All right, Matthew chapter seven,
the title of the lesson this morning, the straight gate and
the narrow way. Matthew seven, verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction
and many there be which go in there at because straight is
the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few
there be that find it. Now, this morning, I want us
to look at three points from these these verses. I want us
to look at the straight gate in the narrow way. I want us
to look at the wide gate in the broad way. And I want us to look
at the people in those two ways, the few and the many. The Lord
makes it clear here, there are two ways to leave this earth
and go into eternity. There's the straight gate, the
narrow way. and there is the wide and the
broad way. So first, let's look at this straight gate and the
narrow way. And we talk about the straight
gate, the narrow way. That does not mean that the gate
is too small for you to enter into. You don't have to worry
about that. The straight gate does not mean that the gate is
closed to you, that you cannot enter. This gate is open to any
sinner who will come to Christ. The narrow way does not mean
that there's not enough room for you. No, there's plenty of
room for sinners. The straight and the narrow way
does not mean that the way is hidden to me. This way, this
the straight gate is declared all through God's word. All of
God's word is written to reveal this straight gate and the narrow
way is preached here three times a week. You can know it if you
want. You find it if you want to. The
straight and narrow way means a restricted way. It's restricted. It is restricted to Christ alone. It's restricted to faith in Christ
alone. The root word for this word straight
means an appointed way or covenant way. This way is God's appointed
way of salvation. Salvation is restricted to being
in Christ alone. All of God's covenant of grace
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you would have it, go
to him because it's all, it's restricted to only being in the
Lord Jesus Christ. God will only accept sinners
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's appointed covenant
way of salvation. It's restricted to being in Christ.
And this also means a confined way. Salvation is confined. to Christ alone. It's confined
to faith in Christ alone. The root word for this word narrow
means a rut, like a wheel rut. You know how those old covered
wagons going west would create wheel ruts. Those wooden wheels
would create wheel ruts in the road. And once you're down in
that rut, you can't turn to the right or the left. It's a narrow
way. You can only Go forward. You can't look to the left or
the right, you can only look to Christ. You can't go to the left
or right, you can only go towards Christ. The way of salvation
is so narrow, it's so pinpoint narrow that it is restricted
to Christ alone. You can't look anywhere else
and be saved other than to Christ alone. Because if you're looking
somewhere else, you're out of the rut, aren't you? If you go
off on a tangent, You turn to the left or turn to the right,
you won't be saved because you're out of the right. You won't be
in the straight and the narrow way. So this narrow way, the
straight gate leaves plenty of room for sinners to enter into
eternal life as long as you come naked, as long as you come with
nothing. Don't bring anything that you've
done with you. If you bring that baggage of
what you've done, you won't fit through the straight gate. But
if you come bringing nothing, if you come pleading nothing
but Christ, you come hoping for nothing but Christ, there'll
be plenty of room for you and you will be saved. This straight,
narrow way is exactly as wide as Christ and it is exactly as
narrow as Christ. This straight, narrow way won't
allow for anything other than Christ alone. Now you come to
Christ. You come in Him and you'll have
eternal life. Look at John chapter 10. Christ
is the way. You know, you wonder where is
this way? How do I get in this way? Where
do I find this way? Well, Christ is the way. He is
the way. He is the gate. He is the door
into everlasting life. And there's just one. It's so
narrow. It's so restricted. There's just one way. John 10
verse 7, Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, I am the door of the sheep, I am the gate, I am
the straight gate. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door, I am the straight gate. By me, if any man enter
in, he shall be saved. And he'll go in and out and find
pasture. Look over a few pages of John
14. John chapter 14. And verse six. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way I am the narrow way. I am the truth. I'm the life.
