Thank you again for the invitation to be here with you today. It's a great blessing to be here and always a great privilege to seek to bring God's Word. I wonder if you'd turn to that passage we read from Matthew chapter 7, Matthew's Gospel chapter 7. We're going to be focusing on verses 13 and 14. Verses 13 and 14. There are many different views today as to what salvation entails. Many different views about how one becomes a Christian and indeed what a Christian is. What I want to do this evening is simply to consider from the Bible what Jesus Christ has to say on this vital matter. He, after all, is the head of the church. He is the one to whom we must all one day give account. We sang just now and we read, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. He, therefore, is the one to whom we should all listen. It's not my opinions you need to know. It's what Jesus Christ has to say. And here in verses 13 and 14, the Lord Jesus Christ says the following about the way of salvation. Very well-known words. that find it. Do you see what Jesus Christ, the head of the church, is saying in these verses? He's really setting before us two ways. One is the way of life. The other is the way of destruction or death. In the Old Testament, God said this through the prophet Jeremiah. This is Jeremiah 21 verse 8. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. And that is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ does in these verses here in Matthew 7. He sets before us the way of life and the way of death. Life here is likened by the Lord Jesus to a journey. A journey travelled either along the narrow way, which leads to life, or along the broad way, which leads to destruction. Consequently, in God's sight, there are but two kinds of people in this world. Some are on the broad way, others are on the narrow way. Jesus Christ makes a clear distinction between the two. And it's this distinction that is found throughout the entire Bible, between the saved and the unsaved, between the sheep and the goats. between the wheat and the chaff between either heaven or hell as being our final destination. Now, you don't need me to tell you that such teaching is not popular. We live in a day when we're told, well, all roads lead to God. We live in days of religious syncretism, conglomerate religion, And it really eliminates the need for choice. And we're told, well, so long as you're sincere, it doesn't really matter what you believe. We live in a day when the narrow way spoken of by Jesus here has been opened up to include all religions and even non-religions. Because we're told time and time again, a God of love will not send anyone to hell. Now isn't it significant, bearing that in mind, that immediately following those verses in which Jesus speaks of the broad and narrow way, he says with his very next breath, you notice, at verse 15, beware of false prophets. Those who, he says, come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Here are those who have every appearance, perhaps to be Christians, who appear to be following Christ. They come in sheep's clothing, but there's a great problem with them. They don't bring the chief shepherd's message. One of the marks of the false prophet in the Old Testament was this, that they spoke smooth things. You find that phrase time and time again. In other words, they told the people what they wanted to hear, rather than what God wanted them to hear. And the same is true today. The same is true today of false prophets. And there are many false prophets around. Jesus warned us that there would be in the last days. He said, many false prophets will arise and deceive many. That's a little later in Matthew's Gospel at chapter 24, verse 11. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many. And here in Matthew 7, he says to us, beware of them, he says. They will water down his teaching. They will cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They're professionals in the cult of deceit. Deceive themselves and deceiving others. ravenous wolves seeking to destroy the testimony of God's Word, seeking to obscure God's way of salvation from people, denying that the narrow way is the only way to life. And it's to be feared that great numbers have ignored the warning that Jesus Christ, the head of the church, gives here. But though that is so, the testimony of Jesus Christ will stand sure, because the sinking sand of human speculation is no substitute for the word of the living God. This word lives and abides forever. So let's come then to consider these words of Jesus Christ. Beginning there at verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight or the narrow gate, he says. I wouldn't deceive you this evening. There is a way which leads to life, eternal life. But there is also a way that leads to destruction, everlasting destruction. Which way are you on? And here at verse 13, Jesus tells us something important. He says, wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. He tells us that many are on the broad way. In other words, it's a crowded thoroughfare. Why is that, you may ask? Well, for one thing, it takes no effort to get on this way. It's a wide gate, says Jesus. It's extremely wide. In fact, it's as wide as humanity. It encompasses all people, all nations. We find ourselves on this broad way by virtue of the fact that we're born into this world with sinful natures. are all partakers, says the Bible, of the fallen sinful nature of Adam, the father of the human race. And that sin that we've inherited has alienated us, cut us off from God who is holy. Every one of us, if we truly knew our hearts, could say with the Prophet Jeremiah, I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity. So here is our dilemma. We entered the Y gate at birth. every single one of us. All have sinned, says the Bible, and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. We're born cut off from God. We're born separated from