Now these are my last two messages from the Lord's Sermon on the
Mount at this time. This is number seven this morning
and number eight this evening. When I sat down to look at this
scripture and prepare for this message, I thought to preach one message
from these last 16 verses, but I couldn't do it. There's too
much material here. So this morning, the Lord willing,
I'm going to begin where we left off at our last meeting. I'm going to begin with verse
13. and speak this morning through
verse 20, tonight in the evening hour. This morning the title
is The Narrow Way, and tonight from verses 21 through 29, building a good foundation, building
on a good foundation. I've often said that there are
only two religions, really, just two religions. I know there are
many denominations, many variations of doctrines and creeds, interpretations
of scripture. There are many cults. There are
many sects. There are many ways of salvation. We talk about Catholic, Protestant,
Jew. We talk about Buddhist, Mohammed,
Confucius. We talk about all these different
religions and denominations. And some people talk about being
more than one faith. But really it comes down to just
two. There are just two religions in this world. You'll find it
in the book of Genesis. Everything is in the book of
Genesis. Just about everything we, in the rest of the word of
God, and what we experience and what we need to know is found
in Genesis. There you find the creation. There you find the
fall. The account of how we got in the mess we're in. And the
way out. God promises the seed of woman
to bruise the serpent's heel. The defeat of Satan conquering
of sin, bringing in of life, life, hope, happiness, and heaven,
all in the book of Genesis. And there you'll find the beginning
of these two religions. Adam and Eve had a son. His name
was Cain. Eve thought this was the seat
of woman. She thought this was the Messiah.
She thought that Cain was the deliverer. Her first comment
when she gave birth to Cain was, I've gotten the man. I've gotten
the man from the Lord. The Lord's given me the deliverer.
Well, he didn't turn out to be a deliverer, did he? He turned
out to be the first of a cradle of false religion. Those two
men came, and she had a son named Abel. And those two men grew
up. They were young men now, probably
with wives and children. That's right. And they came to
worship. Both these men came to worship
God. They'd been taught by their father, Adam, about the sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. See, Abel came with a lamb, with
the first sling of the flock. Abel was well taught of his father. He didn't just pick any lamb,
diseased or whatever. He picked the first sling of
the flock. The best. He built an altar, slew the lamb,
quartered it, burned it with fire, and offered the blood before
the Lord. Redemption by the blood. That's
a picture of the Lamb of God, Christ, who died on the cross.
That's a picture of the redemption of sinners through the righteousness
of Christ and the blood of Christ. But this man came. He came to
worship. He was religious. He built an
altar just like Abel. He came to worship God just like
Abel. He came with a sacrifice, but
not like Abel. He brought his works. He didn't
bring a lamb. He didn't bring a life. He didn't
bring the blood. He didn't bring a substitute.
He didn't confess that he had sins that should be washed, needed
to be cleansed by the blood. He didn't confess he was a sinner
worthy of death to substitute dining place. He didn't confess
that life must be given for life. He brought the fruit of the field. He had
plowed and planted and raised these fine looking fruits, and
he brought them to the Lord. And God was angry. Cast him out. Had no respect for his offering.
He had respect for Abel's offering. Abel admitted he was a sinner.
Abel admitted that he needed life. Abel admitted he needed
the substitute. Abel admitted he needed the blood.
Abel admitted that God was the only one that could cleanse him. And Cain got angry with Abel.
Why did he get angry with him? He got angry with him because
God accepted him and denied Cain, because his sacrifice differed. He came through his own efforts
and works. Cain came, Abel came through
the blood. Those are two religions, and
they're two today. Only thing is summed up this
way. Salvation by grace, or what? Salvation by blood, or love? Salvation is an act of God, God's
way, God's Lamb, God's Christ, God's substitute, of my doings
and deeds and duties. There's two ways. By God's will
or my will. Redemption by an act of God or
by an act of man. All religions come under that. God gives us life. You see, in
Adam we died. In Adam we're born dead in trespasses
and sin. Without hope, without help, without
God, without Christ in this world. We need help, we need mercy,
we need grace, we need God, we need a substitute. He gives us
life. You have be quickened who are
dead and trespasses in sin. He is our life. He gives us life. We don't take the first step
to God. He's the one that takes it. He chose us. He loved us.
