Lord will there be few saved?

Q: What does the Bible say about who will be saved?

The Bible indicates that many will seek salvation but only a remnant will be saved, as seen in Luke 13:24. In Luke 13:22-30, Jesus speaks to His disciples about the narrowness of the path to salvation, highlighting that many will seek to enter the kingdom of God but will not be able to. This aligns with the teaching found in Romans 9, where Paul affirms that though Israel was numerous, only a remnant would be saved. This stark reality emphasizes the truth that salvation is not universal but specific to those chosen by God. The implication is clear: the way to salvation is narrow and requires earnest striving, as indicated in Luke 13:24, where Jesus tells us to 'strive to enter in at the straight gate.'

Q: How do we know many won't be saved?

Scripture clearly indicates that many will seek salvation but will ultimately be turned away, as shown in Matthew 7:21-23. The reality of many seeking but not finding salvation is underscored in Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus declares that many will say to Him, 'Lord, Lord,' and yet will be denied access to the kingdom. This aligns with Luke 13:24, where Jesus warns that many will seek to enter and will not be able. The Apostle Paul also highlights this in Romans 9, explaining that the Israelites, despite their zeal for God, failed to attain righteousness because they sought it through works rather than faith. Thus, the foretelling of the final judgment serves as a solemn warning that not all who seek will find, but rather, those who genuinely believe in Christ will be part of the remnant who are saved.

Q: Why is God's grace important for salvation?

God's grace is crucial for salvation as it sovereignly chooses whom to save, as reflected in Ephesians 2:8-9. The importance of God's grace in salvation cannot be overstated. Scripture teaches us that salvation is by grace through faith, a gift from God, not the result of our works or efforts (Ephesians 2:8-9). This divine grace is sovereign, meaning God has the authority and will to choose whom He will save without obligation or condition. This truth humbles us, reinforcing the doctrine that we are saved not by anything within ourselves, but purely by God's merciful choice. Understanding this helps us to comprehend the depth of God's love and the greatness of our need for a Savior, affirming that it is Christ's righteousness, not our own, that secures our salvation.

Q: What does striving to enter the straight gate mean?

Striving to enter the straight gate means actively pursuing faith and perseverance in one's Christian walk, as taught in Luke 13:24. In Luke 13:24, when Jesus commands us to 'strive to enter in at the straight gate,' He emphasizes the diligent pursuit required in the Christian faith. This striving speaks of a battle against sin, self, and worldly distractions. It reflects the ongoing struggle for holiness and faithfulness to God, akin to Paul's exhortation in 1 Timothy 6:12 to 'fight the good fight of faith.' Striving entails not only an initial coming to Christ but also a lifelong commitment to follow Him, resist temptation, and rely on His grace. Therefore, the Christian life is characterized by this active, ongoing effort to pursue righteousness and draw closer to God.