God. We're alienated from the life of God. Wide is the gate, exceedingly wide. It couldn't be wider. It's as wide as humanity, as I've said. It encompasses all people, all nations. Many, says Jesus, many are on the broad way that leads to destruction. Now you see straight away, this is the exact opposite of what we're told today. We're told, aren't we, that is if you believe in heaven at all, Most people are going to heaven. And hell, well, hell is reserved for a tiny minority of really wicked, evil people who've committed the most heinous of crimes. But Jesus says, it's the broad way that leads to destruction, which most people are on. And that broad way is filled with all kinds of people. People from all nations, all cultures, all kinds, rich people, poor people, proud people, the middle classes, the working classes, they're all on that broadway together. And they appear to be carefree with apparently no thought of the dreadful ending to which they're heading if they stay on that broadway. Another feature about those on the Broadway is this. Although they may have many differences, some may not even like one another. They may even hate one another. Yet they're united in opposing the narrow way that Jesus sets before us as being the way to life. It's amazing this. People are divided on numerous issues. I think if we spoke to one another tonight, we'd disagree on many, many things. We're divided on numerous issues, but united in rejecting, refusing God's way of salvation. Is there any strata of society, whether among the learned or the unlearned, that don't delight to pour scorn on the teaching of Jesus Christ here? So, something else about the broad way, there's unity among those on the broad way in opposing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Another thing about the broad way is this, it's an easy way. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean it's the way of least resistance. There's no limit to the amount of baggage we can take with us on the broad way. There's no need to leave anything behind. Our sins, our self-righteousness, our pride can all be kept. It's a way which allows for a wide diversity of opinions and a laxity of morals. If ever there was a day that proves that, it's the day, isn't it? It's the road of tolerance and permissiveness. It has no restrictions, no boundaries in either thought or conduct. It's a broad way. And travellers on the broad way just follow the desires of their fallen nature. And no effort is required. You need not change at all. You just keep on travelling along the broad way with everyone else, following the crowd. It's an easy way. It's an easy way. You might be saying to yourself this evening, while this is all very well, we have to say, but how can it be that so many people are wrong? It's clear that the vast majority agreed that the broad way is the right way. How can so many people be mistaken? Well, the answer to that is this. The broad way is not only an easy way, it's a deceptive way. It's a deceptive way. Those who are on it think they're wise. The Apostle Paul says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Here are people, you see, living for what they can see, for what they can touch, that which is concrete, which is real. And they say, well, I've only one life, so I'm going to live it to the full. I'm going to live it for myself, with no thought of God. It's the pathway of common sense, they tell us. But the Bible says this, there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death. It seems right. Large numbers are sure it's right. But in reality, it's the wrong way. The psalmist says in Psalm 1 and verse 6, the way of the ungodly shall perish. The Apostle Paul tells us the God of this world, he says, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They think they can see, but they're blind. The person who's thrown their lot in with this world has been blinded by the God of this world, Satan, says Paul. They think they're wise. They think they're enlightened. They look down on Christians, these narrow-minded people, they say, believing these teachings of Jesus long ago, adhering to the Bible. But in reality, the unbeliever is the one who is deceived. They need, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, they need that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ to shine into their hearts. Their great need, if they could but see it, is to get off the broad way, the way that can only be abandoned by repentance and faith in Christ. By conversion to God, That's what Jesus is speaking about in these verses when he says, enter ye in at the straight gate, the narrow gate. And notice he says at verse 14, through there be that find it. So this gate is not like the gate which is wide that leads to destruction. A gate that takes no effort to enter. This is a straight gate, a narrow gate. It's rather like a turnstile. only lets one person through at a time. As we enter this gate, numerous things have to be left behind. What kind of things, you say? One thing that must be left behind at the gate is worldliness, by which I mean the way of this world, the philosophy of the Godless outlook of this world. The world is on the Broadway. So by entering the narrow gate, you're making a break with the crowd. You're deliberately separating yourself from the crowd. And you're entering the narrow gate. And you can't take this world's mindset with you. Because from now on, you're going to live for Christ if you're a true Christian. You're going to serve Christ. You're going to obey his word. The Lord Jesus said, the great shepherd of the sheep said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and they hear it in his word. That means you're going to be looked at as rather odd or peculiar by the world. We're thinking this this morning because you're walking a different way. Christ's way, God's way, a holy way. Peter also mentions this in his first epistle, which we looked at