We've been studying through what is commonly called the sermon
on the mouth. Our Lord's sermon that he preached. or sitting on a mountain. And the last things that he says
here in this, we're approaching the end of this sermon, this
message, the last things he says here
are some of the most searching things, some of the most trying.
I remind you that he was speaking to those who came to him. We
brought that out last Sunday night, how that he was not speaking
in the streets to the general public at large. Scripture says,
he'll not cry or lift up his voice in the streets. He was
speaking to those who came to him, those whom the Father drew
to come up there to hear. Some was savored by some death. Those who saw him. They were
true disciples, and then they were professed disciples. It was always the case, wherever
our Lord spake, many believed on Him as Christians, and they
believed on Him, but they weren't true believers in that sense.
And I'm speaking to the so-called church this morning. I'm speaking
to a body of people, a group of people, many if not most in
here, professed faith in Christ. And the following words that
our Lord is going to say, that we're going to look into, will
winnow the chaff from the weeds. They will separate the goats
from the sheep, as the truth always does. Now, He is applying, the last
few verses, the last several verses here in Matthew 7, He
is applying what he had been saying for the previous two chapters. All right? He is making application
of everything that he had previously said. For those of you who have
been here, that's an important note. Now, I said, for those
of you who were not here during the Bible lesson, I said, I made
this comment and it applies here. It is a mark of a true believer.
a mark of a true believer to be constantly examining themselves. Paul exhorted us to do that.
Examine yourselves to see whether you be of the faith. It's a mark
of a true sheep, a true believer to be constantly examining him
or herself and be in a constant state of repentance. Whenever
the word of God comes, they say, Oh, I fall short. Lord, forgive
me. Lord, help me. But repentance
means change and a desire to change. And everything, as I
said this morning, everything should be taken very personally. God is my witness. I've said
this so many times. And you'll just have to take
my word for it. I do not sit down to prepare
a message with any person, particular person in mind, and therefore
put these things down and say, I'm going to get him or I'm going
to get her. I have tried that. Believe me, every young man who's
entered the pulpit has used this as a format or a place to take
pot shots. I don't do that anymore. The
Word of God, you just preach it in context, like our text
this morning. That's what came up this morning. You just preach it in context,
verse by verse. Expositionally, the Word of God
will deal with people where they need to be dealt with. But I do want you to take this
very personally, but don't take it as being from me, not as the
words of man, but, Paul said, as it is in truth, the Word of
God. Take it very personally as if
God spoke unto you by us, by me. And it should not offend
you. As I said, if you call yourself
a sinner, and read that article in the book, every true child
of God calls himself the chief of sinners, not just a sinner.
Yeah, we have some sinners. That's what the religious world
at large says. Yeah, I've got some faults. No,
every believer says, I'm the sinner. I'm the worst one of
the bunch. I'm the chief of sinners. Move over, Paul, you don't deserve
that title. I do. And you can't offend the
chief of sinners. When I call you, Henry, I call
you a worm. You're a no-good, worthless,
low-down snake in the grass. You say that? Boy, you just,
a half has never been told. Don't you? And so does every
true child of God. But a self-righteous Pharisee,
oh, I don't like that. That's not me. Are you a sinner?"
Well, yeah, I'm talking to you. Now, he said that to me. No,
God said it to you. Whatever needs to be said. As
long as a man sticks close to the Word of God that he is and
doesn't go off on a tangent and start telling you what he thinks,
this is the way I see it. If it's from God's Word, we ought
to take it very personally. Now, this is a much-used passage
of Scripture. a much-used and abused passage,
and it goes much deeper than the surface. Now, let's read
the text here, Matthew 7, two verses, verses 13 and 14. Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14,
and the Lord said, 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
their aim. How, because straight is the
gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it. Two very easy to remember poems.
Verses 13 and 14. Verse 13 deals with the wide
gate and broad way of destruction, to destruction. Verse 14 deals
with the straight gate and the narrow way of life. So I'm going
to deal with those two things. The wide gate and broad way to
destruction. And then secondly, the straight
gate and narrow way of life. Now, the Lord starts out. with
this powerful exhortation. Enter in at the straight gate. Enter ye in at the straight gate. Jesus Christ is that gate. Jesus Christ is the only door,
the only entrance into eternal life through and by the Lord
Jesus. And he says, urgently, you'd
better go through the gate now. Now is the day of salvation,
the Scripture goes on to say. Not tomorrow, but I'll hear thee
at convenient time. And everybody in here is here
on purpose, not by accident, not by choice either, not by
yours anyway, but by God Almighty. You believe that? Whether you
believe it or not, it's so. known unto God all His works
from the beginning. He purposed it. He'll do it. You're here
not by accident, but by God's will and purpose, which He established
before the world began. And He said, Now, right now,
right today, is the day of salvation. You'd better get to Christ. Well,
I don't know how. You'd better find out. You'd better listen
as close as you can to this message. And you'd better get to Him just
as fast as you possibly can. Boast not thyself of tomorrow.
