-
Well, I want to ask you guys a question.
-
Now think with me here.
-
If Jesus walked in here tonight,
-
He did walk this earth.
-
God became flesh.
-
He walked this earth as a man.
-
Many saw Him. Many talked with Him.
-
Let's suppose the Lord Jesus
-
came back to the earth bodily.
-
Just as He was 2000 years ago,
-
and He walked into this place tonight.
-
And instead of me up here,
-
He came up.
-
And you had the opportunity to ask Him
-
any questions you wanted to ask Him at all.
-
What would you ask Him?
-
Anybody have any idea
-
what they might ask Him?
-
I mean, if He came up here,
-
and He was at your disposal
-
to answer questions...
-
Now, you have to think.
-
This is the God-man.
-
He has the right answer for any question
-
that you might ask Him.
-
What would you ask Him?
-
I'll tell you, I would have some questions
-
I'd want to ask Him.
-
It was that way with His disciples
-
when He walked this earth.
-
There were times that they did ask Him;
-
there were times that they wanted to ask Him,
-
but they were afraid to ask Him.
-
And He knew they were afraid,
-
and He would ask them what they wanted to ask Him.
-
But, anything come to your minds?
-
Anything at all come to your mind
-
that if Jesus Christ was here right now
-
that you would want to ask Him.
-
What would you ask Him?
-
(from the room)
-
Why is it so hard to get out of the flesh?
-
So hard to go from flesh to the Spirit?
-
Tim: Why is it so hard to go
-
from the flesh to the Spirit?
-
Why is it hard?
-
(from the room)
-
I mean, I know it's supposed to be hard,
-
but some days it just seems really hard.
-
Tim: Sin is entrenched deep.
-
It's not only hard.
-
It's impossible aside from the power of God.
-
In fact, it takes a miracle of
-
creational power to free man
-
from the power of sin.
-
It's so strong.
-
Anybody have another question
-
that they'd ask?
-
How about this one?
-
Lord, how many of the people here
-
are truly saved?
-
Lord, are there going to be many saved?
-
Do you know what?
-
We don't have to guess at the answer
-
to that question.
-
Do you know why?
-
Because His disciples in Luke 13
-
asked Him that exact question.
-
Lord, are there many going to be saved?
-
Now you remember this:
-
This is God in the flesh.
-
This is the One who knows
-
all the right answers.
-
This is the One that even knows
-
the questions that ought to be asked.
-
His disciples asked Him,
-
"Lord, are there many going to be saved?"
-
And do you know what He said?
-
It was so common with our Lord
-
to take a question and make it
-
real personal to people.
-
He didn't just say yes or no.
-
He said guys, this question pertains to you.
-
You've asked the question,
-
"Will many be saved?"
-
What in the world?
-
What do you think the answer is to that question?
-
I can tell you this.
-
That from time to time,
-
the church I was at before
-
the one I'm at now,
-
and then where I am right now,
-
I've talked to a lot of people on the streets
-
and I've talked to a lot of people at their front doors
-
in some door-to-door evangelism.
-
I've been in nursing homes
-
and in prisons.
-
And do you know what most people believe?
-
Most people are on their way to heaven.
-
Most people are going to glory.
-
I can remember Matt
-
(Matt preached last night)
-
Matt and I went to a little housing complex
-
right there by where we live
-
and I remember one young lady,
-
we asked her,
-
are you going to heaven?
-
And she said,
-
Well, I'm on the church choir.
-
In other words, what was her answer
-
by saying that?
-
Yes. I'm going there.
-
And you know what?
-
You go down through this complex
-
and you go from door to door to door,
-
and you spend years and decades even
-
talking to people about their souls
-
and guess what you find?
-
Everybody's going to heaven.
-
Everybody's got that taken care of.
-
Do you know why they've got it taken care of?
-
Because just like many of you here
-
they said that little prayer.
-
You know, that was me.
-
Growing up I remember I'd find a little tract
-
and it had this sinner's prayer on the back,
-
and I'd say that sinner's prayer,
-
and I thought, you know the Bible says
-
something about believing in Jesus Christ
-
and I believe that He was true
-
so I must be on my way.
-
And you know what the vast majority
-
of people around us believe just that.
-
You can look at the percentage of people
-
that believe they're on their way to heaven.
-
Here were the disciples, and they came to the
-
Man, the God-man, who knows
-
the answer to that question.
-
They said, "Lord, are there many
-
going to be saved?"
-
And He threw it right in their lap.
-
And He said, "You..."
-
You. This pertains to you.
-
He says I'm going to tell you
-
you better strive to enter in.
-
Because there are going to be many
-
that are going to seek to get in there
-
and they're not going to be able to.
-
Many are not going to be able to get in.
-
That's in Luke 13.
-
Back in Matthwew 7,
-
Jesus said it this way:
-
"Few there be that find it."
-
You know what?
-
Twenty years ago when I first came to Christ,
-
that was an astounding verse.