We didn't love Him. He loved us. I came to Ashland. study the second time, 49 years
ago. And I was assistant pastor of
the church right down the street here, 7 or 8 blocks, Parliament
Baptist Church. That was engaged in this religion
by works, salvation by works, duties and deeds. And that same
year, 1950, we heard the gospel of God's grace. Sovereign grace,
mercy in Christ, substitution, Lordship of Christ. But he gives
life. We don't have life. He gives
life. He takes his old heart and gives us a new heart. And because the majority of the
people rejected that message, we left there. I left that church.
You did. Some of you left when I left.
After being there four years. Left, came over here where we
could preach the truth and not be harassed and despised and discouraged. And to give you a clear picture
of the two religions, there's one right over there and one
over here, you drive by that church if the bulletin board's
still there. It was there yesterday. This
is what it says. Give your life to him, and he'll
give you life. What's wrong with that? I was really astounded when I
drove by there and saw that Thursday or Friday night. I was astounded.
I said, surely, surely. We've got children this tall,
no better than that. Give God your life. You don't
have a life to give God. You're dead in trespasses and
sins. You don't have anything to give
God. God's not trading salvation for
your deeds and duties. Give God your life and he'll
give life to you. That's not the way life comes.
Life comes by the quickening of the spirit. We're born from
a ball. We don't born ourselves. And
that's the difference. But it's a Baptist church. This
one is too. But they're singing the same
hymns we sing. But two religions. I'm telling
you now, it's two religions, only two. And everybody who uses
the name God, Lord, Jesus, whatever, opens this Bible, is walking
one of those two roads. Now watch this as we read this.
This is the closing words of our Lord in this sermon on the
Mount, plainly deals with these two religions. And he gives us,
watch this, I'll give you this and then go back. In the closing
words he gives us, verse 13, two gates, a straight gate and
a wide gate. Two ways, the broad way and the
narrow way. Two destinations, life and death. You see them? Two gates, not ten, twelve,
fourteen. Everybody is going through one
of those two gates. It doesn't matter how you spell
your name. Everybody is walking one of those two roads, the broad
road or the narrow road. Everybody is going to life or
death, life or destruction. Verse 15, the two prophets, false
prophet and true prophet. Verse 17, the two trees, good
tree and bad tree. Verse 21, there are two professions. What I've done, I cast out devils. I didn't anyone before, or what
he did. There are two builders. Verse 24, a man built his house
on a rock, a man built his house on the sand. There are two houses,
one on the sand, one on the rock. The two foundations, the rock,
are the same. Two results. It stood, and it
fell. This is a high day. We're quoting our Lord here.
Our Lord said it's two religions. Not a half a dozen, they're just
two gates, two roads, two destinations, two kinds of two professions,
true or false, two foundations, rock or sand. Now let's look at verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate. Some say this word is also narrow
gate. But the word narrow doesn't convey
the true meaning. of what our Lord is saying here.
Enter ye in at the straight gate, the narrow gate. That doesn't
do it justice. The gate to heaven is not small. The gate to heaven is not hidden
in the bushes. It's not secret, so that no man
can find it. The gate to heaven is open. It's
wide, in a sense. The gate to heaven is free. It's
like Paul said to the king, this wasn't done in secret. This wasn't done in a closet.
This is open. The gate to heaven, and here's
the word, is restricted. That's the word, restricted.
inter-union at the restricted, at the confined gate. That gate
is restricted to one person, Christ Jesus. He's the gate. Our Lord is magnificent. Our Lord is plenteous in mercy, plenteous
in redemption. Our Lord says, come unto me all
ye that labor and have labor. come without murder or price. But I tell you this, all who
enter into life and the kingdom of heaven come by Christ Jesus,
one way, one day. It's restricted to him. It's
confined to him. The scripture says, he is able
to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. That's what, somebody said, well
you're fanatical. Yeah? When it comes to Christ? There's just one Christ. One
Redeemer. One Savior. Well, you're narrower. Yeah, I'm narrower. I'm restricted
to one message. There's just one gospel. Turn
to Ephesians 5. Let me read this to you. narrate. No, that's not what I am. I'm
restricted. I'm confined to one message, one gospel, one Redeemer. Ephesians 4, listen to this. Verse 4 of Ephesians 4, there's
one body, one spirit, even if you're called in one
hope of your calling, there's one Lord, There's one faith,
there's one baptism, baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit. There's one God and Father of
all, who is above all, through all and in all. That's narrow.
It's not narrow in the sense there's no room, it's narrow
in the sense it's restricted to Christ. You understand what
I'm saying? Sure you do. it's contained in
him, it's confined to him. You can't come to God in any
way but by Christ. Turn to John 14. Billy Graham and Reverend Shuler
in California were talking on an interview on Schuler's program.
