this morning and turn to Matthew Chapter 7. I'm actually going to preach a message where the text is first, and we'll take it from there. Matthew Chapter 7. Matthew Chapter 7. Are we all there? That's our word of prayer. Lord, we thank You that it's Your arms that we can rest in when that storm is out there. And Lord, You know many times the storms come. Lord, thank You for Your wings that cover us, Your arms that hold us. Lord, I pray this morning that You would bless our time. Lord, we are so thankful to be in church this morning. We're thankful for the roof over our head, the clothes on our back, the food in our bellies. Lord, we're thankful for Your provision. Lord, we praise you and we thank you. We know where it comes from. And Lord, forgive the world for their nonsense, but Lord, we are thankful and Lord, glorify your holy name. Lord, I pray that you'd speak to us this morning. I pray you'd take this piece of dirt, stand behind this pulpit, that in me and my flesh dwells no good thing. Lord, I'm just a clay vessel, just dust and ash. And Lord, praying that you'd fill this vessel with your spirit. Lord, we need to hear from heaven. These folks need to hear from heaven. We're not here because it's a social event. We're here because we want to hear from heaven. Lord, we want something that you give us this morning that will help us to survive in this world, that will keep us on the right path, that will strengthen us, that will draw us closer to you. Lord, maybe convict us, reprove us, rebuke us, whatever you'd like to do. Father, we want to hear from heaven. We want the Spirit of God to minister to us. Sit next to us. Stand behind this pulpit. Please, Father, minister to us this morning. We'll thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Matthew 7, a very familiar text. One of my favorite texts to preach on the street. Matthew 7. Verse 13, very simple text, he says, "...enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat, but straight is the gate, narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Notice there he says that that broad way is a way that leadeth to destruction. And it's amazing how many ways that we can destroy our lives in this world. The thing that struck me first when I looked at this text, and before I even started reading the text, I noticed it started with the number 13, Matthew 7, 13. And if you've ever studied any biblical numerology, E.W. Bullinger, he's the guy that wrote the book on number in Scripture, he gets into it in depth. 13 always denotes rebellion, apostasy, defection, disintegration, revolution, all that kind of stuff. It sounds like the 70s, doesn't it? How do you describe the 70s? Rebellion, apostasy, defection, disintegration, revolution, etc. So I saw the number 13 and I immediately began to think about rebellion. The first time the word 13 shows up in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 14 and verse 4. It says, 12 years they served Keter-Elamer. Now these are the five cities of the plain, which was Sodom and Gomorrah was two of those five. They had served Keter-Elamer. He was the dictator of the area. And in the 13th year, they rebelled. So again, noting 13 and rebellion. Then just three chapters later in Genesis 17, verse 25, it speaks about Ishmael. And Ishmael, his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and we know some things about Ishmael, and he was one that would disintegrate and defect and so on and so forth. Even the verse divisions in your King James Bible are very interesting. The numbers are not inspired, but boy, I'm telling you, there are some correlations in those numbers that are amazing. We'll go through them sometime, but it's just interesting to note that The first 13 that shows up, first chapter 13 is in Genesis 13 and verse 13 says, the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. So that will give you an idea of the 13. Numbers 13 begins with the 12 spies going into Canaan land which eventually they would reject the word of God. You get into Revelation chapter 13. All of Revelation chapter 13 is about the Antichrist. Revelation 13.13 is about the false prophet. So it is significant. And the thing is this morning that when you look at the number 13 you think about rebellion. And we talk about a self-destructive lifestyle. The underlying attitude of a self-destructive lifestyle is rebellion. That doesn't destroy your life. Underneath that is some aspect of rebellion. Turn your Bibles over to 1 Samuel 17. This is the classic text on rebellion. I'm not preaching on this this morning. This is just the introduction. We'll get into the text in just a little bit, but this thing of rebellion jumped up there. 1 Samuel 15, verse 23. Now you probably are familiar with the story. Saul is the king. Saul is, at this point, in a lousy job. Saul disobeys the command from the Lord. He wasn't supposed to keep Agag, the king, alive. He wasn't supposed to keep sheep alive and all that stuff. Samuel finally shows up. And in 1 Samuel 15, verse 23, Samuel says this, he said, "...for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being the king." So here we have rebellion equated to witchcraft and stubbornness, stubbornness and rebellion going together, iniquity and idolatry. And because thou hast rejected the Word, so to be rebellious and to be stubborn and all that is a rejection of the Word of God. Israel did have some problems with witchcraft. 