-
Even though I was saved,
-
that scared me, that shocked me.
-
Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:14 says
-
"Few there be that find it."
-
Listen.
-
Not only are few going to find it,
-
but He says that many
-
that want to get in,
-
won't be able.
-
Does that terrify anybody?
-
It ought to.
-
It ought to in a day and an age
-
when everybody just believes
-
getting to heaven is an easy thing.
-
The fact is, Jesus said it's a hard thing.
-
This may sound shocking to some of you.
-
You may not have heard this before.
-
You know why?
-
Because it's very likely that
-
many of you are exposed to the idea today
-
that one, being saved is easy,
-
two, God just hovers around out there
-
right over your head wanting to do you good,
-
wanting to make you rich,
-
wanting to give you health,
-
wanting to give you everything
-
that your heart desires.
-
Basically, that's the religion of today.
-
You come to God and He's just going to
-
make you happy.
-
He's going to give you everything you want.
-
He's going to make life prosperous for you.
-
He's going to make sure you get a good job,
-
beautiful spouse, that you're not going to be sick.
-
That's basically what's taught today.
-
Come to God and you'll be able to speak in tongues
-
and rattle off and do all sorts of crazy things,
-
and you'll be able to run around
-
and it will just be one big
-
exciting, fun thing.
-
And you'll probably get rich in the midst of it
-
if you've got enough faith.
-
That's basically what's said today.
-
And here's Jesus,
-
the One who had the answers.
-
And He says, "Few there be that find it."
-
And if you've got a Bible,,
-
I see a lot of you don't,
-
if you've got a Bible, you can look there.
-
Not only does He say in Matthew 7:13-14,
-
He not only says that
-
"Few there be that find it,"
-
He says the way to get there is hard.
-
That doesn't sound like what's
-
being taught today, does it?
-
I mean, come on,
-
you guys be honest with me.
-
Is this something you hear?
-
What I'm telling you right now.
-
That few there be that find it,
-
and that getting there is hard,
-
and many are going to seek to get in there
-
and they're not going to be able.
-
Is that new to any of you?
-
Or is that just, oh yeah, we hear that all the time?
-
What do you think?
-
Well, let me throw this in your lap.
-
If few there be that find it,
-
and many that think they're going there
-
and are trying to go there,
-
don't in the end get in,
-
and only few find it,
-
and the way is hard,
-
then is it not likely...
-
By default, if few there be that find it,
-
then what?
-
What's the opposite?
-
Many don't find it.
-
And if you don't find life,
-
what do you find?
-
Death.
-
It says destruction.
-
So if many find destruction,
-
and few find life,
-
is it not likely that among this group
-
that I talk to right now,
-
is there not a great possibility
-
that many of you are going to
-
find destruction?
-
And only few of you are going to find life?
-
Is that not consistent with
-
what Jesus is teaching there?
-
Is that not concerning?
-
Does the word "destruction" just
-
go over your head and through your ears
-
and off your back as just a light matter?
-
Let me describe destruction for you.
-
You know Jesus gave us the
-
most vivid descriptions.
-
He called it outer darkness,
-
a place of torment,
-
a place of weeping,
-
gnashing of teeth,
-
a place of fiery furnace,
-
a place where there smoke of the torment
-
of the people that are there
-
go up forever and forever.
-
It speaks about the fury and the wrath
-
of God the Almighty.
-
You know why there's weeping there?
-
Do you know why some of you will weep there?
-
Some of you that hear my voice,
-
will indeed, I have no doubt,
-
weep in that place,
-
for a variety of reasons,
-
but one of them is this:
-
Listen: You know the devil fell.
-
The devil was an angel.
-
The devil and a third of the angels of heaven
-
fell into sin.
-
And do you realize this?
-
When they fell, that was it.
-
Their judgment was final.
-
Do you realize you were not the first to sin?
-
The devils, the demons, they sinned first.
-
God never sent them a Savior.
-
God never sent them a way of escape.
-
God never sent them a remedy for their sin.
-
God never offered them hope,
-
never offered them heaven,
-
never offered them good, grace, mercy.
-
They were damned.
-
In fact, we're told that the lake of fire
-
was created exactly for them.
-
Do you know one of the reasons that
-
some of you will weep in destruction
-
the way you will weep?
-
Can you imagine if as a demon,
-
you find yourself in the lake of fire?
-
The fiery furnace where there is fire
-
and brimstone and torment for your sin.
-
Can you imagine if you were them
-
and you find yourself there?
-
There will be sorrow on their part.
-
There will be torment, there will be pain.
-
There will be anguish, there will be sighs,
-
and groans and wails.
-
But can you imagine if you find yourself there?
-
After God sent His Son into this world
-
to save sinners?
-
Can you imagine if you find yourself
-
in the lake of fire when
-
there was a way offered you out?
-
When a Savior came into the world
-
who came specifically
-
to seek and save sinners?
-
When mankind was given a remedy
-
for his sin?
-
And not only that?
