that I did choose. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neibert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Neibert. I'm reading from Matthew chapter
7. I'd like to read the 13th and
14th verses. The Lord Jesus 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 that go in
thereat. because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it." And the Lord paints us a picture, a straight
gate, which means very narrow, and a wide gate. A gate is a door, a means of
entrance. Now this straight gate opens
up to a very narrow way with just a few people on it and it
leads to a place called life. But the wide gate opens up to
a very broad, expansive road, lanes and lanes, and many people
are walking down this road, and this road leads to destruction,
which is not the loss of being, but the loss of all well-being. The Savior is referring to that
place called hell. Now, do not fail to notice that
when the Lord says this, he's not presenting us with a choice.
Here's a wide gate and here's a narrow gate. Take your pick. No, he gives a commandment. Enter
ye in at the straight gate. Not make a choice, but enter
in. This is the commandment of the
Lord Jesus Christ to you and I. One time, We read in Luke
chapter 13 verse 23, then said one unto him, Lord, are there
few that be saved? Are there just a few that be
saved? And he said unto them, strive, you strive to enter in
at the straight gate. You don't need to worry about
whether there's a lot or whether there's few. Your responsibility
is to enter in, to strive to enter in that straight gate. Now I've got a question. Why? Is the gate to life so narrow? And why is the gate to destruction
so wide? We have a very narrow gate and
a very wide gate. Why is that? Well, I can answer
that question. The gate to destruction is so
wide because there are so many different ways to hell. You can
go the way of strict morality, or debauched, degraded sin. You can go as an atheist, an
agnostic, or be a strong believer in the existence of God. You
can go as an Arminian or a Calvinist. You can go as a drunkard or a
teetotaler. You can go to hell in apathy
and indifference or in the hotbed of religious fervor and zeal. You can go as a conservative
or a liberal. You can go to hell as a Republican
or a Democrat. You can go to hell as an intellectual
or an infidel. You can go to hell with a full
knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew. And you can go to hell speaking
in tongues. There are many different ways to hell. And our Lord gives
this warning, wide is the gate. and broad is the way that leads
to destruction. There's plenty of room. There's
easy access to this way. And if you go this way, you're
with the majority. Most of the peoples of the earth
are on this broad road that leads to destruction. The Baptist and
the Buddhist join hand in hand. The vast majority of the population
is here, the many. Protestants, Catholics, religious
and irreligious, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, and
the great middle class. You have happy people and sad
people, pessimistic people and optimistic people, people who
always see the glass half full and people who always see the
glass half empty. Many people on this broad road,
manic and depressed, and it leads to a place called destruction. Now deep down, everybody knows
there is a place called hell, a place where God meets out absolute
strict justice, where sin is punished. Hell is not a place
of reform. Hell is a place of absolute punishment
where God will punish the wicked deep down. Everybody knows that's
so. There is a wide gate and a broad
way that leads to destruction, the loss of all well-being. And I don't want to go to hell,
and I don't want you to go to hell, but our Lord warns of this
place where the great majority are headed, this place called
destruction. And then we read of a narrow
gate. Very narrow. You have to strive,
agonize to enter in. Very narrow. Now, why is this
gate so narrow when the other one is so wide? I can answer
that question. While there are many ways to
hell, there's only one way to heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ. Open up the door and you'll see
a very narrow way. Christ himself is the narrow
way and there are only a few people on this road. It's definitely
the minority. But all of these people on this
narrow road who enter in this straight gate are headed to a
place called life. There's a place of destruction
and there's a place called life. A place where there's no sin. where there's no sorrow, where
there's no pain, where there's no night, where there's no separation,
there's no loss, there's no conflict, a place of indescribable bliss. prepared by Christ Himself and
having the presence of Christ and seeing His face and being
perfectly conformed to His image. It's the place known as Heaven. Now here we have the picture.