2 Kings 9 talks about Jezebel and her witchcrafts. And it is interesting that no one names their kid Jezebel anymore. But wait, just wait, because paganism is coming back. We talked about that I think on Thursday night. Paganism is coming back. So eventually you are going to see children named Jezebel and Athaliah and Judas and all the bad people in the Bible. It will come. But Jezebel is known for her witchcraft. Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33.6, don't turn there, but listen to this description of King Manasseh. And I think he got himself right toward the end of his life while he was in captivity. But in his heyday, 2 Chronicles 33.6 says this, and he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Remember we talked about that? They would have that big brass statue burning in the valley and they'd toke it with fire and the brass would get red hot and people would come and sacrifice their babies on the arms of that red hot statue. He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the Son of Hinnom. Also he observed times, used enchantments and used witchcrafts and dealt with a familiar spirit, not just familiar spirits but a familiar spirit. So he had his secret friend. He had his invisible friend there. And with wizards, he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Witchcraft is one of the works of the flesh, Galatians 5. Exodus 22, verse 18, he said, now you're opposed to witchcraft. I think I am. Are you opposed to Halloween? Well, happy Halloween to you, but I'm not decorating my house. I'm telling you, isn't it insane what people are doing with their house? If you've done it, Lord willing, just enjoy what you're doing. We drove past a house, picked up a kid the other day at a house, and the front yard was a cemetery. And they had grave markings of family members' names and when they lived. What in the world is going on here? Well, listen, if you're into witchcraft and all that stuff, be glad you're living in the New Testament times. Because the first reference to witch in the Old Testament was, suffer not a witch to live. So thank God if you're a witch, you're in the New Testament times, you at least get to live. But note the relationship again between rebellion and witchcraft. Kind of go together. And rebellion is a serious matter. We talk about rebellion, you know, teenage rebellion and all that stuff. I don't think the nation of Israel had that problem. You say, really? A kid is supposed to be rebellious when they're 13? I know. According to psychologists, when a kid turns 13 he's supposed to be rebellious until he gets 18 or 19 or 20 and all that nonsense. I don't think Israel had that problem. So why do you think that? Take your Bible and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 21. Here's why I don't think they had a problem with that. If you're a young person this morning, if you can't find anything else to thank God for, thank Him that you're living in the New Testament. Thank Him that you're not living in the Old Testament time. Because Deuteronomy 21 verse 18 says this, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, they've chastened him, they didn't do the time out. They chased him. I mean, they whooped the boy, as we used to say. And it didn't work. We'll not hearken to them. Look at verse 19. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, bring him out unto the elders of the city and under the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. So this isn't a little kid. This is a teenager, this is probably an older teenager, who decided the party life is a whole lot better. I'm going to go out and eat, I'm going to drink, you know, the Epicurean lifestyle, eat, drink, and be merry. I'm going to go out and have me a good time. I'm going to party all night long and whatever, you know, all day long, however they sing it. And he says, this is what I'm going to do with my life. And his parents would tell him, get off the couch, go to work, get off the couch, get a job, get your hair cut, get a job. You know, we all heard that. Get a haircut, get a job, get to work, you know, make something out of your life and all that. And the kid just sat around getting drunk, sat around just eating all the time. And so they take him to the elders of the city and they say, this our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He's a glutton and a drunkard, verse 21. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die. How did they deal with teenage rebellion? Very quickly. Now you talk about corporal punishment. You say, preacher, are you advocating? I'm not advocating we do anything now like that, just for the record. I'm saying in the Old Testament time. And the reason I say, the reason I believe they didn't have that, that's pretty mean. How could God allow that? Show me a case in the Old Testament where that ever happened. He said, well, I didn't record everything. I know they didn't record everything, but show me a case or give me some proof that that ever happened. I don't think it ever happened because verse 21 says this, so shalt thou put evil away from among you and all Israel shall fear. So what do you think of a young man when he decided, I'm going to live