-
But you remember back to that time
-
in June of 2010 when people came
-
from this church on the east side of
-
San Antonio and they came
-
and they told you about Christ
-
and they showed you the way out,
-
and they told you the Gospel,
-
and they said that if you would flee to Christ
-
you could find salvation from your sin.
-
Can you imagine what weeping?
-
It says weeping and gnashing of teeth.
-
Do you know what gnashing of teeth is?
-
Can you imagine?
-
I had it.
-
I had it. It was set right there before me.
-
And I said, Nope. I want my sin.
-
I don't want Christ. I want my sin.
-
I'm still young. I want sex.
-
I want the fun. I want the party.
-
I want what this world has to offer.
-
And I don't want Christ.
-
I'm going to go drink deep of this world
-
and maybe sometime else, I'll take care of that.
-
And all the time, God was saying,
-
That was the day of salvation!
-
This day is the day of salvation,
-
and you passed it by.
-
And now you're damned,
-
and you're in that lake of fire,
-
and you had it.
-
It was right there!
-
It's like Christ said,
-
He offers you drink.
-
And He says, if you will,
-
He says, drink the water of life.
-
Drink freely.
-
Come take it.
-
If you will, whosoever will.
-
Come and drink.
-
And you will grind your teeth
-
at the thought,
-
"What a fool I was!"
-
And you will weep,
-
not only because you were a fool,
-
you will weep because
-
eternity will be placarded over everything.
-
Your torment isn't for a moment.
-
You know what it's like when we get sick.
-
You know what it's like when we get injured.
-
There's always this hope,
-
God created our bodies to heal.
-
Well, I won't be sick for long.
-
I won't have to suffer for long,
-
even if I'm experiencing this pain,
-
the pain goes away.
-
You get cut, you get the break, you get the scratch,
-
you get injured, the sprain, it heals.
-
But in hell, there is no healing.
-
It's forever and forever
-
and forever and forever...
-
Few there be that find it.
-
So here's what Jesus said,
-
He said ok here's what this is like,
-
it's like two gates.
-
You can understand a gate.
-
There are gates in fences.
-
Sometimes you find gates in a wall.
-
A gate.
-
A gate is simply a sort of door, right?
-
And Jesus says this is how it is.
-
You have a narrow gate,
-
and you have a very wide gate.
-
Two gates.
-
And both of the gates are places that we enter.
-
A gate is for entering, right?
-
People walk through gates.
-
That's what they're there for.
-
And Jesus says that on both sides of these gates,
-
there's a path.
-
There's a way.
-
You have the narrow gate,
-
and beyond the narrow gate
-
is a narrow way.
-
And it's difficult.
-
Over here, you have a wide gate,
-
followed by a very broad path.
-
And Jesus says it's easy.
-
And you know what He says?
-
Few go in the narrow one.
-
The vast multitudes go in over here.
-
You say, but I go to church.
-
You know, the people on the broad way,
-
we find just a few verses down
-
in Matthew 7
-
these people went to church.
-
In verse 21, there are people that say,
-
"Lord, Lord..."
-
They're people that use His name.
-
They're people that sang songs
-
just like were sung tonight.
-
They had the name Lord on their lips.
-
And if you look at verse 22,
-
they were doing things:
-
prophesying and casting out demons,
-
doing many mighty works.
-
See, they were in the church crowd.
-
See, that's no protection.
-
Jesus doesn't say going to church
-
is the way.
-
So you have the narrow;
-
you have the broad.
-
Guess what?
-
The crowds are going in over here.
-
Few there be that go in this way.
-
And you know what?
-
Not only is there a gate.
-
Not only is there a path beyond it.
-
But there's an end.
-
There's a big gate, a large way,
-
at the end, destruction.
-
Narrow gate, followed by a narrow path,
-
at the end, eternal life.
-
Few there be that find it.
-
Does that concern anybody here
-
that you may be headed to destruction?
-
How can you know?
-
How can you know if you're on that narrow way?
-
Let me tell you this:
-
Few there be that find it.
-
You know what that means?
-
That means those on their way to heaven
-
are in the minority.
-
And you know what that means?
-
That's means one thing's for certain,
-
that those that are on their way to heaven,
-
they've left the crowd.
-
You see, I know some of you.
-
You go to church, you have parents that go to church.
-
you're here at the camp.
-
You say well that must mean something.
-
The vast multitudes of San Antonio
-
they're not in church tonight but I am.
-
But like I said,
-
Jesus shows us a little further,
-
many of the people on this broad way
-
over here, they're people that go to church.
-
They're people that say, "Lord, Lord."
-
They're people doing many mighty works.
-
I know some of you.
-
You've got a little bit of religion.
-
But you, aside from that little religion,
-
you are just like the world.
-
You are just like the multitudes.
-
You're just like the crowd.
-
Because the truth is,
-
you play the same video games
-
that the world plays.
-
And you go to the same movies
-
that the world goes to.
-
You laugh at the same things
-
that the world laughs at.
