That's good, isn't it? Christ
is the path, the way, and Christ is the prize. He's the end, the
beginning and the end. Luke chapter 13. As most of you know, we have
been studying through the Gospel of Luke, but it has been several
weeks now since we've been in it. I'm well aware of this passage
here. It's part of the reason I haven't
dealt with it. I haven't avoided it, but just
thought about it a little bit longer. And I'll be honest with you,
on Wednesday nights, God's people come out, believers
come, and I like to have messages full of comfort, consolation,
promise after promise. This is a serious warning. But it's from our Lord, and we
don't pick and choose what we preach. We preach everything
He says in the order in which He says it. Besides, the Scripture
said, Paul said, Let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed,
lest he fall. I think I stand. Don't you? I think I stand on Christ your
Rock. I really do. Take heed. Lest you fall. Take heed to what?
God's Word. God's Word. We want to hear what
the Lord says about it. And I'm not going to dwell so
much on few being saved. This is the question they asked
our Lord. And that in itself is fearful to think about. It
should be. Brother David Edmondson preached a message on that, dwelled
on that, Are There Few Safe? And I may put it in our bulletin
for Sunday for you to listen to. Look at verse 24. Strive to enter in at the straight
gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able. Now, our Lord, in verse 22, it
says He'd been through the cities and villages teaching. And He's
been in our village a long time. And he went to several villages
and talked. The Lord of Glory spoke, and people heard his voice.
And so have we. Yes, we have. And then he left. He never stayed in one place
very long. He stayed in Galilee longer than anywhere else, Capernaum.
But he left. Oh, Lord, don't leave us. Stay
with us. Remember the disciples, tarry
with us. And he was journeying toward Jerusalem. That's where
he was headed. He was a man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. From his youth up, from the cradle,
he was headed to Jerusalem to be crucified, to be made sin,
to be forsaken by his God. Do you know how heavily that
weighed on his heart and mind all his life? He who is infinite
just had a few days, a few days on this earth, and they were
full of sorrow and trouble and grief and this great weight of
sin that was to be laid upon him, especially being separated
from his God. But he endured it, we read that,
for the joy, I said before, of pleasing the Lord to make us
his people, and he endured that, thought nothing of the shame.
That's amazing love in it, and great. Are we called to do any less? Well, we're headed to Jerusalem. Yes we are, New Jerusalem. That's
where we're headed. We're leaving the city of destruction.
Heading for the celestial city. We're going up. He's heard our
cries. He's come down to take us out.
Deliver us up. New Jerusalem. That's where we're
headed. We're not looking back. We're looking forward. And one of them, verse 23, said
unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? Someone asked,
are there few that be saved? It doesn't say who asked him,
it doesn't matter. Who was it? Was it a believer?
Was it a disciple? It doesn't matter. He didn't directly answer
them, did he? And this person could have
asked out of curiosity. Maybe this person was a Pharisee
thinking, I'm saved, there aren't many people like me. And the Lord gave this soul-searching
question or answer. He didn't answer. He said, you
strive to enter in. Strive to enter in. You're not
there yet. Paul even said that. He said, I haven't arrived yet.
Didn't he? Didn't he? He said, I'm going to forget
yesterday. I'm going to press. We're going
to read that in a moment. Philippians 3. Few saved. Our concern, the question we
need to ask through this message is, am I saved? Right? I don't know about him. I can't do anything for him.
Am I saved? I pray the Lord save him. Am
I striving? Strive. Strive. He said many,
many will seek. After verse 25, when the master
of the house, and that's him, Christ, his house, his church,
his kingdom, he rises up. He's seated right now. When he
rises up and shuts the door, and they begin to stand without,
and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord. Does that sound familiar? He repeated this in Matthew 7.
And then he will say, Lord, Lord. Lord, Lord, open unto us that
he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not. I don't know you. Just go back with me. And you
know, this is not the beginning of sobering sayings of our Lord. We've been looking at them. Have
you noticed with me? And it appears that the Lord is showing us this
so much more as we see the day approaching. In perilous times
we live in. Chapter 12, go back to chapter
12. You remember these things? Just for your remembrance. There was
a great multitude of people, innumerable people, trod upon
one another. It's just like this world today.
