Would you turn back to Matthew
7? While you're turning there tonight,
I'm going to be preaching on the unsearchable riches of Christ
from Ephesians chapter 3. Now, the two verses of scripture
that I just read are known as one of the hard sayings of Christ. Let's read them again. The Lord
says, enter ye in at the straight gate, the narrow, the constricted
gate. For wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction. That means hell. Hell. There is a place called hell. They're people in hell right
now. And they've taken this wide gate
and this broad way. And many there be which go in
there at the majority. Could so many people be wrong?
Yes. Yes. Because straight, constricted is the gate, and narrow is the
way which leadeth unto life, and few, not many, but few, there
be that find it. I have entitled this message,
The Straight Gate and The Narrow Way. I want to introduce this message
by saying this, I want to be saved. I know I can't save myself. I can't do anything to contribute
to my salvation, but I want to be saved. And I'm talking about
what the Bible means by salvation. I don't want to presume upon
this thing. I want the Lord to save me. And I want you to be
saved. I want the Lord to save you.
I think of Paul's prayer in Romans chapter 10, verse one. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. I want you to be saved. And you
know what? Christ came to save. That was his purpose in coming.
He said, I didn't come to condemn the world, but that the world
through me might be saved. That was his purpose in coming.
We're already condemned. He came to save. I love that
passage in John chapter five, where he was speaking to some
people that were not saved. And he says to them, these things
say unto you that you might be saved. The Bible is written,
so men might be saved. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. And let me also say
this, if me or you are not saved, We didn't want to be saved. Nobody wants to go to hell. I
realize that. But if I'm not saved, it's because I did not
want to be saved. You see, anybody who wants to
be saved will be saved. Now, let me repeat that. Anyone
who wants to be saved, saved by Christ, saved in a way that
gives God all the glory, They will be saved. And if you and
I are not saved, we really didn't want to be saved. Now, I want
you to notice in our text the word many and the word few. I said this is one of what is
called the hard sayings of Christ, but let's read it together once
again. Verse 13, enter ye in at the
straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, perdition, condemnation, damnation, hell,
and many there be which go in there. Now that's the words of
the Lord. That's not the words of some kind of cult leader.
That's the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many there be that
go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the
way which leads unto life and few there be that find it. In the days of Noah, there were I suppose hundreds
of millions of people living on the earth, 2000 years to reach
that population from the time of Adam and Eve. In the days
of Noah, a lot of people. How many people upon the earth
were saved according to the scriptures? Eight. Eight. What about when the Lord came
to Abraham? and told him, I'm going to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham in Genesis chapter
18 says, now wait a minute, Lord. And he said this reverently,
but what if there's 50 righteous men there? Will you spare it
for 50 men? The Lord said, I'll spare it for 50. And he kept
going. What if there's only 40? I'll spare it for 40. Well, what
if there's only 30? I'll spare it for 30. What if
there's only 20? I'll spare it for 20. What if
there's 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, that great
city? If there's 10 believers there, 10 righteous men we spare,
I'll spare it for 10. And you know what happened. David said, hath the godly man
ceased from the earth? David was saying, are there any
believers? What about Isaiah? Who hath believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Paul said to the church at Philippi,
I have no man like mine, not one. who will naturally care
for your state, for all seek their own and not the things
that are Christ Jesus. He said to Timothy at my first
answer, no man stood with me. I pray God that it will not be
laid to their charge. In Luke chapter 13, verses 23
and 24, a man asked the Lord this question. Are there few to be saved? And the Lord answered, strive
to enter in. You strive. Whether there's few
or many, you strive to enter in the straight gate. And then
he said, because many shall seek to enter in. Many shall seek
to enter in and shall not be able. Now, the fact of the matter
is that there are just a few to be saved. Now, those are the
words of the Lord. They're not my words. These are the words
of the Lord. There are few to be saved. Many are on the broad road. Now, while I want to be saved
and I want you to be saved, It always troubles me when someone
who professes to be saved tries to make the gate wider than the
Lord makes it. And to make the way broader than
the Lord makes it. I suppose they think they're
more merciful than God is. I suppose that they don't want
to be thought as judgmental narrow-minded people, and they want to, under
the guise of mercy and charity, make the way broader. But you
know, that's really not right. That's against the Word of God,
trying to make the way broader than God has made it. I remember talking to Brother
David Pleasure at one point, and we were talking about this
thing, about the narrowness of the way. And I remember he made
a statement that I'll never forget. He said, as narrow as we, he
said, no matter how narrow we make it, we don't make as narrow
as the Lord does. In his word. Straight is the gate and narrow
is the way. Now the Lord begins this hard
saying with a glorious saying, enter ye in. He didn't say stay
out. He didn't say make yourself better.
