For the Crabtree, I didn't think
you could outdo last night, but you did. You know that made me want to
preach. What a Lord. What grace. Grace. Grace poured from His
lips. Open your Bible to Matthew chapter
11. I want to get down to verse 4, but I want to begin reading in
verse 2. Now, when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and
he said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look
for another? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which you do hear
and see. The blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached unto
them. And blessed are they whosoever shall not be offended in me. If John the Baptist could doubt,
and he did, are you the Christ? Or do we look for another? We
do at times. Look at verse 7. And as they
departed to go back to John, Jesus began to say unto the multitude
concerning John, What went you out into the wilderness to see?
When John the Baptist came preaching the gospel, multitudes came to
see him, and Christ asked them the question, well, what went
you out to see? A reed shaken with wind? Just some
hollow reed, blowed about by the wind, some compromiser? Is
that what you went out to see? But what went you out to see?
A man clothed in self-raiment? Behold, they that wear soft raiment
and soft clothes are in kings' houses." Just somebody that was
in it for himself and just wanted an easy life, just to fleece
the sheep and make himself rich. He said, is that what you went
out to see when you went out to see John the Baptist? But
what went you out for to see? Verse 9, a prophet, yea, I say
unto you, and more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it was
written. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare
thy way before me." John was just a voice. A prophet and more
than a prophet. Look at verse 11. Verily I say unto you, among
them that are born to women, woman there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist, filled with the Spirit from his
mother's womb. But look at this. I get comfort
from this, notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he." What does that mean? Can the
eye say to the little toe, I have no need of thee? You may say,
well, I'm not John the Baptist. I'll never do the things John
the Baptist did. Are you a little toe? He that
is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. I think that's
what he meant. And listen, verse 12. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now, after John the glass prophet of the Old
Testament, been dark for 400 years, and God sends John the
Baptist preaching the kingdom of God. The kingdom has come. The king has come. Behold, the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the one that
fulfills all the Old Testament, all the scriptures that prophesied,
said this is Him from the time of John the Baptist until now. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. What does this mean? When our
Lord Jesus Christ went preaching, you know the Gospels, at one
time He fed 5,000 men, besides women and children. It seems
like just throngs came to Him. And as He saw that, He not only
saw this in a physical sense, as these people came to Christ,
He said, the kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take
it by force. This is a spiritual sense. They
come to Him. Salvation is from beginning to
end, all of grace, and it's all of God. We don't seek Him, He
seeks us first. But let me tell you this, when
He begins to seek you, you will seek Him. You will seek Him. He says, the vile take it how? By force. They must have it. They must press through. Can
you imagine how these people press through when the scribes
and the Pharisees, they say, oh, he's just a false prophet.
He's just a winebibber. He's just a wino. He's a friend
of publicans and sinners. You don't want to have anything
to do with him. Luke 12, verse 1, it said, In the meantime,
when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people,
insomuch that they trod, one upon another to get to Him. To get to Him. In Luke, a parallel
passage, Luke's account, it says in Luke chapter 16, verse 16,
The law and the prophets were unto John, and since that time
the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it. Turn with me to Luke chapter
13. We're going to be looking at
a lot of verses of Scripture. The best interpretation of the
Scriptures is the Scriptures. The Scriptures were not given
any private interpretation. It interprets itself. In Luke
chapter 13, we begin reading in verse 18. Then he said, "'Unto what is
the kingdom of God like?' Or whereunto shall I resemble it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, something so small, which
a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew, and waxed
a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches
of it." And again he said, whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of
God? It is like leaven. which a woman took, and he had
in three measures of meal, to the whole was leaven. That little
bit of leaven consumed the whole thing. It worked in a mysterious
way. Isn't that how grace works? What
does it do? It consumes the whole man. Consumes him. Just like leaven. He said, this is how the kingdom
of God is like. And he went through the cities
and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one asked
this question, verse 23, Then said one unto him, Lord, are
there few that be saved? Are there few that be saved?