He began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware the living
of the Pharisees. It's hypocrisy. It's people playing
games. A world of religious people just
playing religion. Beware. Nothing covered won't
be revealed. Nothing hid that shall not be
known. All things naked and open before the eyes of him with whom
we have to do, have to stand. That's what he said, verse 8.
He said, Whosoever shall confess me before men. You know, most
religion, religious people are confessing their faith, not him. I was in the Virginia office
of Platt and mailed something. You know, that place is religious
and they've got some little wristbands that say, show your faith. Wear
these little wristbands. Pick one up and say, God rocks. Show your faith. That's what
the Pharisees did. They wore phylacteries. Literally,
around their wrists. Show your faith. No, no, no,
no. We're confessing Him. When it talks about us being
the light of the world, that means we confess Christ, the light. We
witness the gospel of Christ, the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in Christ. That's our witness. We just voice
it. We're not showing ourselves. We want to point men to Christ,
don't we? He says in verse 9, "...whosoever
denieth Me before men shall be denied before the angels." Verse
15, "...take heed, beware of covetousness." Verse 33, look
at this, "...sell what you have, give on, provide bags that wax
not old, a treasure in heaven." Verse 34, "...where your treasure
is, that's where your heart will be." Serious words, aren't they? Oh,
verse 36, he says, you'd be like men that wait for the Lord. When he returns from the wedding,
you remember the parable of the ten virgins? Five had oil and
five didn't. They all looked alike. They all
looked like they were, but no, only five of them. That's serious,
isn't it? Am I? Do I have oil? Have I fallen
asleep in the chanted ground? Am I waiting? Verse 37, blessed
are those servants when the Lord cometh shall find watching. Verse 49, I am come to send fire
on the earth, what will I if it be already kindled? Verse
51, suppose ye that have come to send peace on the earth, I
tell you nay, but rather division. Chapter 13, verse 2. He said
to the people that were wondering about some Galileans were killed.
He said, suppose those Galileans were sinners above all Galileans?
Verse 3, I tell you nay, except you repent, you'll perish. He's been saying some serious
things. Verse 6, he talked about a man who had a fig tree in his
vineyard and brought no fruit. And he said, cut it down. It's getting in the way. Remember
that? Surely all of us thought, I'm
that fig tree. But the Lord don't cut me down.
Dung me. Didn't you? We all did. And He
said, if it bear fruit, well. But if it doesn't, cut it down. Now this. Now it comes to this. And He says, strive to enter
in a straight cut. Strive to enter in the straight
gate. Because there's coming a time
when the door will be shut, and no matter how hard you knock,
he's not going to open it. That's serious, isn't it? Now he says, he talks about saved. If somebody
asks, are the few that be saved, saved, saved, saved? Christ came
into the world to save sinners, didn't he? It's a faithful saving.
Worthy of all acceptation. Why? Because we all need saving.
That's a laughable term today, though, by the world. The world
just scoffs at this. And granted, religion is so fake
and so phony, and they all go around, are you saved, brother?
And they make it laughable, don't they? And the world is laughing
and scoffing, but it's not something to laugh at and scoff at, is
it? Because everybody is lost and needs saving. Everybody's
dead and needs quickening, needs to be made alive. Well, they
don't know it. They're in captivity to the God
of this world and don't know it. I was. You were. Weren't we? Saved. We need saved from what? Sin. Saved from Satan, the God of
this world. Saved from ourselves. Saved from
this world. Saved from wrath. Saved from
destruction. Saved from God destroying us.
Saved from death. Death. We've got an appointment
with death. And we cannot pass it. We're
going to face it. And face the God who kills us.
Either saved or perished. That's the reason. Saved. Are there few that be saved?
Well, there's certainly few today that seem to care. That's your answer. That's our
answer. He says, once he shuts the door.
