Entering By the Narrow Gate, Part 5

Introduction: The Call to Self-Examination and the Danger of Self-Deception

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, July 24th, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I urge you to follow with me in your Bibles as I read two portions of the Word of God. First of all, the passage that has been the focus of our attention for this, the third Lord's Day in succession, Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. Here our Lord Jesus speaking as He brings near to a conclusion what we commonly call the Sermon on the Mount. He addresses the multitudes saying, Enter in by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leads to destruction. And many, and many are they that enter in thereby.

1:10 For narrow is the gate and restricted the way that leads unto life. And few are they that find it. And now over to Paul of John's first letter, the first epistle of John. Toward the back of our Bibles, for those of you not too familiar with the location of the various books.

1:40 First John chapter 3, and then beginning with verse 4 and reading through verse 10.

1:51 First John 3, 4. Everyone who practices sin practices also lawlessness. And sin is...

2:04 is lawlessness. And you know that He, that is Christ, was manifested to take away sins. And in Him is no sin. Whosoever abides in Him does not practice sin.

2:26 Whosoever practices sin has not seen Him, neither knows Him. My little children, let no man lead you astray. He that practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that practices sin is of the devil.

2:52 For the devil sins from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is...

3:06 is begotten of God does not practice sin. Because His seed abides in Him, and He cannot practice sin because He is begotten of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever does not practice righteousness, is not of God.

3:40 Neither he who does not love his brother. Now let us again pray that God by the Holy Spirit will instruct us out of His own holy and infallible Word. Let us pray.

4:01 Holy Father, we bow in Your presence, that presence before which every one of our hearts is at peace. May we be at peace with You. May we be at peace with You. May we be at peace with You.

4:13 For You have said in Your Word that You search the heart. You try the inner being of every man, every boy, every girl, every person gathered in this place. And we pray that out of Your perfect knowledge of our hearts, that You will speak to us from Your holy Word. May that Word be a living Word this morning.

The Illustration of the Deluded King in Central Park

4:41 may it be a flashing sword whose point and whose cutting edge each one of us feels applied to our hearts to the end that we may be honest in our dealings with you as we all face that day when you will be honest in your dealings with us and either welcome us into heaven or cast us into hell help us then oh God to be honest with our own hearts before your word we plead in Jesus name, Amen now I want you boys and girls along with teenagers and mums and dads to use your imagination with me this morning and imagine that you and I and circle of well-known friends have gone into New York City to take a leisurely tour of the places where decent people dare to go if they're touring New York City as visitors or as tourists and at this particular point in our tour of such parts of the city we've come to Central Park on a bright sunny day

6:08 and we've entered one of the gates of that park and we have not walked long along one of the walking paths before we see a very strange looking man seated on one of the park benches as we draw close to him it's evident that he's a rather elderly man and he has on his head what appears from the distance to be a regular grocery sack with one end of it rolled up a little bit to give it a kind of a brim and the closer we look at it we see that this grocery sack has been spray-painted with gold-colored paint there it is perched on his head hung up on his ears that are turned down a little bit where the rolled up part catches his ears and we're fascinated as we get a little closer and notice that he is dressed in very old and tattered clothes but that the major part of that clothing is obviously what was once a very beautiful dark maroon velvet dress that he is now wearing and over which he has pulled some old knickers that he has gotten out of someone's attic back when knickers were part of a decent and respectable man's attire

7:36 for some of you kids don't know what knickers are they were pants that came down and had elastics just below the tassels and had al drafts of a certain size of a dress and that's at least a portion of a piece of clothing that he's been wearing. the knee and then you wore knee length socks underneath them and they were considered very proper dress some of the professional golfers have gone back to wearing knickers so what goes around comes around and then over his feet are pulled what seemed to be the closer we get some old world war ii issue combat boots crack dried leather and in his hand he has what looks like an old broomstick but that also has been obviously spray painted with gold spray paint and he looks innocent enough he's not harming anyone occasionally throws some peanuts to the pigeons and our curiosity overcomes us we just cannot stand to walk by him and we get a little closer and as we're convinced he's harmless one of the more bold in our group goes up and begins to talk to him and begins to find out who this man is lo and behold as conversation begins to pass between him and one of our group he tells us that he is a king and he begins to speak of how long he has been a

8:58 king how long he has reigned over his kingdom and he speaks with a very knowing smile and says don't you think i have a beautiful crown upon my head and don't you think my royal garb is exquisite in its beauty and the more conversation is carried on it's clear that this is not a professional actor or someone who's out just to pull people's legs he really does believe he's a king he really does believe that the paper sack on his head is a gold crown he really believes that his smelly moth-eaten velvet attire is beautiful royal attire and he really believes that the broomstick in his hand is a royal scepter and after a while we see someone comes sitting down next to him who obviously knows him well and this person is dressed as any other ordinary person and in due course we make the connection that this is the person who either is a friend or a guardian of this strange man and we take them aside and we ask them what's the scoop with this fellow and

