What Baggage Must Go to Get Through the Gate?

The point: If you care not enough for life to look straight at the narrow gate and face its implications, look at the constricted way and face its implications, then you will indeed take that convenient and popular alternative of t…

The narrow gate is compared to a turnstile, where one must enter individually and either discard or separate their 'goods' from their person, illustrating the necessity of shedding baggage for conversion.

And the closest thing we have to it is most likely that which we identify as a turnstile in which you can only enter one by one, in which you must put down and either discard or push under the turnstile, or in some other way have your goods go through separate from your person. And our Lord issues this gracious and regal command to enter the kingdom through this narrow door or narrow gate. And then secondly we saw the gracious and regal warning to beware of an attractive and popular alternative to the narrow door. Enter in by the narrow gate for wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to...

4:13 - 5:04 Read in full sermon

The point: You can't push them under the turnstile and pick them up the other side. You cannot simply detach yourself for a while, find some kind of a spiritual locker, and put them in there to come back and take them along the way…

The man in Luke 12 who builds bigger barns and says, 'Soul, take your ease,' illustrates utter indifference to being right with God, highlighting the danger of unconcern.

In Luke chapter 12, our Lord paints the picture of a man utterly indifferent to being right with God. His business is blessed. he pulls down his barns and builds bigger ones, and then he says to himself, Soul, take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. You have much goods laid up for many years.

10:41 - 11:03 Read in full sermon

The point: If we're ever to get through the narrow gate, we must not only have that devil-inspired, devil-projected indifference to being right with God, shattered, to where like the Philippian jailer, nothing matters at any time o…

The Pharisee who brags about his good deeds before God illustrates self-deception regarding the basis of acceptance with God, contrasting with the publican's humility.

and like some of you sitting here, unconcerned about being right with God or we are deceived as to the only way of becoming right with God. And there you have a vivid picture a few chapters later in Luke chapter 18. Two men went up into the temple to pray. Luke 18.10, the one a Pharisee, The other a publican.

13:45 - 14:08 Read in full sermon

The point: If we're ever to get through the narrow gate, we must not only have that devil-inspired, devil-projected indifference to being right with God, shattered, to where like the Philippian jailer, nothing matters at any time o…

The hymn 'Just As I Am, Without One Plea' is quoted to express the posture of coming to Christ stripped of self-righteousness, relying solely on His blood.

And so the mark of all who enter that narrow gate is that they come through stripped of this disposition of self and self And they own in the language of the hymn that we sang tonight just as I am without one plea, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Jesus will say later on in Matthew 18, 3, Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.

18:15 - 19:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The first step inside that gate, we all stand as wretched, vile. hell deserving, wrath deserving, sinners whose only hope is in another, who lived the life we should live, died the death we deserve to die. It's a narrow …

Paul's words in Philippians 3 about counting all as 'scubala, refuse, dung' are used to illustrate the radical repudiation of self-righteousness for Christ.

They do not guide themselves. They are the helpless, the vulnerable, the weak ones. Jesus said, unless you be converted, turned about, and get away from all notions of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness, cast away the baggage of anything in you or done by you as the ground of your acceptance with God. And say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3, anything that was vain to me of religious background, of religious heritage, of religious activity, of my reputation among the religious crowd, I counted all but scubala, refuse, dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Him.

19:19 - 20:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The crown gets off your stinking unworthy head, and his crown is placed on your head. His symbol of authority, his scepter is stretched forth, and you cheerfully and delightfully bow and kiss that scepter...

Entering the kingdom is described as an 'exchange of government,' where one's own 'stinking unworthy head' is uncrowned, and Christ's crown and scepter are joyfully accepted, symbolizing the surrender of self-will.

That is what I am. When we come to this gate, this narrow gate by which we enter into the kingdom, The king in that kingdom, the king of grace, whose cross stands at that gate by which alone we have forgiveness and pardon and acceptance with God. He stands as king in his kingdom. And if you come into that kingdom, there's an exchange of government.

28:16 - 28:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Jesus said, you do that with self or you can't be my disciple.

Jesus' command to 'deny himself' is likened to Peter's denial of Jesus, meaning a total dissociation from the self that previously governed one's life.

And that's why Jesus, whenever he called people into attachment to himself, what was the first requirement? He turned and saw the multitudes and said, Any man will come after me. Let him deny himself. That's the word used when Peter cursed and denied, saying, I know not the man.

33:15 - 33:38 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are to enter the narrow gate, you must cast away from your heart the baggage of sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of your life.

Sin is personified as a master to whom unconverted individuals yield obedience, illustrating the deliberate and concrete nature of bondage to sin.

Jesus said in John 8, whosoever commits sin is the bond slave of sin. In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul is abundantly clear that by nature, every one of us practices sin. Sin is personified in Romans 6 as a master to whom we yield as a pattern of life obedience in the concreteness of our eyes, our ears, our hands, our tongues, our emotional and psychological capacities and appetites. Listen to what Paul could say.

41:17 - 41:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third piece of baggage is sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of life. Martin asserts that by nature, all are slaves to sin, yielding their members to unrighteousness…

Paul's description of yielding eyes to lust, tongue to gossip, ears to filth, and hands to forbidden objects illustrates the concrete, volitional nature of sin's dominion.

righteousness spoke its demands it spoke its voice of holiness and you acted like free men you said to the demands of righteousness echoed in the law and revealed will of God who are you to tell me what to do I have no allegiance to you my allegiance is to sin when sin said to me give me your eyes to lust I gave my eyes to sin when sin said give me your tongue to gossip give me your tongue to curse, give me your tongue to lie, give me your tongue to be sarcastic and wound and cut others, you gave your tongue. When sin said, give me your ears to listen to filth and to vileness. When sin said, g...