the party life, and his mom and dad said, you know what, we may take a trip to the elders. He might have straightened up real quick. I think Deuteronomy 21 was more of a deterrent than anything else. Strict punishment is a deterrent to particular crimes. But I just wanted you to know that they took rebellion serious. Oh, isn't he cute how he stomps his feet? No, that's a bad thing. That's a bad thing. Rebellion is a serious thing. So I thought I'd just bring that up this morning. I'm not into the text yet. We'll get into the text here, you know, in just a second here. But just understand, you know, that rebellion is a bad thing and witchcraft is a bad thing. Happy Halloween. Witchcraft is a bad thing. Matthew 7, verse 13. Now let's get into the text. He says, "'Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.'" A gate is an opening. A gate is an entrance. A gate can be a barrier, but a gate is something that opens up to a particular path. So that brings about two questions. Number one, if I get to a gate, should I open it? Number two, how did I get to the gate to begin with? Friday night, believe it or not, we went to the Trump rally. We got there at 6.30, started at 6.30. That ought to be plenty of time, right? In my brilliant mind, I find this place, this parking lot by the college out there by the airport, Mesa, we're talking about Mesa Gateway. I thought, we'll park here. People are walking that way. Can't be too far down the road. a mile and a half later. We're walking out. We got to the area about 630. You walk down the road, curve this way, then you come back down this way. By the time we got there, there's no way you're going to get in to the hangar where he was at. And the overflow crowd was just all filled. So we're standing at the back of the overflow crowd and there are people coming behind us. And they had a screen on there, which you could kind of see something on it, but they didn't have the speakers loud enough where you could hear anything. So everybody turned around, walked a mile and a half back, got in our cars, listened to it on the radio. The point is, if we would have gotten there earlier and would have gotten to the hangar, there would have probably been a gate there that we would have had to go through. I would think so. Security and what have you. How would we have gotten to that gate? We would have walked to it if we had gotten that direction. How do people get to these decisions in their lives? A lot of times you walk toward it. You walk right into it. So here we have a pathway or a way. One is a gate that leads to destruction. The other one is a gate that leads to life. In this text, the text depicts the two gates, the wide and the straight gate. It depicts two ways, a broad way and a narrow way. The text depicts two results, destruction or life, and the text depicts two percentages, many and few. Let's talk about the wide gate and the broad way for just a minute because here's what the world offers. The world offers you broad way. If you've ever been to New York, you know what broad way is. The world offers you Broadway. The world says, anyway, take your pick. I mean, look at all those lanes. Just get on there. Do whatever you want to do, whatever makes you feel good. Head down Broadway. And a lot of folks have gotten on that pathway. And yet, Broadway is the way of self-destruction. You get on Broadway, you are on a road that's leading to destruction. And again, the world system offers many types, many ways for self-destructive lifestyles. I'm going to give you some examples this morning of people that have thrown their lives away. I'll give you some people that have chosen the rock lifestyle. In the mid-1970s, there was a guy named David Bowie. Some of you probably listened to him. Bowie became a drug-crazed recluse. His life at that time was described in the following terms. Listen to this. Friends who visited Bowie in Los Angeles reported that he was living in a room with a curtain permanently drawn. A bowl of cocaine prominently displayed on the coffee table. Scattered around the floor were books of occultism and mysticism. On the walls he scrawled magic pentagrams as protection against the curses he believed had been uttered against him. So convinced did he become that black magicians were planning to destroy him that he hired a white witch to perform an exorcism involving the burning of blue and white candles and the sprinkling of salt. He died in 2016. What a life. But doesn't that sound like fun? I want to get on the Broadway and live like that. Help yourself. How many remember Bill Haley? Was it Bill Haley in the Comets? He was a pioneer of rock and roll. It's said about him that police would often find him wandering aimlessly after nightfall, lost on some remote country lane, delirious, incoherent, suffering from amnesia. He moved into the garage, painted the windows black, and installed floodlights outside to ward off imagined enemies. Even to his own children, he told wild tales about being in the Marines and being a deputy sheriff, though he had never done those things. Before his death, he would visit restaurants and show the waitresses and various customers his driver's license, telling them he was Bill Haley. He died out of his mind in Harlequin, Texas, February 9, 1981. That's from a book called Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll. What a hero. What a lifestyle. Broad as a way and wide as a gate that leaded to destruction. Remember the who? Keith Moon, the drummer, exhibited psychotic behavior. He once drove a Lincoln Continental into a swimming pool. He destroyed hotel rooms, chopping one to bits with a hatchet, destroying the bed, the chairs, the television, the dresser, the doors, everything. Before his death in 1978 at age 31 from a drug overdose, he had become so strange and unpredictable that he was checked into a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. On one airline flight, he charged into the cockpit, drummed on the flight engineer's table, and attacked the stewardess. 