You don't know if you're going to be in a coffin or not. You
see why I said this first? You'd better get to the game. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. What does it mean to believe?
Do it. Well, I can't. You'd better do it anyway. He that believeth not is going
to be damned, the Scripture says. Could I say anything more important
this morning? If the roof came down, and you've
heard it, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be saved.
If you don't, you'll be damned. But if the Lord will be merciful
to us, I'm going to go on and tell you what it means to believe.
So perk up your ears. In Luke 13, he says this. He
says the same basic thing he says in Luke 13. But he says,
enter in at the straight gate. He says, because there's coming
a time when many shall seek to enter in that gate and won't be able to. That's
one of them sobering passages. I think it's verse 7, Luke 13.
Enter in at the straight gate, because he says, many will seek
to enter in and won't be able to. It's coming to time. But
he says, when the Lord of the house has risen up and shut to
the door, then people are going to be, all right, let me in.
Too late. Today. I can't help but if Arminians
have abused and taken those tactics and tried to scare people. Nevertheless,
it's so. What I've just said is so. And
that's why I say that a true believer is constantly examining
him or herself to see, am I in the way? Don't take it for granted. Don't presume upon the most urgent
and important thing of all, your salvation, your soul. But I'm
a saved, I'm a sure for heaven if I'm already there. Don't you
dare say that. Unless you say it based upon
Christ and say that he's there and I'm a sinner and I'm in his
covenant and I'm a sure for heaven because he's already there. There's
a difference. And a true believer is constantly
examining him or herself to see whether they are of the faith.
Are you in the gate? Truly in Christ, or am I just
a hypocrite? Hypocrisy. That's what Rick,
Terry, Deborah, we've all been going through the Sermon on the
Mount. That's what the Lord is exposing from the very beginning up until
now. And now He's applying it. Hasn't He been exposing the religious
hypocrisy? Those of you who have studied
it with us, He's saying if you do your own, your prayer, your
giving, you do anything, Anything to be seen of God is a woe unto
the scribes and pharisees. They do what they do to be seen.
Don't you dare do it. Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, because
he knows what we're so full of. And so he says, now you better
watch out, thou hypocrite. And the true
believer constantly examines him or herself to see whether
or not they're in Christ or whether or not they're a hypocrite. Lord,
don't let me be a hypocrite. Jeanette, many, the scripture
said many are going to say unto him in that day, he says that
in the same chapter, Lord, Lord, I wanted to have him turning. I never knew you. And they're
going to be so confounded in a sweeping way. Well, I thought,
they're going to say, Why is the gate, he says, and
broad is the way to destruction? Why is the gate? Why is the gate
of worldliness and sin? Why does a wide world of sinful
pleasures out there be enjoyed in that? Just turn on the TV
and you can feel your heart and mind full. Wide open. It's right there for a click
of a fingertip. Go out and open your door and it's right there
at your doorstep. Wide open. You don't even have to go that
far. Just let your imagination run wild, wide open. You don't need to look hard for
sin. Sin's door is in your heart, and it's wide open. Allow anything
and everyone to come and go and sin as they please. Right? The saying today is, if it feels
good, do it. And you can. Wide open. Young people, my soul, you young
people, listen to this message. There's a wide range of worldly
opportunities available. If a man wants to get rich, he
can do it. He can do it. If you're willing
to sell your soul and do what it takes, you know, work fourteen,
sixteen, eighteen hours a day in accumulation of this world
and so forth, you'll get it. He'll get it. What do you get
with it? Well, it's got to come to death, destruction, misery. The world is wide open to all
that want it. God of this world, do you remember
when Satan attempted our Lord? Remember what he said to Him?
Look at all this. He said this even to the Son
of God. Look at all this. The God of this world, He's called. If you'll just worship Me, I'll
give you all this. Who's the blessed man? Who's
the blessed man in the scripture? The man who has all of this worldly
good? No, he might be the most cursed. The God of this world says, you
worship me and I'll give you all these things. Christ says,
you worship me and I might take them away. But you have me. And then you realize when you
have him, you don't need these other things. But he might give
you these things on top of that. Wide is the gate of religion.
Not only is wide the gate of worldliness and sin, but wide
is the gate of religion. It sure applies here, doesn't
it? I mean, not in this place, but
it applies in our territory. Wide is the gate of religion.