No man cometh unto the father, but by me, the only way to come
to the father. is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's restricted to Christ alone. Look over Ephesians chapter 4. This way, this gate is so narrow,
it's so restricted, there's just one. There's just one way of
salvation. Ephesians 4 verse 6. Ephesians 4 verse 4, starting
verse 4. There's one body. and one spirit, even as you're
called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. See, there's just one. There's
one hope of salvation. There's one calling of God's
grace. There's one baptism. There's
one confession of faith. Our confession is this. It's
all in Christ. He is one. It's restricted to
Christ alone. Look at 1 John 5. 1 John 5. There's one gospel that declares
this one way. John 5 verse 10. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his son. And this is the record. This
is the message that God has given to us eternal life. And this
life is in his son. It's all in his son. It's only
in his son. He that hath the son hath life,
and he that hath not the son of God hath not life. There's
just one way of life. There's one. It's restricted
to being in Christ alone. So Christ is the way. And Christ
the way excludes all other ways. This thing is so narrow, Christ
excludes all other ways. Christ the hope excludes all
other hopes. It's Christ alone. Salvation
is not Christ plus anything. It's not Christ plus what we
do. It's not Christ being good moral people. Salvation is Christ
alone without any of our works being added to it. None whatsoever. None. None. None. Now, if you think that means,
well, then it doesn't matter how I live. It doesn't matter
what I do. Then you don't know Christ and you're just looking
for an excuse to sin. That's all that is. It's looking
for an excuse to sin and you're not in the narrow way. And this
straight gate In this narrow way, it's all Christ. And this is a glorious thing.
This is a glorious truth. This is not something that we
preach in a manner to tell people you can't come in, that you're
not allowed in. This is not a mean, cold, hard
doctrine. It is a glorious doctrine. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace is the only gospel, the only message of inclusion.
It's the only one. It's the only message that declares
how a sinner can be saved, how a sinner can come into God's
presence. And the blessings of this way, the blessings that
are found in Christ the way are described with by many different
glorious words all throughout the scripture. I mean, we won't
turn to all these. There's too many of them. I'll
just read them to you. In Matthew 3, verse 3, this way is called
the way of the Lord. This is God's way of salvation. Christ is the way that God saves
sinners. In Matthew 21, verse 32, this
way is called the way of righteousness. This is the way sinners can be
made righteous, and it's in Christ. It's in His obedience, not ours.
It's all in Him. In Luke 1, verse 79, this way
is called the way of peace. This is the way of peace of heart. This is the only way we can have
peace of heart is to have peace with God. This is the way to
have peace with God. The only way, it's in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the blood of his cross. In Acts 16, verse
17, this way is called the way of salvation. Christ is the way
of salvation. There's salvation in no other
name, in no other person. It's so narrow. It's so constricted
that it's in Christ alone. He's the only way of salvation. Then in Acts 24, verse 14, the
apostle Paul calls this way, the way which they call heresy,
the way which those who are in the broad way, they call this
way heresy. And most of the world is in the
wide, broad way. And they will call the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace heresy, because it denies man's
free will. It denies them their rights,
and they call it heresy. And most people of the world
would agree with that, with that message. And you know that doesn't
move me at all. It doesn't move me one whit.
I agree with the Apostle Paul, the way which they call heresy,
that's how I worship God. It's the way. Often in scriptures,
people call the gospel the way they call people who believe
Christ, those of that way of the way. That's what Saul of
Tarsus called it. He said he's I intended to go
down, persecute people of that way, of the way the gospel is
the message. It's the only message that declares
the way of salvation. It's the only message that declares
the way God can forgive sin. It's the only message that declares
the way how dead sinners can have life. It's the way, the
message. First Corinthians 12 verse 31
calls this way a more excellent way. Oh, this is an excellent
way. There is nothing more excellent.
There's nothing more glorious than salvation for sinners that's
found in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who could have
ever thought such a thing? except God himself. It's an excellent
way. Hebrews 9 verse 8 calls this
way the way into the holiest of all. Not only is Christ the
only way we can be made holy, the way sinful men and women
like you and me can enter into the holiest of all into the presence
of God himself is in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you come in
Christ, you're accepted in the holiest of all. Hebrews 10 verse
20 calls this a new and a living way. Now, you know, that means
a freshly slaughtered way. And this is what that means.