I want to begin reading in Luke
chapter 13, verse 22. Speaking of our Lord, His disciples
were with Him, and He went through the cities and the villages,
teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. Then said one unto
Him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you,
will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master
of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye
begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord,
Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not, whence you are. Then shall ye begin to say,
We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast talked
in our streets. But he shall say unto you, I
know you not, whence you are. Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. when you shall see Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God,
and you yourselves thrushed out. And they shall come from the
east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the
south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold,
there are last which shall be first, and there are first which
shall be last. Our Lord was teaching here in
verse 22. We're told that He was teaching
and journeying towards Jerusalem. Teaching and preaching. That's
why I've come, He said, to preach. God has sent me to preach. And
His ministry must have been very awakening. But when He spoke,
even His enemies said, never men spake like this man did.
the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. He spake with
authority and not as described in the Pharisee. And we have
an account here that would teach us, I think, that what he said
was very awakening. Well, if you stayed around his
preaching, it made you start thinking seriously about this
business of salvation. And one man heard him. We don't
know who this man was, He made this statement and he asked this
question. He said, Lord, are there few
that be saved? Boy, he had heard something,
hadn't he? Heard something about salvation and what it was to
be saved. Are there few that be saved? Are there few that's going to
be delivered? Going to escape the awful wrath to come and make
heaven their home? And he said this, and I imagine
the Lord had given him reason sometime to say this. Are there
few? Are there few of these people? Well, sometime when the Lord
preached, He would make you think that, wouldn't He? Straight is
the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there
be that find it. He told of the ground that the
sower went out to sow, and only Only one-fourth of the seed that
was sown produced eternal life. Only one ground was good ground
that brought forth fruit. And then he comes here in this,
and he says here in verse 24, "...strive to enter in at the
straight gate, for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter
in and shall not be able." Many, many will seek to enter in. Many is going to seek to be saved.
They're going to seek to enter heaven's gate and not be able. When I was in Tennessee visiting
my sister a few days ago, I like to get her in a conversation
because she tells me what people are saying and thinking. And
she looked at me and she said, some people are saying that you
say everybody can't be saved. They're saying, some are saying
around here, that you're preaching that everybody can't be saved.
I could have countered with this. I didn't, but I could have said
this. Do you believe everybody is going to be saved? Is everybody going to be saved? They're not, are they? Can you
and I sit here this afternoon and say with certainty that many,
many people will not be saved and not make heaven their home?
Do we have scripture that will back that up? We do, don't we?
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in your name, cast out devils in your name, done
many wonderful works? Many. are going to knock at my
door and say, You've taught in our presence. You've eaten with
us in our streets. You've taught. And the Lord said,
I'm going to say, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. Many
are going to seek to enter in. Universal redemption is not true. Everybody is not going to be
saved. The Scriptures are infallible.
And they make these predictions. And these predictions are true.
And the Lord made a prediction here of what would take place
on the day of the judgment. That many people was going to
be lost. He shall say to them on his left
hand, Depart from me you cursed in the everlasting fire. The
books were opened and whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Everybody ain't
going to be saved. Are there few that be saved?
Well, maybe in comparison. I don't know. Thank God He said
there's going to come many from the north and south and east
and west and set in with Abraham and Isaac. That's encouraging,
isn't it? That's encouraging. But there's
going to be many that seek to enter in and shall not be able. That's a sad but fearful truth. And I'll tell you what makes
it fearful. It's fixed. It's fixed. It's fixed by a prediction
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You say, Bruce, why even talk
about it? Because it's the truth. And that's what made the Lord's