Religion is very much a part of the world today. Everybody's
religious. Everybody and his brother and
his mother's religious. I've told you several times that
the estimates have it that one out of every two adults in the
United States is a Christian. And it would last, I ought to
cry. I'd have to say nine hundred
and ninety-nine out of a thousand are deluded. Entrance into the favor of God
Almighty. Favor with God and eternal life
has been made very easy by religion. You know that? It's been just
opened just so wide, very wide. It's very simple. This is it.
One, two, three. One, two, buckle my shoe. Three,
four, open the door, I'm in heaven. Five, six, pick up a few sticks,
serve God. Seven, eight, open the gate,
Peter. It's about that simple, isn't
it? God loves you. All right, that's good. Christ
died for you. Well, that's good. What does
it mean? It doesn't matter. He died for
you. And if you'll just accept Him as your personal Savior,
come on down here, join the church, sign a pledge card, and give
me your money, and join the church. You're in! All right, here. Isn't that religion to that?
You're in! Now, doesn't it feel good to
be a Christian? A wide gate. You know, a gate is something
that lets you in or out. A gate, you think of a gate,
it's a passageway. It's a thing to let you in or
out. And today, it's religion. There aren't one-way hinges.
You cabinet men will know something about that. There aren't one-way
hinges. They're only open one way. They're
two-way. You ever seen those revolving
restaurant doors have two-way hinges on them? That's a religion's
gate. Come and go as you please. And
consequently, there's a vast turnover of people. A vast turnover
of people coming and going from church to church. There's this
big turnover of preachers, so-called pastors, so-called Methodist
church gets rid of their pastors goes on every six years. It's
a revolving door. People coming and going. You know, true religion is never
going, it's always coming. It's coming to one place and
staying. Now, I'm not talking about necessarily
talking about a local body. I'm talking about what Peter
said in 1 Peter 2, 4. If so be it, if you've tasted it, Lord
is gracious. To whom? Coming. You come to Christ, and
you never leave. You never leave. A preacher who's ever truly preached
the gospel, he comes to that point where he says, like the
Apostle Paul, I Corinthians 2, 2, is it? I'm determined not
to know anything but Christ. I've come to this place. Hitherto
have I come. No further. I've reached the
pinnacle. You know, I've done the best
preaching I'm ever going to do from this pulpit. If you're expecting
to hear more and deeper and wider, you're not going to do it. I've
come to Christ. There's no other message. Get
tired of hearing that? Then go. You want to hear this? Then come. Grounded and to whom
coming? Grounded and settled and unmoved
away. Did you get the gist there? Church
is coming and going, gates on double hinges, coming and going,
coming and going, so-called church. True religion is to come to Christ
and stop. Right there. Grounded, settled,
unmoved away, become a vital part of and united member of
the body, and that applies with a local church, too. All right, you know, a gate lets
in, it also lets in, And a gate also does this. It shuts out,
doesn't it? It shuts out. A gate also lets
people in, but it also shuts out. Religion today, religion
today says that there's one handle on this door. You've heard this
silly, blasphemous statement, you know. Jesus is knocking on
your heart's door and there ain't no handle on the outside. It's
on the inside, and you've got to let him in. Won't you let
him in? He's crying. Remember what that old farmer
said to that young so-called preacher one time? The preacher
said, but Farmer Brown, now if you don't let the Lord save you,
he'll send you to hell. You better let him save you.
The man said, why should I? He said, no. I won't do it. He said, well, he'll send you
to hell, then. He said, no, I won't let him do that either. The man was shocked. He'd never
heard it like that. What do you mean? He said, well,
he tried to save me and I won't let him. He tried to send me to hell,
I won't let him do that either. He said, I've got my will and all
that and it's more powerful than him. I ain't going to let him
send me to hell. I've got news for you people. When Jesus Christ decides to
come in, he's coming in. He breaks down the door. He builds
a new one. The door is the heart of a believer.
He builds a new door. And you know what he does? In
a song of Solomon, chapter 5, it says, there's a hole in it. Y'all know that song real well
today, don't you? There's a hole in my heart. There's a hole in
the heart of every believer. The Lord Jesus Christ has made
it. He comes and goes as he pleases. He just reaches in, says, I'm
coming in, and comes right in. Comes right in as he pleases. The religion has made a broad
gate out of this with only one handle on one side, and you've
got to open it, you know, all that nonsense, all that cow manure. There's a broad way of destruction,
Scripture says. A broad way of destruction. Broadway. Talked about the gate a little
bit. There's a way. A way is a road or a path, simply
put, that leads to a destination, right? A way is something that leads
from somewhere to somewhere. Christ said this, there's a broad
way that leads from something to destruction and many Many there be that go in that.
And it too, this way, is also the way of the world. It's the
most well-traveled road known to man. It's the Roman road. It's the way of the world. Riches,
fame, honor, pleasure, sins, the most widely traveled road.
