Turn back to Matthew chapter
7. Matthew chapter 7. I titled this message, The Narrow
Way. The Narrow Way. It's called narrow because it's
so restrictive. The gate is called straight because
it is a restrictive gate. You know, when it comes to the
gospel, how God saves sinners by whose righteousness we are
saved and accepted, we're narrow-minded. We can be
very narrow-minded because there's no other way. Christ is the only
way. Our Lord is drawing His Sermon on the
Mount to a conclusion. He's going to close His Sermon,
and we will not finish it all today. I'm basically going to
deal with verses 13 through 20. But he gives four solemn warnings
in the closing of his sermon here. He's going to warn us about being
conformed to this world, what's popular. It's easy to follow what's popular. We just naturally We just naturally,
by nature, are drawn to that which is popular. And our Lord warns about this,
and He warns about following the crowd. If the majority of
religion is going this way, you better turn and go this way. If the popularity of religion is going one direction,
you can be sure God's not there. You can just bank on it. The
gospel will never be popular with this world, with the false
religion of this world. It will never be popular. It
will never have the masses. It never has. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him. He'll receive everything else.
Let another man come and speak a lie, and the Lord said you'll
receive him. The natural man will not receive the things of
God. They're foolishness to him. All the popular people are on
the Broadway. All of them are. Now in these
few verses that we have before us that we're going to look at
this morning, the Lord gives us the way of salvation, the
narrow way, and he warns of the way that leads to destruction,
and he warns us against false prophets. Now he says, enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate. And broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat." Many. What is this gate that he speaks
of here? Enter ye in at the straight gate.
What is this gate? This gate that is restrictive,
this way that's narrow, is a person. This gate is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the gate. He's the one by
which we enter. He's it. He's the only way to
God. He's the narrow way. No other
way. That's what he said over in John
14. Thomas said, how can we know
the way? And our Lord said unto him, I am the way The truth and
the life. No man, no man cometh unto the
Father but by me. That's narrow, isn't it? That's
narrow. Just one way. One way. And that way is Christ. His person,
His work, it's Him. His righteousness, His blood,
it's Him. He's the way. His righteousness is the only
righteousness that saves from sin. It's the only righteousness
by which God accepts sinners. We don't have any righteousness,
not at all. Ours is all unrighteousness.
He said our righteousness are nothing but filthy rags. That's
what God says about them. See, God's standards are far
different than our standards. When God calls something good,
when He created the heavens and the earth and He said it's good,
that's a different good than what you and I call good. We
call things good that are not good. And His righteousness is the
only righteousness of which God saves sinners. And His blood
is the only blood that washes away sin. The only way sin can
be washed away is by His blood. I could weep All the tears from now until
I die. I live to be 200 years old. And
they would not wash away one sin. I could weep over one sin
forever and it would not wash it away. But the blood of Christ,
the blood of the Lamb, washes away all our sins. His blood
is the atonement for our sins. It's the atonement. Our Lord
was set up before the world was to be the mediator. There's no
other mediator. He's the only mediator between
God and men. He's the surety. He's the prophet.
He's the priest. He's the king of God's people.
God set him up. God's the Father. He's all to the Father, and He
is all to His people. He is the gate. He's the restrictive
gate. The straight gate. He's the narrow
way. He's the only way. And he says,
enter in. Enter in. How do we do that? How do we enter in this gate?
It's very simple. Simply put, trust him. Absolutely trust him. with everything that concerns
you to stand before God. Absolutely trust Him. Look over in John chapter 10. John chapter 10. In verse 7, Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, all of them. He's the only way. He's the only gate. He said all
others, no matter who he is or what way it is, it's a thief
and it's a robber. But the sheep did not hear them,
didn't listen to them, didn't follow them. He said, my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. They follow me. I am the
door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. They'll go in and out of my pasture. Do not stand and admire the gate. Oh, there were many who admired
our Lord's miracles. They were just awed by His miracles. And after they heard him, they
said, No man spake like this before. This man spake with authority.
He did not like the scribes. Never a man spake like this before.
He did many, many wonderful things. But now listen. Don't stand and
admire the gate. Enter in. Enter in. Salvation starts with Christ. Believe on Him. Look to Him.