You know, you surely thought of Noah's Ark when he talked
about shutting the door, and it's one of the clearest, Mindy
and I were talking, one of the clearest pictures of salvation. How many times it talks about
being in Christ, in Christ, want to be found in Christ, found
in Christ. Whoever was found in that ark
was saved, weren't they? Very simply. Those in the ark
were saved, those outside the ark were damned, buried. How do you get in, how'd they
get in that ark? Well, Noah went and got them.
Noah called them, and they came to Noah, the ones that he chose. He called and they came to him.
And this is why Simon Peter said, get diligence to make your calling
and election sure. Am I in the ark? Am I in Christ?
I want to be found. Paul said, and I'm quoting him,
we're going to get there in a minute, Philippians 3. I want to be found
in him. I want to be found in the ark.
Because there came a day, And God was so merciful, that ark
was being built for 120 years. Noah was a preacher. While he
was building that ark, he was preaching. With every blow of
that hammer, preaching. With every movement of that saw, he
was preaching. Getting the ark. God is holy.
God is just. God is righteous. Man is sinful. Man is dead. Man needs saving.
You need saving. I need saving. We need saving.
God is to be feared. Getting the ark. Come to Christ. Getting the ark. Maybe all the
neighbors were interested. Maybe for a time, you know, people
from all over the world came and looked out of curiosity.
They were interested, like this world. How many millions, billions
of people have dabbled in religion? How many people have come into
this place and left? How many? How many? Many. Just
like many walk with Christ and then many walk no more with him.
They left. And when it was over, There were
a few. Honestly. When it was all over,
after 120 years, you know how many people on planet Earth were
in that ark. Here's our answer, if there are
a few that'd be saved. A lot. This is in Luke. We're going to get to Luke chapter
17. I brought this up, later he deals with it. Luke chapter
17, look at it, verse 26, verse 25. Speaking of himself, he said,
the son of man is going to suffer from anything, be rejected of
this generation. Boy, he's rejected in ours. As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat,
they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until
the day Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed
them all. Eight people were saved. Eight
people out of millions. And then he brings up Lot, likewise,
as it was in the days of Lot. Lot lived in Sodom. The Lord
calls this planet Earth Sodom. He calls it that. And you feel like Lot. I know
you do. I do. Vexed. They did eat. They drank. They bought. They
sold. They bought. They sold. They planted. They builded. Life as usual. That's all they were thinking
about. The same day Lot went out of Sodom. It rained fire
and brimstone from heaven. Destroyed them all. Even thus
shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And it goes on down, verse 37,
he says, they said, where Lord, where are you going to be? And
he said, where the body is, that's where the eagles are going to
be gathered. Where will you find God's people? Gathered around the body and
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to be worshiping.
How many? Not many. Not many. Now's the time to start smiling
because you're sitting here, I hope, hoping, wanting, praying
to be in Christ and you're worshiping and thanking him that you're
sitting here hearing it. Our Noah, Noah means rest, apparently
has called you by his gospel and brought you into Christ.
So there, there's the good news. But it's still a sobering thing.
Where was Lot? When those angels came, where was he? In the gate. He was sitting in the gate. Our Lord said, strive to enter
the gate. Lot was sitting in it. What was
he doing? I know what he was doing. Calling
on the Lord. Asking the Lord, come get me.
He did. He did. He brought him out of that gate
into the eternal life. The Lord being merciful. The
gate, the gate, the gate. Then he talked about the door
being shut. Are you still in Luke 17? Look at chapter 18. About striving. He gives this
parable of a widow. Chapter 18, Luke. A widow, in
verse 3, came to an unjust judge, avenged me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while. But then he said, she's troubling
me, I'm going to avenge her by her continual, verse 5, her continual
coming to me. She keeps coming. She keeps coming. She won't leave me alone. She keeps calling. She keeps
coming. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to answer
her. And that's what the Lord tells
us to do. Keep coming. Shall not, verse 7, God avenge
his own elect which cry day and night unto him? Well, we do,
don't we? We do, don't we? Not just over
troubles and trials and sicknesses and sorrows and all that, but
we cry, Lord, forgive me. Lord, have mercy on me. That's
our constant cry. Lord, please deliver me from
Satan and sin and temptation and deliver me. I don't want
to be lost. In verse 8, he says, I tell you,
He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? There's your answer. Are there
a few that'd be saved? There's your answer. Do you hear many people calling
right now in the midst of this? It's so obvious to us. It's the
hand of God. Hand of God, not the eternal
wrath and judgment of God, but it is wrath and judgment nonetheless
on this unbelieving, idolatrous, God-hating, unthankful world
that's lying on religious world. It is. It's obvious. And it's a trial for the church.
