Are There Few That Be Saved?

I'm reading today from the 13th
chapter of the Gospel of Luke, and we'll begin reading with
verse 22. And he went through the cities and villages, teaching
and journeying towards Jerusalem. And 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." Our text today is verse
23. Lord, are there few that be saved? The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save sinners. That's what the word of God says.
In 1 Timothy 1.15, Paul wrote, This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
of whom I am the chief. And the angel said to Joseph,
Fear not to take unto thee Mary to be thy wife. That holy thing
which is conceived in her shall be called the Son of God, and
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins." And then in Luke 19.10, the scripture says,
Christ himself speaking, The Son of Man is come to seek and
save the lost. So that's clear. The Lord Jesus
Christ came down here into this world to save sinners. Now, secondly, the Bible was
given to us, that we might know God, that we might know his Son,
Jesus Christ, that we might be saved. Listen to John 20, verse
31. Now, listen carefully. These
are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might be saved, you might
have life through his name. That's why it was written. These
things are written, that you might believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name.
So Christ came to save sinners, and the Bible is given not to
astound wise men, not to give us a historical account of a
race of people, it's given us that we might be saved. And then
ministers of the gospel are sent to preach the gospel to every
creature that sinners might be saved. Before our Lord ascended
to heaven, he said to his disciples, Go ye therefore into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall
be damned. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the
power of God on the salvation to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. So ministers are sent on that
mission, that's our task. We go forth and preach that men
might be saved. And then the grand object, now
listen carefully I might have more enemies when I get through
with this message than I have friends, but I want you to hear
me out. The grand object of having a religion is to be saved. That's
what it's all about. This is the great question to
settle. Do we know God? Are we redeemed? Do we know Christ? Are we saved? Our main concern is not to find
the right denomination. That's not our main concern.
Our main concern is not to be sure that we carry out the Sabbath
day exactly as it's prescribed. Our main concern is not that
we carry out the ceremonies exactly as they're set forth. Our main
concern is not just the right dress and the right rules and
the right laws. Our main concern is this. Do
we know God? Are we saved? Do we know the
living God? Without salvation, without the
promise of salvation, without the hope of salvation, without
the joy of salvation, without the peace of salvation, all of
our religious doings are only so much weariness and pain and
labor in vain. To be wrapped up in a religion
which gives no peace in this life, to be wrapped up in a religion
that gives me no confidence and no rest in this life, to be wrapped
up in a religion that gives me no hope in death, to be wrapped
up in a religion that promises me no glory in the world to come,
to me is worse than foolishness. It's insanity. Now, I have three
questions that I'd like to ask in answering this question. The
person came to our Lord and said, Lord, are there few that be saved?
are there few that be saved? That's my topic, are there few
that be saved? First of all, I want to answer
the question, what is it to be saved? When we're talking about
being saved, what are we talking about? And then secondly, I'm
going to answer this question, what does the world think about
this question, are there few that be saved? And then thirdly,
what does the Bible say in answer to the question, are there few
that be saved? And then fourthly, I'm going
to deal with this, How is it in this present day? First of
all, what is it to be saved? This is the matter that has to
be cleared up first. Before we can get to the question,
are there few that are to be saved, we have to find out what
it is to be saved. What is it to be saved? Let God's
word answer this question. First of all, in John 17, verse
3, we have our Lord's high priestly prayer. When we say we are going
to pray the Lord's prayer, and we bow our heads and say, Our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And don't feel hard
with me, that's not the Lord's prayer, that's the disciples'
prayer. The disciples came to him and said, Lord, teach us
to pray. And he said, Now when you pray,
you pray this way, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. The Lord's prayer, the one he prayed himself, is
John 17. That's when he lifted up his
eyes to heaven and said, glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify
thee." Now, watch verse 3. He says, "...this is life eternal,
and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." That's what
it is to be saved. It's to know God. It's not just
to know there is a God, it's to know God. He doesn't say,
and this is life eternal, that they might know there's a God.
And this is life eternal, that they might know some things about
God. He says, This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
living God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. How does
one come to know God? God is revealed in Christ. 1 John 5, verse 20. This is an important scripture.