And you know, it's almost always connected with religion, too.
Today, they've got these two roads intertwined. Religion and
the way of the world. They're connected. There's usually
worldly motives behind most of religion today, you know, riches
and honor and so forth. But Christ said this way will
destroy your mind, your body, and your soul. Travel it, the
way of the world, pursuit of riches, fame. What will a man
give in exchange for his soul? What will a man give in exchange
for his soul? I'll tell you what a man will give today in exchange
for his soul. He'll give a football game. He'll give a game. A Washington
Redskins football game is more important than his eternal soul. A two-bed house in the woods
that's going to burn to the ground someday is more important to
him than his eternal soul that's going to burn someday. The only
man given in exchange for his soul is anything, anything, everything. A woman that will turn on him
just as quick as he turns his head, or a man for that matter. Riches, fame, honor, love, pleasure,
happiness, and so forth, the way of the world, and everybody's
traveling, and the Lord said it leads to where? Destruction. Like I said, if you get all that
the world gives you, what do you got? Nothing. Sand. Sand. It's going to slip
through your fingers. And then there's the way of religion.
The way of religion, a very broad way. The way of religion is a very
broad way, and doesn't that word describe it? Did anybody catch
that? Religion is like Broadway today,
isn't it? It's a great and vast stage to
display man's glory and man's pride and man's will and man's
worth today, isn't it? Broadway. That great Hollywood-type
productions and entertainment, and so Broadway, that describes
it, doesn't it? Preachers are on the stage. I wish they were, the next one
out of town. But they're on a stage today
and it might as well be Broadway. And this broad way, broad way,
is any way and every way that anybody wants to go. As long
as it's good and religious, right? Our message is not one of negatives,
but our Lord dealt with this here, didn't He? He said there's a wide gate and
a broad way, and this broad way is any way and every way imaginable. Any way that a man chooses, just
go with it, you'll get there. Any belief, that's obvious, isn't
it? Any belief, you can believe anything
today, as long as it goes under the name of the Bible, and it'll
get you there. Any doctrine, no matter how contrary
or erroneous it might be, contrary to Scripture or erroneous it
might be, any doctrine or no doctrine. That describes most
religions. No doctrine or any doctrine or
any church. Any church will do. And people
ask you that. Why do you have to go all that
way to go to that church? There's a church. Any church.
Pick a church. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Pick a church and go. Any
church will do. Any denomination. What difference
does it make? Any and every. Every sort of nonsense. Christ
said, you let a man come in his own name, I don't care how ridiculous
he is and how he wears his hair, like Benny Hinn. I don't care
how ridiculous he is, he wouldn't even make a sideshow at a circus.
Men will follow him and for their money. Any, every idiot that
comes down the pipe. Every sort of nonsense. Every
method or gimmick. Whatever it takes to get people
in. Use it. Try it. Right? Every man's interpretation. Now,
we can't be dogmatic. Now, this year it's up to your
own interpretation. You say, well, that sounds good.
It has merit to it. Let's have a share session. I'm
going to sit and put a little chair in the middle of here,
and everybody tell me what you think about this passage. What
it means to you, you know. Everyone's right. Nobody's wrong. As long as they're sincere and
somewhat religious, you'll make it. in every way, a broad way. Isn't that right? Isn't that so true? And here's what they say about
little places like this. They say about us, they say,
many say about us, you're too narrow. Don't they? How many times have you, you're
too narrow, you're too straight-laced. You're too biased. You're too
dogmatic. You ought to broaden your views. You ought to be more tolerant.
Unity. Don't you know that everybody
is uniting today? You ought to broaden your horizons. Don't they? I've got news for you. The way to heaven is straight,
and the way is narrow. Of that, we're very dogmatic.
And I'm going to be just as narrow as the Scripture is. Just as dogmatic as the Scripture
is. Just as dogmatic as the Apostle Paul, who said, if anybody preaches
anything other than what I'm preaching to you right now, he's
going to hell, and everybody that believes it. I can say that
from the bottom of my heart. Straight is the gate that leads
to eternal life. Straight is the gate and narrow
is the way, straight and narrow, which leadeth unto life a few,
oh so few, but what a blessed chosen few there be that find
it. A straight gate to eternal life,
a straight gate, and I've already said it, is Jesus Christ. It's Jesus Christ. The Scriptures
are very dogmatic. The Scriptures are very clear.
The Scriptures are very straight-laced concerning the love of God, the
favor of God, acceptance with God. It's all in Christ and only
in Christ. One door, one gate, one means
of entrance into the love of God, the favor of God, and acceptance
with God Almighty. All of that can be lumped in
one word, salvation. Neither is there any other name
whereby we must be saved. Christ said it. He says, No man
cometh unto the Father, or God, but hath by me. A very simple little structure.