It's a trial of the faith of the church. Who really believes
God? Who trusts God? Who really believes God sent
this and who trusts Him? It's a trial of the church. It's
a trial of our faith. So obvious. Just like the plagues
in Egypt. How many people do you hear calling
on God? Do you hear anybody on the news?
Do you hear anybody on the internet? Do you hear anybody say, oh my
God, have mercy on our nation? Do you? I don't. I'm not listening
much, but I just don't hear it. Are there few that be saved? Well, but this is to us right
now. We're hearing this, aren't we? He says, strive to enter
in. The Lord said, strive to enter in. Strive, strive. Strive
to enter in. Now what does that mean? I got
an outline, two points. My sister asked me, do you have
an outline? Alright, here it is. What is the straight gate
and what does it mean to strive? He said in our text of Luke 13,
verse 24, strive to enter in at the straight gate. What is
a straight gate? Well, a gate is a movable barrier
in a fence or a wall. You know what a gate is. You've
seen gates. But it's one opening with a movable
barrier in a wall or a fence that separates either a city
or a pasture or something. Walls separate. one place from
another, all right? It's the barrier, the only opening
in the wall to get in, to keep from being separated, to go from
one place to the next, only opening. We either let in or let out,
and it's a passageway, okay? Christ is the gate. You know
that. Bless your ears. Blessed are
your ears. You know that. Your heart, you
know that. With all your heart, you know
that Christ is the gate. Christ is the way. Christ said,
I am the way. He said, no man cometh unto the
Father but by man. In Matthew, he said the straight
and narrow way. And everybody, the world over,
will say it's too narrow to say that you must believe in Jesus
Christ alone. Because there's so many other
religions, there's so many other faiths, there's so many other
ways, and there's the Muslims and they're sincere, and there's
the Hindus, and there's the Buddhists, and there's this and that and
the other, and they're all sincere. Christ said, I'm the way. No
man cometh unto the Father but by man. Nobody in the Old Testament
was saved but by Christ. Nobody. No man cometh unto the
Father but by man. From the first person that died,
Abel, was the first human being that died. Abel. He could not
come to God. He could not get into God's kingdom,
into God's heaven, but by Jesus Christ. And he knew that, didn't
he? How do we know he knew that?
He brought the blood. He brought the lamb. Cain said,
that's too narrow. You all have a narrow religion.
It's not our religion. It's Christ's word. It's the
truth. It's just the way it is. He said, I'm the way. You believe
that? If you know anything about yourself,
you know anything about the holy God and righteous God, you know
anything about sin, righteousness, and judgment, you know that you're
not going to get to God but by Jesus Christ bringing you. You're
not going to get to God but by Jesus Christ's righteousness.
You know that. You can't come up with one, no
matter how hard you try. That wall, you know, our Lord
in John 10 said, I'm the door. And he said, if any man try to
climb up the wall, he's a thief and a robber. You've got to come
in one way. And you can't just come up to that gate and demand
to be let in. And you don't have a key to get
in. It's not up to you to go in. Christ is the gate and He said,
and I have the keys. He's the key. He's got to let
you in. Well, how do you get in? Ask. You know, he'll let in everybody
that asks. Just ask. He said, ask. Seek. Knock the worst. Oh, but he didn't
qualify that. He said, whosoever calls on the
name of the Lord. Lord, let me in, please. I want
in your kingdom. Come on in. You can't let him,
look, he's a thief. Oh, he's able to save to the
uttermost all that come unto God by him. The thief on the
cross, his dying word, that's all he can say is, Lord, would
you remember me when you come into your kingdom? Would you
let me in your kingdom? You're the way. You have the keys. Would you let me, would you let
a sinner like me come in? He said, you're coming in today. The gate. Christ is the gate.