He doesn't say straighten up your life and give up your sin
and then enter in the gate. It's a command right now just
as we are. Enter ye in. He doesn't give
us two choices. You've got the broad gate or
the straight gate, make your choice. No, he says enter in
the straight gate. I'm glad the Lord doesn't give us anything
to be confused about. There's only one way to come into his
presence. Enter ye in. The spirit and the bride say
come. Let him that hear us say come, whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely. Enter in. This is the gospel
message. Not stay out, not straighten
yourself up, not become better. No, enter in right now. Don't wait for anything to happen.
Don't wait till you understand more. Don't wait till you change.
Right now, the command to everybody in this room is enter in. at
the straight gate. Somebody says, does that mean
me? Well, the scripture says God commands all men everywhere
to repent. So I reckon it does mean me,
and I reckon it does mean you. Enter ye in at the straight gate. Now, notice he warns us of the
wide gate and the broad way. which has so many lanes. We're talking about a super highway
that has thousands of lanes. A very wide gate that's not at
all difficult to enter. And he warns us, wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many,
many there be which go in there. Now the reason this gate is so
wide and this road is so broad is because there are so many
ways to hell. There's a lane for the moralist and there's a lane for
the immoral, the flagrantly immoral. There is a lane for the atheist. There is a lane for the agnostic
and there's a lane for the theist, the person who believes in God. There is a lane for the drunkard
and there's a lane for the teetotaler. You can get to hell both ways.
There is a lane for the Calvinist. There's a lane for the Arminian.
There's a lane for the Protestant. There's a lane for the Catholic.
There's a lane for the Baptist. There's a lane for the Buddhist.
There's a lane for those who are in apathy and indifference,
and there's a lane for those who are in the hotbed of religious
fervor and zeal. You can be a left-wing Democrat
and go to hell, and you can be a right-wing Republican and go
to hell. You can be an intellectual, you
can be an infidel, you can go to hell speaking in tongues,
you can go to hell witnessing, you can go to hell reading the
Bible and praying. You can go to hell religious
or irreligious, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, middle class, happy, sad, optimistic, pessimistic,
manic or depressed, many. Not a few, many are on this broad
way that leads to destruction. Many there be that go in there
at. I repeat this question, can so
many be wrong? How many people are in a religious
service this morning in Lexington, Kentucky? Many. Many. Can so many be wrong? Yes. Yes. Verse 14. Straight, narrow, Constricted
is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. I love the way he says this.
This is really not life. Life will be after the resurrection. Oh, we'll know something about
life then. This is sort of life, but it's not life the way life
will be then. this narrow way that leads to
life. Now, there are very few who enter
this gate and walk this narrow and lonely road. And I don't
want to paint the pie in the sky picture. The narrow way is
fraught with difficulties and troubles. This narrow way is fraught with
difficulties and troubles. It's not easy. It's not convenient. It'll bring trouble into your
life. The Lord said, I came not to bring peace, but to cause
division. I've come to set a man of variance against his father,
the mother against her mother-in-law, and so on. You're familiar with
that passage of scripture. This will bring division in homes
and in families. On this road, we're called upon
to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, the confession of
Christ, and follow Him. But this is the road headed to
a place called life. No sin, no sorrow, no pain, no
night, no tears, no separation, no conflict, a place of indescribable
bliss and joy in the presence of Christ, seeing His face and
being perfectly conformed to His image. Now the Lord warns us, I've quoted
this once, of those who will seek to enter and not be able. Lord, are there few to be saved?
You strive. Whether there's many or few,
you don't need to worry about that. You strive to enter in
the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, shall
seek to enter and not be able. Now, don't leave that. Many will seek to enter and will
not be able. Now, what prevented these people
from not being able to enter? Is it because they were too sinful?