ministry so awakening. He didn't hide these things to
spur people's feelings, you see. He's faithful to tell people
and confront people with the truth even though it disturbs
their conscience. Are there few that be saved?
There's going to be many that don't make it. That's what he
said. I think lost people, the unregenerate heart, think, and I think they entertain
this, that everything, it's possible. That even though I'm afraid,
even though when I think of death and the judgment and eternity,
it bothers me, yet they entertain this notion that maybe there's
a chance that things are going to turn out okay. Chance? A chance? A man may take a chance
and lose his job, and lose his house, lose his health, But will
a man take a chance and lose his soul? What would a man give
in exchange for his soul? Listen to this. If a man dies
lost, there is no chance of him ever being saved. Not a chance. That's what the
Master says. These shall go away. These shall
leave me. These shall go out of heaven.
These shall be turned into hell, into the lake of fire. And there
is no chance of them ever being saved. I tell you, it is not
to take a chance on this. We are talking about serious
things. We are talking about the salvation
of our eternity bound souls. And to take a chance? That's why the Lord confronts
us with these truths that you and I are looking at this afternoon. Abraham was talking to a man.
Abraham was in heaven. Some call Luke 16 a parable. I doubt it's a parable because
the Lord told us a real man. I never know him to talk about
a parable and name any real people in it. If you want to call it
a parable, that's all right, but he tells us that Abraham
was in heaven, and he was talking to a man who had gone to hell.
Remember the Lord called him a rich man, and he died and was
buried, and then hell lift up his eyes? And that man was pleading
with Abraham to send Lazarus and dip his finger in water and
touch his tongue to cool his tongue. And Abraham said this
to him. He said, between me and you,
Between those that are with you and those that are with me, there
is this great gulf fixed. So that those who are with you,
they can't pass over this gulf. Those who are with me, they can't
pass over that gulf and come to you. Now, I don't think he
was speaking of distance. I don't think it had a thing
to do with geographical. Anything to do with that. You
know what I think that gulf is? I think it's the infallible,
unchangeable Word of God. That's a gulf that you can't
get over. As a tree falls, so shall it
lay. Those who are unholy, let them
be unholy still. Those who are unjust, let them
be unjust still. Eternity will not change a man's
lost state. Because the Word of God has fixed
it. The righteous shall go into life
eternal, the wicked unto everlasting damnation. And that's fixed. The Word of God has fixed that.
So why think about and why entertain the notion that even though I'm
not honest with God, I'm not honest with His Word, I'm going
to take a chance that probably, maybe, hopefully, things will
turn out well. It won't. Face this fact. Let
us all face this fact that many are going to be lost in the day
of judgment. Many will seek to enter in and
shall not be able. And the Lord even said here,
strive to enter in at the straight gate. Strive as in fight. Fight to get there. Labor to
get there. Agonize to get there. We used
to use this word striving. and the whole concept of striving
as it pertains to regeneration, to our initial coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ, initial salvation. There may be an aspect of that
that is true. There may be some agony involved
in a man coming to Christ. Call upon me. All who call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Sometimes when they came to Christ
when He was here, some agony was involved. We read about a
woman that had the issue of blood. And it wasn't easy for her to
get to Christ, was it? People stood in her way. She
had to press to get to Christ. Blind Barnabas didn't know how
to get to Christ. Christ said, Call Him. He didn't
know the way. But look how He called out, Lord!
Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us." There was some calling.
There was some pressing. There was some agonizing. So
there may be, if you come to Christ this afternoon, I tell
you, there may be some agony. There may be some calling and
praying. It has been before. But I think, I think that this
is used, this word here our Master uses, is talking about the whole
Christian experience. And let me say this before I
go any further. I think there are some people
trusting in their prayer and in their agony. I had a preacher
tell me the other day, he said, this guy just called him and
he calls him and does this every once in a while. He doesn't even
profess to be saved. He's been professing to seek
the Lord, I think, like five years. Five years I've been seeking
the Lord and I'm still lost. Something's wrong. Something's
wrong, brothers and sisters. I'm not discouraging anybody
from seeking the Lord. Oh, seek Him. But what did He
say when you seek Me? You'll find Me. Seek and you