-
Watch the same t.v. shows
-
that the world watches.
-
You love the fashions of the world.
-
The idols of the world, the rock stars,
-
the movie stars, the sports stars.
-
They're your idols as well.
-
The cars the world loves,
-
the motorcycles the world loves,
-
the fashions they love, the magazines they love.
-
You love the same.
-
You may have some conservative
-
parents that don't let you stay up as late
-
or don't let you watch,
-
but you know in your heart
-
you desire those same things.
-
You want them.
-
The truth is, you're just like the crowd.
-
Folks, the crowd is on the way to destruction.
-
And it's easy.
-
You see, it's easy because
-
you can be religious.
-
You can play religion.
-
You can say, hey, I said the sinner's prayer.
-
I did the little deal.
-
And it's real easy.
-
Because you can just go along with the crowd,
-
you can go along with the world,
-
you can go along with the flow.
-
And Jesus says there's destruction
-
at the end of it.
-
You know what He says in Matthew 7:23?
-
He says, "Depart from Me,
-
you workers of lawlessness."
-
You see, the real issue is,
-
though you have a little bit of religion,
-
you're just as lawless as the world.
-
You love sin.
-
You love what Jesus came into the world
-
to save us from.
-
Few there be that find it.
-
That should startle you guys.
-
Look, our lives are...
-
the sands of time.
-
You guys have seen an hourglass.
-
And the sand falls.
-
And there's only so much sand in there, right?
-
You've seen an hourglass?
-
There's only so much sand.
-
That's your life.
-
Your life only has so much sand.
-
The time alotted to you
-
is falling right now.
-
It's very limited.
-
And when it runs out,
-
how many in this place are going to find destruction?
-
It's one thing if you lived your life the prostitute,
-
you lived your life the heroin addict,
-
you lived your life out there
-
and you knew you just totally botched it.
-
In the end, you expected to go to hell.
-
You know that you lived bad.
-
But can you imagine the shock
-
on judgment day?
-
Can you imagine the weeping?
-
The weeping.
-
To hear those words?
-
You're thinking,
-
"Lord, won't you receive me?
-
I did the church thing."
-
And He says, "I never knew you."
-
Why is the way to heaven so hard?
-
Have you guys ever been told
-
that the way to heaven is hard?
-
Why is it so hard?
-
Basically, it's hard for this reason.
-
Look, guys.
-
The whole world is willing to say a little prayer.
-
What does a sinner's prayer sound like?
-
How many of you have said
-
the sinner's prayer?
-
What does the sinner's prayer sound like?
-
What do you pray?
-
"Jesus, please come into my heart."
-
You know one of the dangerous things
-
about that prayer?
-
You don't find it anywhere in the Word of God.
-
Nowhere.
-
That's not how Jesus said
-
heaven is attained.
-
But you know what we've got?
-
We've got a world full of people
-
that are happy and ready to say,
-
"Jesus, I'm a sinner.
-
Please come into my heart."
-
And then you go enjoy all the idols,
-
all the sin,
-
love the same garbage on t.v.
-
that the rest of the world loves;
-
dress like them, look like them,
-
pursue all the things that the world wants.
-
Everybody wants to be able to
-
say the little prayer as fire insurance
-
to get out of hell
-
and then go live it up and have their sin.
-
Everybody loves to say
-
the little sinner's prayer
-
and then go sleep with
-
their girlfriend or their boyfriend.
-
And think well, I've got this taken care of.
-
I know this may not be exactly right,
-
and I know God may not approve of this,
-
but I said the prayer.
-
Listen, does that sound easy or hard?
-
Does it sound easy or hard
-
to go say a little prayer
-
and then just live it up
-
and enjoy all your sin?
-
That sounds real easy.
-
You know what, that sounds real similar
-
to a broad way that's easy,
-
but the end is destruction.
-
Destruction.
-
Versus, over here you've got life.
-
Life.
-
But the way is narrow.
-
You know what that means?
-
That means that if you're going that way,
-
most people are going to think
-
you're a fanatic.
-
I remember 20 years ago,
-
I came to the Lord.
-
You know what, when I was
-
growing up in high school,
-
most of my buddies were wild men.
-
We didn't think about church.
-
We didn't think about Christ.
-
We didn't even know what John 3:16 was.
-
We were watching football one time,
-
and there was this John 3:16 in the end zone.
-
What is that?
-
One of the guys said something,
-
Oh I read that, it's from the Bible,
-
and what does it say?
-
He said something - I don't think
-
it was anywhere close to being right.
-
But we were all mystified by it.
-
We didn't know.
-
We were just a bunch of wild pagan guys.
-
But in my class, there were a couple guys
-
that were religious.
-
Two of them.
-
In all my class, I think there were only
-
two religious guys.
-
One was Catholic, one was protestant.
-
Well, you know what?
-
When God saved me,
-
I joined a church softball league,
-
and we were going to go out into the outfield
-
and take batting practice out there
-
because the other team had the infield.