Look this day. We live in a world of religion,
but very few people know God. Where I preach, or Brother Rupert,
or Bruce, or even in this place, even the church is filled with
wheat and with tares. Are there many that shall be
saved? Are there any that shall be saved? 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. What is he telling us? To strive to enter in at the
straight gate. Not that it's crooked, that word
straight means it's so narrow, that it's so confined that everybody
has to go through this gate the same. Rich or poor, it doesn't
matter. The only way you can go through
that gate, which is Christ, is to come without anything. You
can't carry anything with you. But he said, you strive to enter
in at that gate. He says, many will seek to enter
in and shall not be able. There are many people, they know
where the gate is, they know who the gate is. They know where
it's at, who he is. They've actually rubbed their
back on the post of the gate, but they've never entered in
the gate. That's what he's saying. I'll tell you this. I don't want to just know who
the gate is. I want to enter into the gate, enter into Christ. And he said, how do you do it?
You must strive to enter into the gate. Strive. I thought about these
verses for a while and I said, what can this mean? What can
this mean? The word strive means, now listen,
it means to agonize, it means to labor fervently, to fight,
to enter in at that gate. Here our Lord is showing us our
responsibility. Every man enters this gate alone. I love my wife dearly, but if
she don't enter the gate, I'm responsible myself to strive
to enter into that gate. That's my responsibility. That's
your responsibility. When we preach the gospel, we
point you to the gate. It's a narrow way. It's not the
broad road, the popular road, the more traveled road. It's
the narrow way. It's that narrow. They say, oh,
you preach it too narrow. It's that narrow. It's that narrow. It's the narrow way. It's the
old paths. Strive. Strive working. When God begins to work in a
man, when God begins to strive with that man, that man's going
to strive. There's a cause and effect. And
when God comes to a sinner and begins a work of grace in that
man, in that sinner, something's going to happen. Man wants to
try to define when salvation is. It's in a person. And when
he comes, I tell you, he does this. He's just like the leaven,
he takes over. He takes over. He runs the old
man out. I mean, he runs the strong man
out. And he takes over. He just don't sweep the house.
He washes the house. He cleans it up. Somebody now
reigns. Somebody now reigns. Strives
to enter in. That's a straight gate. Here's
what the Amplified Bible, how it reads it. Matthew 11, verse
12. And from the days of John the
Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured
violent assault, and violent men seize it by force as a precious
prize, as a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most adherent
zeal and intense exertion." I said it pretty plain. Intense. Listen to me. Nothing half-hearted. It's with a man's whole heart.
He said in Jeremiah 29, verse 3, And you shall seek Me and
find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart. Know what he said? Let me tell
you this. He puts it in a center. He makes
Him willing in the day of His power And you seek Him with your
whole heart. I've got to have Him. I've got
to have Him. I've got to enter into the gate.
It's life or death. Life or death. Life or death. Let's look at some of these violent
men. First, I'll say this, they are
not this way by nature. There is none that seeketh after
God. I don't care what false preachers
and missionaries say. You know, they say, oh, the people
in Mexico or somewhere else, oh, they're just so hungry for
God. No, they're not. They hate God, despise Him. There is none that seeks after
God, none by nature. When God does something, then
something happens. And I tell you, it's real. It's
real. It's real. It's real. A work of grace has begun in
their heart. And now they become what? Violent
men. Violent men. You ever seen violent
men? You try to control them. I think it was someone said,
Maurice Montgomery said one time, if people would ever, if God
ever allowed men to see Christ in all of His glory, they'd be
a stampede of people running to Christ. You couldn't stop them. And I
see from the Scriptures, and I just want to take a few examples
and show you of some people that you could not stop them from
coming to Christ. And I'll tell you this, I know
this as good as I'm standing here, if God ever does something
for you, there'll nobody stop you. Nobody will stop you. Everything will try to stop you,
but nothing can stop you. That striving is that new man.
That new man. That will, he won't quit. We
will quit. We'll grow discouraged. We'll
throw the sword down. Our hand grows weary. But the
new man won't. I love that about Caleb and Joshua.
Caleb and Joshua was the only two of the twelve that went in
and searched out Canaan. And they all come back with their
reports. And the ten said, oh, it's a good land. It's a good
land. But there's giants in the land.
Oh, we just can't take it. Caleb and Joshua said, let's
go right now and take it. Our God promised to give it to
us. And God shut the door on them. And for 40 years they wandered
in the wilderness, and from 20 years old and upward, we don't
know how many they were, they perished in the wilderness. Are
there many that shall be saved? Caleb and Joshua, 40 years later,
now God's going to give them the land. And he says, I think
it was Caleb or Joshua 1, he said, I might be 80 years old,
but I'm as strong as I was 40 years ago. We're going in and
we're going to take it. How are we going to take it?