Rest in Him. And as we live in Him, we grow in grace and knowledge
of Him. It's all about Him. It's being
joined to Him. It's a living union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's salvation. Bow to Him.
Receive Him. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power, the right to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name. Enter in. He said, enter in,
it's a straight gate. But he also speaks of another
gate here. He speaks of a wide gate. Easy. This is an easy gate to go through.
It's a non-restrictive gate. It'll take anybody. It'll take
any way. It'll take any religion. It'll
take any life. It's an easy gate to go through.
It's a wide gate. Every religion, every false religion
goes through this wide gate. Every false way can fit right
through this gate, fit right in it. And I thought about this
last night. We come into this world through
this gate. When we come into this world,
we're born into this world. They've said we've come to this
world speaking lies. We've come into this world through this
gate, this wide gate. It receives every lie, every
false religion. It receives it all. But not only
is the gate broad, the gate is wide, it's broad, but the way
is broad also. It's broad. Plenty of room. Plenty
of room no matter who or what you believe. You can travel on
this one. It'll accept anything, anything. Come one, come all
is the motto. That's the motto of it. Every
lie is on this broad way. This way is as broad as you want
it to be. It's just whatever you want it
to be. It's as broad as you want it to be. If you want to be a
Mohammedan, you can be on this broad road. If you want to be
a Buddhist or whatever, You'd fit right on this road.
You'd feel right home on this road. It accepts every religion. It accepts every life. He said
it's a broad way. It's a broad way. Solomon said
this in Proverbs 14. There is a way. There is a way
that seemeth right unto a man. But the end thereof are the ways
of death. That's on this broad way. Nowadays, we live in, they want
to ordain homosexuals into the ministry. That's on this broad
way. They'll take it. There's no self-denial
on this broad way. There's no denying self. You
can love the world. You can love the world and walk
on this broad way. It'll take that too. Broad thinking, broad morals. It just lets you,
it's like, as long as it don't hurt us, you can do it. It's
a broad way. It's a broad way. But now both these places lead
to something. These gates, narrow way, broad
way, two opposites. going in opposite directions,
but they have a destination. Now where does this Broadway
lead to? He says here, to destruction. Everyone on this road believes
somehow they're going to get to heaven, depending on their
brand of religion and how they're going to get there. They believe
they're going to get there. Job said this, they were confounded
because they had hoped. There's going to be a lot of
confounded people when life is finally over, when this is all
over with. There's going to be a lot of confounders. Lord, Lord, have
we not preached it in your name? Have we not cast out many devils?
Have we not do all this in your name? Apart from I never knew
you. A lot of confounded people on
this broad way. It leads to destruction. There's
no life on it. There's no life on this block. It's serious,
isn't it? This is solemn. This is a very serious warning
our Lord is giving His disciples to that crowd and to us. He said there's two ways. You
know, Peter said, make your calling in elections. Sure. Take things
for granted. Don't do that at all. Salvation
is a real living union with Jesus, Jesus Christ. He says here, many there be which
go in thereat. He said on over in verse 23 or
verse 22, many will say to me in that day, Many. Many there be which go
in thereat. Many stay on this broad way.
They stay on it. In spite of all the warnings,
in spite of all the preaching and all the gospel preaching,
our Lord came down from heaven and preached the gospel, preached
the truth, and they stayed on the broad way. Because it was
the popular way, and it let them be who they wanted to be. It
wouldn't let them stay just like they They wanted to stay. He said, many, listen to these
scriptures in Luke 13, 34. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto thee.
They killed God's prophets, God's messengers who brought the message,
the gospel message, the message of grace, the message of Christ.
He said, you stoned them. and you killed them and they
were sent to you. How often, how often would I have gathered
thy children together as a hen does gather her brood under wings
and you would not. You would not. You wanted to
stay on that broad way. You wanted to stay on that popular
way. And Romans 10 says, But to Israel
he saith all day long, I have stretched forth my hands unto
a disobedient and gainsame people. Leave us alone. And Isaiah 65, Therefore will
I number you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the
slaughter. Because when I called, I sent my prophets I sent my
messengers. I sent the message. I sent the
gospel. When I called, you didn't answer. When I spake, you did
not hear. You plugged up your ears. You
didn't want to hear. But you did evil before my eyes and did
choose that wherein I delight not. You chose the broad way. Now it says here in verse 14,
because straight is the gate, Restrictive is the gate. Narrow. And narrow is the way. It's difficult. This way of grace alone, Christ
alone, is difficult. It's a difficult road to travel.