The youngest child in here can understand that. Say I build
a house. David, John Henry, you can understand. Say I build a house. Go through that door. Don't go
back. Don't jump. One door. I build a house and
I put one door in it. The only way I'm going to get
into that house is through that one door. God Almighty is building,
as it were, a building, a spiritual house. He goes a little further,
talking about people, not talking about a cabin for you in the
corner of glory, talking about a dwelling, a people, a spiritual
house, a family. God's building a family, a church,
a people to dwell with Him throughout eternity. And God says, if you
want to get to Me, there's only one way you're going to get to
Me. Isn't it? There's only one entrance. There's
only one door. There's only one gate. One Lord,
one faith, one baptism. Right? One calling, even the
calling of the Holy Spirit, one hope of your calling. Elect Him.
One Lord, one door. Jesus Christ, God's Son, is that
door. That way. That way. Christ, listen to this. This
is important. God made Christ. the only door
to his love. I don't care what religion is
saying today. You see, they've broadened the
love of God to take in anybody and everybody. Not so. John 14, 21 says, He that loveth
me, Christ said, He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. It says that three times in the
space of about thirty verses there, John 14, 15 and 16. He
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. I quote this all
the time, Romans 8, 39. Who shall separate from the love
of God? Shall this, shall that, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. The love of God is in Christ. Outside of Christ, God is angry
with the wicked every day, hates them. Is that what the Scripture said?
Well, I thought it said, I thought it did say, what is it, John
3, 16? Yeah, that's the only Scripture
you know anybody, John 3, 16. I love that verse of Scripture.
What he's describing there is how God loved the world. Not the quantity of God's love,
but the quality of it. Verse 14 tells the Gospel, As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. that everyone that believes in
him should not perish. For God so, in this way, loved the world,
not just Jews, but some Gentiles as well. But people of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue under heaven, He loved them like
this illustration of lifting up Moses. He lifted up His Son
to be made a sacrifice for those people. This is how He loved,
showed His love to the world, that everyone who believes in
Him should have eternal life, everlasting life. The love of
God is in his son. He loves his son. Anything lovely
about you, Stephen Parker? You don't even see hardly how
your wife loves you, do you? Your son, what if your son, I'll
pick on somebody else, John Cheesley. You don't even see how your children
can love you. What if your children found out what kind of man you
really are on the inside? Well, how could God, that's what
that song, how can it be that thou, my God, should love me?
Me! That's what old McPhibosheth
said, wasn't it? I'm a dead dog, why would you
have anything to do with me? My pastor preached that message
one time, all dogs go to heaven. You know that? They do. Everybody
that comes like that Syro-Phoenician woman, On to Dog, Lord. I'd just like to have a few crumbs
of your love. Oh, woman. Greatest I think. Dog. Dog's ain't nothing lovely
about a dog. We were laying around yesterday,
taking it easy, and one of the neighbor's dogs, Fluffy, came
over and started licking me. Get out of here, Fluffy. What are dogs worth? Nothing. You got to feed them, take care
of them, clothe them, kick them. Pee on your shrubbery. That's
all a dog's good for. Let's face it. What are we good
for? That's just the way it is, isn't
it? Dogs don't do anything to add
to your, you know, don't take away from your financial debt
or add to this and that. Hell, that's all they're good
for. taken care of. That's all we're good for. God
just got to take care of us from the cradle to the grave. And
a dog, but he sets his love on some of these dogs. See, if a
man ever realizes that, that he's a dog, and a dog ain't worth
loving, but God in mercy and grace loves some dogs, and only
through Christ making his Son a dog. That's what Psalm 22 says.
Christ said, I'm a worm. I've become a worm. I was a holy,
spotless, loveless son of God, and I've become a worm. Not a
man. A worm, an off-scouring, made
sin. And God looked at him like a
dog, and killed him, slew him, butchered him, put him out of
his presence, because that was you, Sherry Anne, and that was
me. Worthy to be spit on. So Christ
was spit on. Worthy to have his beard plucked
out. So Christ had his plucked out. The love of God is in Christ.
In Christ. Because Christ took His loveliness
and applied it to me, this old dead dog, so that God now looks
upon me as a son. Holy, spotless, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. Then God says, You're a son.