shall find. And if a man is saying, I'm seeking
the Lord for five years and I'm still not saved, then maybe you're
trusting in your seeking. Maybe you're glorying in your
agony that you're going through or putting yourself through.
And my advice would be this. If you're calling upon the Lord
and you're giving yourself up to Him to save you and you say
you can't believe, then ask Him this, Lord, help my unbelief. And I believe He will. If you want to see Him through
the eye of your understanding, then simply pray, Lord, open
my eyes. I believe you'll do it. But I just can't see this, seeking
the Lord for five years, and you're still lost. I'm sorry.
I can't find that in the Scripture. Something's wrong. Something's
wrong. I tell you, anything we do before
we believe in Jesus Christ is sin. Do you know that? Whatever we do before we believe
in Him is sin. Now, we can trust in our agony,
we can trust in our calling and our praying, but I'm telling
you, until we believe in Him, everything we do is sinful. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. So my advice to you and anybody
else would be this, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you shall be saved. I think if you ask some people,
And my poor dad was one of them. If I said to him, Dad, what must
I do to be saved? You know what he'd tell me? You
need to pray real hard. You do. You need to pray real
hard. What did they tell that Philippian jailer when he asked
them that question? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I know we call on Him. I know
we seek Him. Let the wicked turn from His
way. Let him return unto the Lord five years in doing that. So I've said that to say this.
This concept here that the Lord is teaching us, to strive to
enter in at the straight gate, I think is best to be understood
in our whole experience of salvation. From the time we come to the
Lord Jesus Christ until the time we leave this world and enter
heaven's door. It's the whole thing, isn't it? If I asked you this afternoon
what you had experienced in your Christian life, what would you
tell me? You'd say, Bruce, I've never
known such joy. Well, me either. I've got peace
of my conscience now. It's wonderful. It's wonderful.
What else have you experienced? Well, to be honest with you,
I've experienced a battle. Isn't that what you'd tell me? I tell you, I've had a fight
on my hands ever since the Lord saved me. I never dreamed it
would be like this. I've had to fight against myself
to keep this old man under subjection, to keep him crucified. I've had
to fight against sin. Lord, help my unbelief. I've
been in a battle with Satan. I've had to take the sword of
the Spirit, the Word of God. I've had to put on this helmet.
I just feel like I'm in a battle. Ain't that what you tell me?
Well, you know what this word strive means? It means to fight. It means to agonize. And some
of you know what it is to agonize. You've laid on your beds, you've
watered your pillow with your tears, have you not? You've longed
for the morning. There's been some agony involved
in your Christian experience. Let me give you three places
where this word is used, this word strive. You can mark this
down. I don't have time to turn there.
1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 12, Fight the good fight of faith. You know what that word fight
means? Same thing as the word strive means. The very same word.
Fight. Ain't that your Christian experience?
Fight. You're in a battle, aren't you?
You fight. Lay hold upon eternal life whereunto
thy has been called. 2 Timothy 4, 7, I have fought
a good fight. I have finished my course. Fought a good fight. That's what
the Christian life is about. The third place it's mentioned
in Luke 22, verse 44. A very familiar place. Speaking
of our Lord Jesus, He being in an agony. Same word. Strive to enter in. Being in
an agony. He prayed more earnestly. You
know something about that, don't you? That's your Christian experience. This word, strive, fits in perfectly
with our Christian experience. Just as our Lord had a work to
finish, just as Paul had a course to finish, you and I have a course
to finish. And you know something? We can't
quit this course. You can't quit believing, can
you? You can't quit fighting. You can't quit repenting. You
can't lay down the sword. You can't quit coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You'll seek Him in prayer. You'll agonize. You'll labor. You'll call for His help, for
His grace, for His mercy, and there's no place for you to quit
until you, like Jesus our Lord, have said, it's finished. And
like Paul said, I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. You'll find it. I was talking
to Brother John Mitchell this week, and his daughter held the
phone down to his mouth where I could hear his voice, but I
couldn't understand him. She had to tell me what he said.
He's so weak. Laying there on his bed, can't
do a single thing. to help himself. Just barely
can breathe and barely can whisper. And you know what he's doing?
Still fighting. It ain't over with. It ain't