He's the door. He's the way. He said, ask, seek,
knock, whosoever shall call. You know why somebody's not saved,
they don't call? Because Christ promised, didn't
He? Oh, but I'm seeking the Lord.
Have you found it? No. Well, then you're not seeking
Him. Right? You're not really sick. That
widow kept seeking, kept coming. Did he answer? Yes, he did. Yes,
he did. Straight gate, it's called a
straight gate. Strive to enter at the straight gate. What's
that mean? Well, okay, straight down that
hallway is a door. They're pretty plain in it. That's
the door. Don't go this way, don't go that
way, don't turn, go here, go there. Right there it is. Right
there is the way to heaven. Jesus Christ. Straight. Don't run straight to him. That's
plain and straight. It's not crooked. It's not this
way or that way. Turn to the right hand, to the
left hand. Look straight on. Look straight ahead. Let thine
eyes look straight on. Look to Christ and Christ to
know. That was a very simple message, wasn't it? That Moses
held up a serpent. Everybody was bit by. Everybody's
dying. And all he said was one word.
Look. Not work, walk, you know. Come straight to Christ. Don't
go down front. Don't come to the preacher. Don't
call on your friend. Go straight to the source. Go
straight to Him. He's got the keys. Nobody else
does. Come straight to the throne and
He'll let you in. Straight gate. Straight. Straight salvation means plain.
It means completely in Christ. How does one say, believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ? But, but, what? I mean, that's
it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Related to the king. Is that
all there is to it? That's pretty plain. That's what
he said. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Trust Him. Look to Him. Like Noah's Ark. How are you going to be saved?
Well, go through that door. And you're in that door. That's
it. You're saved. Just rest. In Hebrews
4, Paul said, to enter into this rest. It's
paradoxing. Strive to quit striving. Labor to rest. Saul of Tarsus. We're finally going to get to
Philippians 3. Go over there. Saul of Tarsus was trying to
work his way to heaven. He was zealous. Oh, he was zealous. He was sincere. He was religious,
and I know some. But he didn't know God. He was
lost. He needed to be born again. Oh, I'm thinking of a man right
now that's just like him. I pray all the time, Lord, he
needs to be born again. Saul, he said, oh, I was circumcised,
verse 8, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew
of Hebrew, the Baptist of Baptists, touching the law of Pharisee,
moral upright, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, the righteousness
of the laws, blameless. Wow. Those things that were gained
to me, I counted lost. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. How about you? He threw away all that old religion,
counted it dung. He said, I do count it all but
dung that I may win Christ. And I want to be found in Him. Saul was so confident that the
Lord was going to let him into His kingdom that he was already
there. But the Lord was going to let
him into heaven and even brag on it, like so many people, look
what I've done for you. And he said, oh no, I don't want
to be found in my own righteousness, filthy rags. He said, I want
to be found in Christ, covered by His blood, covered by His
righteousness. How about you? He went on to
say, oh, verse 10, that I may know Him. When the Lord said
to those people, I never knew you, They're going to have to
say, too, we never knew you either. You're not the Jesus that we
believed in. But, oh, we know the Lord, don't
we? We do. Perfectly, but we do know
that he is Lord. We do know we didn't make him
that way. We do know that the reason we know he's Lord is because
he let us know. He revealed himself to us. And we fear him. We bow to him. We worship him.
All our hope and help is in him. That's what it means, Lord. Our
righteous, our shepherd, our peace. Oh, I want to know Him,
the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings,
and be made conformable unto His death. Paul said this, later
on this same Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. Crucified. He said,
and the world is crucified to me. He says, it's just fine with
me. How about you? And then the strife began for
Saul, for Paul. Then it began. Nothing but trouble. Christ is the gate. Christ is
the way. What is striving? Stay there
in Philippians 3. Look down here at verse 13. Brethren,
verse 12. I haven't already attained. I'm
not already perfect. I follow after. that I may apprehend
that for which I'm apprehended of Jesus Christ. I count not
myself to have apprehended this one thing I do. One thing is
on my heart and mind. Forget things that are behind.