I love you. You look good. Right? But saw His Son looking like
me and killed Him. Yes, ma'am, that's where the
love of God is, in Christ and Him alone. God loves His Son,
and only those that are in His Son. If He loves everybody without
exception, and there's people in hell, I don't want that love. The peace of God. Christ is made
peace, made to be our peace. We're at war with God. We're
enemies of God by nature. Yes. Sinners. We're at enmity with God. Enemies
of God Almighty. The Scripture says Christ is
our peace with God. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. And it goes on to say in Isaiah
53 that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him. Or that
is, what it took What it took, in a sense, to appease God's
anger against me was for God to get angry at Christ instead
of me. The chastisement, or the whipping, the punishment that
was necessary for God to love and be at peace with me was laid
on Christ. He took my whipping, and he broke
the rod, thank God. Write a song, Terry. He broke
the rod, thank God. The rod of God's wrath was expended
on Christ on behalf of His people. And the grace of God is only
in Christ. The grace of God. Religion says
God has opened a great big wide door of grace, you know, like
a big sack of wheat and just throw it out there, you know.
There it is, whoever makes the most of it. Don't get in, you
know. Throw it out there, anybody and
all who want to have it. Accept it or reject it. Use it
or abuse it. Trot it under your foot. I don't
care. Whoever makes it, I'll sure be grateful. Isn't that
the definition of God's grace today? Now the Scripture says,
Ephesians 2, 8, By grace are you saved. Not an attemptment. Are you saved through faith and
not even in yourselves. That's grace. Faith? Everybody making a work out of
faith, aren't they? It's the gift of God. Grace is
not a gift offered. It's a gift bestowed. There's
a difference. Grace is not a gift offered.
It's a gift bestowed. Learn that. You'll learn the
gospel. Now, it is true. that God's grace
is great and why He has a great wide storehouse of grace. He has a great storehouse of
grace, doesn't He, Gary? Oh, it's wide. His mercies, His
graces are as high above the earth as the heavens are. His
mercy and His grace is no end of it. I said that wrong, didn't
I? There will be an end of it. But
it's so vast. But He doesn't give it to everybody
and all. Does He? Who's He give it to? God's got this great storehouse
of grace, okay? And He's going to let it out.
Listen to me now. He said, I will be merciful,
didn't He? In Exodus 33. I will be gracious. He's going to let it out. He's
going to show some sons of Adam some mercy, some grace. Who's
He going to give it to? Joseph's in stop charge. You
remember that story? The sons of Jacob, they wanted
some corn, and it was in Egypt, and there's only one person who
had it. Joseph. Joseph's in charge of this storehouse.
Jesus Christ is in charge of all the grace of God. He giveth
it to whomsoever will. No! Whomsoever He wills. Right? See, why are you so dogmatic
about that? Because that's the way it is.
That's the way she is. And I like it that way. You see,
I was headed down the road, didn't want any part of it. Weren't
you? Some of you? I was headed down
the road, didn't want any part of God's grace, didn't know there
was any such thing, didn't care. So thank God He, in mercy and
in grace, stopped me. and said, You're going to care.
You're going to want it, and I'm going to give it. And he
keeps giving. He giveth more grace, the scripture
says. Nancy, I still act at times like
I don't want it nor care, but thank God he cares and says,
I'm going to give more grace. He needs it. Jesus Christ is in charge of
the storehouse. He's sovereign. We call it Sovereign
grace, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so must grace reign
unto righteousness by the Lord Jesus Christ." Before we get
that term, sovereign grace, all the blessings of God come through
faith. Now, listen, we won't have any
service tonight. This is it. I've got two barrels
loaded. I've already shot one. All the
blessings of God come through the faith of Christ. You say, you mean
in, don't you? For your faith in Christ? No,
I say it exactly the way I mean it. All the blessings of God
come through the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said it in Galatians and
Ephesians. He said it several times, so it's not a misplacement.
The faith of Christ. You see, faith in Christ is merely
saying, all the faith in Christ says is that it's the faith of
Christ that saves me. Now listen to that. I couldn't
put it any more clearly to you, any more simply. All that faith
in Christ says is that it's the faith of Christ that saved me.
His faithfulness. Not my works, His works. Right? Not my faith to God, His faith
to God, imputed to my sin. Not my morality, His morality. Even my death won't satisfy God's
justice, because His did. Who He is, He's in charge. You've
got to start there, don't you, Joe Parks? What faith in Christ,
faith of Christ says, is that Christ is in charge. If you don't
receive Christ as your Savior, and then later on make Him Lord,
that's the most blasphemous thing I've ever heard. Every time the
word Lord and Savior, every time the title Lord and Savior is
mentioned, it's mentioned in that order. Every time the two
words are mentioned, they mention that one, Lord and Savior. You've got to come to the point
first where you see who He is. He's in charge. He doesn't have
to save me. It's in His hands. Why do we
insist upon that? Because that's the way it is.