1 John 5, verse 20. Listen. The Son of God has come
into this world. and have given us, human beings,
sinners, an understanding that we may know Him. The Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
Him, that is, the true God. And we are in Him, that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. You take your Bible and turn
to 1 John 5, verse 20, and you read that again. What is it to
be saved? It's to know God. That's what
Christ said. It's not just to be a church member. It's not
just to adopt a few rules and regulations and some principles
of piety. Eternal life is to know God.
It's not just to know about him. It's not just to know there is
a God, it's to know him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent." If you were to come to me today and say,
Brother, what is life eternal? We hear preachers preach about
being saved and having life eternal, and that's it. And we know that
the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding that
we may know him that is true, that we are in him that is true,
even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this
is life eternal. It's to know God, and to know
God is to have him revealed to you in the person of Jesus Christ. Our Lord said in Luke 10.22,
No man knoweth the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal him. Philip said, Will the Lord show
us the Father, and we'll be satisfied? And Christ said, Philip, have
I been with you so long, and you don't know me? He that hath
seen have seen the Father. To know God is to have a desire
to know him better. What did Paul say? He listed
all of his religious background, his heritage, his accomplishments,
his deeds, his fame, and he said, I count these but don't, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Paul, don't
you know the Lord? I know him. I want to know him
better. I want to know the power of his resurrected life. I want
to know the power of his daily fellowship. I want to know the
power of his eternal glory. I want to know him, O that we
may grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then to know God is to rejoice in his attributes. We joy in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We joy in God. What is it to
be saved? It's to know God. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Eternal life, to be saved, is
to believe on Christ. When the Philippian jailer came
to Paul and Silas after their bonds had been broken loose and
the shackles had fallen to the ground, he fell on his knees
and lifted his face to Paul and said, What must I do to be saved?
Paul hears a direct question from a sinner who wants to know
how he can be saved. What have you got to say? Paul
answered in this fashion, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and
thou shalt be saved. Paul didn't say, Be baptized
and you'll be saved. He didn't say, Take the sacraments,
the communion, the Lord's table and you'll be saved. He didn't
say, Go to the confessional and you'll be saved. He didn't say,
Become a Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian or a Catholic
and you'll be saved. He didn't say, Do so many religious
push-ups and you'll be saved. He said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. To believe on Christ as
the covenant surety To believe on Christ as the Lamb of God
that taketh away our sins. To believe on Christ as our great
High Priest who intercedes, who offers the blessed atonement
on the mercy seat of glory. To believe on Jesus Christ as
our substitute in sin offering. To believe on Jesus Christ as
the Risen One, the Mediator. To believe on Christ as the Coming
One, as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. To be saved is to believe
on Christ. It's to receive Him to be your
Lord. What is it to be saved? It's to know God and his Son,
Jesus Christ. And to be saved is to be a new
creature in Christ Jesus. The Bible plainly teaches that
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. And the Bible
plainly teaches that if a man is in Christ, if a man is saved,
that in his life will be revealed the fruits of the Spirit, which
are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. These are the fruits of the Spirit,
and they will be manifested in a regenerated, redeemed life.
Now, I know we're living in a day when men walk down a church aisle
and shake a preacher's hand and join the church, and people say
they're saved. They say they're saved. Everybody
says they're saved. The church members, they get baptized, join
the church, and they say they're saved. But they live dishonest
lives? They live lives of profanity
and filthiness and blasphemy. They live lives that are not
a credit even to an earthly organization, let alone a heavenly church.
This is not to be saved. If any man is in Christ, he's
a new creature. And no man has the right to lay
claim to being in Christ if he's not a new creature. My friends,
we're living in a world of hate. We're living in a world of malice.
We're living in a world of vengeance. And it's just summed up in the
word H-A-T-E, hate. People hate each other. They
hate even in the religious realm. It's full of hatred. I want you
to listen to what the Lord says here in 1 John 4, verse 7. Now
listen to this. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. And he that loveth not knoweth
not God. And what is eternal life is to
know God. What is eternal life? It's to know God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God. Now, that's what scripture says.
For God is love. No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwells in us. If we don't love one another,
God doesn't dwell in us. So eternal life, to be saved.
What is it to be saved? Now, we're answering the question
today, are there few that be saved? That's what this man said
to the Master. Master, are there few that be
saved? Well, the first thing we've got to determine, what
is it to be saved? All these folks flooding down
the church aisles, are they saved? All these people who have their
names on the roll books in the church, are they saved? All these
people out in the world in dishonesty and profanity and blasphemy and
rebellion who have no use for God, his church, his Bible, anything
else, they just want to go to heaven when they die and miss
hell at the judgment, are they saved? What is it to be saved?