That the blood of Christ is always fresh and powerful. It's never
lost. The blood of Christ has never
lost its saving, cleansing power. And that is the saving, the cleansing
salvation that I need because I sin constantly. I'm thankful
this is the new and living way. Peter in 2 Peter 2 verse 2 called
this way, the way of truth. This gospel that we preach, the
gospel of Christ is the only true gospel and every other message
is a lie. I have no qualms in saying that
whatsoever. This message, the message of Christ is the only
true gospel and every other message is a lie. This is the only gospel
that declares Christ is God's truth. The only way God can accept
the likes of us is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way sinners
like us can be forgiven in truth, made truly righteous, is in Christ. This is the true way. And Peter,
in 2 Peter 2, verse 15, called this way the right way. It's right. It's the only right,
true way of salvation. It's just right for God to save
sinners this way because it enables him to be both just and justifier. It's the only right way God can
do anything. See, there's one way of salvation
and it's a glorious way. All the just look at all the
different words scripture uses to describe it. Salvation is
by grace alone. This is a gracious way. It's
through faith alone. It's in Christ alone. It's narrow,
isn't it? And the end of this way is narrow,
too. It's just got one result. Eternal
life. It's spiritual life. It's a life
of bliss. Being made just like Christ.
Being with Christ forever. It's the only destination of
this way. And this is something I wish I could tell you how wonderful
I see this is. The Lord of glory tells us about
the straight gate in this narrow way. He says, I'm in. And here
he is preaching these people, sinful people, just like you
and me. And he looks at them and he tells them, enter in. Enter in. Enter. Come to Christ
right now, believing he's all you need. Enter. The Lord didn't
say, here's this straight gate, you can't come in. He said, here's
a straight gate, now you enter. You enter. Don't try to make
yourself better before you come. If you do, you're trying to add
something to Christ. You're trying to make yourself
more savable by what you do. Don't do that. If you do that,
you won't fit in the straight gate. Because you've got some
baggage. You won't fit. Come just as you
are, with all of your sin, with all of your need, pleading Christ
alone, and you'll fit. Come, he said. The Savior himself
said, come. Right now, I mean right now,
don't wait till you know more. You know, if I'm going to enter
this straight gate in this narrow way, I'm going to want to know,
how is that gate constructed? And how do I know that I can
enter into it? And how is this narrow way made?
How do I know I'm not going to get bogged down? Don't wait till
you know more. Do you know you're a sinner?
Do you know Christ is your only hope? income. You don't wait
till you know more. If you wait till you know more,
you're trying to add your knowledge to Christ and adding something
to Christ to make it where you can't fit in this narrow way.
Just come as you are right now. If there's anybody here, here
in this room listening to this on, on, uh, once they can't say
on taping work on recording, let me ask you a question. Those
of you who do not believe who have not yet come, I got a question
for you. What's stopping you? What's stopping you? What's stopping
you from coming to Christ? What's stopping you from entering
this straight gate? What's stopping you from entering
this narrow way? The Savior said, come, why haven't
you? If you'll think with me for one second, you'll know why
you haven't come. It's not your sin, is it? No, it can't be your
sin. Christ is the Savior of sinners.
He said, I came to save my people from their sin. It's not your
sin stopping you from coming to Christ, is it? It's not your
sin that's making it where you can't fit in this straight gate.
