This is the seventh chapter of
the book of Matthew, and I'm going to do something I don't
know that I've done too many times before, but I'm going to
read the same portion of Scripture that I read to you, I believe,
either last Sunday night or last Sunday morning here. And I'm
not going to go over the same thing, but I'm going to read
this verse of Scripture to you. or these two or three verses
in chapter 7 of the book of Matthew verses 13 and 14. Now last week you remember we
based our remarks on these two verses. It says, 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. That's the one way. You remember
I said to you last week that there are many ways, but they all are
reduced to two ways. And that is, all of us, all of
us are on the road somewhere. We're traveling in one direction. One direction, and that direction
will finally end up in eternity. the ways that we're moving is
reduced to two ways. And the 13th verse sets forth
that one way. This way a man will wind up at
a place of destruction. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction."
If you enter into that wide gate and that broad way, you'll finally
wind up in destruction. Now, he says, "...because straight
is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it." Now, the other way that leads
to to God's place, to heaven, says is narrow. The gate is straight and narrow
is the way which leads to life. Now notice this. Few there be
that find this way. Very few in light of the world
population finds this way. Well, I've said all that to say
this. that great numbers of people
are ignorant of the way of salvation. This is so evident that it cannot
be denied. And the evidence that I'm speaking
of is the attitude of this generation. Their attitude alone gives evidence
that they know not the way of salvation. What is their attitude? Their attitude is that they are
not concerned. They are unconcerned. This generation
is unconcerned about eternal life. They're concerned about what?
They're concerned, for the most part, about buying and selling. Is that not right? Is that not
what almost everybody down to the last man among us is concerned
about and interested about over and above everything else? right
now is buying and selling. Buying and selling means money. Money means what? Power. What's the conversation that is first and foremost among
all of us, and in particular among this generation. It goes
like this. Where do you work? I work for
so-and-so. How much do you make? What do you make? Where does your husband work?
He works for so-and-so. How much does he make? You applying for this job, what
does it pay? Well, it pays $5 an hour. Buying
and selling. That's all we're concerned about
in this generation is money. That money talks. Money's everything. Money's everything. Now, the
reason I say that is because this gives evidence that for the most part everybody is indifferent to and
unconcerned about God's way of salvation. They're only concerned
about buying and selling. They're concerned about money
and what money will do for them. They're concerned about insurance
policies, they're concerned about stock market, they're concerned
about this and that and whatever pertains to making them some
money. I'll be glad when it's the third
day of the month because that's the month my check comes. What
are you going to do with your check? Well, I'm going to put
it in the bank. Well, what are you going to do? Well, let's
draw an interest in there. Well, I'll be glad when the end of
the year comes so they can tell me how much interest my money.
Money, money, money, that's all everybody talks about. about
money, gives evidence, you see, that they're not concerned about
God's way of salvation, ignorant of it. No danger of their being
lost. They never consider that, not
me. Now, this is not only true of
weak and illiterate people. But it's also true of the wise,
wise people, knowledgeable people. They're unconcerned as much as
the weak and the illiterate. They have no knowledge, no sense
of direction, no care or no concern as to the way of God's salvation. Therefore, we draw this conclusion
that it cannot be ascribed to simple ignorance. Now, what I'm
saying is this. The reason for their unconcerned
and carelessness and indifference in the matter of God's salvation
cannot be ascribed to mere ignorance. As far as it goes, that ignorant,
it tends to excuse us if it was ignorant. You know, if someone
does something, you say, well, they didn't know. Well, what
you're saying is it was ignorance on their part. They didn't know,
so that tends to excuse them. to be willfully ignorant. Now
that's what this generation is. This generation is willfully
ignorant, and to be willfully ignorant as to the way of God's
salvation is to say this to God. It's to say, depart from us,
we desire not the knowledge of your ways. Willfully ignorant. God, however, though, has a witness
in every man's conscience. And every man, whatever else
he pretends, feels himself to be a sinner and needs forgiveness. God has brought this about through
man's conscience. And every man's conscience is