And they agreed that the gate is not narrow. You remember Plato,
they agreed that Buddhists, Confucius, Mohammedans, people who've never
heard of Christ. That's right, that's the word
they used. Never saw the Bible, never heard the Gospels. But
if they were good people, and looking for life, they'd be in
heaven. But that's not what the scripture
says. It's confined to Christ. Listen to John 14, verse 6. Our Lord said, verse 3, I go
to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, and where I
am, there ye may be also. And whether I go, you know, and
the way you know. And Thomas said, Lord, we know
not where you're going, how can we know the way? He said, I'm
the way. I am the way. I am the truth.
The truth nowhere but in Christ. He's the wisdom of God. I am
the life. There's no life except in Christ.
And no man, here's the narrowness of it. Here's the restriction
of it. Here's how it's confined. No
man can come to the Father but by me. Enter ye in at that gate. No matter how broad, how narrow,
no matter what word you use for it, but it's confined to him.
See what I'm saying? Turn to 1 John 5. Let's listen
to the beloved apostle John, 1 John 5. He says here in 1 John 5, verse
10, He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record God gave of his
Son. And here it is, here's the record.
That God hath given to us eternal life, and this life's in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
does not have life. That's narrowed, that's restricted
is what it is. It's confined to Christ. And
these things have been written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, every one of you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may know, be assured that
you have life, that you have eternal life, and that you might
in assurance and confidence keep on believing on Christ. So that's what our Lord says
here in verse 13, Enter ye in at the straight gate, Christ. What did the Apostle say in Acts
chapter 4? He said, There's none other name
unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Other
foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the
Lord. For he says, let's read on, wide is the gate. What does
that mean, the wide gate? Well, that gate is wide enough
to admit every error, every claim, every creed, every
religion, no matter what it is. Somebody says, well, this man
doesn't know Christ. He doesn't believe on Christ.
He believes Christ is a good man, but he's not the Son of
God. But he'll be in heaven. That's the white gate. Another says, well, he doesn't
believe the gospel, but he's a good neighbor. He's a fine
man. I believe he'll be in heaven. That's the white gate. But he doesn't go to church and
doesn't worship God, doesn't confess Christ as his Lord and
Redeemer, but he's done a lot for our community. He even gave
an offering to the church one time. He'll be in heaven. That's
the wide gate. He takes in anything. Churches talk today about ordaining
and making ministers of homosexuals. That's a wide gate. That's a wide thing. You just keep on naming them
things. One is a restrictive way to God. I tell you, it's
plenteous in mercy, it's free, it's glorious and good, open
to all who repent and believe and receive Christ and bow to
him as Lord and Savior, give credit to his claims and what
could rest in his life and death, rest in his righteousness and
blood, trust him, honor him, glorify him, exalt him, come
on, everybody! But you're not going to know
a Christ, deny Christ, and deny his word and his commandments,
and enter into life. He said, wide is that gate and
broad is that way. You won't be lonesome if you're
traveling that broad road. You won't be lonesome. You say,
well brother man, everybody's going the other way. That's what
it says. Many there be that go in there. It's the popular way. Salvation by grace is not the
popular religion. The popular religion is that
broad road and broad way. And every life's a journey. It's not a very long journey,
but it's a journey. And every man's traveling either the way
of Christ, which leads to restricted gain, Christ alone, but which
leads to life. Or the broad popular, live and
let live. Don't rock the boat, don't disturb
anybody, don't take a stand, don't be dogmatic, don't be old-fashioned. Many there be that go in there,
and it leads to destruction. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that
find it. Let me read you over here something
in Deuteronomy 11. Turn to Deuteronomy 11. This
is this sort of sums up what I'm trying to say. Deuteronomy
chapter 11. I want you to listen to these
words. Moses speaking to Israel. In Deuteronomy 11, verse 26. Behold, I set before you this
day a blessing and a curse. I set before you a blessing and
a curse. Two ways. There's a broad road that man's
works and deeds and duties and religion, broad way, leads to
destruction. But there's the straight gate
and the narrow way, Christ's redemption by the blood, by the
grace of God, by the sacrifice of his Son, which leads to life. And he said,
I set before you two To this day, a blessing if you obey the
commandments of the Lord God, which I command you this day,
and a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord
your God. But turn aside, out of the way. Christ said, I'm the way. Don't
turn out of that way. And go after other gods, other
prophets, other priests, other kings, other ways which has not
been presented to you, which you do not know. Now, Moses said
that way back to Israel. And I say the same thing, and
John said the same thing. Turn to 1 John 3 and listen to
what John said. Keep in mind what Moses said,
and then read over here in 1 John 3, verse 22, what John said. And whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him. Life, happiness, eternal life,
heaven, joy, forgiveness of sin, acceptance with God. That's what
we ask, as well as seek, isn't it? Whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him because we keep His commandments. You mean we obey the Ten Commandments?
