Well, that's a hymn we sing quite
often, and I don't know of a hymn that has better words than that. Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 7? I've entitled this message, The
Straight Gate and The Wide Gate. The Lord says once again in verse
13 of Matthew chapter 7, Enter ye in at the straight gate. And the picture is a gate that
is so narrow that you have to strain to get through it. You
can't carry anything with you. For wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in
there at. How 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 and a wide gate. A gate is a door, a means of
entrance. And this straight gate opens
up to a very narrow way with just few people on it. And it
leads to life. And then we read of a wide gate,
a very wide door that opens up to a very broad, expansive road,
lanes and lanes, too wide to measure. And many people. These
are the Lord's words. He talks about few on the one
and many on the other. And this road leads to destruction. That's a horrible thing to think
about. Destruction, the loss of wellbeing, not the loss of
being, but the loss of wellbeing and something that I think is
very important for us to notice. The Lord does not present us
with a choice. I'm thankful for that. He doesn't
say, here's the wide and here's the narrow, take your pick. Nothing
of the kind. He gives us a command. Enter
ye in at the straight gate. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 13. Verse 23, then said one unto him, Lord,
are there few that be saved? And how many times have you asked
that question to yourself? Are there just few to be saved?
It doesn't seem like there are many people who believe the gospel
of God's grace. A lot of religious people, a
lot of religion going on. But are there just a few to be
saved? I've asked myself that question.
You have to. Are there few to be saved? And
I love the way the Lord answers him. He says, you strive. Don't worry about whether there's
many or few. This has to do with you. You
strive. Don't worry about anybody else.
You strive. to enter in at that straight
gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter and shall not be able. So you strive, you make
this the business of your life to strive, to agonize, to enter
in at this straight gate. Now I got a question. Why is
the gate The wide gate, the gate of life so narrow. And why is
the gate of destruction so broad? Because we're given these two
pictures. One, a very narrow gate that you have to strive
and agonize to get through. It's so narrow, you can't even
carry anything with you. You got to come in just without anything.
And the other, you have this big wide gate that leads to destruction. Now, why is this gate to destruction
so broad? I've got an answer to that question.
The gate to destruction is so wide because there are so many
ways to hell. So many. You can go the way of
strict morality, or you can go into degraded, debauched transgression. You can go as an atheist, as
an agnostic, or as a strong believer in the existence of God. You
can go as an Arminian, or you can go as a Calvinist. You can
go as a drunkard, or you can go as a teetotaler. You can go
to hell in apathy and indifference, or in the hotbed of religious
fervor and zeal. You can go to hell as a conservative,
you can go to hell as a liberal. You can go to hell as a Republican,
and you can go to hell as a Democrat. You can go to hell as an intellectual,
or as an infant held, or you can go to hell with a full knowledge
of the Greek and Hebrew, or you can go to hell speaking in tongues.
There are so many ways to hell. Wide is the gate and broad is
the way. There's plenty of room, easy
access to this way. And if you're on this way, you're
in with the majority. And you know, some people feel
a lot more comfortable with the majority. Most of the people of the earth
are on this road, the Baptist and the Buddhist. join hand in
hand on this road. The vast majority of the populations
here, I think, Protestant, Catholic, religious and irreligious, educated
and uneducated, rich and poor, the great middle class, happy
people, sad people, people who always see the glass half full
and people who always see the glass half empty, pessimistic
people, optimistic people, manic people, depressed people, many
people on this broad road that leads to destruction. And I've
said, this destruction is not the loss of being, but it is
the loss of wellbeing. What all hell means, I don't
know, but I don't want to know. And I know it's a place I do
not want to go. And I dare say that the majority
on the road that leads to destruction have no idea that they're going
in that direction. Not even a clue. I thought of
people maybe on a party boat on the Niagara River, not knowing
what's ahead. Having a good time, enjoying
themselves, but having no idea as to what lies ahead. And then we have a narrow gate. We've talked about this wide
gate, but we also are given a picture of a narrow gate and the reason
it's so narrow is that there's only one way to heaven. And there
are a lot of ways to hell, but there is only one way to heaven.