smitten to that degree. that he knows, that is in the
privacy and the secrecy of his own innermost thoughts, he will admit that he is a sinner
and he needs forgiveness, but yet at the same time outwardly
He manifests an attitude of indifference and unconcern, and he is willfully
ignorant and says to God, by his actions, depart from me because
I do not want to know anything about your ways. In the sixteenth chapter of the
book of Acts, there was a ignorant and an idolatrous heathen who
was a jailer, who kept the jail, who was a guard. And in this
jail he had two Christians. Their names were Paul and Silas. Now, as ignorant and I adored, as this man was,
when death looked him in the face. You know what he said? He cried
out for mercy. And he said, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? The careless and the thoughtless
cannot stand the approach of death. No man can stand this. And there's going to be a time
coming when every one of us here this morning, man, woman, boy
and girl, every one of us, Death will approach us. Now, we can appear to be indifferent
now, unconcerned about God's way of salvation, but we're going
to be like this ignorant heathen in the 16th chapter of the book
of Acts. Death is going to look us right
in the face one of these days, right in the face. And I pray
that those that have never been brought to that place as of yet
and have sued for mercy and received the Lord Jesus that they might
cry out for mercy like this heathen jailer did. Now the courage of
the most hardened infidel fails him at that solemn period when
death looks him in the face. Now, what I'm saying is this. Are you one of these this morning
whose chief concern is, what shall I eat? Now, hear me again. Are you one of these this morning
whose chief, number one concern is, what shall I eat? Where shall I... or how shall
I be clothed and what shall I drink? Those are the three chief concerns
of mine this morning. They have priority over everything
else. I'm in this world and I have
a responsibility to myself and I have a responsibility to my
wife and to my children to take care of Therefore, my chief concern,
my number one interest is, what shall I eat? What shall I drink? Wherewithal shall I be clothed? Me and mine. That's my number
one interest, my first priority. Everything else becomes secondary
after that. Well, if that be so, if that
be your chief interest, Then you see, you are one of those
that I've tried to describe in this generation. You are willfully
ignorant of God's way of salvation because your prime interests
are in yourself. You desire not the ways of God. You're interested only about
that which is temporal. Because we're dealing with eternity. We're traveling, you see. The
soles of our feet are moving towards eternity. Everything
winds up in eternity. Eternity winds it all up. We've
been here, this world, they say, for around 6,000 years. This
world has existed with human population. And it's from the
time of its inception, from the time that the first man was made
by God and put here upon this earth, from that time until now,
we've all been moving towards eternity. Eternity is where we
will finally and ultimately wind up. Eternity. That's the direction
we're going in. Some's going to get there. sooner
than others. But that's what's going to wind
us all up. So that's what we're dealing with, eternity. Eternity
is permanent. Things in this life are temporal.
They're temporal. We're worried about clothes and
all of that at the expense, you see, of that which is permanent. We're worrying about taxes, we're
worrying about government, we're worrying about the insurance
policies, we're worrying about the stock market, we're worrying
about interest, we're worrying about high prices, we're worrying
about all of these things at the expense of that which is
permanent. We're traveling on willfully,
for the most part, men are willfully ignorant of the way of salvation. These things are tempting. Why? It's fine to have new clothes,
but they'll go up in dust. They don't last forever. They
last for ten years and not that long. And you either have holes
in them and you can't patch them, patches over patches, you've
got to throw them away. It's fine to buy a new car, but
a new car doesn't last long. You might pay $4,000, $5,000,
$6,000, $7,000, but it doesn't last very long, does it? It doesn't last long. Just in
a few short years, it's an old car. It's shabby looking and
it's gone. Why? Because it's just temporary. It's made out of temporary things. Eternal things. what ought to
have priority in our life, eternal things, eternal values, that
which is permanent, that which will last. I tell you, I can't, for the
life of me, understand how a man can be willfully ignorant. I
can't understand how a man can live in this life and drink God's
water, bask in God's sunshine, eat God's food, live in God's
world and be indifferent, willfully ignorant of the way of God in
regards to salvation. Willfully ignorant, unconcerned. I don't care. That's the attitude
of most people. I don't care. I don't care. I don't want to think about it.