I'll tell you how we're going to take it. We're going to take it by force.
We're going to take it. You know what? It's ours for
the taking. What was the difference? It was
God in him. The grace of God. The grace of
God. I want you to turn to several Scriptures
if you would. I think it's good for all of
us to see this. As I preach, a lot of times I'll
just maybe write the scripture down and you don't even have
time to think about it. I want you to see it yourself. The first one
I want to look at is a woman that had an issue of blood in
Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. beginning in verse 21. And when
Jesus was passing over again by ship into the other side,
much people gathered unto him, and he was nine to the sea. And,
behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus
by name. And when he saw him, he fell
down at his feet. And when the Hebrews saw him,
greatly saying, My daughter lies at the point of death. I pray
thee, come and lay thy hand on her, that she may be healed and
she may live. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him and thronged him. And a certain woman,
which had an issue of blood, 12 years, and look at verse 26,
she had suffered many things of many physicians. I was just
like that woman. I suffered many things from many
false physicians. Everybody had their own prescription.
They said, well, if you'll do this, you can find relief. You
come to the front of the church, you do this, you baptize, do
the best you can, do the best you can, and then said, it didn't
work, well, give me another prescription. Some say you can't smoke, some
say you can, some say you need to cut your hair or not cut your
hair, all these, you know, whether it's just a physician. She had
suffered many things of many physicians. Why was she going
to these physicians? She is wanting help. She is wanting
help. She is desperate. And listen
to me, I say this with a broken heart. I believe those people
in religion, a lot of them are sincere. They need some help. Spiritually sick, And they're
not finding any help. But look what it said about this
woman. She suffered many things and many physicians, and she
spent all that she had. She spent her last nickel trying
to get some relief. And was nothing better. But instead
of making her better, she got worse. Say, how is he worse off? A man with a false profession
is worse off. Now he's got a false refuge of
lies. There's this woman's condition.
She's tried everything. She's given her last dime. She's
like, God, I have some faith. I don't get some relief. I want
to die. This issue of blood was hid from everybody else, but
this issue under God's law pronounced her unclean. No one else could
see it. She thought she had it hid. God
knew about it. Look in verse 27. When she had
heard of Jesus. How do you get faith? It's a
gift of God that faith comes by hearing. You must hear of
a God that saves. She had heard about all these
other positions. She had heard about this other
Jesus. Now she heard about this Jesus. The one that, like you
said, His name means He's salvation. He shall save His people from
their sins. And this woman, she hears about
Him. And after she hears, what does
she do? She comes. She comes, and she came in the press behind
him and touched his garment. As I picture this, he said there
was a great multitude. I don't know how many there were.
I picture him just being so tight, people just pressing up against
him. How is she going to get to him? How is she going to touch
him? She's got to press through. She's going to take it by force.
She said, if I but touch His clothes, I'll be healed. If I can just touch Him. If I
can just touch Him. Well, she said, if I may but,
verse 28, but touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway
the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her
body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately
knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him
about in the press and said, Who touched My clothes? And the
disciples said unto Him, Lord, Thou seest a multitude drawn
in Thee, and Thou sayest, Who touched Thee? All these people
are touching You. That's amazing, and it's scary
to think that people can be that close to the Lord and never touch
Him. That's serious. To me, that's
sobering. Actually, Judas kissed the door
of heaven and went to hell. That's how serious this business
is. This is serious business. We're
not playing games. We're not playing games. This
woman, she wasn't playing games. She said, I've got to get to
Him. And I said, what do you mean somebody touched... And
he looked around, about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. And
he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go
in peace and be whole of thy plague. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Faith is a gift of God. Let me
tell you this. She heard of Christ. God gave
her faith to believe. And she had to touch Him. I've
got to touch Him. I've got to get to Him. I've
got to get to Him. Another example, Genesis chapter
32. A man named Jacob. Genesis 32, verse 24. Remember when Isaac and Rebekah
wanted to have children, and Rebekah was buried, and they
went and inquired of the Lord, and God heard their prayer, and
God opened up her womb, and God told Rebekah, He said, you're
going to have twins. That older boy is going to serve
that younger boy. And it said that while she was pregnant,
there was such a struggle going on that she witnessed other women.