over with. He preached the gospel for years,
and now the Lord's got him fighting, still fighting, still laboring,
striving to do what? Enter in. Enter in. The battle began, the striving
began, when the Lord brought us to Himself, and it will never
cease until we are with Him in heaven. And there we rest. There
the striving ceases. Consider this part of this in
verse 24. Strive to enter in at the straight
gate. Labor to get there. And we are,
aren't we? We don't sit down and say, well,
I'm sure for heaven, that's it for me. Never pray again, never
read again, never worship, never serve, just sit down on our laurels. No. We're still striving. We're in the battle now. And now he says this, many will
seek to enter in and shall not be able." Boy, how contradictory
this seems to be because the Lord said, seek and you shall
find. But here He said, they're going to seek and not find. Seek
Me with all your heart and you'll find Me. But here He said, there's
some going to seek and not find. They're not going to be able.
How do we explain this? Well, let's look at it like this.
Look at it this way. First of all, let's eliminate
those. who will not enter in. We can
eliminate quite a few people right off the bat by saying this,
there are people who don't even seek to enter in. There's a bunch of people in
this world, they are as dead, they are as full of the devil
that they have not one thought of eternity. They have not one
thought of securing their souls. And they, like the poor to rich
man, they're not going to lift up their eyes until the flame
of hell awakens them. Eliminate that whole group, can't
we? They're not even seeking to enter in. If those who are
seeking to enter in, many of them don't find, those who are
not seeking are sure not going to find, are they? Eliminate
a whole bunch of people there. Eliminate another very large
group. Those who altogether miss the
only way of salvation. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You know there's a host of people
in this world that's never heard of Jesus Christ. They've never heard of Him. They're
in some jungle someplace or in some remote location. The gospel
has never reached them. Are those people saved? Will
they enter in without Christ? It's impossible
to be saved without Christ, is it not? All who call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him in
whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him
in whom they have not heard? A man must share of Jesus Christ
and believe in Him. There's a host of people that's
not heard of Him. And they won't be saved. That one preacher told
us that one time, remember? There are days in those tribal
situations that they believe in a higher power, and they're
living the best they can, and they're going to be in heaven
without Christ. We can eliminate those, can't
we? And we can eliminate these people who have a false concept
of Jesus Christ. There are people who have a false
concept of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are people who don't believe
that He's God at all. You know the Muslims believed
that Jesus Christ was and that He was crucified. They believed
that. But if you said to those people,
except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
you know what they'd tell you? That's a hard saying. Who can
hear that? Wouldn't they? Do you believe Muslims are going
to be saved? Muhammad is their prophet. They think nothing of
Jesus Christ the Lord. And they'll tell you that. Are
they going to be saved? Now listen, they want to go to
heaven. Some of them do drastic things to get there. They're
told and they're taught that when they die, if they're faithful
Muslims, they're going to heaven. Are they going to enter in there?
Let's be honest about it, brothers and sisters. The Lord Jesus said,
I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No man comes
to the Father but by Me. There's no other name under heaven
given among men. If a man doesn't come to God
by Him, he may want to go to heaven, he may seek to go to
heaven, but he won't get there. He won't be able. He won't be
able. Let's get a little bit closer,
OK? Let's get a little bit closer home. Those in our text, they seem
to acknowledge that Jesus Christ was Lord, didn't they? They said,
Lord, Lord, there in verse 25. Lord, Lord. I think that these would have
told you that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. He was crucified. He raised from
the dead. He's in heaven today. Well, then
why in the world weren't they able to enter in? You know, there's
a great host of people in our country right now that you sit
and talk with them, and they believe so many things rightly
about Jesus Christ. You know, the Jehovah Witness
believe a lot of things right about Jesus Christ. They do. They believe that He's the Son
of God. They'll argue with you about
that. He is the Son of God. He died upon the cross. I believe
He died. And I believe they buried Him.
He rose again. He's in heaven today. He is the
Son of God. But ask them this question, and
you'll see what the problem is. Do you believe He's the eternal
Son of God? Do you believe He was with the