When the man's conscience, is pricked just a little bit and
he begins to ask his conscience about some things, then he tries
to steal his conscience by what? By other activities, by work,
by being involved in building houses, buying land, getting
involved with the family or anything to steal his conscience. Listen, are you one of those? whose chief concern is, what
shall we eat? What shall we drink? How shall
we be clothed? If so, let the anxiety of this
heathen man in Acts chapter 16 reprove you. Because when he
faced eternity, And death began to stalk him. And he had to face
the reality of death. His position, his money, his
poverty, nothing else mattered. The only thing that mattered
was this. Can you give me an answer to
this eternal question, sirs? What must I do to be saved? That's the only thing that's
going to count. Well, if we were like an animal made only to eat and drink and
waste away after a few years, we might then just as well throw
aside every care and concern that we have except that which
respects our present gratification and say, let us eat, drink, and
be merry for tomorrow we shall die and that's all. But we are
of an order of beings distinguished from all others in creation. Life to you and I is but the
introduction to an existence in eternity. A short time and every one of
us is going to land on the shores of eternity, just a I read in
the paper there about Friday, I guess it was, Friday or Saturday,
where a fellow in Charleston, West Virginia, a doctor, a doctor,
49 years old, was out shoveling snow that morning, dropped over
dead of a heart attack, 49 years old. In all probability, if he's alive,
the world's population, he died as he lived, unconcerned about
eternity, willfully ignorant of God's way of salvation. Just
recently, the last six or eight months, I don't know how long
ago it's been, a fellow came to my house and talked a little
bit. I tried to talk to him about
the way of God's salvation. He wasn't too much concerned
about it. He said when he got time, he'd come to church and
hear me preach. I said, I appreciate that. I hope that you will be
permitted that time to come and hear me. Oh, yes, he said, I'll
be going to the hospital here in a couple of days. And he said,
having an operation, he said, I want you to come visit with
me while I'm over there. But he said, when I get better,
he said, when I get over my operation, he said, that's the first thing
I'm going to do is me and my wife are going to come to church. You
know the story. You've heard it time and time
again. Same story, just different characters, different people.
Same thing, though. Always winds up the same. Went
to the hospital and had an operation. He and his wife both had operations.
I visited both of them, talked to them, tried to talk to them,
but they always brought up their righteousness, you know, that
they didn't do this and they didn't do that, and that was
their hope. Coming to hear you preach, though, soon as we get
out, So they got out of the hospital and recuperated. And I see them
in Fairmont going up the street and didn't want to embarrass
them, so kind of faded off into the distance because I just didn't
want to face them and embarrass them and make them realize what
big liars they were, you know, about coming to church. But anyhow,
telephone rang one evening. Went in, answered the telephone.
And the lady on the end of the line said, is this Scott? I said,
yes. She said, well, my husband just
dropped dead. They just dropped dead. 51 years
old, 51 years old, out mowing grass in his front yard. Had
a nice great big house, great big house. Took me all through
his house and said, look at this, look at that. Now I've got a
heater out here, overhead heater in my garage here. Got all this,
got this, this is the laundry room, this is our recreation
room, this is that, and so forth. I just bought my wife this new
Pontiac and he said, I have a new Volkswagen. Oh, we're doing fine
and all that. Showed me all over the house.
Nice big yard here. Pounds of dollars I had to pay
so much for this kitchen. Something like $5,000 or $6,000
just for the cabinets in his kitchen. But he died. He died. He lived for a little
while, but he died. 51 years old. All of us, you
see. That's what I'm saying. All of
us are bound in one direction and it's eternity. That's where
we're going to wind up. Every one of us. You see, now, most people work,
build houses, and form to themselves homes in all that constitutes
a home, a wife and children and so forth, neighbors being involved
in various civic promotions and so forth. But you're not at home. You are surrounded by a number
of objects and feel an interest in each of these objects, but
these objects are not sufficient for you. The time draws near
when there will be an end to all of these things, and they
will be as though they had not been. But you, will still live
and must stand before God. Can you think of these things
that I have said thus far and yet be unconcerned and willfully
ignorant as to your eternal state? Can you do it? Listen, if you had not sinned
against your Maker, you would have no reason to be excited
or to be alarmed about your deplorable condition. If you were sinless,
if you hadn't sinned against God, well, the reason I believe that
you know you're a sinner is because something right now tells you
that there is a God that you must face. If you had no inclinations
towards evil, if you had not sinned, you see, you would not
be alive. There would not be a thought
of terror that would strike the very core to your heart right
now. It wouldn't do it. Why? Because a sinless creature
has nothing to fear from a righteous God. If you're sinless, you have
nothing to fear. But you fear, see? You fear.
Therefore, the inability lies in you, see? You're a sinner. You're a sinner. You better be
concerned about it. The judgment and all of its solemn
poem does not strike terror into the hearts of those that are
innocent. God, I guess, has placed a generous
confidence in this species, and he has required nothing in return
but love. But we have returned him evil
for good. We are sinners. We are sinners.
and you're conscious this morning of what you've done. Now, again, if sin were your misfortune rather
than your fault, you might plead ignorance, but this is not the
case. It's not a matter of misfortune.