She said, was it ever like this with you? Was your pregnancy
this way? She said, there's a struggle
going on. I've never experienced anything
like this in my life. She said, they're either going
to kill me or they're going to kill each other. And to what
she said, they were fighting in the womb. You know why? One was wanting the blessing? I think it was Gil where somebody
said, why did he have to fight for it? It wasn't rightfully
his. The blessing was to the firstborn. And Esau was the firstborn. And it said when Esau was born
first, Jacob preached out and grabbed him by the heel. You
know what he's wanting? He's wanting the blessing. The violent take it by force.
And you know how he tricked his brother? Then he tricked him
again, and he lived up to his name, the old surplanner. But
let me tell you this, he had to have the blessing. And I'll
tell you this, he got it. The kingdom of God suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. He said, I've got
to have it. Jacob have I loved. And he saw how he liked it. The
blessing was Esau's. By birthright, Jacob said, I've got to have it. I've got
to have it. I've got to have it. And here,
in Genesis 32, another story, he's having to go back and face
Esau. This thing he's been dreading
his whole life. And it says in verse 24, and
Jacob was left alone. That's where God'll put you.
Alone. I don't know how many people's
in this building tonight, but you can be in this building almost
full of people and be alone. He'll get you alone. He got Jacob
alone. And there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day." It doesn't say Jacob wrestled
with him. This man wrestled with Jacob. And when you wrestle with
somebody, you will pin them down. You'll pin them. And he wrestled
with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that
he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his
thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he
wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the
day breaketh. And he said, look what Jacob
said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Do you see this? God got a hold
of him first. God wrestled him down and you
know then what? It's like he was wanting to leave
and he just grabbed him. I've got to have it. I can't let you go unless you
bless me. That's what I'm talking about. The violent takes it by
force. And he said unto him, what is
thy name? And I just said, boy, I hate to admit this. I'm Jacob. I'm an Okinawan. The trickster. And you know what he said? And
he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince, thou hast power
with God and with men, and hath prevailed. Did he get what he wanted? He's
not going to have it. The question is, how bad do you
want him? Nothing else matters. I said,
this is between me and him. And it's between you and God.
Strive to enter into that straight gate. And God blessed him. God changed his name. And God
changed his nature. He is real. He's a man with two
names and two natures. Boy, don't that describe us.
Boy, I wish I could get rid of old Jacob. Boy, he's still there. But God sees me, as He always
saw Jacob, as Israel. That's right. Chosen in Christ
before the world was made. That's how He's always saw me,
in Christ. Another example. Turn with me
to Luke chapter 24. I told you it was going to turn
to several scriptures. Luke 24. Beginning in verse 13. Our Lord has just risen from
the grave. Mary and Peter and John went
to the sepulcher. They went out and told everybody
the news that the sepulcher is empty, that He's risen. It said
in verse 13, Behold, two of them went that same day to a village
called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass when they
communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. He can reveal himself and he
can hide himself. He's walking right with them.
They don't even know who he is. And he said unto them, what manner
of communication are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cliff, was answered and said unto him, Art thou a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass in these days? How can you not know what's happened?
Are you a stranger? And he said unto them, what things? What things? Why are you so sad? And they said unto him concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in deed and
word before God and all the people, and how the chief priest and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified
him. But we trusted that it had been
He who should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, today is
the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women
also of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulchre.
And when they found not His body, they came saying that they also
had seen a vision of angels which had said that He was alive. And
certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and
found it even so as the woman had said, but Him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered
into his glory? As Bruce mentioned, and he began,
Moses and all the prophets. And he expounded unto them all
the scriptures, the things concerning himself. And they drew near unto
the village. Been walking probably, I don't
know how far, pretty good ways. Whither they went, and watch
this, and he made as though he would have gone further. That's
like they almost come to a fork in the road and they said, this
is the way we're supposed to go. He just acts like he's going
on down the road. They still don't know who he is. He opened
the scriptures to them and they said, gee, I'm just simply amazed. I didn't ever see that. And look at that. And they constrained
him. You know what they said? Please don't go. Please don't
go. Please don't go. That word constrained,
it means to compel by use of force. The only other place it's
used in the scriptures is Acts 16, verse 15, when Lydia, when
God sent Paul and preached the gospel to her, they were getting
ready to leave and she said, I constrain you, please don't
go. Constrained him. Think about
the sovereign, almighty Son of God being constrained by us. Please don't go. Please don't
leave. Please don't leave. And look,
and they constrained him, and here's how they constrained him.