I'm reaching forth to things before me. I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
I've got one thing. It's a pressing matter. One thing
is needful for me, Paul. Paul said. Is that you? That's
what it means to strive. And he said, verse 15, as many
as perfect, like Paul, mature and be thus minded. If in anything, in any way, concerning
anything you'd be otherwise minded, oh, may God reveal it unto us,
show us that that's vanity, that's vanity, that's vanity. Here's a good one, what striving
is, Genesis 32. Anybody know what that story's
about? It's about Jacob. Go over to
Genesis 32. This is a perfect illustration
of what it means to strive. What does it mean to strive?
It's a battle, it's a warfare. Paul said, apprehended, lay hold
of. Look at Genesis 32. Don't you
love this? Verse 24, Jacob was left alone
and there wrestled a man. with him, till the sun came up. What a picture this is. Somebody
came to old Jacob, running scared, running from God, running from
everybody, old Jacob. You can't run, he'll find you,
if you belong to him, and he did. The Lord Jesus Christ came
when he was alone and wrestled with him until the sun came up.
And when the angel saw, verse 5, when the man saw that he prevailed
not against Jacob, he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh.
And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint. And he wrestled
with him. Who wrestled with who? Both. They're both striving. We won't
wrestle unless the Lord lays hold of us. We won't lay hold
of Him unless He lays hold of us. How do you know He's laid
hold of you? You lay hold of Him. There
was no struggle. Jacob had no struggle until the
Lord came. There was no battle, no strife,
no warfare. Neither is there with us. When
we're alone, just us, you know, we're all good until the Lord
comes, until a new man's put inside of it. And then there's
a wrestling match. And it lasts all our lives. But
this was when Christ came to him and said, in verse 26, the
man, that's Christ, said, let me go, the day breaketh. And
Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except you bless me. That's what it means to strive. Have you ever wrestled? Well, I have. It's intense. When it's all over, your hair
hurts. I'm serious. You've done it. Watering all
over the ground, all over the mat. Every hair in your head
hurts. Every bone in your body hurts. Every joint, everything. Your little fingers, your toes
hurt. All over. You're hurt all over. It's like
you've been wounded and bruised. When the Lord comes to a sinner,
it's a thorough wrestle, wrestling, warfare, striving. And he said,
verse 27, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob, cheat, no
good, I'm just a sinner and nothing at all. And the angel said, thy
name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, prince of
God, son of God. As a prince, as a son, hast thou
power with God and with men, hast prevailed, influent. Jacob
asked the man, our Lord, and said, tell me, I pray thee, thy
name. And the man said, wherefore is it that thou dost ask after
my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of
that place Peniel, the face of God. I've seen God face to face. And what? What's the result?
My life is preserved. He saved me. We've seen the face of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. And he limped from that day forward.
He halted upon his thigh, changed his walk. Change his walk. Striving. What is striving? It's
asking, seeking, knocking, calling. It's calling. Let me show you
one more. Go back to chapter 28 of Genesis. Chapter 28. Look at this. Chapter
28. Christ is the gate, isn't it? Well, you know that he said the
gates of the city. In Revelation, he said the gates
of the city. A twelve manor gate. You know,
it all represents Christ. But the city is New Jerusalem. That's His church. And listen
to this, in Psalm 87, it says, "...the Lord loveth the gates
of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." Listen to this, Psalm
100, Psalm 100 verse 2. Serve the Lord with gladness,
come before His presence. Verse 4. Enter into His gates,
plural, with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise. Listen to this one. Let me find
another one. Psalm 122, I believe it is. Let me find this one.
Gates. Why is it plural? Gates. Christ is the gates, isn't he? Well, here's what David said.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Zion. Jerusalem is built as a city
compact together and we'll stand, our feet shall stand within thy
gates, O Jerusalem. Wherever Christ is, Wherever
the gospel is preached, Christ's the way is. That's where he is.