-
And on that team was this guy
-
I went to high school with,
-
and as I walked by him,
-
he said, "I have heard you have
-
become a 'Jesus freak.'"
-
And I turned around and I looked at him,
-
and I thought of all people
-
that I went to high school with
-
that I would have least expected that from
-
it was this guy.
-
Because I thought you were religious!
-
And I said to him,
-
"Curt, how else can you be
-
when you find Christ?"
-
And what I realized for the first time,
-
Curt was religious.
-
But he was on the broad way.
-
He didn't know a thing.
-
You know what?
-
When you're in the minority,
-
people think you're in a cult,
-
people think you're a radical,
-
they think you're a fanatic,
-
they think you've lost your mind.
-
Why? Because, if you're among the few,
-
if only a very few find it,
-
but the many are over here
-
guess what?
-
You don't look like them!
-
You're different from them.
-
Because you went through a different gate,
-
you're on a different way,
-
and you're headed to a different end.
-
And it isn't the same.
-
You're on a hard way.
-
And that way is not like their way.
-
So they're cruising through life easy,
-
and they see you over here,
-
you're on this hard way.
-
You're struggling.
-
You're struggling to fight sin.
-
You're struggling with the
-
temptations of the world.
-
The onslaughts of the devil,
-
seeking to follow Christ.
-
And He takes you through some hard places.
-
And there you are,
-
and they're just cruising along,
-
and they look at you, and they think,
-
you are too rigid.
-
You're not right.
-
I mean, just stop with that.
-
My step-dad came in in total frustration,
-
when God saved me,
-
he was trying to set me up to date
-
some young lady from Michigan State.
-
And I wouldn't call her.
-
He gave her my number.
-
She was leaving messages on the
-
answering machine
-
and I refused to call.
-
And he came in to my bedroom
-
in total frustration,
-
and he said,
-
"Religion is ok, but you've taken it too far."
-
But see that is what the people
-
on the broad way think.
-
You Christians are radicals.
-
And I'll tell you this,
-
you get on that narrow way,
-
and the world's going to look at you that way.
-
They're going to say you're too tight,
-
you're too rigid, you're too narrow.
-
You're a freak.
-
I don't know how many times
-
people have called our church a cult.
-
Why?
-
Because we're not like most churches.
-
Why?
-
Because most churches are saying
-
say the sinner's prayer
-
and God's going to make you healthy and wealthy.
-
And then they run around the pulpit
-
speaking in tongues.
-
Let me tell you,
-
the Bible says through much tribulation
-
we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
-
That's why that path is difficult.
-
Listen, Jesus comes to you tonight,
-
and He says, I offer you heaven.
-
And I offer it to you freely.
-
and though that way be hard,
-
that doesn't mean that you have to
-
come pay Me a whole bunch.
-
He doesn't say that it's something
-
that you have to purchase at great
-
expense to you.
-
He purchased it at great expense to Him.
-
But lest you be deceived here tonight,
-
He says,
-
Come to Me and I will give you life freely.
-
But His call is always this:
-
Follow Me.
-
That path is very narrow
-
because Jesus is leading the way on it.
-
And He takes us down a road
-
that you and I would typically not choose
-
if we had it in our power to choose.
-
But you know what?
-
He takes us down that path
-
in love, compassion...
-
And He takes us down a path
-
where He comes in, and He will
-
cut your idols away from you.
-
And He will cut pride away from you.
-
You know what's difficult about that path?
-
It's a path of humility and humbling.
-
The people on this - they can have their pride.
-
You know what pride is?
-
It's self-love.
-
You just love yourself.
-
You know why most people
-
don't get on the narrow way?
-
It really comes down to that.
-
Self-idolatry.
-
You see, people on the broad way,
-
they can have their self,
-
their selfish desires, their selfish ways.
-
They can have it "my way."
-
I can get to heaven and I can go my way.
-
But all you have to do is look at the Scriptures.
-
When Jesus came into this world,
-
everybody He called,
-
He points to them and He says,
-
"Follow Me."
-
And if we follow Jesus,
-
as we're walking behind Him,
-
He says over His shoulder,
-
"Learn of Me."
-
"I am meek and lowly in spirit."
-
And He will break our pride.
-
He will break our self-trust.
-
He will purge us and cleanse us of idols.
-
You know what He says?
-
"Unless you forsake all that you have,
-
you cannot be My disciple."
-
That sound easy or hard?
-
Luke 14:33
-
"Unless you forsake all that you have,
-
you cannot be My disciple."
-
That does sound hard.
-
Jesus says,
-
I will save you, but I did not come to bargain.
-
I will be precious.
-
I will be all.
-
I will be the object of your affections.
-
I will be the object of your worship.
-
I will be the object of your devotion.
-
I will be Lord in your life.
-
I offer you salvation.
-
But He offers it to you on His terms.
-
You know what's easy about the broad way?
-
No terms! They're your terms.