1976, Moon drove his Rolls Royce over his chauffeur, Cornelius Boland, and killed him. What a life. I want to live like that. I want to get on that Broadway, man, and I want to be a famous rock and roll star because they got it made. Oh, yeah, they got it made. You say, well, preacher, I don't like that. I'll give you a list. I mean, this is just a few. I could give you a whole long list. I remember Jim Morrison, Doors. Rock and roll musician, his life reads like that of a maniac. Constant drunkenness, public nakedness, daily acid trips, destruction of private property, lewd public conduct, beating his girlfriends, threatening people with violence, stealing things even from his friends, cursing, blaspheming, lying, vandalizing public property. At the urging of his girlfriend, Morris saw a psychiatrist at least two times. Morrison admitted that he had to drink to silence the constant voices of demons, according to James Rorden in his book, Break on Through, The Life and Death of Jim Morrison. The door's photographer, Frank Lachandreau, stated that Jim drank to quiet the ceaseless clamor of the demons, ghosts, and spirits He drank because there were demons and voices and spirits shouting inside of his head and he found that one of the ways to quell them was with alcohol. What a life. What a life. Destructive lifestyle. Oh, you Christians, you have no fun. I'll take my life compared to that any day. I'll give you another destructive lifestyle. I haven't touched on this much. I've touched on it a little bit this morning because it's sensitive, but it's the LGBT lifestyle. And if you know what that means, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what it means, don't worry about it. But let me say this. Only the extremely naive would believe that this is just an alternate lifestyle. Again, I can't go into the detail on this, but let me guarantee you that it is not just an alternate lifestyle. It is a destructive lifestyle. It results in numerous health problems. 82% of all STDs were the result of the gay lifestyle, according to the Center for Disease Control. There are increases in AIDS, colon cancer, and hepatitis among some things. that lifestyle shortens the lifespan 8 to 20 years. And at the most, 9% survive to the age of 65. See if you've ever run across an LGBT person or a gay man or what have you that's over 65, he's alive by the grace of God. Because the majority of them are dead before they're 65. What kind of lifestyle are you leading that's going to take your life from you? Knock 8 to 20 years off your life. That's a lifestyle that spreads diseases because of the different contacts and what have you. Concerning the L of the LGBTQ crowd, they suffer from maximum risk factors for breast cancer and cervical cancers. There's a greater use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. And they have a higher rate of hepatitis C. times more likely to contact others who are at high risk of HIV. Six times more likely to abuse drugs intravenously. As far as monogamous relationships, one man, one man, which is what they wanted back in the Supreme Court case. That was the big issue. We want to be married just like anybody else. They wanted recognition. They wanted to be recognized as a lifestyle. They never intended to be married to the same person and be monogamous. Never intended that. In fact, only 2.7% claimed a monogamous relationship. 21.6, ready for this? 21.6 claimed 101 to 500 relationships. whether they were one night or one week or whatever. 101 to 500. That's not an alternate lifestyle. That's not, we want to be married just like you. Oh no, not just like me. That's not my lifestyle. That's a destructive lifestyle. We can go much into that if we need to. I'll give you another one. I'm not going to spend much time on this one. But another destructive lifestyle is, you ready for this? what we eat. That's why I'm not spending much time on this. But I remember Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee had sugar problems and he was overweight, got control of that, lost a lot of weight and so on and so forth. And he made this statement, he said, we're digging our graves with a knife and a fork. We're digging our graves with a knife and a fork. And as much as we hate it, those four dreaded words, eat right and exercise, That's probably good advice. And let me say this, the reason why this world is in the mess it's in is because of not eating right. You say, preacher, what in the world are you talking about? I remember correctly there were two people in a garden and God said, you can eat all this stuff here