today, 1 Peter 4.3. He speaks there of the Christian's former life, and this is what he says, when you walk, he says, in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In the next verse he says, in regard to these, they think it strange, he says, that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot. speaking evil of you. Bang up to date, isn't it? They think it strange. Those who are on the Broadway think it's strange when people are converted, when they begin to live for Christ. I can speak from experience. My father disowned me. He thought it was strange. They think it's strange when doing God's will and seeking him in prayer and reading his word becomes your chief delight. They think it's strange. And that's something we have to reckon with. It's not easy. Because we all like the approval of others, don't we? Our peers. We don't want to be thought as strange or different. But we will be if we're true Christians by the world. Why is that? It's very simple. We're living for things, you see, which are unseen, as we were thinking this morning. We're motivated by things that the unbeliever knows nothing about. Spiritual realities are our concern. They're foremost in our thinking now, in our hearts. We're seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And our aim, if we're true believers, is to be conformed to God and his word, not this world's dictates and values, whatever they might be. Let me direct your attention to another occasion when Jesus speaks about entering at the narrow gate. This is in Luke's Gospel, chapter 13. And in Luke's Gospel, chapter 13, he's asked a question at verse 23. Luke 13, verse 23. And the question was this, Lord, are there few that be saved? Some people have a Fascination, don't they? Very inquisitive. They have a detached interest in the number of people who are going to be saved. And Jesus there in Luke's Gospel, in his reply, he sets before us the principle that the one thing that should concern every single one of us is this, not how many are saved, but are we among them? Because that's what matters. Be sure you're one of them. And to show what lengths we should go to to make sure we're saved, he says this. This is Luke 13, verse 24. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. The same gate he's talking about here. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. What does that tell us? Well, it tells us it's not easy to enter in at the narrow gate. There are difficulties, there are obstacles to overcome. Strive, says Jesus. The Greek word there is agonizoma. Don't need to be a Greek scholar to see that's where we get the word agony from. The force of the sentence is this. Endeavor with strenuous zeal to enter through the narrow gate, says Jesus. That tells me this, that becoming a believer, becoming a Christian, is not the easy matter some consider it to be. Otherwise Jesus would not have said, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force, he says in Matthew 11 verse 12. Listen, it's those who see their need. It's those who see the perilous position they're in. It's those who are intent on being saved who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who strive and labour who say, this one thing I do. They are the ones who will enter at the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. And you may say to me, But I thought salvation was a free gift of God. I thought it was received by grace through faith. That's what I hear preached here every week, or I hope you do. I thought the gospel command was simply, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And that's true. That's true. But this is the point. Although the way of salvation is simple to understand, complying with the command is costly. It calls for self-denial. And unless we're truly awakened by God to our desperate plight, what will happen is this. We will count the cost and we will conclude the cost is too much. or otherwise we will do, sadly, what too many do. They embrace a form of Christianity which denies the power and just become religious people who in reality are no different from the world. It's a straight gate. It's a narrow gate, you see. It's cramped, it's confined, it's difficult to get through. For one thing, we can't pass through this gate unless we believe in God as he's revealed in the Bible. Unless we believe in God's teaching concerning himself. If we have any doubt at all about the reality or the being of God, or about the infallibility of his Word, we cannot be saved. The writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 11 and verse 6, without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. Must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. God is. God is. And what God declares in his word is true. And when God says we're all sinful, when he says we're all unclean, when he says there's no soundness in us spiritually, he means it. And entering the narrow gate means that you accept God's verdict. There's an old Christian chorus which puts it simply like this. By God's word, at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I spurned. Then my guilty soul, imploring, turned to Calvary. Entering the narrow gate means you accept God's verdict about you, that you're sinful, that you've nothing whatsoever to commend you to Christ or to God. You're on that broad way that leads to destruction. In fact, as the Bible says, you're without God and therefore you are without hope in this world. Now, you see, it's humbling. Nobody likes to hear this. It's humbling to accept God's verdict. It's hard to accept God's verdict. But unless we do, unless God speaks to our hearts and softens our hearts, we'll never receive it. Because we're sinful. We're proud people. We're rebellious people who think we know better than God. We're wise in our own conceit. But until and unless we acknowledge that God is, and that God is holy, and that his word is true, and we're worthy only of condemnation, we