There's a wide gate and a broad road with a big crowd in it,
headed to destruction. And there is a very narrow gate. And if you open up to a narrow
way with just a few people on it, and it is headed to a place
called life. Now, the Lord gives a command. He says, enter ye in at the straight
gate. Come in. Enter in. He's not telling
you to go away, He's telling you and He's telling me to enter
in at the straight gate. Now to enter through a gate or
door is to go from one place to another. When I enter the
gate, I leave the world and I go into the Lord Jesus Christ where
He is my dwelling place. The Apostle Paul put it this
way in Philippians chapter 3 verses 8 and 9, Oh that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. When God comes looking for me,
I want to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ so that all that
God sees is Jesus Christ. Now this sermon that I'm preaching,
this is a good sermon. It's the truth. It's the truth
of the gospel. But I don't want God to see me
preaching a good sermon. I want God to see me only in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only place of safety.
You see, even in my preaching of this good sermon, I preached
it. That makes it subject to error
just because it's me. I'm a sinful man. There could
be bad, no doubt there are bad motives and bad this and bad
that. No, I don't want to be judged for this sermon. I don't
want to be judged for the best gift, the most generous gift
I've ever given. I don't want to be judge for
the most sacrificial thing I've ever done for someone else. No,
it's all sin. If I did it, all I want to be
found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to enter through the door
and simply be found in Christ so that when God looks at me,
all He sees is Jesus Christ. Now there's not many people who
want to enter that door. Most people would like to enter
a door where they can be praised for their works and so on, but
not the believer. He's not going the wide road
that leads to destruction. He wants on that narrow road
that leads to life. Enter in. Now, there are some
very strict entrance requirements to get into this gate, this straight
gate that you got to strive to enter in and it's so narrow you
can't bring anything with you. Now here's the first entrance
requirement. Now listen to me real carefully. To enter this
gate you must be a sinner. I want to repeat that. To enter
this gate, you must be a sinner. Now, when I say you must be a
sinner, I mean you must be what the Bible means by the term sinner. A sinner is someone who all they
do is sin. They cannot not sin. They cannot
look down their nose at anybody in moral superiority, because
they know they're the chief of sinners, and they have no claim
on God's mercy or grace. They know if God passed them
by, just and holy is His name. To enter this gate, you must
first be a sinner, because the scripture says Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. of whom Paul said, I am the chief. If you're not a sinner, he didn't
come to save you. So the first entrance requirement is that
of being a sinner. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's who he died
for, the ungodly. If you're an ungodly sinner,
my dear friend, you're called upon to enter in at this straight
gate." Now, another entrance requirement, and this may seem
like it's the opposite of what I said, is perfect righteousness. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter
5 verse 20, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom
of heaven. For me to go in this door, I must have a perfect righteousness. I must be as righteous as God
himself. Now let me quote that scripture
again from Philippians 3, 8, 9. Listen to this. He said, Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God. by faith. For me to enter in, I must have
the very righteousness of God. I must be perfectly righteous.
And the only way I can be perfectly righteous is through the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He kept the law. He never sinned. He could say,
which of you can convince me of sin? He worked out a perfect
righteousness, yet he's nailed to a cross and suffers and bleeds
and dies. There's only one reason for death,
sin. Here's what took place. The sins
of all of God's elect were placed upon him. God made him to be
sin. Second Corinthians 521 says,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. For me to enter
in, I must have this perfect righteousness. Thirdly, for me
to enter in, I must be born again. I must be born from above. I
must be a sinner, I must be perfectly righteous, and I must be born
from above. John 3, 5 says, Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. I have to be born of God. Now
that being born of water and the Spirit, that being born of
water has nothing to do with water baptism. There is an entire
denomination that bases salvation coming because of water baptism
or baptism for the remission of sins and so on. Now, baptism
itself doesn't put away any sin. What baptism represents, union
with Christ, that's where sin is put away. But water baptism,
you can be baptized a thousand times, it won't do you any good
if it's just going under the water. Water is the word. That's what that refers to. Ephesians
5, 6, Christ loved the church and cleansed it with the washing
of water by the Word. It's the Word of God and the
Spirit of God. The Spirit of God takes the Word
of God and begets life. Now, if you enter this door,
it's because God gave you life. He birthed you into the kingdom
of heaven and you have been born from above, born of God, a new
man. Now, the next inference requirement
in Matthew 7, verse 21, the Lord Jesus said, Not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
For me to enter the kingdom of heaven, I must actually do the
will of God. Not just know what it is, not
just say I do it, not just to have an admiration for it, but
I must actually, literally do the will of God. Now the Lord
went on to say, many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord,
Have we not preached in your name? And in your name have we
not cast out devils? And in your name have we not
done many wonderful works? They thought they had done the
will of God. And the Lord will reply to them, depart from me,
ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Those religious actions were
not doing the will of God. Doing the will of God is really
believing the gospel. It's actually relying on the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the work of God, the
Savior said. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. I'm doing the will of God
when I trust the Lord Jesus Christ as my righteousness before God. When I really believe that my
way into heaven is through him. When he said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. I come by Him. I must actually do the will of
God. And then in Matthew 18, verse
3, the Lord said, except you be converted and become as little
children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now what
had been going on, they were having an argument over who was
going to be the greatest. Who's going to have the highest reward
in the kingdom of heaven? Who's going to have the highest position?