The Bible says it's to know God. It's to know his Son, Jesus Christ.
It's to believe on Christ, to receive him as Lord and Savior.
And if he's not your Lord, he's not your Savior. You don't make
Jesus your Savior today and later on let him be your Lord if it's
not too inconvenient. A man who's saved, Christ is
his Lord, the Lord of his life. And he that cometh to me has
got to hate mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, even his
own life, or he can't be my disciple, Christ said. Christ is Lord of
all, or he's not Lord at all. To be saved is to be a new creature.
is to have a new heart, to have a new nature, to have new principles.
It's to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy and
peace and long-suffering. To be saved is to love other
people. And a person whose heart is filled
with vengeance and hatred and malice is not saved. He knoweth
not God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. I didn't invent that, I read
that to you from 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. How can we love God, whom we've
never seen, if we don't love our brethren whom we have seen?
Now then, what is the world's answer to this question, are
there few that are the same? If I were to take a poll like
the Gallup poll or some other poll of all the people in Huntington
or Ashland or Ironton or Parkersburg or Pikeville, I take a poll and
ask you the question, are there few that are the same, what would
you reply? Well, I'll tell you what most people would reply.
Most people are saved. They don't believe that a few
are saved. And this is revealed in their
attitude toward people. Now listen to me. Let me present
some facts from God's word. First of all, the Bible says
there's none good, no, not one. The Bible says there's none that
understand it. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. That's what God's word says. From the sole of the feet
to the top of the head, there's no goodness, no soundness in
it. Do we believe that? Do we believe that our friends
and our relatives and our neighbors are no good? Well, people don't
believe that. Do we believe they're ungodly?
Do we believe they're evil? People are saying to me all the
time, well, pray for my husband, he's such a good man. Or pray
for my boy, he's not saved, but he's a good man. If he's good,
he doesn't need to be saved. Because the Bible says there's
none good but God, and if your husband's a good man, he must
be God. The Bible says the natural mind
is enmity toward God. The natural mind hates God. That's
what the Bible says. Christ said, Marvel not, my brethren,
if the world hate you, it hates me. Do you believe your friends
hate God? Do you believe your relatives
hate God? Scripture says they do. They
despised him and rejected him and crucified him on a cross.
The Bible says the wrath of God abideth on unbelievers. Do you
believe that? He that hath not the Son, the
wrath of God Do we really believe that our friends and neighbors
and loved ones, the wrath of God abideth on them? We don't
believe that. Consequently, when we answer
the question, Are there few that be saved?, we say, Well, I think
most of them are all right. I believe when the smoke dies
down and the dust settles and eternity begins, that we'll all
meet in heaven. Observe the attitude of the people
of this world when a man dies. Everyone is respectable after
he dies. I've found that out. I've been
preaching 29 years. I've preached a lot of funerals.
A man dies. He gives no evidence of repentance.
He gives no evidence of faith in Christ. He gives no evidence
whatsoever of being regenerated, a child of God. While he lived
on this earth, he lived for himself. While he lived on this earth,
he died like a creature without a soul and without a God. What
are the comments down at the funeral home that I listen to?
Well, he's better off now. Somebody else comes along and
says, well, he's gone to his reward. Somebody else comes by
and says, he's with the Lord. I don't know why he'd want to
be with the Lord up there. He never did care a thing about
being with him down here. I don't know why he'd want to go to the
Lord's house upstairs if he never would attend the Lord's house
downstairs. Why is he with the Lord now? Somebody else says,
well, we'll meet again someday. I hope not. I hope I never meet
him again. I hope that I'm not where he
is. Does anybody ever die and go to hell? Not in the opinion
of this world. It proves that this world believes
that most people go to heaven. That the world, when it answers
the question, are there few that are saved, the world says no.