-
You pretty much set the terms.
-
People on the broad way,
-
they pretty much say, hey, we're going to heaven,
-
we said the prayer, and the terms are,
-
Oh, God is just so loving,
-
He couldn't possibly throw me into hell anyways.
-
My terms.
-
I can have whatever sin...
-
And you know what?
-
People on the broad way,
-
you know how Jesus describes them in Matthew 7:23
-
and He says,
-
"Depart from Me..."
-
you workers of iniquity or you workers of lawlesness.
-
You know what people on the broad way do?
-
They commit all this lawlessness, all this iniquity,
-
they do all the things God hates.
-
But they imagine God in heaven
-
just smiling at them.
-
It's real easy.
-
They just recreate God.
-
Oh, God understands...
-
yeah, I'm sleeping with my girlfriend
-
but God understands - we love each other.
-
I know I went to that movie,
-
that R-rated filth that He probably doesn't approve of,
-
but come on, I mean He obviously
-
understands that we need to laugh sometimes.
-
So, it's easy. You just explain all your sin away.
-
You know, yeah, it's probably not the best thing,
-
but God is just pleased with me, He smiles on it.
-
In the end, you find out.
-
In the end, you come expecting heaven.
-
Can you imagine what it will be
-
to hear Jesus say to you, "Depart."
-
That'll be it.
-
There will be no plea.
-
There is no higher court.
-
You cannot appeal.
-
He is the authority.
-
He is the Judge.
-
When you stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
-
His verdict is full and final and complete.
-
Permanent.
-
And when He says, "Depart."
-
You will depart.
-
Listen.
-
Jesus Christ came into this world
-
to offer a way to life.
-
You see, I'm not up here tonight
-
telling you there's no way.
-
I'm just telling you the way is narrow.
-
That is a glorious reality.
-
That is one that ought to make you shout for joy.
-
There is a way!
-
You're not like the demons.
-
God has provided a way.
-
You know what?
-
Listen, if you want to go to heaven,
-
does it matter that the way is narrow or broad
-
that gets there?
-
The fact is, if there's a way there,
-
there's a way there.
-
And what I find in the Scriptures is
-
it's broad enough for you to fit on.
-
No, not with your sin,
-
your baggage, garbage, idolatry...
-
you've got to repent to get on that way,
-
and you've got to follow Christ that way.
-
And He's going to take you through hard ground.
-
But so be it!
-
There's a way!
-
And in the end, there's life!
-
And let me tell you about life.
-
Destruction may sound read bad and it is.
-
In fact, it's so bad, Jesus says
-
if you've got to cut off hands,
-
gouge out eyes, cut off feet
-
not to go there.
-
And He's talking about idols,
-
He's talking about sin.
-
If you've got to do radical amputation
-
to get to heaven, He says you better do it.
-
He says it is better to radically amputate
-
those things in your life that you want to
-
hold on to, cut them off and get to heaven.
-
Rather than to keep them and perish in hell.
-
Jesus said it is a fearful place.
-
It is a place you don't want to go.
-
It is a place, listen, if you go there, you go there.
-
And it's done and it's final.
-
But He comes and He says,
-
at the end of this is life.
-
And He says that He promises to give
-
men life more abundantly.
-
In fact, there's several places in the New Testament
-
where He calls it paradise.
-
And we see this picture in Matthew 13
-
of those that go there
-
shining like the sun in the kingdom
-
of their Father.
-
We find that there are pleasures
-
forevermore at His right hand.
-
We find there that Christ Himself
-
in all of His glory is the object of
-
the love and the affection of those
-
that are there.
-
Listen, I have to think that one of the reasons
-
that there is such weeping in hell,
-
it's not only for the hell they get,
-
but it's for what they could have had.
-
I imagine that Jesus Christ
-
will be the most fearful object imaginable
-
to those who are being cast away.
-
Think with me.
-
Can you imagine if it's you
-
that comes there on that day?
-
And Jesus says, "Depart."
-
But you see there were other people,
-
other people just like you with the same sins.
-
And Jesus is smiling at them.
-
And even as fearful and terrible as He is to you,
-
you'll recognize immediately
-
there is such glory,
-
there is such beauty,
-
you'll realize these people found the riches of all riches.
-
They found that which is bringing them
-
a joy; they have glory that is everlasting.
-
An eternal weight of glory.
-
You will see what you could have had.
-
It was offered to you.
-
And the thing is,
-
if you're told to depart,
-
you'll not be able to say,
-
mom, dad, it was your fault.
-
My friend that sat next to me,
-
distracted me, we walked out that night
-
and immediately...
-
you know what?
-
Every sinner that rejects Christ
-
and finds destruction in the end...
-
one of the reasons to weep is
-
because you will know it was all your fault.
-
You'll only have yourself to blame.
-
What misery.
-
You were the cause of your own spiritual suicide.
-
You did it to yourself.
-
When life was offered to you,
-
you willingly and freely chose to reject it.