And you know, religious people have that debate even now. Who's
going to have the highest place in the kingdom of heaven? Who's
going to have the highest reward? And what about those people,
those Christians who didn't do anything, and they end up being
in some kind of lower place than the ones who did all these good
works? They were having an argument, and the Lord said, You don't
even need to worry about being in the Kingdom of Heaven like
that, except you be converted, except you be turned and become
as little children, you shall in no case enter the Kingdom
of Heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself
as his little child, the same is great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
You know, this arguing over the highest place, you ought to be
arguing over the lowest place. You ought to be seeking to take
the lowest seat. That's what we all ought to take. I'm amazed
by people's belief in higher rewards in heaven. Do you really
believe that anything you do deserves a higher reward? And
as far as that, do you want to be exalted above your brethren?
Would you rather have a higher place in heaven than having them
below you? Why, that's blasphemous. No, you humble yourself as a
little child. Take the lowest seat in the house,
except you be converted. and become as little children,
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Christ himself is
this straight gate. He is the door. He said, I am
the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. I come by him. I enter in. and I'm saved. He himself is
the straight gate, and he himself is the narrow way. He says only
if you're on this way. But let me give you an illustration
that I think will make you think that this is good to have a narrow
way. What if you had a very wide bridge
that had enough room for everybody in the world on it? Every human
being to ever live could fit on this bridge, but it only made
halfway across. What if you had that? He wouldn't
do anybody any good. But what if you have a very narrow,
a very narrow bridge that goes all the way to the other side?
Now that's who Christ is. He brings us all the way to the
Father. He's the straight gate and He's
the narrow way. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the way. He's not only the door of entrance.
He is the way to God. So that if you're in the way,
you're there. He himself is the way to God. He said, I am the way. He didn't
say, I'll show you the way or I'll lead you along the way.
He said, I'm it. I am the way to God. No man comes to the Father,
but by me. Now, Christ being the way, he's
called in Acts chapter 16, verse 17, the way of salvation. Now
my dear friend, there is such a thing as salvation. And understand
this regarding salvation. Salvation is salvation from sin.
My greatest enemy is my sin. It's not some human being. It's
my sin. My sin is ever before me and
what I need saved from is my sin because I can't save myself
from my sin. But Christ is the way of salvation. Salvation from sin. He saves
me from the penalty of sin because he bore my penalty for me and
I no longer have to. He saves me from the power of
sin. Now let me explain exactly what I mean by being saved from
the power of sin. There was a time when I didn't
know I was under the authority and dominion of sin, and I couldn't
get out from under it. I didn't know that. I thought
I could do things. I thought if I decided to be this way,
I could be this way. I could, of my own free will,
accept Jesus whenever I wanted, and everything's going to be
fine. When I was like that, I was under the complete dominion of
sin. I didn't know what it meant to
believe. I couldn't believe. I couldn't repent. I couldn't
love. I couldn't understand. God has given me faith. I've
been delivered from the dominion of sin. God has caused me to
come to Christ. I did something I could not do.