43:03 - 43:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third piece of baggage is sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of life. Martin asserts that by nature, all are slaves to sin, yielding their members to unrighteousness…

Job's covenant with his eyes is used as an example of the commitment to holiness in thought and desire required in the kingdom, contrasting with slavery to lust.

And He makes known that His reign of grace does not cancel the authority of the law, but that the law presses down upon them to shape their lives in all the length and breadth and depth of its significance. He says five times, you've heard that it was said, but I say to you, And this law will touch your thoughts and your eyes as well as your hands. They will no longer be slaves to the sin of lust and adultery. But you'll be able to say, with Job, I've made a covenant with my eyes.

45:01 - 45:33 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third piece of baggage is sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of life. Martin asserts that by nature, all are slaves to sin, yielding their members to unrighteousness…

The story of the rich young ruler is used to illustrate the necessity of repudiating 'darling sin' (his money) as a specific barrier to entering the narrow gate.

A kingdom of righteousness. a kingdom of holiness so you want to get through the narrow gate then you've got to settle it there at the gate you've got to cast away from your heart the baggage of sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of your life all sin your darling sin your sin that may be to you what riches were to the young ruler in Matthew 19. Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? I want to get through the gate and into the way that leads to life.

46:44 - 47:24 Read in full sermon

The point: For some of you it's the hand that reaches for inordinate amounts of food and you know you're digging your grave with your teeth... And you willfully, deliberately, oh yes, you whine about it, you say, I got a problem, b…

The phrase 'digging your grave with your teeth' is used to describe gluttony, emphasizing its destructive nature and linking it to the sin of murder by self-neglect.

Need I go on? Given enough specifics? Is your conscience at work? for some of you it's the hand that reaches for inordinate amounts of food and you know you're digging your grave with your teeth the medical evidence of the debilitating effect of obesity is conclusive and when God says you shall do no murder and the catechism answers the question what are we to do to keep that commandment we are to do all within our power to preserve our life and the life of others.

54:37 - 55:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Some of you it is your abuse of alcohol. You like getting your buzz on. There was no problem for me. As I said to one man years ago, it's no problem. Tell me that for three months you didn't touch a drop. If it's your Ch…

Martin recounts challenging a man who claimed Christian liberty in drinking to abstain for three months, revealing his addiction and illustrating the need to confront and forsake sin.

You like getting your buzz on. There was no problem for me. As I said to one man years ago, it's no problem. Tell me that for three months you didn't touch a drop.

55:42 - 55:53 Read in full sermon

The point: If you would enter the narrow gate, you must forsake from the heart the world and its ways as your chosen companion in life.

The 'lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life' are referred to as 'the world's trinity,' illustrating the core desires that define worldliness.

That's what the world is. It's that world that John says, love not the world, that system of things, neither the things that are in the world. Then he specifies the world's trinity. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the desire to enjoy things, the lust of the eyes, the desire to have things, and the vain glory of life, the desire to strut around and be somebody and thought to be somebody, is not of God, but is of the world.

61:41 - 62:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Then you and the world that have been walking arm in arm have got to have a radical divorce. An irrevocable divorce.

The necessary separation from the world is described as a 'radical divorce,' an 'irrevocable divorce,' symbolizing the complete break from its influence.

Then you and the world that have been walking arm in arm have got to have a radical divorce.

64:12 - 64:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Then you and the world that have been walking arm in arm have got to have a radical divorce. An irrevocable divorce.

The act of 'licking your fingers so the ring comes off real easy' and throwing it into the sea illustrates the decisive and permanent repudiation of the world as a companion.

This world system with its goals, its standards in all areas of life is an enemy of the God with whom I now seek to be a friend and who invites me into his kingdom. Therefore, world, I'm serving you notice. You lick your fingers so the ring comes off real easy. And you throw it in the depths of the sea.

64:35 - 64:57 Read in full sermon

The point: You want to be a friend of the world? You want worldlings to feel comfortable around you? You make yourself an enemy of God.

Martin shares his personal testimony of a 'fundamental divorce' from the world in 1952, specifically confronting his football friends with his newfound faith, illustrating the decisive break required.

Fifty-four years ago in January, the world and I had a fundamental divorce.

68:03 - 68:11 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The final piece of baggage is the world and its ways as a chosen companion. Martin defines 'the world' as the devil-controlled system of things with its own standards and goals…

Martin describes feeling like God used 'big oversized scissors' to cut the ribbon of his attachment to the world, symbolizing the liberating power of his conversion.

It's like God came with a big pair of scissors. You know those big oversized ones they use when they're cutting the ribbon to open up a new store or a new bank? I felt like the Lord took the ribbon and cut them. And I was free.

69:04 - 69:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The final piece of baggage is the world and its ways as a chosen companion. Martin defines 'the world' as the devil-controlled system of things with its own standards and goals…

Martin recounts his English teacher's disappointment that he was going into ministry, illustrating how forsaking the world means not caring about its opinions or ambitions for you.

And when the English teacher who had great ambitions for her, her prize pupil shook her head and said, What a waste that you're going into the ministry. It didn't ruffle my feathers one bit. She was a world thing. I kissed her goodbye that night too.

69:47 - 70:05 Read in full sermon