Father for all eternity? Do you believe he is one with
God? And you know what they'll tell
you? I believe no such thing. I believe he's the Son of God
who was created. That's a false concept of Jesus
Christ. And they may have a notion that
they're seeking salvation by Jesus, but it's the wrong Jesus. Paul warned us of another Jesus. Did he not? He warned us of another
spirit, another gospel, which is not another. It's a false
concept. And those who have a false concept
of Jesus Christ, and they seek to enter in by that Christ, they
won't be able. They won't be able to enter in. Let's get a little bit closer,
okay? We can talk about the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses Islam
has come a little closer home. What about Orthodox Christianity,
as we call it? Is there going to be anybody
in Orthodox Christianity that will seek to enter in and shall
not be able? Are all the Baptists saved? Could
it be possible that there's people in the Baptist churches that
are lost? In the Nazarene churches? in the Methodist churches, in
the Presbyterian churches, Orthodox Christianity as we call it? Is
everybody in that going to be saved? Nobody's lost? What's
getting close to home, eh? Why would anybody sit under the
truth as we think and be lost? I just wonder today how sound
the professing churches are. Did you hear that? I just wonder
today how sound our professing Christian churches are. Is what they preach in accordance
with the doctrine of the scriptures? How orthodox is orthodox Christianity
today? And does it even matter? Does
it matter if the churches are holding and preaching the truth? Does it even matter? Listen to Jude, verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to writing to you of the common salvation, salvation, that's
what we're talking about, and it's common to all. You're not
saved one way and I save another way and some nation saved another
way. It's common salvation. Common to us all. I gave all
diligence to write unto you. It was needful for me to exhort
you that you should earnestly contend. You know what that word
means? To strive. To labor. To fight. For what? For the truth. The faith. The body of truth
which was once delivered unto the saints. And do we have this
body of truth? We sure do, don't we? This Bible
is the body of truth. And it was once delivered to
the saints. And now it's sealed up. And Jude
is writing to us and he says, Strive for this truth of God's
Word. That you may know it and that
you may believe it. earnestly contend for the truth
of God's Word. Why? Because faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. You shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. God will have all men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth, of His own will begotten
us with the Word of truth, seeing you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God. See how our salvation is vitally
linked to the truth. And that's why the Jews said,
I've written unto you that you should earnestly contend for
the truth. It's obvious that the truth of
God's Word is vitally connected to our salvation. Strive to enter
in accordance to the truth of God's Word. It's more than just
having a Bible. It's more than carrying a Bible
to church with you or having a Bible laid up on your shelf
at home. It's having the truth of it in your heart. Knowing
it and believing the truth of it. It's important, isn't it?
It's critical. Our salvation depends upon it. I liken professing Christianity
today to the Jews of Christ's day and the apostles' day. If
you were seeking salvation in our Lord's day, where would you
go to? If you wanted to be saved and
you were concerned about eternity and judgment and you wanted to
be right with God, where would you go? You'd go to Jerusalem,
wouldn't you? That's where everybody went.
The Ethiopian came all the way from Ethiopia. He was seeking
salvation. Well, if you want to be saved,
go to Jerusalem. Salvation is of the Jews. Ask
them. They will tell you. John chapter
12, those Greek, those Greek came, said we wouldn't see Jesus. He's a Jew. He went to Jerusalem
because they were Orthodox. They had the Law. They had the
Old Testament Scriptures. Salvation was up there, they
said. Go up there and talk to the Jews. Yet in our Lord's day and the
Apostles' day, how little did the Jews know of the truth. They had the Scriptures, but
they didn't know what they taught. Except a man be born again. How can this be? One of their
own teachers said, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of God.
And they went away and they said, we can't hear this. We have no
idea what he's saying. The Jews had a zeal of God, Paul
said, but listen to this, not according to knowledge. And how
did he pray for them? That they might be saved. They
might be saved. They were out trying to make
converts, and they needed to be converted themselves. They
went preaching to others, and they didn't know the truth themselves. Ain't that amazing? And you know
what? The churches have just about
reached that point today. If you want to be saved, where
do you go? Go to church. Go to some preacher