but don't eat that right there. And one of them said, you know, I want to eat this. and took a bite out of it and gave it to her husband. He ate out of it and as a result the whole world was plunged into sin for not eating right. So keep that in mind. And you think about it. We in America go through an unbelievable amount of food. I mean, you know, we've been to enough of these fellowships. We talk about our fellowship. Brother Bear and I, we've been to fellowships all across the country, you know, where people eat and what have you. And you see half a plates of food going in the trash. You see whole plates of food going in the trash. You see kids, that's why you got to watch kids when they get in line. You see kids get in line, man, they're pouring all kinds of stuff on, and they might eat half of it. Now, there are some that could probably do that twice. I know that of our kids here. But most of them, you know, they fill a big plate and they eat half of it. and the rest gets thrown away. We probably throw away more food in America than some countries have to eat. I've always wondered if the illegals that come here, maybe they're just coming here to get in our trash cans. Maybe it's just that we want to get to America because we know what's in their trash cans. We want to eat some of that. These are all destructive lifestyles. I could go on and on and on of all the way the world offers, all the broad ways and the wide gates you can go through, all the things that the world offers. for a person to destroy themselves. Jesus said the devil, the thief came not but to rob, to kill, and destroy. That's the devil. And the goal of Satan is to watch human beings just utterly destroy themselves, crash into the wall, kill themselves. Loves that. Loves that. Now back to Matthew chapter 7. Brought us away, wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in their head. Verse 14, but straight as a gate narrows the way which leadeth unto life. Notice he says straight. Now don't confuse S-T-R-A-I-T with S-T-R-I-G-H-T. It's two different things. Straight is narrow or strict. That's what it means from the 13th century. Tight, close-fitting, constricted, narrow. A straight way. Paul said, I am in a straight between two things. In other words, I'm constricted. So the straight way is, as it says, a narrow way. Straight gate, a narrow way. And let me say this, this is not a reference to holiness. Say, preacher, you tell me if I'm going to find life, I've got to be holy. I'm not saying that. You don't have to put your hair in the beehive hairdo and what have you. You don't have to dress like Little House on the Prairie. It's not talking about that. It's not talking about that. So what is the narrow way? Well, if you look at the text in verse 14 a little closely, there are two words that might give it away. Straight is the gate. and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life." Now think about it. Here's a verse that talks about way and life. Does that sound familiar? I think Jesus said in John Chapter 14 and verse 6, He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. So what is that narrow way? The narrow way that leads to life is truth. That's the narrow way. Again, it's not how a person lives, it's not trying to live a sinless life or anything like that. The narrow way is following the truth. Say, could you explain that? Let me show you how narrow truth is. You ready? 2 plus 2 is 4. Well, preacher, I think it's 5. You might want to think it's 5, but 2 plus 2 is 4. Well, couldn't 2 plus 2 be 3? No, 2 plus 2 is 4. Couldn't 2 plus 2 be 8 or 9? No, 2 plus 2 is 4. Well, you're just narrow-minded. You're a bigot. Call me what you want to call me. 2 plus 2 is 4. Well, isn't 2 plus 2 22? Not at the school I went to. 2 plus 2 is 4. Well, couldn't 2 plus 2 be 14? I mean, you people, you think your way is the right way and you only have the truth and all that stuff. You don't care about what other people think. You're not tolerant. You're intolerant and all that. Everybody has their ideas. Everybody has their beliefs. Hey, 2 plus 2 is 4. That's the truth. Now, if you can't handle that, don't become an architect or an engineer or get involved in physics or mechanics or whatever. You're going to kill yourself. Can you imagine an architect that doesn't believe that 2 plus 2 is 4? Can you imagine an engineer that struggles with 2 plus 2 being 4? I don't want to cut that building. He's building. You say, you're just narrow-minded. 2 plus 2 is 4. Next time you run across somebody on the street, you know, you Christians are guilty of exclusivism. Look at them and say, 2 plus 2 is 4. Well, you Christians, you're intolerant. Two plus two is four. And they'll look at you funny, what in the world are you talking about? Two plus two is four. It's not five, it's not three, it's not six, it's not seven, it's not 14, it's not 22, it's four. How exclusive. Truth is exclusive. And that's what he's talking about, the narrow way, the straight way, the straight gate, the narrow way, that is truth. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. So if I'm going to go through the straight gate in the narrow way, it's going to be Jesus Christ and the Word of God, period. Well, don't you think the Koran? No, I don't think the Koran. Don't you think of the Bhagavad Gita? No, not the Bhagavad Gita, not the Book of Mormon, not the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It is the Word of God and Jesus Christ, period. Those who go on the Broadway eventually find out that the... Now think about this. Here's this crowd on the Broadway. These are the tolerant people. Everybody, for who they are, heading down the Broadway. You know what happens on the Broadway? Eventually the Broadway does this. preached on Beale Street for quite a few years in Memphis, Tennessee. And occasionally there are some young ladies there that decide they're going to show you something. And I said to one young lady one time, show me that in 20 years. Because that ain't going to be 20 years from now, that ain't going to be. I mean that's fun right now for your age, but see it constricts. Broadway because of age, because of finance, either I have so much money I buy everything and it's no good or I don't have any money and what have you, but the Broadway constricts. You find out you're weak. Well, I used to. Yeah, but you don't anymore. And by the time it gets to the end, you know what you're on? A straight and a narrow path that's leading to destruction. Oh, you started out, man, I'm going to do it all. I'm going to party. I'm going to get high. I'm going to do all this stuff. I'm going to play my music. I'm going to be famous and all this and that. Now I'm sitting in a garage with the windows painted black because I'm hearing these voices in my head. Just like that. But those of us that get in the narrow way, we find out this. I am following Jesus Christ. I opened the straight gate, the narrow way, there He is. I remember May 28, 1975. I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I walked through the straight gate. I started on the narrow way. As soon as I got out, somebody reached out and took my hand. It had a hole in his hand. I said, I know who you are. We started down to walk this narrow pathway. And I'm thinking, this is okay. I mean, I may miss out on a lot of other stuff, but man, I'm heading for life. And I've got Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've got Him as my friend. I don't mind walking this narrow way. I walked a little bit, and you know what? It became from one lane to two lanes. I walked a little farther, it became from two lanes to three. Kind of like going down Christman Road. You go down Christman, it's one lane, and then it turns into two lanes, and by the high school, it turns into three lanes. I'm watching my way before. Here, all of a sudden, this narrow way is four lanes, five lanes, six. I'm watching this thing go just like that. And I'm thinking, this is great. This is something. You know, I walked through that gate at the age of 19, I'm thinking there's nothing God's going to do with this life. I mean, you know, what am I? I barely made it through high school. What could God do with me? If someone would have told me May 28, 1975 or May 29 or May 30, 1975, by the time you're over 60, listen, you're going to have family living in Greece, you're going to have family living in Tennessee, you're going to have family living in Yuma, you're going to have family in Toledo, and you're still going to have the four best kids still at home. I would have said, you're crazy. You're out of your mind. If someone would have told me, man, you're going to get a big bus and you're going to drive across this country, you're going to see all kinds of stuff, I would have said, you're crazy. But that narrow way just did this right here. You know it's interesting, you read the book of Job, Elihu who was the good guy, you know the three counselors, Larry, Moe, and Curley, they didn't do a good job. God's going to deal with them. Elihu shows up. He never gets rebuked. In fact, the Lord just picks up and finishes his message for him as you read through the book of Job. But Elihu said this in Job 36.16. He said, even so, He has removed thee out of the straight into a broad place where there is no straightness, and that which is set on thy table shall be full of fatness. He said the same thing. He said, God will take you out of this and open it up like this. and your table is going to be full of fatness. You know what bacon is? Fatness. I mean, you think about it, man. God is going to, and when it's all said and done, my pathway is going to get so wide, it's going to be 1,500 miles wide when I get to heaven. New Jerusalem, 1,500 miles wide. And yet this crowd over here, It says, I don't want Jesus, I don't want the Bible, I'm tired of Christianity, I'm sick of hearing about you preach, don't tell me about how to be saved, I'm going to live my life my own way, I'm going to do what I want to do. Do you really want to sit in the garage with the windows painted black? Yeah. The sister verse to Matthew 7, 13, and 14 is John 10, 10. Don't have to turn there, you know what it says. The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly." You know what that narrow way is? That narrow way gets me to heaven. No, no, you're missing it. Narrow way gets you to heaven, but the narrow way is life and life more abundantly. You say, preacher, you mean I'm going to win the lottery? No, that's not abundant life. You know, I think I mentioned before that they've done surveys of people that have won the lottery and how it destroyed