And that little place is a gate. It's a house of God. It doesn't
look like much, but it is a house of God. Look at this, Genesis
28. It says, Jacob elided, verse 11, on a certain place. It's
verse 11 of Genesis 28. He came to a certain place. The
Lord led him to a certain place. He tarried there all night. Because
the son was sad. He took the stones of that place.
He rested his head on one of those stones like it was a pillar.
He just slept like a baby on one of those stones. He dreamed,
behold, a ladder was set up on the earth. The top of it reached
to heaven. Behold, the angels of God descended upon it. What's that? You know what that
is. It's Christ. It's the way to
heaven. The bridge is the gap between us and God. Behold, the
Lord stood above it, that's Christ, and said, I am the Lord God of
Abraham, thy father, the God of Isaac, the land wherein thou
liest, to thee will I give it, to thy seed. I want to give you
the promised land, Jacob, showing you the way. And thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth. Verse 15, behold, I am with thee. and will keep thee in all places
whither thou go, and will bring thee again into this land. I
will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken
to thee of." I will not leave thee. Does that sound familiar?
When Christ was leaving, he said, I will never leave thee or forsake
thee. Lo, I am with thee always, even to the ends of the earth.
He said, I will do what I have spoken of. And he said, I've
done it. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said, surely
the Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. I used to
come into one of these gates when I was a boy and sit, and
I didn't know. I didn't know the Lord was in
that place. I didn't know. One day I did. Like Jacob, left alone with him. And verse 17, he was afraid.
Fear. And he said, how dreadful is
this place. This is none other but the house
of God. This is the gate. Someone said, I don't have to
come to church to worship Him. Yeah, you do, Tim. Yeah, you
do. The place where the Lord has
told us that He would be there. The place that He loves. The
gates of Zion. These amiable tabernacles. David
said, that's where I'll be, fam. That's where I'll be. And you
know, there's a striving. There's a striving that takes
place to keep you from coming to hear this gospel. It's going on right now. The
God of this world wants nothing more than for people to quit
coming where they'll get peace, and comfort, and consolation,
and hope, and strength, and courage. It says in returning and rest,
you'll be saved in quietness and confidence. Their strength
is to sit still. What's he talking about? He's
talking about coming where Christ is, with his people, sitting
in the fold of the sheep, and listening to the Good Shepherd.
And you get courage, don't you? You get comfort, you get peace.
And you encourage one another, you lift up one another, don't
you? You can't do that alone. It's
together. And there's a warfare to keep
us from that. Long before this plague, our
flesh would battle against us and come in here. And there's
a strife. There's a strife. There's a battle
always with the flesh. Oh, I'm too tired. Oh, you better
go. I got things to do. Oh, you really
better go. You really better drop that. But mama needs me
and my husband wants me. Oh, if you love father and mother,
you're more than me. There's a battle with family,
there's a battle with flesh, there's a battle with sin, there's
a battle within us, with ourselves, with our own evil desires. There's
a struggle, there's a warfare with temptations. It's a constant
struggle and a battle all the days of our life to keep us from
coming to Christ, keep us from... to take us out of the kingdom. He'd keep us from going through
the gate, from gathering with the saints, the God of this world,
and our own sinful selves. And so there's a struggle, there's
a strife. How? How do you strive? We get
back to this calling. We get back to this praying without
ceasing. Martin Luther wrote this psalm.
He said, did we in our own strength rely or confide, our striving
would be losing. We cannot resist one temptation
alone. We're not the right man on our
side. The man of God's own choosing. Just ask who that may be. Christ
Jesus he is. So we call. We keep calling. Lord, deliver us not into temptation. Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil. Give us this day our daily bread.