Is it because they were just too wicked and the Lord said
no? Do you know nobody is ever denied admission because they're
too bad? Because they're too sinful. because
they've just committed too many sins. Same sin over and over
and over and over and over again. Well, you're not coming in. It's
not your sin. Now listen to me. It's not your
sin. It's not your sins that'll prevent
you from entering this narrow straight gate. It is your righteousness, your
goodness. That is the only thing that will
prevent you from entering in this narrow gate. And listen to this statement. May the Lord speak to my heart
and your heart from this statement. I'm not going to say anything
more important than this. This gate is so narrow that the
only way you can get through it is if all you have is Christ. And let me repeat that. This
is always true. True right now. It'll be true
on Judgment Day. The only way that you or I can
get through this straight and narrow gate is if all we have
is Christ. If you have anything else, you
won't be able to get through the gate. Now, let's search our
own hearts. What do you have that'll get
you through this gate? All I have is Christ. Not Christ and anything I do. Not Christ and some evidence
in my life. All I have is Jesus Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. And nothing else. We'll put a
man through this narrow gate. Now, let's consider the narrow
way. We have this straight gate, this
constricted gate. The only way you can get through
this gate is if all you have right now is the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, if you have
anything else that you can add to that, you're not getting through
the gate. Better pack light. Better pack light. All you can
have is Christ. I want you to think of this narrow,
narrow lane. The other lane is broad, big,
many taking that direction, but narrow is the way that leads
to life. The Lord said in John chapter
14 verse 6, I am the way. I love that. He's so glorious. He didn't say, I'll show you
the way, or I'll lead you along the way, or I'll port you in
that direction. He said, I'm it. I am the way. No man cometh to the Father,
but by me. He is the way that excludes every
other way. I am the way. There is no other way. And the
only way I can get to the Father is if I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ
so that when He comes into the Father's presence, I do too. Everything else is excluded. This is the only way into the
Father's presence. The gospel in its very nature
is inclusive. It brings people into heaven,
into glory, into the Father's presence, who otherwise would
have been damned. It's very inclusive. Oh, but
it's so exclusive. There is no other way into the
Father's presence than Christ Himself. This way is called the way of
God. Not the way of men. Not the way
of the way my church believes. Not the way of denominational
distinctives. It's the way of God. Not the
way of men. There's a way that seemeth right
to a man. The end thereof are the ways
to destruction. This is not that way that seems
right. This is the way of God. And it's called in 2 Peter 2,
the right way. This way, this near way. It's the right way. You know
what that means? That means all of the ways are wrong. They're
just wrong. You believe that? They're just
wrong. And it's called, several times
in the Scripture, the way of righteousness. This straight
way. It's the way of righteousness.
Now what this is talking about is the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ being my personal righteousness before God. There's only one righteousness.
David said in Psalm 71, 16, I made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. Now this way is the way of righteousness,
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who are to my charge shall I? I have his righteousness. Now what does that mean to you?
To have his righteousness. Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness.
Do you know anything about that? You don't want to have anything
to do with your own righteousness. You know what it is. It's filthy
rags. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith. This way is the only way of righteousness. You know, I hear people talk
about, he's a good Christian man, he's a good Christian woman.
Tommy rot. Tommy rot. That's ridiculous. If you're a Christian, you know
you're bad. The only righteousness you have is the righteousness
of Christ. You really believe that? The way of righteousness. It's called in the scriptures,
the way of peace. The way of peace. Now, this piece
he's talking about is based on something. You know, a cow feels
a sense of peace before it gets slaughtered. It's not worried.
That's not the kind of peace we're talking about. We're talking
about a well-grounded peace. And the only well-grounded peace
is the peace of justification. Being justified. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now, let me remind you, I hope
I remind you of this every time I preach. If you're justified
before God, you've never sinned. You've never sinned. You've always
done that which pleased God and you've never sinned. That's what
justification is. And that's the only thing that
gives any sinner any real peace. This is the way of peace. The
way of justification. I love what the Lord said regarding
that publican in the temple who beat on his breast, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And Christ said, I say unto you,
that man went down to his house justified rather than the other. This is the way of peace. Now, if you get any peace from
anything about you, you're on the broad road that leads to
destruction. This is called the way of life.
Acts chapter two, the way of life. And This goes along with the way
of righteousness, the way of peace, and the way of justification.
My life before God is not the events that took place between
September 9th, 1959 and the day of my death. My life before God
is the life of Jesus Christ. That's my personal life. That's
my personal righteousness. And somebody says, how can you
say something like that? Well, just as truly as he took my sin
and it became his, he became guilty of it and God killed him.
The soul that sins should surely die. Just as my sin became his
sin, his righteousness becomes my personal righteousness. How could that be? Well, it's
something God does. With God, nothing shall be impossible. He's called in Hebrews 9, 8,
the way into the holiest, the way into the holiest. Now in
the Old Testament, how many people could come into the holy of holies?