It's your righteousness. It's your goodness. It's your
pride, thinking, I can do something to make this situation a little
better before I come to Christ. That's what's stopping you from
coming to Christ. And the Savior says, leave all that behind and
come empty. Come naked. and you'll fit and
you'll have eternal life. That's the promise of the Savior
himself. Can you think of anything more
overwhelmingly glorious than that? That the Savior tells sinners,
come and you'll have life. Just come empty, come naked and
you'll have life. That's the straight gate and
the narrow way. Well, here's the second thing,
the wide gate. and the Broadway. Now the wide
gate and the Broadway, it makes room for anything. Anything. Isn't that our day? Isn't it? Everything. Everything's
okay except truth. Everything in our day is okay
except for grace. Everything. I don't care what
it is. Everything's okay in our day except for right and wrong.
That's the wide gate and the broad way. The wide gate and
the broad way makes room for Christ plus anything. Matter of fact, it encourages
it. It encourages it. It tells you, you'll be better
if you have Christ plus something that you've done. And I want
to tell you, Christ plus our works, Christ plus our decision,
Christ plus our baptism, Christ plus our faith, Christ plus our
knowledge, Christ plus our morality, Christ plus all that stuff will
fit just fine in this wide gate, in this broad way. There's plenty
of room for you, plenty of room. If that's what you want, there's
plenty of room for you. And you'll find plenty of company there
too. But the Lord says that way is damning. There's no salvation
for your soul there because that way says Either I don't need
Christ at all, or I need Christ plus something I can do. Christ
needs me to help him make myself better. It's a daily way. And you'll find plenty of company
there. Plenty. You won't be lonely in
that way. The broad way. What are the things that we could
do to say we're in the broad way? Well, the broad way is saying,
you know, we're all going to the same place. We're just taking
different routes to get there. That's the broad way. You're
saying, well, now I know people who are good people. They believe
free will, but they're good people. They're Catholics. They're Hindus.
They're Buddhists. They don't care nothing about
the Lord, but they're all going to heaven, and God loves them
all the same anyway. That's the broad way, making room for anything. And God hates that way, because
that makes God a liar. God said there's no salvation
there. But us saying, oh, you know, there are good people there.
That's the broad way. It makes God a liar. And in that
broad way, you'll find no resistance whatsoever. None whatsoever. Because everything's OK there.
They don't care what you do. Everything's OK. Just go along
with the crowd. It's all OK. You know, part of
the meaning of this word narrow, the narrow way, means to afflict. and to suffer tribulation. Well,
you will, I promise you, you will suffer tribulation, affliction
in the narrow way, I promise you will. You'll suffer it from
the flesh. You'll suffer it from your flesh, constantly afflicting
you, telling you, oh, you can do more, you can do things to
improve yourself in God's eyes. You'll find affliction from your
own flesh. The old man's gonna fight against this till the day
he dies. And you'll find affliction from other flesh too. But if
you enter that wide gate and that broad way, you'll suffer
no affliction, no tribulation, because that broad way makes
room for anything. Whatever it is, if we call it
good or we call it bad, that makes room for anything except Christ alone. Oh, Christ alone won't fit in
that way. No, it won't fit in that way.
It can't be accepted in that broad way. What determines if I'm in the
narrow way or the broad way? It's Christ. It's Christ. You
can be an Armenian, or you can be a Calvinist, and you can be
in the broad way. That's right. You can be a moral or an immoral
person, and you'll fit just fine in the broad way. You can be
a liberal, or you can be a conservative, and you'll be just fine in the
broad way. Those things do not determine
whether we're in the narrow way or the broad way. The only thing
that's not accepted in that broad way is Christ alone. Christ alone. Error can get along
with all other kinds of error, but it can't get along with truth.
All that determines whether I'm in the broad way or the narrow
way is whether or not I'm in Christ. He is the distinguishing
Savior. And the Word of God describes
this broad way too. Peter said in 2 Peter 2 verse
5, this broad way, he called it the way of Balaam. The broad
way is the way of idolatry. And idolatry is not just bound
down to a stone statue or ceramic statue or whatever. The way of
idolatry is anything other than Christ alone. You can make an
idol out of your doctrine. You can make an idol out of your
good works. I mean, you can be a fine, upstanding person, and
be an idolater because idolatry is trusting anything other than
Christ alone. Jude in verse 11 calls this broad
way the way of Cain. It's the way of the flesh. It's
the way that all flesh loves. Let me bring my good works before
God. It's the way that all flesh loves.