Let me tell you something else. Observe the attitude of the world
toward ministers who insist on what the Bible says, and a saving
relationship with God. Now watch me here just real carefully
now. I'm going to hit us where it
hurts right now. Let a preacher insist that the Bible is true
when it says men are born in sin. Let a minister insist that
the Bible is true when it says no man in the flesh can please
God. Let a preacher expose false religious professions. Let a
preacher demand a regenerated church membership. Let a preacher
declare who Christ is. and what Christ did and why he
did it. Let a preacher preach the narrow way of life. Let a
preacher stand in the pulpit and condemn sin. And I'm talking
about the sins of jealousy and envy and hatred and malice and
dishonesty and lying, those sins which come from the heart. Let
a preacher insist that if a man belongs to the church of the
Lord God, that he live like a person in the kingdom of God ought to
live. Let a preacher preach the righteousness of God in Christ,
and what will the results be? Well, he'll be unpopular, he'll
be rejected, he'll be called a fanatic. Who are the popular
preachers? The popular preachers are those
who say nothing, who disturb no one. The disturbers of Israel,
just like in the days of Elijah, are rejected. The disturbers
of Israel, just like in the days of Samuel, are rejected. To be
popular, a preacher must be a parrot, a puppet, or a promoter. This
shows what the world thinks about that question, are there few
that be saved? What does the Bible say? That's
my third point. What does the Bible say? Are
there few that be saved? Read Matthew 7. Listen to the
Lord Jesus Christ here in the seventh chapter of Matthew, beginning
with verse 13. Our Lord says this, "'Enter ye
in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way
that leads to life, and few there be that find it." That's what
Christ said, few there be that find it. How was it in the days
of Noah? How was it in the days of Abraham?
God said, I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham said,
Lord, if I can find fifty righteous people down there, will you spare
the city? I will spare them. But Lord, I don't want to be
presumptuous, but suppose I found 40, would you spare the city?
I'll spare it. Lord, if I found 30, out of the thousands, if
I found 30 godly men, I'll spare them. Ten, I'll spare them. Ten righteous men. They couldn't
find five. How was it in the days of Elijah?
Elijah said, I'm the only one left. How was it in the days
of the kings? David said, Lord, the godly man,
cease it. The faithful men fail. How was
it in the days of Isaiah? Isaiah said, except the Lord
of the Sabbath had left us a Roman, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah,
not five righteously, unless God had left us a Hebrew. How
was it in the days of our Lord's visit? He came unto his own,
and his own received him not. They crucified him and nailed
him to a tree. How many believers did he leave after he was here
on this earth three and a half years? How was it in the days
of the apostles? Read Paul's writings. Everywhere
he went, he had a riot. He expected everywhere he went
to be hated, violence to surround him and death to threaten him. On one occasion, he said, All
men have forsaken me, only Luke is with me. Are there few that are saved?
How about our day? Right now, I'm talking about
1975. Let's take the New Testament in our hands. And let's weigh
every one of us, us, not everybody else, us. Let's weigh ourselves
by the word of God. What is it to be saved? Let's
be honest, let's be fair. Let's allow no one to be a Christian
who does not show evidence of regeneration, according to this
book. Evidence of a new birth. Evidence
of a genuine faith in Christ Jesus. evidence of a knowledge
of God in Christ Jesus, evidence of a new creation, evidence of
a new heart and a new nature, evidence of the Holy Spirit's
indwelling person. Are there few that disavow? Are
there few that disavow? We must not base our conclusion
on sentiment or compassion or our own desires for people. We
must base our conclusions on God's word, and I'm asking you
this. How many true believers do you
know? People who can say, I know whom
I have believed and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. How many true, dedicated,
devoted sons of God do you know who can say with Job, though
he slay me, I'll trust him? The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. How many new creatures
in Christ Jesus do you know who can say, all things have passed
away and all things have become new? I'm not what I used to be.
I'm not what I ought to be. I'm not what I want to be. Thank
God I'm not what I'm going to be. How many seekers of God do
you know? Men who pore over the scripture
and search the word of God, who find time for the prayer closet,
to cry to God for men in order that they might speak to men
for God. How many seekers of God do you know? How many of
you know who hunger and thirst for righteousness? How many of
you know who say, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. How many of you know who can
say, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live? Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. I'm not talking about just having
religion. We've got enough of that. This
world's got religious indigestion. I'm talking about salvation.
Are there few that be saved? And our Lord said, you strive
to enter in. Make it the object of your life
and the goal of your soul to enter in. I hope you'll join
us next Lord's Day for this broadcast. Until then, Henry Mahan, bidding
you a very pleasant, good day.

Are There Few That Be Saved?

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