Not many travel it. It's not an easy road. But now
listen. It leads to life. And few there
be that find it. Few there be that find it. Why
are there few who find the narrow way, the straight gate narrow
way? Well, first of all, let me say
this. It's not because it's hidden. It's not because it's hidden
and we can't find it. That's not the reason. Paul said, I believe it was to
Agrippa, he said, this thing was not done in a corner. Christ stood up in the crowd
at the end of that feast and cried out, if any man thirst,
let him come to me. It's not that it was hidden or
it was a secret. Not at all. The narrow gate has
been proclaimed publicly every day since the fall. Every day. The problem is not with the narrowness
of it, But with men who love darkness rather than light. That's
the problem. The problem's with the men. It's
with men and women. We love darkness rather than
light. By nature, we love that broad
way. Not that narrow way. That's the problem. Men love
every false way instead of God's way. And then here's another
reason. It must be revealed. This straight gate, this narrow
way must be revealed because we are spiritually blind by nature. We can't see it. Many, many heard Christ speak
publicly. They saw Him perform miracles,
raise the dead. Right there in front of everybody. But they still didn't see Him.
They still did not believe on Him. It has to be revealed. We're spiritually blind by nature.
Can't see the narrow gate or the straight gate in a narrow
way. It doesn't fit man's way of thinking about God and about
himself. It doesn't fit. Totally different. It's too dogmatic. It's too narrow. It's too unpopular to believe
this. It's too unpopular to believe
God is sovereign and saves whom he will. It's too unpopular to
believe that Jesus Christ died for the elect. That God chose
a number of sinners, a multitude of sinners before the world was,
gave them to Christ, and Christ died for them. He lived for them
and he died for them. He rose for them and he's sitting
at God's right hand making intercession for them. I said, that's just
a little too narrow. You're cutting out all these
other religions. Well, God cut them out. They're false ways. It's too restrictive, too unpopular
to believe Christ alone, to rest in Christ alone for salvation. That's just too narrow. And to
say that there's only one name given under heaven whereby we
must be saved, that's too narrow. For the natural man, it's too
narrow. It's not for the child of God, he's glad. He's glad,
but few there be that find that. Few there be that are glad. Few
there be that love the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, do you love me? Oh, there's only a few that do
that. I believe it was a few years
ago, Henry brought this from the pulpit, Billy Graham, saying
that he no longer believed that other religions were cut off,
that there would be Mohammedans and Buddhists who never heard
the gospel, never believed the gospel, that they'd be there
also. No, they won't. No, they won't. You'd have to read another Bible
to get there, because you sure can't get it out of this book
and be true to it. Christ is the way. His blood
is the blood of atonement. His righteousness is the righteousness
of God's kingdom. And His righteousness is the
righteousness of every one of God's children. He's the way. He's the only way.
And notice where this narrow way leads to. You see, the broad
way where many are traveling, leads to destruction. They don't
think so. This wealth religion is just
rampant nowadays. They believe that's going to
lead to a utopia. It's not. He said destruction.
But this narrow way, this restrictive gate, this narrow way, which
is difficult, It leads to life. The end of it is life. It leads
to eternal life. Listen, it leads to the life
of God in the soul. Do you want the life of God? Do
you want the life of God in you? I thought last night, I wrote
this out in big, bold letters on my note. Does anyone want
life? I know people want wealth. I know they want health. I know
they want popularity. I know what... That's why these
preachers nowadays, you watch these televangelists, and their
message is how to get rich. It's how to have more. Who wants life? It's like that's
a sad thing. That's just an additive or something. Who wants the life of God? Then enter in at the straight
gate. Enter in at the straight gate. Receive Christ as He's
revealed in the Scriptures. There's no death on this narrow
way. No death. But listen here. Oh, listen to this. Few there
be that find it. Few there be that find this life. No one naturally looks for life
and acceptance with God on such a narrow way. The few that find it, now listen,
the few that do find it have to be taken off the Broadway.