And the end of that way, our Lord says, is destruction. The
word is damnation. The end of that way is damnation,
because in this broad way, there's no atonement for sin. There's
no covering for sin. It's the way of self. And self,
flesh, can't produce anything but more sin. So there's no salvation
there. There's only damnation. All right,
here's the third thing then. The people that are in these
two ways, the narrow way and the broad way. The few and the
many. Now there are two classes of
people. The Lord makes this this distinction so clear, two classes
of people, the few and the many. Well, who are the few? Well,
the few, these are people who have entered, right? So the few
are people who've been born again. What did our Lord tell Nicodemus?
Unless you've been born again, you cannot enter. You cannot
see the kingdom of God. You must be born again. The few
are people who've been born again. And the many are the opposite
of that. They're the people who have not
been born again. They're the people who are still in this
flesh. And they're in the broad way,
aren't they? They haven't entered this narrow way. The apostle
Paul said, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither
does corruption inherit incorruption. Those who are in the flesh, those
who have not been born again, they cannot enter. They cannot. That's the few and
the many. And many, many find this wide
and broad way. Many find it. They find it because
it's easy. It's natural for the flesh to
find it and to stay in it. The flesh loves this way. And
people in this wide gate, in this broad way, they say, look,
there's so many of us. Many are here. Many are here. All of us can't be wrong. Look
at all these people. All of us can't be wrong. Oh,
yes, they can. Oh, yes, they can. A man told
me one time about a ministry somewhere. He said, look how
many people are there. They can't all be wrong. Yeah, they can.
Yeah. Huge crowds and big followings. are normally assigned, something's
wrong with the doctrine. Something's wrong with the doctrine
being preached there. Many are in this, many are in
this wide way, this broad way. But our Lord says few, few find
the straight gate. Few find the narrow way. Few. Scripture calls those who at
any given moment on the face of the earth that know the Lord
are a remnant. God's people, God's elect people
are a remnant, just a few. A remnant is the scraps that's
left over, isn't it? That's a remnant. Just a few. And I don't know, maybe it's
always been this way, but it seems so prevalent in our day
that people in the broad way, they want to make allowances
for everything in our day, not just spiritually but naturally
speaking, you're just not allowed to say right and wrong. I mean,
you're just not allowed to call wrong, wrong. You're not allowed
to call sin, sin. If you do, you're being a narrow-minded,
closed-minded bigot if you call right, right and wrong, wrong.
And people take that prevailing whims of our society and apply
it spiritually. And I understand what they're
doing. I understand. They make allowances for people
in false religion and say, no, they're not lost. They're such
great people. They're safe, too. And I understand
what they're trying to do. They don't want to be narrow-minded.
They want to be gracious and accepting. And we ought not want
to be narrow-minded in a sense that we're a bigot, we're a judgmental people. We don't want
to be narrow-minded that way. But you can't apply that to the
few. to the narrow way, to the straight
gate. We ought to be awful careful here. God says few, few there
be that find it. And we want to say many. Are we more gracious than God?
That's trying to be more gracious than God. And I tell you what,
this is just my advice. Rather than try to figure out
who's the saved and who's the lost, I was talking to Dear friend
of mine, yesterday we're talking, you know, and we say, you know,
this is not our business to look at this person and say, well,
you know, they're saved and they're lost, you know, because that's
not our business. Don't try to figure out, oh,
now this person's in the narrow way and this person's in the
broad way. We're not the judge of that.
Don't try to figure that out. Let's be concerned with one fellow,
myself. Am I following Christ? Am I looking
to Christ? Am I trusting Christ alone? If we'll do that, we'll find
ourselves in the straight and narrow way and we'll have life
in all of it. Oh, glory bless that to you.