No, hang on now, wait, John has not finished yet. Do those things
pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment, that
we believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. That's his commandment. I set
before you this day a blessing and a curse. And that blessing
is, it would keep his commandment. That curse is if we deny it.
What is his commandment? You believe, rest, trust, receive
his son. Isn't that what it says? This
is his commandment. And love one another. This is
his commandment that we believe on the name of his son Jesus
Christ and love one another. That's his commandment? That
sums up all the commandments on these two. Love Christ and
love one another. That's the narrative. That's
the restricted gate. That's the only way to God. Now
this broad road is just loaded with everything you name it.
Every speckle bird, creed, doctrine, permissive. It's just permissive.
It's popular. It's just a broad road. It leads
to a broad gate. Nobody's going to bother you.
Nobody's going to obstruct your way. slip or slide right down
the structure. But this way is commanded. Believe on his son. They said
to our Lord one day, what shall we do that we might work the
works of God? He said, this is the work of
God, that you believe on his son. That's the work of God. That's the will of God. That's
the commandment of God. That's the way of God. That's a lie. They don't help you on that straight
gate, narrow gate. It's not that it's hard to find. It's not hard to find. It's preached every day. It's
in the Bible. It's not down in a corner. It's
not in a secret lodge of some kind. It's Christ. He's King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. sovereign ruler of the skies,
possessor of heaven and earth, came into the world, died for
sinners, said, Come unto me, I'll give you rest. This is his
commandment, believe only so. That's the blessing. All right,
let's see these two prophets. They were false prophets. You
see, The false prophets are preaching the bald road and the wide gate
and destruction. The true prophets are preaching
Christ. Now beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's
clothing, inwardly they're ravening wolves. Let me tell you something,
they're not easy, they're not easy to recognize. In fact, if you say that someone
is not preaching the gospel. And I did, I named two while
ago. A lot of people get their back
up. But a false prophet is not easy
to recognize. It takes understanding to recognize. It takes discernment. It takes
a knowledge of the gospel. It takes a knowledge of God. You see, our Lord says they disguise
themselves. Listen to this. They come to
you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening wolves.
They come to you in sheep's clothing. They disguise themselves. You
know, they're not evil men, outwardly. They're not drunkards. They're
not gamblers. They're not whoremongers. They're
not murderers. That's easy to spot. Mr. Spurgeon said this, listen, the
false preacher is a man difficult to recognize because the false
preacher has a pleasing appearance. He's pleasant. He's nice. He's
well educated. He appears to love God and morality. His life is clean. His teachings
are in general acceptable to all people. He doesn't offend
anyone. He doesn't make enemies. He talks
of God, of love, of salvation, of holiness, of heaven. He appears to be a sheep. His
message is not offensive to anyone. He pleases all. He raises no
issues. He has few enemies, there's no
offense to his message. Giving no offense. Well how do
you spot them? Our Lord tells us, verse 16. Now they're hard to define, they're
hard to recognize, because they come in sheep's clothing. But
you know them by their fruits. You know them by their fruits.
That's why he says, do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thesels? You know a tree by its fruits.
Here's a tree growing just full of apples. That's an apple tree.
Here's a tree growing just full of thorns. That's a briar tree,
a thorn tree. Don't touch it, you'll be hurt.
You know it by its fruits. Those of them have trunks. But
the fruits, what's the fruits of the false fruit? It's his
doctrine. It's his doctrine. That's what
his fruit is. It's his doctrine. It has to
do with Christ. Let me show you that turn to
1 John 4. You know, when Cain and Abel
came to bring their sacrifices, they're brothers. They look alike.