By grace, God plucks them like a brand out of the fire. Takes
them off the broad way and puts them on the narrow way. Well,
they'd never find it. They wouldn't find it. I'll tell you this, and every
believer knows this. Being able to enter that straight
gate, being on that narrow way, is all by the grace of God. Because we were glad just to
keep on going down that broad way. It's by grace. If you're on it, it's by the
grace of God. Now he gives a warning here to
his sheep against false prophets. There's going to be many false
prophets come along and try to pull you off this narrow way.
I started reading Pilgrim's Progress again last night. This kind of
made me, after I went I looked at this this past week, and then
I sat down yesterday putting these notes together. I got to
thinking of Pilgrim. I got to thinking of him traveling
on this road, and I started reading it again last night. And there's
many, many things to grab your attention, pull you off this
narrow way. Many false prophets, he said.
Many false prophets. Beware of false prophets. which
come to you, listen, in sheep's clothing. Boy, there's nothing
wrong with sheep's clothing as long as the wool's not in them.
As long as it's not a wolf dressed up in it. But beware, be warned,
the false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they're ravening wolves. John said, 1 John 4, Beloved,
believe not every spirit. Don't believe every one that
stands in a pulpit. Try the spirits whether they
are God. Because many false prophets are going out into the world
trying by the Word of God. Be well acquainted with the Word
of God and you won't fall so easily. You won't be duped so
easily. Be well acquainted with the Word
of God. Don't be fooled by Every man
that carries a Bible. Don't be fooled by every man
that carries a Bible. Don't be fooled by everyone that can speak. Don't be fooled by everyone that
uses the name Jesus Christ. Most of them, and I can say this
with confidence, most of them are lying. They use his name. They're lying on it. Don't be
fooled by those who use gospel language and gospel doctrine
that's even correct. Don't be fooled, he says. Beware of these false prophets.
Their motives are deadly. It's for gain. It's not for God's
glory. And they come to you in sheep's
clothing. They speak of righteousness. But I thought about this last
night. They speak of righteousness. Most of them speak of self-righteousness.
That's where it leads. But beware that they do not separate
that righteousness from the one who is our righteousness. We do not trust in a righteousness produced,
but in the one who produced it. There's a difference. I'm not
looking to a righteousness. I'm looking to Jesus Christ who
is my righteousness. He is the righteousness of God's
people. He is our righteousness. These people try to talk grace,
but they pervert it. They pervert it. And here's why. Because inwardly, There's no
work of grace. You can't preach grace until
you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. I mean, it's not going
to come out. It's not going to come out that
way. You may talk of grace, but you've got to taste it in
order to really truly preach it and the people receive it. Inwardly, they are ravening wolves,
devouring, devouring wolves, meat eaters, bloodthirsty. That's what they are inwardly,
flesh merchants. Paul said beware of dogs in Philippians
3. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Now evil workers, he's not talking
about here witchcraft. He's not talking about drunkenness. He's talking about people standing
in a pulpit. You know the Apostle Paul at
one time, a Pharisee, was an evil worker. He was against the
Gospel. He was on the road to Damascus
to destroy the church. He despised the Gospel, even
though he read the Word of God. He read the word of God and then
went out to destroy the church. God's people, evil workers. But
God saved him. God saved him. Every last one
of us at one time was an evil worker. Boy, when you apply it
to yourself, when you apply it to yourself, then it's, you know,
it's easy to shoot at others, isn't it? But it's tough to turn
that gun on yourself. It's tough to do that. A ravening wolf. Paul said, beware
of them. Paul said, beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, and beware of the concision, the flesh merchants. Beware of them. You shall know
them. Listen now, you shall know them
by their fruits. You'll know them. The Lord will give his people
to some, but he said, my sheep hear my voice, and a stranger
they'll not follow. You shall know them by their
fruits. He gives us an example here.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? No. No,
they don't. No. Preaching produces something
good or bad. It produces something. You know,
the Lord said, My word will not return to me void. It will accomplish
this day. It'll accomplish everything He
sent it to accomplish. But preaching, it's going to
produce something. A preacher who preaches the law,
you know what it's going to produce? A bunch of Pharisees. A bunch
of self-righteous Pharisees. If that's His ministry, all those
who sit in that ministry are going to be a bunch of Pharisees.