and sit down. He'll tell you how to be saved.
I'm afraid we've almost got beyond that, brothers and sisters. Do you just tell anybody now,
go to church? You need to get in church. Which one? Where are
you going to be taught when you get there? I've had some of you come here
and tell me, before I came here and sat under the gospel, I never
worshipped God. I had a fellow tell me just the
other day, he goes here, he told me, he said, you know, I knew
nothing about my depravity until I come and started sinning under
the gospel. Didn't you go to church over
there? Yeah. I didn't hear about heart worship. Nobody told me of my sinfulness.
They didn't prove it to me from the word of truth. I knew little
or nothing about it. Why is this important? Is heart
worship important? They that worship the Father
must worship Him in spirit and what? Truth. Is truth important? Earnestly contend for the truth. It's involved in our inner and
in our being saved. Earnestly contend for it. If we're not hearing the truth
of God, that He is a triune God, then we can't possibly worship
Him. If we're not hearing the truth
of our being a sinner by nature and by practice, how in the world
can we pray as the publican did, God be merciful, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Should we be preaching man's
depravity? Should we be distressing that? The Scriptures are full of it.
The heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Should men know that? I tell you, if a man don't know
that, He can never humbly seek the Lord to be saved. Do you
know that? So long as a man thinks that
he is something, he is going to be proud. The Lord teaches him of his sinfulness. Ephesians 2 says, By grace are
we saved. And yet grace today has been
reduced to a mere offer or a mere chance. dependent upon the power
of a man's free will. That's what we've reduced grace
to today. It's no longer sovereign. Grace
is no longer free in the hands of God to give it to whomsoever
He will without any obligation on His part. He's thrown out grace in general,
not discriminated at all, and now it's merely and simply up
to the sinner to decide what he's going to do with it. Ain't that what we're hearing
today? And it's dependent upon the sinner's free will, the power
of your will. That's what makes the difference
between you and somebody else. God gave him the same grace as
He did you. but glory over you. You did something
that He would never do. You received it. You took advantage
of it. You improved it. And He could
have, too, if He had been as good as you were about it. That's
not grace. Grace says, what have you received
but what God has given you? Why do you glory as though Something
is in you that's made the distinction. I tell you, there's something
to what we call sovereign free grace. When we call it sovereign
free grace, what we mean is God distinguishes, God determines,
God decides who He gives grace to. And boy, that's a humbling
thing, ain't it? But is that being preached today? when Moses was standing there
on the cliff to the rock and God said, I'm going to show you
my glory. Remember that? Show me your glory. I'm going
to show you my glory. You know what He said to him?
I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. And boy, what did Moses do? He
made haste and bowed down and worshiped. How can we worship
if we know nothing about our sinfulness? How can we worship
God if we don't share of His free grace and say, I'm undeserving,
I'm unmerited, I have nothing? Be gracious to me, if you will. And then we vow to worship. Oh, we reduce the Holy Spirit.
to making a mere offer. He just comes around like a bagger,
and he offers, and he offers, and he hopes. And one man said
that God was even wringing his hands, hoping and praying that
somebody would do something. Somebody would decide. Somebody
would make a decision. There's nothing he can do. He's
offered, and that's all he can do. He's offered salvation to all
without any exception. And it's now determined by man's
free will to decide or reject. Oh my, I hate this. I despise
it. I'm sorry. I despise it. Check
your own experience. How did the Lord save you? Few of you were going along.
You were dead in trespasses and sins. Were you not? How essential was it for the
Holy Spirit to come to you and awaken you and show you your
need and bring you to Christ? Did He just come and make you
an offer? What did the Master say? No man
can come to Me except My Father which sent Me. Call Him. Draw Him. Bring Him. Even the church of old said,
Draw us and we'll run after You. We see the need of that, don't
we? Don't you still pray the same prayer today? Lord, draw
me. Draw me. Could you have come
to Jesus Christ without the power and aid of the Holy Spirit? You
could not, could you? You see why these truths are
so important? Strive to enter in at the straight
gate. Many is going to seek to enter
in, but they have this false concept. False concept of Jesus
Christ. False concept of salvation. They
have this false hope about it. It's not based upon the truth.
He said, earnestly contend for the truth. When you and I get serious about