No man can come to me, the Lord said, except the Father which
has sent me. Draw him. I've been delivered from the
power of sin. I now believe. I now love the
Lord Jesus Christ. There was a time I didn't. And
one of these days, bless God, bless his holy name, I will be
saved from the presence of sin where I won't even Remember what
it's like to be a sinner. I won't remember what it's like
to think evil thoughts or do evil things. It won't even be
in my consciousness. And I know when I'm in heaven,
the only reason I'm there is because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although I won't remember sin, I look at his scars. the scars
that he'll still have on his glorified body, and I'll know
the only reason I'm there is Him. He's the Savior from sin. He is also called the Way of
Righteousness, 2 Peter 2.21. He is the Way of Righteousness.
Now, I must be perfectly righteous. He is my righteousness. He is
the way of righteousness. The only way you and I will ever
be righteous is if God takes the righteousness of His Son
and makes it ours. And He took our sin and made
it the sin of His Son, and His Son suffered for it, and now
because He suffered for it and paid for it and paid the debt
and was raised from the dead, everybody He suffered for are
now perfectly righteous. He is the way of righteousness. And in Luke chapter 1 verse 79,
he's called the way of peace. The way of peace. This narrow
way is the way of peace. Now the only thing that gives
me peace is knowing that all that God requires of me, I have
in Christ Jesus. The only way I have peace is
to know that all my sin, Past, present, and future has been
washed away by the blood of Christ, and I stand before God without
sin. Perfectly righteousness. Now
that is peace. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace. The peace that comes
from His righteousness being mine and joy in the Holy Ghost. Peace is harmonious relationships. God is not mad at me. He's at
peace with me. He sees me as without sin before
His holy law. And I'm at peace with God. I'm
not afraid because I have all that I need. Now, I have the
fear of God that's the beginning of wisdom, but I don't have that
slavish fear and dread of God. No, I have peace with God. Whatever
He does is right. I'm at peace with His people.
I'm not in competition with them. Peace. He is the way of peace. Now this world is fighting and
warring and striving over so many things, but the believer
has peace. You can have it. I have all in Christ Jesus. He is the way of peace. And he's
called in 1 Peter 2, or 2 Peter 2, the way of truth. This is
the truth, that I'm nothing and Jesus Christ is everything. This
is the truth. I'm a sinner, and He's the Savior.
This is the truth. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. This is the truth. Salvation
is by grace. The electing grace of the Father,
the redeeming grace of the Son, and the regenerating grace of
the Holy Spirit. That's the truth. That's the truth. You know, the
truth recommends itself. If you hear this, you know it's
true, the truth, when you hear it. Now if you don't hear it,
you might not see it that way, but if you truly hear, you hear
this is the truth. Christ Jesus is the truth. He
said, I am the way, the truth. All truth is embodied in His
person. He is the true character of God.
If you want to know who God is, look at Christ. He said, He that
has seen me has seen the Father. He is the truth. And He is called
in Hebrews chapter 10, the new and living way. He's the way
of salvation. He's the way of righteousness.
He's the way of peace. He's the way of truth. And He
is the new and living way. New means freshly slaughtered. And living means not dead, but
alive. Death. We've had many people
in our congregation have to deal with death in the last year.
People die. Now, when I die, I hope some
people will be sorrowful. I believe they will, some people
who love me. But in time, I'll be forgotten, and by the next
generation, nobody will ever remember the name of Todd Nybert.
I mean, it'll just be gone. No one will think about me. No
one will ever even know I existed. I will just be not even a memory
in Earth. While death is very harsh when
it happens, in time, people just forget it. But you know, the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ is never like that. He is freshly
slaughtered in all the poignant power of His death. His death
never gets old. It's always poignant to the Father.
It's always the only hope of the believer. It's always fresh.
It's always real. Freshly slaughtered. Martin Luther
said, I preach the gospel as though Christ died yesterday,
rose today, and is coming again tomorrow. He's the freshly slaughtered
way and He's the living way. It's not a priest presenting
a dead sacrifice. He was raised from himself. He's
the living way. He's the new and the living way. And I love what Paul said in
Acts 24.14, after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law of the prophets. He is the way of worship. Though the world considers this
heresy, this is true worship. Now the command to you is, the
command to me is, enter ye in at the straight gate. For wide
is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.
Many there be that go in thereat. But how straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that
find it. You be one that does enter in. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.