One, the great high priest, Me or you try to come waltzing in,
what'd happen? We'd be put to death quick, sent to hell. One. It's no different today. There's
only one admitted into God's presence, the Holy of Holies. That is the Lord Jesus Christ
and all in him. All in him. You see, he's the
one that brings me to the father. I don't come beside him or behind
him. I come in him, in him. There is no other way. And I love this description of
the way he's called the new and living way. Now that word do,
I suppose most of you know, it means freshly slaughtered. You know, the blood of Christ
is always new. It's always poignant and powerful
to the Father. Now, the reason I need it to
be new is because I have new sins of today. My sin is ever before me. But
the blood of Christ is always new before the Father, and there's
always cleansing in His precious blood. He's called in Peter,
the way of truth. Any other way is a lie. Any other
way is deceit. Any other way is not true. The
way of truth. And he's called in Acts 24, 14,
I love what Paul says, after the way, which they call heresy. So worship I. the God of my fathers. Now somebody hears what I'm saying
and they say, you telling me that all you have to have is
Christ? What about your changed life? What about your good works? Why what you're saying is heresy. Call it what you want. It's the
only way of worship. So worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things that are written. In closing, let me say these
things about that one, the few that enter into this straight
gate. The Lord said, except your righteousness
exceed, surpass, be superior to the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who enter in this gate
enter in because of righteousness. perfect righteousness that far
surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. I
thank thee, God, that I'm not as other men are. I'm not an
extortioner. I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not like this pathetic publican. I give tithes of all that I possess. I fast twice a week. You better
have something better than that. And then the Lord said, except
a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven. To enter this gate, you're going
to have to be born from above. It's impossible for the natural
man. You're going to have to be born from above. And then
the Lord said in Matthew chapter seven, verse 21, not everyone
that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven.
Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
preached in your name? In your name, have we not cast
out demons? And in your name, have we not done many wonderful
works? Oh, they had a hot opinion of
their works, didn't they? But what did the Lord say? Depart
from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew you." You see, the
only ones that enter this straight gate are the ones who actually
do the will of the Father. Now, somebody says, well, I've
done all these things. That's not doing the will of
the Father. That's nothing but whitewashed hypocritical sins. There's nothing,
all the stuff you claim. The will of the Father is for
you to believe the Son and trust Him only to bring you through
that gate. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He hath sent, period. The Lord said to a group in Luke
chapter 13, He said, there's some people that told Him about
about some people who Pilate put to death. They were given their sacrifice
and Pilate killed them while he's doing it and their blood
was mingled with the blood of their sacrifice. And the Lord
said, do you suppose that these people were more wicked than
everybody else because the Lord did something to them? I tell
you nay, except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. And what
about that tower in Siloam that fell down and killed 18 people? You reckon the Lord uses this
current event? He says, do you reckon these
people were more wicked than others that the Lord did this
to them? No, you're just as bad, and except you repent. Now, what's
this thing of repentance? You change your mind about God,
you change your mind about yourself, you change your mind about salvation.
It's not like you thought it was, is it? except you repent
and you shall all likewise perish. A change of mind. Those who enter
this gate have had their mind changed about God, about how
he saves, about themselves. And then in Matthew chapter 18,
the disciples were arguing which one of them would be the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. The Lord took a little child,
And he set that child in their midst. And he said, except you
be converted and becomes little children, you don't need to worry
about who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom. You won't even
be there. Except a man humble himself. The way into this gate
is through humility. If there's anything me and you
ought to be, it's humble. Enter in. Now I want to take away every
qualification you think you might have because you don't have it.
You don't have it. But if all you have is Christ,
is that you? Is that you? If all you have
is Christ, you enter in. May God make it so. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
by his spirit that you will be pleased in your amazing grace
to enable and cause each person here, even right now, to enter
in at the straight gate. God blessed
son. In his name we pray. Amen. We're
going to have a baptism now. Jennifer Onyose is going to confess
Christ and believers baptism. And she, she'd asked me, and
I think this is, this is important to think about this. She'd asked
about, um, When she was first baptized, she didn't really think
she understood the gospel. And, well, if that's the case,
you weren't baptized in the first place, is what that means. Baptism
is for believers. Believers. If you were baptized
and didn't believe the gospel, you never were baptized. You
might have gone through the ritual of going under the water and
coming back up because it seemed to be the thing to be done, but
that's not baptism. Only believers are baptized. And the issue of baptism is what
is the gospel? And do I believe the gospel? That's the only issue. What is
the gospel? You get that settled. What is
the gospel? Well, it's Christ is all. Well,
when you were baptized, did you believe that is your only hope?
Then you were baptized. If you didn't really believe
the gospel, never heard the gospel, then you weren't baptized. It
was some kind of religious ceremony and ritual. And you can do that
a thousand times. I don't want to do any good,
but I love baptism. It pictures the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every time I see someone baptized,
I want to be baptized. Okay, Kim Lee is in closing here.