They have the same father. They're dressed alike. They're
both well-groomed. Their mother is Eve, their father
is Adam. They come to their boat building
altar. How do you know the true prophet
from the false prophet? His sacrifice. You see what I'm
saying? His sacrifice. His doctrine. His gospel. Listen to 1 John chapter 4, verse
1. Believe not every spirit, every
minister. Try the spirits. He's not talking
about you don't hear spirits, you hear men. But you hear men
who speak under the power of the Spirit. I'm preaching this
morning, I trust under the power of the Holy Spirit. These men
are preaching who deny Christ. under the power of a spirit,
a satanic spirit. And you know them by their...
Let's go ahead. Try the spirits, whether they
are of God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. That Jesus Christ is God. He came in the flesh. He is God
the Spirit who came in the flesh. Two natures in one. The nature
of God, the nature of man. He's come to redeem sinners.
He's come to be the way to God. He's come to redeem us to God.
He's the only one who can redeem us to God. He's the only one
who can redeem us to God. And a man who does not confess
that is not of God. Let me show you another verse
that does the same thing. It's 2 John. 2 John 7. 2 John 7. The many deceivers entered
into the world who confessed not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. You see, when you confess that
Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh, you confess all these
things about him. Now let me give you, listen to
these twelve, I'll give them to you briefly. He's the covenant
Christ. Brought again from the dead,
that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. He's the creating Christ. All things were made by him,
without him was not anything made that was made. He's the
promised Christ. He's the seed of woman. He was
before he came. He was with God in the beginning.
He was God. All things were made by him.
And he's the promised Christ throughout the whole Old Testament.
He's the pictured Christ. Every Old Testament type is a
picture of our redeeming. He's the incarnate Christ. Great
is the mystery of God, then, as God was manifest in the flesh.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. He's the
obedient Christ. He fulfilled the law. He didn't
come to destroy, fulfill it on behalf of all of his people.
He's the crucified Christ, the substitute, the sin offering,
the one sacrifice, the blood atonement. He's the resurrected
Christ, resurrected from the dead for our justification. He's
the victorious Christ, by whose sacrifice he justified the many. He's the seated, interceding
Christ. Who can condemn us? Christ died. Yea, I rather is risen from the
dead. Who's seated at the right hand
of God? Who intercedes for us? He's the
coming Christ. If I go away, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself. And he's the judging Christ.
God has established a day in which you'll judge the world
by that man. Now then, listen to the preacher. You tell them by their message.
Now I'll read 2 John 7. 2 John chapter 7, verse 7. Many deceivers are entered into
the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come into the
flesh, the way, the truth, and the life. This is a deceiver. This is an antichrist. Now look
to yourself. Lose not those things which we
have wrought, which we have gained, but that we receive a full reward.
Whosoever transgresseth and abides not in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath not God. That's how you know a false prophet.
He abides not in the doctrine of Christ, the sufficient Christ,
the effectual Christ, the redeeming Christ. And he that abides in
the doctrine of Christ, He hath both the Father and the Son.
I told someone in my class, told my class this morning, when I worked on this message,
planned to preach this scripture to you this morning, I jotted
down this outline. Chapter of twos. Two gates, two
ways, two destinations, two prophets. two professions, two builders,
foundations. And as I jotted down my outline
and said, I went over to my files to get some messages that I preached
on this subject years ago. I found one I preached 1973,
and I pulled it out. You know what the outline was?
Believe it, identical. There wasn't a point different. Every one of them. This man will abide in the doctrine
of Christ. If he gets old, and stooped,
and weak, and tired, he'll still tell you, there's one way. One
way, that's Christ. It's not narrow in the sense
that you're not welcome, you're welcome, everybody's welcome,
believe me. Believe me, I wish, I wish God would save everybody.
I just do. Especially my point, don't you
feel that way? But it's just one way. And beware of these men that
come with another. You know them by their fruits.
Because, listen, I'll read this and close. Verse 18, a good fruit
tree cannot tell a lie on God. Verse 18, you know what it says?
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits. A man that's called
of God to preach Christ, he'll preach Christ. And a corrupt
tree can't bring forth good fruit. He can't tell the truth. He can't
do it. He doesn't know it. You can't
tell what you don't know anymore. You can come back where you hadn't
been. And every tree that bringeth
not forth this good fruit, this good doctrine, God'll cut it
down, cast it into the fire by the creature. I want to preach so that I can
be generous and affectionate and warm and offer hope. But I'm not going to offer a
false hope to anybody. I'm not going to encourage anyone
in a false hope. I'm going to tell the truth.
Because it's the truth that sets men free. It's the truth of Christ. I'm the way. And that's good enough for me,
isn't it, you?