It's a matter of you being at fault. You and you alone have
rebelled against your Maker. He hath done nothing but good,
and you have returned unto Him evil for that good that He has
given you. You can't plead ignorance. You
know you're willfully ignorant. You've said many times, God,
depart, depart from me. You've said, silence, silence
my conscience. You've said, I don't want to
hear it. I don't want to be reminded of it. What are you saying? You're
saying that you're willfully ignorant. No excuse, you see,
for ignorance, much more for a willful ignorance. if sin should be allowed to be
your fault. Yet it were but a small offense,
an imperfection that might be overlooked, or so slight a matter
that you yourself could atone for it by your repentance and
your prayers and your tears, or some other less effort of
your own, there might be less reason for alarm, if sin were
such a light matter. But sin is not such a light matter. How is it that such awful curses
are pronounced on them that die in their sins, if sin is such a life matter." The Scriptures go this far, and
this is terrible. It says, unto the man, that does
not love the Lord Jesus. It says, If any man love not
our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed forever. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned forever. How is it then that
the Father of mercies has doomed all mankind to misery and to
death on the account of sin, if sin be such a trifling and
light matter." Oh, you see, brethren, sin is
offensive to the God of the Bible. If sin be offensive to God as the scriptures indicate that
it is, then the individual that is willfully ignorant of the
way of God is in a deplorable condition. In fact, his situation is fearful. You're standing, you see, right
now, standing right now on thin ice. You know, you know that
the ice is going to crack. You know that. You know it just
as sure as two and two is four. You know that you're standing
on thin ice. And the longer you stand there,
the more convinced you are that the weight of your body is going
to crack that ice and you're going to plunge down into the
murky black water and disappear. But yet you continue to stand
there willfully here. You say, I'm going to do it and
be damned in doing so. Willfully. Oh, I tell you. There's going to come a time
in the life of every man, woman, boy or girl, outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ now, willfully ignorant of God's way of salvation, God's
Son, and eternity, willfully, who have just willfully rejected
Him and said, No, depart from me. I'm just not, I don't want
to consider your ways. I haven't got time. My chief
interest now is food and drink and things to clothe my body. My home and family and loved
ones, that's my chief interest. Anything else that is secondary
to that, that's my prime chief concern. Listen, one day, one
day, if you had the whole world to offer God for a ransom for
your soul, it would not erase one sin that you committed. And let me tell you, when that
day comes, the man outside of Christ, that man that's willfully,
when that day comes and he approaches the stark reality of death face
to face, he's going to bolster all of his belongings and roll
them into one and offer them to God. And he's going to say, Here's
everything that I've got I give to you to appease your anger
towards me." But it won't do it. The Scriptures say that they'll
cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on us, to hide us from
the face and the wrath of the Lamb. Is that what it says? There's going to be a lot of
people, you know how it is, who was this way with myself. I thought when I first heard
the gospel and there was some conviction upon my soul, I don't
know what it was, whether it was true or whether it was genuine,
I do know this. I do know the first thought that
came to my mind was this. Well, that sounds all right. That sounds all right. Everything
that they've said so far sounds all right, and I believe it's
the right thing to do. I believe that men ought to live
right. I believe that. I believe they
ought to be decent, but I'll tell you what I'm going to do.
This is the first thing that comes to my mind. I'll tell you what I'm
going to do. Now, as soon as I get a little
better, as soon as I get a little better, as soon as I quit doing
this and quit doing that and quit doing some other things,
Then I'll offer myself unto God, and I won't be too bad then.
I won't be too bad. I'll look pretty good. I'll just
wait a while until I kind of clean up a little bit. And I'll
attend church here now and then for six or eight months. And
when this thing comes down to the end, when people,
they'll recognize me, and they'll not say, well, you're not too
bad a fellow now. You're a pretty good fellow. That's the way men are. That's
probably what some of you have already said this morning. But let me tell you, the very
performances by which you hope to appease God with are more
offensive to God than the ways of a defected adulteress to her
husband. You can't resist his power. You
can't do that. What are you going to do when
your strength is really tried? Oh, now you may, in the hour
of good health and activity, and when in the association or
in the company of people like yourself, you look big and you put out
great swelling words, but they are words only. Now, if God would
but touch you with his afflicting hand, your strength and your
courage would melt like the snow in the face of the heat of the
sun. Where is your strength at? You
cannot resist his power. You cannot escape his hand and
you cannot endure his wrath. Now will you continue, will you
continue in light of all that I said this morning to be willfully
ignorant of God's way of salvation and determine in your heart to
go your own way and wind up in destruction. I appeal to you,
I appeal to you with a sense of love for you. I appeal to
you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Save yourself from this
untoward generation. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Enter ye in at the straight way. enter ye in, receive Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, as your Savior and as your Lord. Well, I'm going to continue