-
What weeping, what bitter sorrow.
-
Jesus Christ went to that cross
-
and He suffered the very wrath.
-
He suffered that destruction
-
to open a way.
-
Yes, it's narrow.
-
But like I said before,
-
so what?
-
If it will get you to heaven, who cares?
-
He suffered the wrath of God,
-
that you might have life
-
and have it more abundantly.
-
Today is the day of salvation.
-
Don't put it off.
-
You don't know if you have tomorrow.
-
And I have seen it.
-
God is in the business of,
-
oftentimes, letting people hear the truth,
-
hear the message of life,
-
right before He cuts them off.
-
Lots of people...
-
That step-dad I told you about...
-
God brought him and sat him
-
under the Gospel,
-
he had a heart attack.
-
Then he had a stroke.
-
Then he had cancer.
-
Then he was dead.
-
And he rejected all the way to the end.
-
I have preached a number of times
-
to people -
-
within two weeks, a month, they were dead.
-
The Lord is very merciful to let you hear
-
a word of truth and a message of life.
-
Jesus Christ says to you right now,
-
"Follow Me."
-
You say how do I do that?
-
I can't see Him.
-
You call unto Him.
-
You cry out to Him.
-
You say that sounds like a sinner's prayer.
-
No, I'm not talking about
-
any little formula that you do.
-
I'm talking about if you're sitting there today
-
and you realize that you're not a good person.
-
He came to seek and save.
-
You know why this narrow way is hard?
-
Because people that go in there
-
realize they deserve hell,
-
they realize they're bad people,
-
and they realize they've got a ton of sin
-
that reaches up to heaven
-
and screams against them.
-
And they go in that way
-
no matter how hard it is
-
because that is the way where Christ is
-
and they need Him
-
and they see in Him a suitable Savior.
-
You know why that way is so easy?
-
Because the people that are on it,
-
if you ask them,
-
are you good people?
-
Yeah, we're all just a bunch of good old boys.
-
We're good people.
-
Of course, Christ is going to accept us
-
in the end.
-
They're good people.
-
But let me tell you this,
-
the Spirit of God came into this world
-
to convince and convict men of sin.
-
And convince you that your righteousness is rags.
-
It is filthy in God's sight.
-
You have nothing to offer Him,
-
no matter how good you've been,
-
it's been so plagued and so corrupted by sin
-
that God cannot look at it, cannot stand it,
-
God cannot accept it.
-
And you deserve hell.
-
You deserve it.
-
Listen.
-
One thing nobody's going to argue
-
that goes and ends up in destruction in the end.
-
Nobody is going to argue
-
the fact that they deserve to be there.
-
But I'll tell you before they get there,
-
before judgment day,
-
that way is so easy
-
because people think, "I don't deserve hell."
-
"I'm a pretty good person."
-
Think with me about the answer.
-
We asked this girl,
-
"are you going to heaven?"
-
"Well, I sing for the church choir."
-
That's not what we asked you.
-
But you see, people on that road...
-
Of course, if I sing in the church choir,
-
I'm a good person.
-
It's just easy.
-
It's just like a flowing river.
-
You just flop in there
-
and you go with the flow.
-
This way's hard
-
because you're going against the stream all the time.
-
You're going up river.
-
You're going against the world,
-
you're going against everybody around you,
-
people in your family,
-
people that were your friends...
-
they suddenly don't want to be your friends anymore.
-
Why?
-
Because you love what they hate,
-
you hate what they love.
-
And they don't want to run with you anymore.
-
That's what happened to me.
-
You ask most of these guys out here
-
that have been converted.
-
That happened to them.
-
You don't run with the same crowd anymore.
-
But if you're sitting here today
-
and you have a sense,
-
what this guy's saying is right.
-
I do deserve hell.
-
I know it.
-
I've done enough things in my life
-
to warrant hell a hundred times over.
-
You realize that unless you find a Savior,
-
that's exactly where you're headed.
-
You see, there is a picture
-
in the Scriptures of a man,
-
he wouldn't even look to heaven.
-
And he beat on his breast.
-
He said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
-
Jesus said that man went home justified.
-
You know what that means?
-
It means that he went home
-
declared righteous.
-
He went home saved.
-
He went home on the narrow way.
-
But you get in there not by saying
-
I'm a pretty good person,
-
I say my little sinner's prayer.
-
Nope.
-
If that's all that's happened to you, you're on this way.
-
And I'll tell you, get off.
-
Because you're in the flow, you're in the current,
-
you're going to perish in the end.
-
You say, well, I've never heard that before.
-
It doesn't matter if you've heard that before.
-
This is what the Scripture says.
-
You need to search it for yourself.
-
You need to read Luke 13.
-
Read Luke 14.
-
Read Matthew 7.
-
This is what Christ is saying in the Word of God.
-
Read Luke 19.
-
This is what He's saying.
-
The Bible says you're going to have
-
all sorts of people that are going to
-
come and tickle your ears.