I was so blessed in thinking whoever wrote that song that
Ann just sung, they believe exactly what I believe. This is all my
hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my
righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. While there are
many ways to hell, there's only one way to heaven and it's a
narrow way. And when you open up that door, you only see a
few people. The Lord said that these are
the Lord's words, not mine. A few people, the definite minority,
but all of them, without exception, are headed to a place called
life. A place where there's no sin,
where there's no sorrow, no pain, no night, no separation, no tears,
no conflict, a place of indescribable bliss prepared by Jesus Christ
himself for his own glory. Having the presence of Christ,
seeing his face and being perfectly conformed to his image. And does
that sound attractive or what? The narrow way and the Broadway. Now I love this command the Lord
gives. The Lord says, enter ye in. Well, I'm so thankful for that. He tells me, enter ye in. He doesn't tell stay away. He
doesn't say make a choice. He gives me a command. Enter
ye in at the straight gate. Now Christ commands everybody
in here and here's your right to go through this gate. He commands
you to. You enter in at this straight
gate. Now to enter in is to go from
one place to another. It's to leave one place and enter
another. It's to leave the world and enter
Christ. And in Christ, I'm so thankful
you read that passage of scripture from Philippians chapter three,
because I quote this verse of scripture all the time and I
love it. Oh, that I may win Christ and be found. I want to be found
in Him, not having my own righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with that, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
by faith. Now what that means is when God sees me, all I want
Him to see is Jesus Christ. Now I'm preaching the gospel
to you. I'm preaching, I'm telling the truth. This is a gospel message,
but I don't want him to see this gospel message. I don't want
him to see me preaching it. I just want to be seen in Christ. That's
the only ambition I have. I want to serve him with all
my heart and soul. I want to be an out-and-out follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I don't want him to see me in
that. I want him to see me in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only way I want to be seen. Now, if there was a helicopter
passing over this building, what would they see? They'd see the
building. They wouldn't see us in the building.
They'd see the building. They'd be up there. All they'd
see is the building. And all I want God to see is Jesus Christ. He is the way to the Father. Now, there are very strict entrance
requirements getting through this narrow gate. First, to enter
this door, you must first be empty-handed. You can't get through
if you have anything. Norma Johnson, bless her heart,
when she was leaving this morning, she said, I know what that script
bag was for. And I said, what? She said, people want to carry
their good works in them to show you. And I thought, yeah, I wish I would
have said that. I wish I would have told her
that. I wish I would have said that.
And I said, when I preach that, I'm going to preach that on TV tomorrow, and I'm
going to say that. Thank you. Thank you. I say that all the time.
People tell me things, and I think, I wish I would have said that.
But at any rate, To get through this door, you can't carry any,
that's how narrow it is. You can't bring anything with
you. If you try to bring anything with you, you can't get through
the door. You've got to come through naked.
That's the only way you can get through this door. If you carry
anything with you, you can't get in. I must come as an empty
handed sinner with no personal merit and no personal righteousness. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. Now this is a welcome to every
sinner and to keep out to everybody else. I want you to think about
that. This is a welcome. Come on in. You're welcome. and to keep out
to anybody who tries to come any other way. Isn't it a blessing? Now, sin is an evil thing. I
would to God that I don't want to sin. I don't want to sin against
him. I want to honor him. May God make it our purpose to
never sin again. That's how grievous sin is. But I don't come to Christ as
one who's trying to not sin anymore. I come to Christ as nothing but
a sinner. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. That's the only way you can get
through this door. You try to come any other way, you won't
make it. Now in this door, you can be
too big to get through, but you can't be too small to get through.
Isn't that wonderful? In Matthew chapter five, verse
20, the Lord said, except your righteousness shall exceed, surpass,
be better than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. Now here's
the entrance requirements to get through this door. I must
have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. where his righteousness
really is my righteousness before God. Lynn and I were talking
this afternoon and I was talking about how heaven's not ours by
entitlement, but by right. And she was saying, I just, you
know, that almost seemed, I believe that, but it almost seems presumptuous
to say it. And I understand, I feel that
too. I feel that too. Nevertheless, heaven is mine
by right, not by entitlement. but by right, because I have
the rightness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I,
oh, I, we come into his righteousness.
He is the way. John chapter three, verse five
says, except a man be born of water in the spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven. I must be born of water. and of the spirit to get in.
Now, being born of water doesn't mean water baptism. You know,
Paul spoke in Ephesians 5 of the washing of water by the word.