If He preaches health and wealth, you know what that's going to
produce? It's going to produce a bunch of people that's covetous.
More and more and more. That's what it will produce.
If he preaches grace, you know what it's going to produce? Grace and graciousness. That's what it's going to produce.
It's going to produce the fruit of the Spirit. If he preaches the gospel of
God's sovereign grace concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, It's going
to produce humble, broken sinners who love one another and love
the Lord. If he does not preach that, I
don't care if he uses the correct doctrine, if his heart is not
right, if it's a false prophet, it's going to produce a bunch
of proud, self-righteous men. You do not find grace on thorn
bushes. But there's some different directions,
and we can spend a lot of time here. But you do not find grace
on thorn bushes. Now listen, here's what, let
me say this. They're preaching these false
prophets. It does not produce converts. It does not produce converts. That's what he said. God will
not honor a liar and his lie. Even if he's using Bible doctrine,
he's not going to honor that man. He's not going to honor
that message. Arminianism, Catholicism, and
all those others. I didn't talk about Baptists,
Presbyterians, Methodists. They're not preaching the gospel. It's not going to produce sinners
saved by grace. It's not going to do it. He said
you don't Do men gather grapes of thorns? No, they don't grow
there. They don't grow there. They don't do that. A man is
lost until he hears the gospel of Christ as it's revealed in
the Scriptures and is brought to faith in Christ alone. Faith
cometh by hearing. Hearing what? Anything? Hearing
a lie? Faith comes by hearing the gospel,
the truth. About God, Christ, ourselves,
the truth that's written in this book. God saves a man, that's what
he saves him under. I heard a man on television last
night. He said, I was saved under Pentecostalism. Then he came
to learn where he's at now. Someone said to me once, when
they heard the doctrines of grace, and it's doctrine of grace, it's
only one doctrine. He said it changed my whole theology. You can't change your whole theology
and not change God's. You can't do it. You can't do it. Even so, Every good
tree bringeth forth good fruit. If it's of God, if it's a good
tree, if it's the preaching of the gospel, it will produce converts,
true converts. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth
nothing but a bunch of false professors, false religionists. Preaching that's of God, always
honors Christ as all in all in salvation, sinners will be saved. Sinners will be saved. But on the other hand, that preaching
which does not honor the Lord Jesus Christ as all in all produces
nothing but bad fruit. Now look in verse 18. I'll wind
this down. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. If the
root is good, the fruit's going to be good. If God's in it, it's
the gospel, the doctrines are of God, it's the truth, it concerns
Christ, it brings forth good fruit. He said it can't bring
forth evil fruit, and neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit. Preaching that of God will not produce bad fruit.
Now listen, if it's bad, it's not the preaching of the gospel
that did it. It was bad before it started. It was bad before
it started. A good tree can't bring forth
good fruit. I mean, if God saves a man, that
man is saved. That man is born of God. That's
good fruit. But a corrupt tree, corrupt preaching,
corrupt man, God's not going to honor that. A corrupt gospel.
Paul said they come preaching another gospel, which is not
another, but they call it the gospel. There are many who make
professions under it. He said that's not so. It's not
going to produce. It's not going to produce good
fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, and hewn down and cast into the
fire. Sooner or later, sooner or later, God's going to cut
it down. God's going to cut that tree
down. He may let it grow tall. He may let it grow for a while,
for a few years, and grow tall. Sooner or later, He's going to
cut it down. He's going to cast it into the fire. That's what
He's going to do. Wherefore, by their fruits, by the gospel they preach and
the effects of that gospel that it has upon the hearers, by their
fruit you shall know them. By their message and method,
what it produces, you shall know them. You'll know them by their fruit.
We'll pick up next week. In verse 20, 21, and we'll finish
out this lesson.