this, you know what we'll do? We'll begin to read our Bibles
and seek the Lord. We'll begin to seek Him earnestly
in prayer. Look over here right quickly,
and I'm coming to an end. You can leave Luke chapter 12.
Look in Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Paul is telling us here about
the Gentiles and about the Jews. The Jews missed salvation because
they missed Christ. And the poor Gentiles found Him
and were saved. Look here at what he says in
verse 27. Romans chapter 9 and verse 27. Isaiah also crieth
concerning Israel, children of Israel, though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant
shall be saved. Boy, that's what we're studying
about, ain't it? Lord, are there few that shall be saved? Look
at the host of the children of Israel. Yet only a remnant was
saved. For he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. And Isaiah said before, Except
the Lord of Sabaoth hath left us a seed, we have been as Sodom,
and been made like unto Gomorrah. What shall we say, then, that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, and
boy, we didn't, did we? We lived in darkness, didn't
we? Paul said we went after these devils. We were devil worshippers,
idolaters. We were Gentile dogs, without
God, without Christ, and without hope. But look at us now. We follow not out of righteousness,
yet we have attained to righteousness. We've got it. We've got it. what kind of righteousness is,
even the righteousness which is of faith. We heard the truth,
didn't we? We heard the truth that Jesus
Christ, when He came to this earth, He brought His righteousness
with Him. And He worked it out. And He
perfected it. And now we have it. We have this perfect righteousness.
And you know, you didn't sew a stitch in it. It's a robe that you and I haven't
sewed to stitch it. It's His righteousness. It's
a perfect righteousness. It's called the righteousness
of God. And Paul said, lo and behold, these dead dog Gentiles
have obtained it through faith in Christ. They've obtained it. What about all those religious
Jews that kept all their ceremonies? They were so strict in their
lifestyle. What about them? Well, look in verse 31. But Israel,
which followed after the Law, the Law of Righteousness, they
have not attained the Law of Righteousness. Why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the Law,
for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense. And whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Why weren't they able
to enter in? They sought it. They didn't seek
it rightly, did they? They didn't seek it through Jesus
Christ, the eternal Son of God in His death and His burial. Righteousness. Righteousness. Let me finish with a song. I'll
read an old song to you. A man by the name of George Zinzendorf. Zinzendorf lived all the way
back in the 1700s. John Wesley translated this song. I'm not encouraging anybody to
read Mr. Wesley's messages. Bless his heart, he missed a
lot of stuff. But I'd encourage everybody to study his writings
of his songs. Man, he wrote some good songs.
And the songs that he translated, let me read this to you. Here
is where the Jews missed it. And here is where you and I have
found it. Listen to this. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress. Misflaming worlds in these arrayed,
with joy shall I lift up my head. When the world is on fire, I
am going to stand in His righteousness. When from the dust of earth and
death I rise, To take my mansion in disguise, And then shall this
be all my plea, Jesus hath lived and died for me. Bold shall I
stand in that great day, For who ought to my charge shall
lay, While through thy blood Absolved I am from sin's tremendous
curse and shame. This spotless robe, the same
appears when ruined nature sinks in years. No age can charge and
change its glorious hue. The robe of Christ is ever new. O let the dead now hear thy voice. Be it, Lord, thy banished ones
rejoiced. Their beauty this, their glorious
dress. Jesus the Lord, our righteousness."
Is He your righteousness? Have you let go of your miserable
self and cast it upon Jesus Christ? then you'll be among those who
come from the East and West and North and South. And you'll sit
down. You'll sit down. I heard Brother
Scott Richardson preach a message one day on they shall see his
face. They shall see his face. And
he said, what will it mean to see his face? And he said, this
is what it will mean. I finally made it. And you'll
sit down. I made it. I made it. God bless His Word. Let's pray.

Lord will there be few saved?

What does the Bible say about who will be saved?

How do we know many won't be saved?

Why is God's grace important for salvation?

What does striving to enter the straight gate mean?

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Lord will there be few saved?

What does the Bible say about who will be saved?

How do we know many won't be saved?

Why is God's grace important for salvation?

What does striving to enter the straight gate mean?

Sermon Transcript

About Bruce Crabtree

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