And you see what He did. Faith sees what He did. He paid
in full all the debts owed to God Almighty by now. So faith
doesn't come to Christ and believe Him, and then you try to get
to God with what you do from there on out. No. It keeps to
whom coming. I'd say it keeps coming. And
faith sees where He is. Faith sees who He is. He's in
charge. He's Lord. Not just over thunder
and lightning. He's Lord over salvation. And what He did, He paid the
debt. Why did Christ die? He didn't pay a penalty. It's
either He die or I do. And what he did accomplished
it. Didn't try, he did it. Paid in full. Justified. And
where he is now, faith sees where he is now. He's on the throne.
He ever lives to make intercession for me. He's able. What was imputed
to Abraham for righteousness? He said he just believed God. Believed what? That he was able.
Abraham believed that what God had promised, he was able. Now
God says, I put my Son on my right hand. He's the surety of
the everlasting covenant, and everything's ordered and all
things are sure. He's the mediator. He is your surety. He is your intercessor. He is
your substitute. I receive and love Him and everybody
that comes by Him. Are you saved, buddy? Is there
a surety at the right hand of God? Yes, there is. I'm saved. because there's a man in glory.
This man's going to get there. Not because of, Lord, Lord, I've
done it. No, sir. You mentioned the words,
I in heaven, you are gone. You know, you mentioned your
name. When you get to heaven, you're
gone. You're out of here. That's a smell of God. You know,
your name, your person, it stinks to God. It's a self-righteous
wrath. I did this. I did that. Get him
out of here. God's going to say, But if you
come in there saying, Christ! Christ! Christ is my righteousness! Come
on in. Come on in, well beloved. And
it's narrow. And I'll quit. You've got to
go through the only way. Christ. He's the gate you've
got to go through. You want to be loved by God,
accepted by God, saved by God, know God, be with God? You've
got to go through Christ. He's the only gate and He's the
way to God. It's a narrow way. It's a narrow way. Do you know,
and boy I hesitated before I wrote this down, before I say it, it
sounds, well it may not meet your ear well at first. But did you know that God Almighty
is very narrow-minded when it comes to this same salvation? You know what? God is very narrow-minded when
it comes to this same salvation. And so are His people. Man says, well, the way I see
it is that... And God says, no, it is not the
way you see it. It is not the way you see it.
It is the way God says it. Well, I think it's this way.
God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways
are not my ways. You see, and our brother quoted
in his prayer, there is a way that seems right to a man. And
they're the most ridiculous thing, any way and every way. But there's
a way that seems right unto man. But what did he say about that
way? The end is death. Destruction. Here's man's way,
self-righteousness. Just do the best you can, live
right, you know, live according to the Ten Commandments, you'll
get there. God says, no way. Christ is the way. He says, the
end of the law for righteousness is everyone that believes. You're
not going to get there by your righteousness. You're going to
have to get there through him giving you his. Man's way says
it's a way of self-help. God loves those that help themselves. No way, God said it. God helps
the helpless. God helps those who can't help
themselves. That's why Christ becomes that
sinner's strength, strong tower, Savior. That's the reason He
took the name of ErdoÄŸan. If you can save yourself, you
get that title, don't you? Now, there's only one that bears
that name, Savior. The way of pride is man's way,
pride. You believe in yourself. That's
the way religion is headed today, a broad road. wide-gathered beliefs
of self-dignity and of self-worth. God says His way is a way of
humility. And even His Son had to trod
that way. The mind of Christ said, Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ. The Son of God,
equal with God, took on Himself the form of the Son and humbled
Himself. He didn't have to humble himself,
but did. You have to. You better do it. The way to God
through Christ is narrow. You know, it's so narrow. It's so narrow that you've got
to take your clothes off to get in. I remember going through
Kentucky. It has mammoth caves. fast, many
miles of underground cave. And so in some of those passageways,
if you weighed much more than me, 150 pounds, you're not going
through there. And even I, as little as I am,
I almost had, if I'd have been wearing a big heavy coat or jacket
or something, I couldn't have gotten through that. I'd squeeze
through. Now I'm not saying in heaven
you're just going to barely squeeze in by the skin of your teeth.
Now you're going to get there by the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what I'm saying is, you've
got to take your clothes off. Forget it. You've got to come
naked before God. You've got to take that old stinking,
smelly robe of righteousness that you've weaved for yourself.
It's got holes all in it. It's like batting a hospital
garment. You've got to take it off. Like behind Bartimaeus,
when you're coming to Christ, you've got to throw away that
blanket, that security blanket of your morality and religion
and everything you've had all of your life and say, I don't
need this. This is no good. It's narrow, you see. It's only
in the righteousness of Christ, the blood, the morality of Christ. Not my morality, His morality.