Oh, gather me into the fold. Us, us, us. It's a prayer for
everybody. Us, us, us. And so there's a
strife, a constant battle while we're in this world against the
temptations of the flesh, even within ourself, and the family,
and sin, and a strife against fear and unbelief. Fighting this
fight of faith is fighting against fear. and unbelief. Satan wants nothing
more than us to be in fear of things. And we need to fear God. If we fear God, we don't need
to fear things. Our Lord said that. And has a constant struggle
and a strife, so we're told to strive to enter in. Go back to
the text and I close. And even if it means, here's
what it means to strive. Old Pilgrim was getting out of
that town. And everybody was striving with
him. Stay, stay, tempt him, tempt him. What did he do? Finally
he said, I'm not going to listen to anybody
else anymore. And he put his fingers in his ear. I'm not going
to listen to anybody anymore. And he ran to that gate crying,
life, life, eternal life. And you know what happened? He
went through that gate, came to the cross, his burden fell
off, and he ended up in glory. It is friend faithful. In our text, it says, people
say, well, we've eaten and drunk in your presence. We've been
to every church dinner you've had. That's what it was about? Was that what it was about? That
ain't fellowship. That's socializing. Well, you've
taught in our streets. It was interesting. That's what
it's about. Are you convicted of sin? You
repent? He said, I don't know you. You're
workers of iniquity. And he went on to say, there's
weeping and gnashing of teeth. You'll see Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob. Scripture says we'll all know
as we've been known. What about people on the outside? Yeah. But there's not going to
be any repentance. There's not going to be any sorrow
over sin. It's all going to be anger and wrath and bitterness. Nobody's going to be sorry for
what they did in hell, no. That rich man said, I'm thirsty. I'm tormented. That's all he
was. And it says, they'll come, now
let me end this good. They'll come from the east, from
the west, from the north, from the south. And they're going
to sit down in the kingdom of God. Who's going to come? Well,
Isaiah 43. Who read that? Just read it.
Somebody in the study read that. They'll come. God will say, I'll
say to the north and south, give up. I'll say east and west, gather
my people, come. You're my people and I've chosen
you. Gather my people. And he'll go, sit down. You know, we're already seated
in Christ. And he's made us to sit together right now in a heavenly
place. The gate. The house of God. Bethel. That place where Jacob
was called Bethel, the house of God. You know what? He kept
coming back. He kept coming back. He'd go away and he said, I've
got to get back to Bethel. Didn't he? He'd go away and get
in trouble and he'd come and say, I've got to get back to
Bethel, the house of God, where that altar is. And behold, though
the last to be first and the first to be last, meaning, The
Jews were the first to have the Gospel revealed to them. They
were the first. And they heard it a long time,
but with many of them, they didn't go in. And then the Gentiles, the last.
So, it doesn't matter how long we've been listening to this
Gospel. It doesn't matter how long we claim to have been a
believer. Drop all that. Are you right now trusting Christ? Are you right now striving like
Paul? Paul said, I'm not there yet.
Paul was 60 some years ago. He said, I'm not around yet. Paul said, this is the one thing
I'm doing. I'm striving. I'm not going to
quit until he lets me in. How about you? Okay, stand with
me. Our Lord, oh, how we thank You
that You sent Christ to strive against our sins, to be made
sin for us. How we thank You that Christ
was made sin. We can't put away one sin. We
know we're not saved by our work. We know that. We know we're saved
by Christ's work. We know that, so it makes us
glad. Oh Lord, let patience have its perfect
work. The trials, tribulations, work, patience, patience, experience,
experience, hope. Cause us, oh Lord, to wait on
you. Cause us to strive. Cause us
to look. Cause us to act, ask, seek, knock. Pray without ceasing, call, press
into this kingdom. We know we're put into the kingdom
by Christ alone, but let us be like that widow and never quit
seeking and coming and asking and knocking. The flesh lusts
against our spirit. The world pulls at us, warring
against us. Oh, give us strength to strive
against it. And Thou art our strength. So
we call on You to help us. Keep us from the evil one. Keep
us from the world. Keep the world from us. Keep
us from the old man. Let not sin have dominion over
us, O Lord. Let us lay aside every weight
of sin. Let us not leave You, O Lord.
Please, don't let us leave You. Cause us to strive. Open the
gates. that the King of Glory might
come in and may we come in with Him. In Christ's name, Amen.