their lives. There's more to life than money. And God can give you life and life more abundant if you take the straight way. So again, two gates, a wide gate and a straight gate. Two ways, a broad way and a narrow way. Two results, destruction or life, you take your pick. But let me do this and we'll be done here in just a minute. There's a two-fold application here for the Christian because the text depicts two percentages, many and few. Many there be which go in there at, few there be that find it. So there are more people who have lived on earth that will go to hell than go to heaven. And we talked about that when we went through the doctrine of hell. That's not counting aborted babies. That's not counting babies that die or children that die before the age of accountability and people that are retired and what have you. Heaven will probably be filled to capacity with all… I'm talking about people that lived on the earth. There are more people that have lived on this earth that have chosen to go the broad way and die and go to hell than there have been people getting saved. And they estimate it's 1 in 10, 10 percent. You say, you think it's only 10%? Go out on the street and pass some tracts out and then come back and tell me how many people said, oh, thank you, I'm saved. There'll be a few of you spending an hour, hour, two hours in a downtown Phoenix during lunch hour. There'll be two or three that'll say, oh, you know, I appreciate this. You know, I go to such and such a church or what have you. But it won't be nine out of 10. It won't be eight out of 10. It won't be six out of 10 or four out of 10. It'll barely be one out of 10. So it's estimated, you look at some scripture verses, we don't have time to get into that, it's estimated that 10% of the people that lived in this life that had a chance to choose Jesus Christ, 10% have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. Now let me make an application here. I'm going to give you two applications to this thing and then we'll head to the house, as I say down south. We'll head down to the house, we'll get the mule in the barn. and the too many camp meetings down south. Matthew 7 verse 14 says, few there be that find it. Are you saved this morning? You're in the few. You are part of the few that have found it. You are part of that minority group. So you can file for being a minority. You are part of that minority group that has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. You're part of the few. You're part of the few that know the truth. You got in on this thing. You have found the truth. You are, are you ready for this? You are the chosen few. You've got to thank God that that's the group you're in. Man, I'm part of the chosen few. I have gone the straight gate. I have gone down the narrow way. I am part of the chosen few. I have found the truth. You've got the truth. You know, when Jehovah's Witnesses greet each other, here's what they say to each other. How long have you been in the truth, brother? And they don't even have the truth. Muslims use the phrase al-haqq, the truth. They don't even have the truth. We got it. We got it. We got the truth. What a blessing. What a privilege to be part of a group that knows the truth, that went through the straight gate, that went down the narrow way. You got it. All right, here's application number two. if we really are the people in the know, as they say. Why do we ignore the truth so often and follow self-destructive behaviors? I just put a damper on the meeting. Why is it if we are the privileged people, the chosen few to have known the truth or know the truth, have a Bible that gives us the truth, why is it that we all so often turn our backs on the truth and start practicing self-destructive behavior. Why is that? It's such a wonderful thing to have the truth. I've got a Bible that gives me the truth. I know how to rightly divide it. I know how to interpret it. I've got a wonderful book. I ask myself the question, why do I do so many things that want to destroy myself? We worry when that book says, be careful for nothing but in all things of our prayer and supplication for Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Here's the truth, but we say, no, I'm going to worry. You realize worry is unhealthy? It causes stress. Stress is a terrible thing. Why is it we can't pray like God wants us to pray? You know, instead of worry. I mean, God's giving, I'm not just talking about praying. You know, I know people say, I prayed. You didn't pray. You said, God help me. That's all you said. God help me. I'm talking about serious prayer. I'm talking about getting on your face before God or on your knees before God and you got your promises. You may have them memorized. You may have had to go to the book, but you got your promises there and you're saying, Lord, I'm claiming some promises here. You said, and you quote him, quote the verses, and you said this, and you said, I'm talking serious prayer. You know when you do that? When you hit the wall. That's when we do that. Instead of doing it at the beginning, we wait until we hit the wall. Why do we do that? That's not the path we're on. That's not the way we're on, but we do it. We fear Christians suffering from phobias. The only phobia you're supposed to have is theophobia, fear of God. Why do we fear? God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. That's our path, power, love, sound mind. Why do we fear? We've got something that will never leave us nor forsake us. We forget that? Ever take a kid somewhere, you know, and they're scared? Give me your hand. Just give me your hand. And they're all right, why don't you give them your hand? Get their hand, you know. Jesus Christ said, give me your hand. Give me your hand. No, no, no. I'm scared. I'm scared. But I can handle this. I can handle this. The Lord says, just give me your hand. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I can take care of you. Cast all your care upon Me, for I careth for you. We have this tendency as Christians, I don't know if it's because of stupid influence in this world or what have you, but we have this tendency that we lean more towards the world's definition of masculinity and of femininity than the biblical description. Why is that? If I ask some of you, give me a couple of verses on how you should dress, you probably don't even have a couple of verses. Do you have at least one verse on how you should dress? The word is modesty. That's what's down our path, modesty. I'm not talking about slacks, I'm not talking about dresses, I'm talking modesty. Adorn yourself, the women, he's talking about the women, adorn yourself in modest apparel. But, you know, the fashion, yeah, I know, the fashion magazines and all that stuff tell you, you probably should dress like this. I tell you, you know, we've had enough kids, enough kids, come on, we've had three children get married to know this, that you're not going to find a modest wedding gown. So every time one of my kids has gotten married, They've got a wedding gown. We had a lady in Toledo, just outside of Toledo, that could modify wedding dresses. You always have to find somebody to fix the wedding dress and make it modest. And it amazes me that I've been in church weddings, church weddings, Christian people getting married, and you look at the dress of the bride, you look at the dress of the bridesmaids, and you're thinking, what are you thinking of? Well, it's a wedding, I can dress like a whore. No, you can't. Modest is modest. So our girls ended up making wedding, their own bridesmaids' dresses, you know, because you can't find modest stuff. I should go to the Mormon goodwill or what have you. Some of that is questionable. Why is it we do that? Why do we still bring in these destructive tendencies, these destructive behaviors into our life when we're on the path, we're on the truth, we've got the way to go, we've got a book to follow. Why don't we follow the book? Why don't we do it that way? Why don't we bring all the junk in? will raise our children according to worldly psychology instead of doing it the Bible way, nurture and admonition of the Lord. Because some psychologist said, who is just as smart as the stupid psychologist that taught him, who is as smart as Sigmund Freud, who wasn't. Sigmund Freud was a pervert and yet he is, you know, being taught today. Dr. Spock, oh yes, Dr. Spock. He was a jewel. He messed up more families, and then before he died, you know what, I think I had it all wrong. You know, when I go to my Bible, I don't get to the end of a book and it says, you know what, this is all wrong. We have a Bible that tells us how to raise our children. And yet we bring in Dr. Spock and Dr. whatever and Oprah and Dr. Phil and whatever. Why do we do that? Why do we do that? We're the chosen few. We've got the truth. We're on the right path. We've gotten away from the Broadway. Why are we bringing it back in? And that's what churches are doing all across America, bringing it back in. Because I guess they want to make the narrow way just as wicked as the broad way. I don't know. I'm done. I'm done. I'm just something to think about. Listen, go home today and rejoice in the fact that you're part of the chosen few. Rejoice in the fact that your way is going to get nice and broad for you. God's got so many blessings for you. Listen, but remember, don't bring in the destructive things that the world has. Maybe you ought to check your life. Maybe you ought to do a quick evaluation of your life and go through it in your mind and thinking, okay, these things in my life, are they destructive or are they of the Lord? Is this something God would have me to do or am I following one of the destructive ways that supposedly is so good? Am I following the wrong way or the right way? That might be what you need to do this morning. But I am thankful. I am thankful. May 28, 1975. I went through a straight gate. I went through a narrow way. Somebody took me by the hand and said, let me show you what I can do. Has that time happened in your life? Has there been that time in your life? Don't tell me you were born a Christian. That doesn't work that way. That's why Jesus said you must be born again. You can't be born a Christian. You're not a Christian by coming to church. Some old preacher said a long time ago, and it's redundant, but I'll say it again. If you walk into a garage, I think Billy Sunday said this, walking into a garage doesn't make you a car. Walking into a church doesn't make you a Christian. Have you taken the narrow way? It's your choice. Father, we thank You for Your Word