Talk about the word and the spirit. uses the Word of God, the truth,
the Gospel, and the Spirit of God, and those come together
to birth us and to give us a new nature, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives
and abides forever. For me to get in Through this
door, I'm going to have to be born of God. And then in Matthew chapter seven,
verse 21, the Lord said, not everyone that sayeth to me, Lord,
Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Remember, that's what
we're talking about entering the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth. He that doeth the will of my
father, which is in heaven, not he that knows what God's will
is. Not even that knows the right
answers to give, but that one who actually do it. He actually
practices. He does the will of God. He doesn't try to do it. He doesn't
do it partially. He does it. Now, what is this
thing of doing the will of God? I know exactly what it is. It's
believing the gospel. You know, 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 demons? You know, when the Lord sent out the 12 that
we looked at this morning, Judas was one of them. Judas went out,
Judas was preaching. Judas was performing miracles.
Judas was doing all those things, but he never did the will of
God. He never believed on Christ.
That's who does the will of God. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on Him
should have eternal life. That's what the Lord said. Now,
if I don't actually rely on Jesus Christ, and that's what faith
is, it's an actual reliance on Jesus Christ as my personal righteousness
before God, and I'm doing that right now. I'm relying on Him.
He that doeth the will, if I don't do the will of God, I will not
enter the kingdom of heaven. And then in Matthew chapter 18,
verse three, the Lord said to his disciples, they were having
a argument or discussion over who's going to be the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Who's going to be in the higher position. I talked to a guy, uh, a couple
of nights ago in the store. I was sitting there with him
and we were both waiting for... Our wives, they were trying on
clothes and we were sitting in that thing and he said, this
is boring, isn't it? I said, yeah, but we got to have a talk. And he's
from the Church of Christ and he told me he preached something.
I thought, oh, okay. And he said, you know, he said,
I just brought a message on rewards and I showed how there are rewards
in heaven and there will be people sobbing, you know, when they
lost out on the rewards and so on. Well, uh, he would be one
of these people can, you know, arguing or who's going to be
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And the Lord said, except you be
converted and become as little children, you don't need to worry
about being greatest. You won't even be there except
you be converted and become as little children. You shall not
enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself. as this little child shall be
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Oh, may God give me grace to
always humble myself before him and before everybody else for
that matter, and to take the lowest seat in the house, knowing
that's not what I ought to do, but it's the only place I belong. May God give me grace to never
go past that. You know, Christ himself is the
door. He said, I am the door. I am the door by me. If any man shall enter in. He
shall be saved and we enter in only by Christ. You don't even
get through this door. He's the door. He himself is
the door. And entering in, he said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. I love thinking of this. You know,
when he ascended back to the Father, you know who went right
there with him? Everybody he died for. And we
come into the Father's presence by him. not alongside of him,
not behind him, but by him. So that if I'm in him, when he
comes into the father's presence, I do too. He calls himself the
straight gate that opens up to this narrow way. Now I got a
question for you, a straight gate in a very narrow way. What
would you rather have? A bridge that is so wide that
it's got room for everybody to get on it, but it only goes halfway
across the water, the river. It's what Brother Mahan called
an Armenian bridge. Or would you rather have a narrow
way that gets you all the way across? Now that's the Lord. He's the straight gate and the
narrow way. Now we've seen how Christ himself
is the way to God. If I'm in him, I'm there. When
he comes to the father, I do too. Now let's think, we're thinking
about Christ being the way of entrance. Now let's think of
him being the way itself. This way is called in Acts 16,
17, the way of salvation. Now there really is such a thing
as salvation. And I know what salvation is.
It's salvation from sin. You know, I was talking about
those folks on that party boat going down the Niagara River
not knowing what was going to befall them, but they were going
to be destroyed. What if a great hand reached and stopped it and
pulled it out and put it back online? Those people would be
saved, wouldn't they? They'd be saved. Now, I'm saved. Christ is the way of salvation
from sin. My greatest enemy is my sin. But Christ is the way of salvation
from sin in every respect. He saves me from the condemnation
of sin. I'm never going to have to pay
that penalty. I'm never going to have to be condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He saves
me from the power of sin. And that part used to always
bother me a lot because I thought, well, if he saved me from the
power of sin, it seems like sin's got a lot of power in me. It seems like
it's got a whole lot of power. Well, there was a time when I
didn't see that. That's when it had complete power
over me. It had complete dominion over me at that time. But, oh,
there was a time when I had no love for Jesus Christ. And as
God is my witness, I adore his person now. There was a time
when I didn't even know what it meant to believe. I'd try,
but I believe now. There was a time when repentance
was a mystery to me, but I'm in a continual state of repentance
now. Why? Because I've been saved
from sin, the power of sin. And one of these days, I'll be so saved that I won't
even remember what it's like to be a sinner. I'll have no consciousness of
sin. And yet I'll be humble and lowly
and I'll know even at that time that the only reason I'm there
is because of Jesus Christ. I'm going to see his wounds and
the only evidence of my personal sin are his wounds. I'll see his scars and I'll know
that's why I'm here, but I won't remember anything about being
a sin. You see, he, he is the way of salvation. He's called
in second Peter two 21, the way of righteousness. The only way
I can be righteous is this way. Don't you know that? So. The
only way I can be righteous is this way, is if he is all my
righteousness. And his righteousness is the
only righteousness there is. I'm saying truly, that's more
thrilling to me now than it's ever been. It doesn't get old, does it?
