. and are walking along this narrow
road that leads to life. The Lord said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall
in no case enter in. Well, they've got it. They've
got this righteousness, the only righteousness, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. And then we read in John chapter
3, except a man be born again, born from above, he cannot enter. Now those who do enter are those
who have been born from above and they've got a new nature.
And the reason they see that all they have is Christ and they're
nothing but sin in and of themselves is because they've got that holy
nature that identifies that. You can't see that unless God
gives you a new nature. a new heart, something that was
not there before. Birth of God. Now all these people on this
road, they have righteousness, perfect righteousness, Christ's
righteousness. That's why they enter in. And
they have been given a new heart that causes them to see there's
only one righteousness. And there are also people who
are described as people who do the will of God. Not everyone that sayeth to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth,
he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Well, I need to go about doing
God's will. Well, that's what these fellows
said. They said, well, have we not preached in your name? We've
done your will. Haven't we cast out demons in
your name? Why, in your name, we've done many wonderful works. Note the quantity, many. Note
the quality, wonderful. They thought they'd done God's
will. They really did. And he said, depart from me,
ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Now, what is
it to do his will? this is the work of God. John chapter 6 verse 29, this
is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. You know what comes after that? A period. That is the work of God. That's the doing of the will
of God. In Luke chapter 13, some people came up to the Lord
and told Him about a bunch who Pilate put to death while they
were offering up sacrifices. And Pilate mingled their blood
with the sacrifices. How hideous it is to think of
that! And the Lord said, Do you suppose
that you're better than they? God had that happen to them because
they were sinners above others? I tell you no, except you repent. Except you repent. You shall
all likewise perish. And that bus that the tower of
Siloam fell down on and killed 18 people, you suppose they were
worse than others that God caused this to happen? No, except you
repent. Now somebody says, what does
it mean to repent? Well, it doesn't mean what preachers
say it means. You need to repent of your sins. What's that mean? Can you explain? Well, that means
you need to turn from them and never return to them again. Okay. Have you repented then? It means
to be sorry. How sorry? When are you sorry
enough? I hope you'll repent of that
view of repentance. It's not scriptural. Repentance is a complete
change of mind about God. He's holy. He's right. If he
sends me to hell, just and holy is his name. Whatever God does
is right and true. Repentance is a change of mind
about yourself. I'm nothing but sin, period. And I never graduate from that
position. Repentance is a change of mind
regarding how God saves sinners by Christ. It's a continual change
of mind. And you know what? Repentance
It's not one time act. I'm all the time I have to change
my mind about God because of the bad thoughts I have because
of my sinful nature. I'm all the time I have to change
my mind about myself because of my self-righteousness. It's
amazing like somebody like me can be self-righteous. You know,
that's amazing. Amazing. And it happens all the
time every day. I have to repent. repentance
concerning christ i need to be shown all over again that he
is salvation and then in matthew chapter eighteen the disciples
were having a discussion which one of them would be greatest
and they come up to the lord and they kind of couch it in
uh... who's going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven they
weren't going to say we were having an argument about which one of
us is going to be Who's going to be greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? The Lord said, except you be converted and become little
children, you don't need to worry. You're not going to be there.
Except you be converted and become little children, you shall in
no case enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever does not humble
himself as this little child. Now something folks do who are
gone through this straight gate And on this narrow road, they're
made to all the time. They have to. You humble yourself. Take the lowest seat. When you
take the lowest place, get lower. Get lower. Because that's where
you belong. Somebody says, well, I'm going
to be humble. That's wretched pride to say
something like that. I'm going to be at voluntary
humility. That doesn't work. You humble
yourself because you believe yourself to be. what you are. But don't forget this, to get into that gate, it must
be this, all you have is Christ. Is that you right now? Is all
you have Christ? Enter in. Amen. I can rest there. Every, every, everything that
God requires, God must provide. And He only accepts that which
He provides. And everything He provides, He provides in the
person of His Son. I thought about when you were
preaching, Todd, I'm so comforted. How narrow is the eye of a needle? It's too narrow for me to get
a thread through it. And the Lord said, it's easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He's not talking about
physical riches. He's talking about the riches
that all men have in their own righteousness. And the disciples
said, who then, Lord, can be saved? With man, it is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Lord can get a camel through the eye of a needle.
That's how narrow that gate is. What a blessing. Tom, you're
going to lead us in a hymn, number 226 in your hardbacked hymnal.
Let's stand together. I am not skilled to