cannot be saved. It's a straight gate. It's a difficult way. It's a narrow gate that calls for repentance and self-denial. And if we're truly desirous of entering the way of life, We must enter that gate. We must turn from our sin. The gate is narrow. Sin must be left at the entrance to the way of life. You must be prepared to forsake all sin in order to be saved. That great preacher Spurgeon said this, you and your sins must separate or you and your God will never come together. No sin must be kept. There must be no skeletons in the cupboard. Of course, that's a great stumbling block to many. The need to deny self, the need to forsake all known sin. If any man would follow me, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. Self-denial. And while we're not willing to part with sin, we can't pass through the narrow gate. An illustration that used to be used often was that of if you put your hand in through the neck of a vase and grasp an object, you can't retrieve your hand so long as you hold on to that object. You must let it go. and we won't pass through the narrow gate while we selfishly cherish, hold on to known sin in our lives. The narrow gate, you see, is Jesus Christ. I am the door, he said. Or I'm the gate, if you like. I'm the door of the sheep. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. And it's when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see Christ, the Son of God, hanging upon the cross, bearing the penalty for our sin, hanging between heaven and earth, and bearing God's holy wrath against our sin in his body on the tree, that we begin to loathe and to abhor sin. All sin. Every sin. See, we need to ask ourselves the question, did the Son of God endure such agony and shame to redeem sinners? And we would treat His sufferings with such contempt to think that we can enter His kingdom, that we can truly be His disciples without loathing the sin that nailed Him to the tree. Do we think that? If we do, we're deceived. We're deceived. Never. It was a narrow way that brought God's Son from the glory of heaven to earth to die upon the cross. And it's a narrow way that leads to life for us. So this straight gate, this narrow gate, it really calls for surrender of self to Christ. And it calls for us to crown him as the Lord of our lives. That's what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 10 verse 9. If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Jesus never comes into someone's life just to save you. He comes as Lord as well. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. Some today want Jesus as saviour, but not as their Lord. They want to carry on living as they did before. They want to go to heaven, but they won't bow the knee to his Lordship. But the narrow gate is a gate that humbles all who pass through it. It's a gate where we fall at the feet of Christ, with Thomas, and say, my Lord and my God. The narrow way, the difficult way, is the way where daily you seek to do that which is pleasing to God and not to self. Narrow, difficult is the way, says Jesus in Matthew 7.14. It's not easy to follow Christ, you see. It's not easy to seek to walk in this world even as He walked, which we're called to do. If anybody tells you it is, they're liars. Jesus never said it would be. In this world you should have tribulation, he said to his disciples. However, there's a but. There's a glorious but. It's this. This way that Jesus speaks of is a blessed way. Blessed are those who mourn, he said earlier on in this sermon. Blessed are those who mourn because of their sin. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who long to be like Christ. They shall be filled, he says. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. How are such people blessed? Well, as you live for Christ, as you follow Christ, as you own Him as your Lord and Saviour, you know His glorious presence. You know the communion of the Holy Spirit. You know strength in your weakness. And you know joy and peace in your sorrow. Because Christ is with you. It's a difficult road. It's a narrow gate. But it's a blessed way. Have you ever entered upon it? Do you know Christ as your Lord and Saviour? I mentioned just now that he said, I am the door. Many have admired that door, you know. Many have considered Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary. They know in their hearts that the way back to God, to being made right with God, is to trust in Him. And they say, it's a beautiful gate, it's a wonderful door. It's amazing what God has done to make a way of escape for sinners. Yet they've never entered in. I'm the door. By me, if any man enter in, says Jesus, he shall be saved. Doors are for going through, you know. And you would enter in God's kingdom, you must enter in at a narrow gate. The old chorus says, and it's right, that Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus. And we come stripped of our own self-righteousness. We come stripped of our pride. We come owning a rebellion against God which has caused us to hold off perhaps all our lives at this point. You can't take that baggage through the narrow gate. And you simply say, Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Oh dear friend, determined by God's grace, be one of the few that find the narrow gate, that find Christ and God's salvation. It's no good looking anywhere else. Other foundation can no man lay, but that which is laid, Christ Jesus. And whatever you seek to build on, on the broad way, is sinking sand. Notice how Jesus said at the end, great will be the fall of that man's house. Great will be your fall, my friend, if you don't trust in Christ. Get off the broad way and cast yourself upon Christ. He's the solid rock. He's the eternal Son of God. He is the way, the truth and the life. You need to come and confess your need of him and receive him as your Lord and Savior. For the word is true, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord. Ciao.