-
The world is full of ear ticklers
-
that are going to tell you the way to heaven is easy.
-
But if they tell you that,
-
then be certain,
-
what they're really doing is
-
they're trying to put you on the broad way.
-
They're just lying to you.
-
They're deceiving you.
-
And they're destroying you.
-
And it sounds good; it sounds easy.
-
But in the end, there will be hell to pay.
-
I bid you, come.
-
Come with me.
-
Twenty years ago, Jesus bid me come.
-
And I knew it.
-
I was going to be destroyed.
-
I deserved hell. I knew it.
-
My sin was so wicked and so vile.
-
I knew I wasn't good.
-
And I heard His voice.
-
It said, "Come."
-
And I'll tell you this,
-
has it proved hard?
-
Yep. Harder than I ever
-
could have imagined in the beginning.
-
But I'll tell you this,
-
though there's few on it,
-
there are few on it.
-
And so I've found others that are on it!
-
And they're like me.
-
And you say, well, what, the few of you
-
you get to go along
-
all miserable together on that hard road.
-
No, that's not how it is.
-
As hard as it is,
-
Jesus said, "Follow Me."
-
You see, we're following in His footsteps.
-
This is the path He took.
-
And He promised to be with us.
-
And He gives us joy.
-
And though life here is hard,
-
it's full of joy, it's full of hope,
-
it's full of many glorious realities.
-
And in the end,
-
we get Christ.
-
And we get to be like Him,
-
and we get paradise,
-
and we get joy,
-
and we get to shine
-
like the sun at noontime,
-
in the Kingdom of our Father.
-
We get such glories called in the Bible
-
an eternal weight of glory.
-
We get the riches of Christ.
-
We are heirs to the most glorious
-
fortune ever.
-
And I'm not talking in a worldly sense.
-
And I'm not the one calling this place paradise.
-
Jesus called it that.
-
And if anybody knows the right assessment of things,
-
like I said before,
-
if anybody can answer the questions,
-
He can.
-
Listen.
-
If you find that this resonates with you.
-
You're saying yes, this is what I need.
-
Don't go out of this place tonight
-
and go shake it off
-
and go be foolish with your friends.
-
I mean get serious with the Lord.
-
Do business with the Lord.
-
You go find someplace,
-
and you cry out to Him.
-
Do it right where you sit right now.
-
Plead with Him, "God save me!
-
I see myself to be like that.
-
I don't care how hard the way is.
-
I need to be saved."
-
And I'll tell you,
-
as hard as it is,
-
Jesus is tender.
-
And He's compassionate.
-
And it's only hard because as He
-
strips us of our sin, it hurts.
-
And as He smashes our pride, it's painful.
-
And as He molds us,
-
and causes us to take on more and more
-
of the image of His glory,
-
He has to shatter us,
-
and break us,
-
and crush us,
-
and it hurts.
-
It hurts.
-
But it's good.
-
He wounds us that He might heal us.
-
But it's good.
-
Because what He really wants to do
-
is work righteousness in us.
-
He wants to present us blameless
-
and spotless as a bride for Himself
-
in that day.
-
At the end of that narrow way is glory.
-
And you know what?
-
The hard way - it's only for a little while.
-
And then the glory beyond it is forever.
-
The easy way - that, too, is only for a little while.
-
It's only easy for a little while.
-
In the end, it gets real hard.
-
Destruction.
-
And I'll just leave you with this thought:
-
The Bible says that God is not partial.
-
That's an important word to leave you with.
-
You know why?
-
Because you are partial.
-
Let me explain.
-
You think much more highly of yourself
-
typically than you ought.
-
Most of us can easily find fault
-
with others,
-
but when the same fault's in ourselves,
-
we don't see it near as well, right?
-
You know why that is?
-
We're partial.
-
We're partial to ourselves.
-
Let me tell you something,
-
God is not partial.
-
You would never throw you into hell.
-
And by the way, that word "throw."
-
It's in the Bible.
-
God throws people into hell.
-
You say, I would never throw me into hell.
-
That's because you're partial.
-
If you find yourself on judgment day
-
outside of Christ,
-
no matter how much you love you,
-
God will throw you into that lake of fire.
-
He is not partial.
-
But you don't need to be there on that day
-
without Christ.
-
He bids you this very day,
-
Come unto Me,
-
you that labor and are heavy laden
-
under your sin.
-
Come unto Me.
-
And I will give you rest.
-
Is the way hard that leads to life?
-
Yes.
-
But it's a restful way.
-
Those two may seem at odds with each other,
-
but they're not.
-
You can be in a hard place
-
and be at rest.
-
You know why?
-
Because you can be fighting with sin,
-
and fighting with the devil,
-
and still feel the guilt of all my sin
-
lifted off and laid on Christ.
-
You can still battle
-
and feel the freedom of my sin,
-
not in part but the whole
-
is nailed to that cross
-
and I bear it no more.
-
Praise the Lord,
-
Praise the Lord.
-
May God help you.