Not my religion, His religion. Take that robe off. I'm so proud
of it. I worked so hard. Look at my
Sunday School pin. Take them off, buddy, or you're
not going in. Right? It's so narrow, you've got to
remove your clothing. And you know it's so narrow? that once
you go in, you can't turn around and go back? You can't turn around in this
way. You can't. And Peter said it,
that when he came to Christ, and that's the reason he said,
to whom coming? Keep coming. Peter said, Lord, when the Lord
said, you're going to go, we can't. To whom? Where are we going to go? We
can't turn around. We put our hands to the plow. Christ said, forsake all and
follow me. And you know it's so, this is true, there's a gate
over in Jerusalem that leads through a wall there. I don't
know where it is exactly, but I've read this many times. But
it says it's so narrow that you practice that, remove your clothing
again, but you know it's low, Tim. It's real low. You've got to get down and crawl through. You've got to get out
on your knees. You've got to get low. You've got to get way
down. You've got to get in the dust.
If you're going to get through that gate, you've got to be on
your face. Kiss the son of the Scripture
saint. Where? Up on the cheek? That's what religions do. Oh,
Jesus, Jesus, be my buddy. You don't buddy-buddy with Christ. You're a dog and he's the Lord.
What does a dog do? Kiss you on the face? If he does,
you'll kick him in the gut. A dog licks the feet. Then it's
down where a dog's supposed to be and crawls through. You say,
that's so degrading. That's what we are. Degraded. That's where we need to be. But
once through the gate, here's the good news of it all. We're
a dog on this side of the gate, but once through the gate, we
stand upright. Son of God. Put on a white robe. A brilliant countenance. God says,
walk on in now. Walk on in. We parade down through
heaven's streets. Not up front, but in the back. He's trained. He's trained. That's His people.
Build the temple. And Christ said, now I want you
to turn to Luke 13, and I want to read this in closing. Luke
13. Read this in closing. Christ
said, there's few that find it. Oh, we're not trying to exclude by
the gospel we preach and the way we preach it. We're not trying
to exclude anybody from salvation. We're just trying to say, all
I'm trying to say in preaching this message and all the Lord
is saying is that salvation is of the Lord. If anybody's going
to be saved, the Lord's going to have to do it and He's going
to get all the glory for it. And don't anybody ever mistake
that. And few there be that find this
way, all right? One reason is because they're
not looking for it. Another is because it's not given
to them. That's just the Scriptures. The Lord says it's not given
to them. He's had mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He
what? Pardon them. It's the Lord. Let Him do what
He will with His own. What will you say? What are you
going to say about that old man? He's God. Well, but if you're looking for
God by Christ, it's because God chose you. That's
good. You'd have never looked, Lord,
it's not that I didn't choose thee, but Lord, that could not
be. Lord, if you had not chosen me, I would have never have chosen
thee. And like Spurgeon said, if he hadn't, he had to do it
before the world began, because if he had waited until after
I was born, he sure wouldn't have done it then. Waited to see what I was going
to be. He wouldn't have chosen me then. He did it before the
foundation of the world. Luke 13, just read these verses
with me in closing. Verses 24 through the end. Strive
to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master
of the house, that's Christ, is risen up, that's when he comes
again, and has shut to the door, that's the door of mercy. It's
going to be closed someday. And you begin to stand without
it, and to knock at the door, realizing you missed it. Say, Lord, Lord, open unto us,
and he shall not answer and say unto you, he shall say unto you,
I know you not which you are. You know, even Proverbs 1 says
it's going to last. But he's going to laugh, mock. That's what men are doing to
him now. Why shouldn't he laugh? He who
laughs, laughs, laughs best, laughs. That's God. Now look what he says here. He
says, I tell you, I know you not which you are. Depart from
me, all you workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets. in the kingdom of God, and you
yourselves trust that, and they shall come from the east, and
from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall
sit there, from New York, from California, from Florida, from
Rocky Mount, and sit in the kingdom of God. And behold, there are
last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be
last." People going to see, you know, that the way between hell
and heaven is transparent? People in hell are going to see
what's going on in heaven. That's partly what's going to make it
hell to them. See what they missed out on. See what they rejected. See people that stood right beside
them, that sat on the same pew with them. See their family.
See their husbands. See their wives. See their children. See
their parents in heaven and them thrust down. Weeping, I found
death. Why didn't I listen to that man?
That's what Barnard called a worm that dies not, a memory. Son,
remember. And I'm going to give you a spring
to remember it by. It's a two-way, it's a one-way
mirror though. You're not going to be able to
see that. You'll see him. and I'm going to see mama, and
I'm going to see anybody, and I'm going to see him. You're going
to be happy if you continue in the faith in Christ. With all my heart, enter in at the straight gate. All right, stand with me.