They said, abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the
day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them. He went in to them. It came to
pass, as he said it, meet with them. He took bread and blessed
it and gave to them. Their eyes were opened and they
knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said
one to another, did not our hearts burn within us while he spake
with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? You know who opens the scriptures
to you? He does. And when you see him
in the Scriptures, you go from sad hearts to slow hearts to
burning hearts. My heart just burns, burns, burns. They constrained him. This reminds me of the bride
in the Song of Solomon, chapter 3, verses 4 and 5. But it was
but a little that I passed from them that I found Him whom my
soul loveth. And I held Him and would not
let Him go." Wouldn't let Him go. You know
why? She loved Him. He loved her and she loved Him. And all
over in chapter 5, you know that story. It talks about how He
comes to the door. And she said, I've done laid down.
She knew who it was. She said, I can't, what doesn't
wash my feet, I can't defile myself to get up. He has no problem getting in
your door. It said, he reached in by the
hole of the door and touched the bowels of her affections.
And she got up. That picture is up. She said,
I sleep, but my heart wake up. That's Jacob. He sleeps. But He knows how to arouse us
out of our sleep. It's not just, you know how it
is, you just get sleepy and can't hardly hold your eyes up. You
ever been like that spiritually? Everything's so cold and everything
seems so dead, and you want to see something in the Scripture,
you want to see Christ, and you just don't see anything. But
He touched her heart, and she goes to the door. She thinks
He's going to be there. And she opens the door. And he's
gone. He knows how to get you and me
to seek him. I went to the door and thought
he would be there, and he's not there. And she goes out into
the streets. She said, I've got to find him.
And when they found her in the streets, they said, what is your
beloved more than anybody else's beloved? And she begins to describe
him, she said, his hair is as black as a raven. And she describes
all these things about him, and then she says, his mouth is most
sweet. She said, he's altogether lovely. If you've ever embraced him,
if you've ever sought him, and listen, this is not a one-time
seeking. This is something a believer does every day of his life. Paul, I've got to have Him. I've got to have Him. It's life or death. I've got to find Him. I've got
to have Him. People say, well, He's a big
part of my life. Paul said, when Christ who is
my life, Without Him, there's no use living. The Kingdom of God suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. I've got to have Him. And if
you're a believer, you've got to have Him. You're oppressed
through every doubt, every fear, every discouragement. You'll
say, I've got to have Him. Where is He at? I've got to have
Him. I've got to have Him. You know
why? That's who my soul is. I want to ask you to turn around.
I did want to use this one. Blind Bartimaeus. A blind beggar
sitting by the wayside. People take him out and just
put him by the streets. And one day, Jesus of Nazareth passes
by. What's the odds? And it says, when he heard that
it was Jesus, I picture in his mind, now listen
to me, Jesus may never come by this way again. He may never
not. And he said, Jesus of Nazareth,
have mercy on me. And the people said, shh, be
quiet. They still say that. Just don't get excited. Just
don't show much enthusiasm. He cried not much louder. He
said, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And the Son
of God stopped in His tracks. One time in the Old Testament,
I don't remember exactly the whole story. There was a battle
going on and they thought, well, if we just got a few more hours
a day, we could win this battle. And the general prayed and the
sun stood still in the sky. And this sinner, called out and
begged for mercy, Jesus Christ stopped in His tracks. You seek the Lord where He may
be found. And let me tell you this, you
better seek Him when He is to be found. Over there in Matthew
11, it talks about after the door was shut, They came and
knocked on the door, and the door was shut. Moses preached
for 120 years, and God shut Noah in the ark. There's no rain,
there's not a cloud in the sky. But then the clouds begin to
form, and the fountains of the deep begin to open up, and everybody
went running to the door, saying, let me in! It was too late. Do not pass me by. Do not pass me by. The kingdom of God suffers violence,
and the violent take it by force.