Doesn't get worn out. He is righteous. He is the way
of righteousness. And he's called in Luke 1 79,
the way of peace, the way of peace. Now what is peace? Peace
is a harmonious relationship. God is at peace with me. He's satisfied with me. He looks
at me and says, I'm pleased. I feel nothing but peace because
Christ is the way of righteousness because of, you know, righteousness
equals peace, peace with God. God's at peace with me. I'm at
peace with God. I'm at peace with my brethren.
They're my brethren. And I'm at peace with the world
in this sense, you can have it. You can have it. The reason people
fight and argue so much is because they want something. I want this.
I want that. I want this part of the world.
I want that part. You can have it. Take it. I'm like old Mephibosheth. When David came and said, well,
you've lost everything. And Mephibosheth said, that's
OK as long as the king is here. That's all I care about. Peace. Peace. Peace with God. Peace
with His people. And in 1 Peter 2, verse 2, this
is called, he is called the way of truth. Now, what I'm telling
you right now is the truth. It's just the truth. Jesus Christ
is the way. He said, I am the way. I am the
truth. I am the truth. Not, I'll tell
you the truth. I'm it. I am the life, not I'll
give you life. I'm it. My life is your life
before God. That's the truth. That's the
truth. And this is the way of truth.
Anything contrary to it is a lie. It's not true. I love what he's
called in Hebrews chapter 10, the new and the living way. And that word new, I brought
this out before in Hebrews chapter 10 means literally freshly slaughtered. Men die. Many of us have lost loved ones
recently. Very painful. Lost parents, lost
spouses. Men die. I'm gonna die, you're
gonna die. And as raw and painful as it
is when people die, our loved ones die, as time goes on, we
can deal with it better. And one of these days, I mean,
I think, I hope, I think that if I died, I think everybody
in here would be mourning over it, be troubled, be sad. But you know, in just a few years,
no one would even remember who I was in all the world. Nobody. I mean, I would be, nobody would
even think of me. Nobody would remember me. Todd,
somebody just died a long time ago. He lived and died. So our
death, you see what death does. I mean, one of these didn't,
in not too long, if the Lord doesn't tarry, I will be a completely
forgotten person. But you know the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ is always freshly slaughtered. It's always so poignant to the
Father. His death, His blood is always
so poignant to us. His precious blood, freshly slaughtered. I love what Martin Luther said,
I preach as though Christ died yesterday, rose today, and is
coming tomorrow. It's always new. It's always
powerful. He calls it in the new and the
living way. He doesn't present some dead
sacrifice. He presents himself as alive
from the dead. He was dead, and now he's alive
forevermore. having the keys of hell and death. He's called the new and living
way. And he's also called, I like this, in Acts 24, 14, Paul said,
the way which they call heresy, this way of Christ that I've
been talking about, the way which they call heresy, so worship
I. This is the way of worship. The
only way I truly worship God is through this way. after the
way which they call heresy, so worship by the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets. Now, let's end up with thinking
about this command of our Lord. This is a command. And beloved,
if he commands you, that gives you your right to do it. You
don't need to worry about whether or not you're one of the elect.
You don't need to worry about whether or not Christ died for
you. You don't need to worry about whether or not you've been
born again. He command you enter ye in come and welcome enter
ye in. at the straight gate, come to
Christ, believe on Christ, and they that have believed, the
writer to the Hebrews says, do enter into rest. Now going into this gate, I enter
into rest. And you know, I'm right now,
I'm resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. not trying to work something
up, not trying to do anything. I am resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They which have believed do enter
into rest. Now, straight is the great and narrow
is the way that leads to life. Few there be that find it. Broad
is the way and wide is the road that leads to destruction. Many
take that route, but you, Enter in at the straight gate. Believe. This is God's command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's what God commands you
to do. Enter in. Let's pray.