10:14 they tell us that at one time he had a very keen mind had a high iq was a very respectable useful part of society but through the horrible effects of a strange disease and with the passing of the years and hardening of the arteries that his brain no longer keeps him in touch with reality

10:39 in his harmlessness his brain no longer functions to keep him in touch with the real world when he looks in the mirror he sees not who he really is but what his diseased brain tells him that he is he sees himself to be a king when he places his paper sack on his head he sees in his own mental faculties a crown and when he picks up his old broomstick he sees that he is a king and when he picks up his old broomstick sprayed with gold paint he sees a royal scepter and though he's harmless he's a pathetic picture of the tragic reality of what happens when the human brain under the influence of sin in the human race and disease and age no longer keeps a man in touch with reality and you feel a tremendous sense of pity and helplessness because here is a man who is out of touch with reality that's sad but i want to tell you something that's far more sad for that man is harmless in his demented state something far more

Spiritual Delusion: A Far Greater Tragedy

12:01 sad is when there are people with all of their mental faculties whose brains are functioning in a very normal and wholesome way

12:16 sit in a place like trinity baptist church and to hear the word of god preached who in their house strangers to what it means to enter the narrow gate they have never undergone that change that the bible calls a new birth they have never become what the bible calls new preachers in christ yet when they look in the mirror they see the world and they see the world in the mirror and they see the world in the mirror you see for yourself let's show gets as you might be took price and got 注意 news with quality they technique themselves to the lori still business disagree so if you have a problem headed kneel didn't 和 su but works in less They are the slaves of sin. They are the heirs of death and of hell. And yet they are under a spirit of delusion.

13:36 And it will only be the day of judgment and the fires of hell that will wrench them into the world of reality. And the scriptures make it plain.

13:56 It is true multitudes in every single. And it is because of that horrible reality that for the past five Lord's days I have been pressing home to your conscience this basic question. Are you for real? Yes, you claim to be a Christian.

14:23 You claim to believe in Christ. Yes, you profess to be united to the Son of God and have virtue of His righteousness as your possession. Yes, you have even perhaps confessed your faith in baptism before a group of elders and are a member of this or some other evangelical or even reformed church. But the question I'm pressing is this.

14:49 Are you for real? Do you have a paper bag on your head or a real crown? Do you have molten velvet? Or the true gold of the righteousness of Jesus Christ?

15:09 That tragic possibility of self-deception has led me to press the question Are you for real? And to give you the stuff with which to answer that question by examining a number of passages particularly in the New Testament which clearly describe the marks of those who are indeed for real. Who have something more than a mere profession of Christ. Who are genuinely united to the Lord Jesus.

15:48 Before we press on in our study this morning I want to underscore again if in responding to that question in the theater of your own conscience you accept any other standard for your answer but the Word of God you are leaving yourself vulnerable to a deception. That will have tragic and eternal consequences. A man of God preaching over 300 years ago on this very subject. His sermon was on the text Examine Yourself, Prove Yourself Whether You Be in the Faith.

16:26 And he made this point early in his sermon. Let us make the Word of God only in seeking to examine ourselves. This is the only impartial friend we can stick to. And therefore it ought to be made our main counselor.

16:50 The Word is the principle whereby grace is wrought and it is the medium whereby grace is known. As surely as it is by the Word of God that the grace of God is brought to the heart of man so says Mr. Charnock it is by the Word of God that grace is not only wrought but is known. The Word is that whereby we must judge of doctrine to the law and to the testimony.

17:24 If an angel from heaven speaks any other thing than what God has delivered in His Word that angel is not to be heard. It is also the rule whereby we must judge of graces. If conscience speak anything for a man's comfort that is not according to the Word such a conscience is to be silenced. If when we examine these passages which describe the marks of someone who is for real and looking at those passages your life is not a reflection of them and yet your conscience says you are for real Charnock says stuff this in the mouth of your conscience and tell your conscience to shut up lest it cooperate in your damnation. Peace. Peaceful conscience is not the issue. The issue is by what standard does conscience speak peace?

18:23 For the scripture says the mark of a false prophet and of a false conscience is they say peace, peace when there is no peace. And if some of you are honest you'll have to acknowledge that through these ten sermons in which I've pressed the question are you for real have brought to passages such as John, 10, 26 to 28 Philippians 3 and verse 3 Romans 5, Romans 8, 5 to 9 Matthew 7, 13 and 14 and a host of supportive texts you have not saved many with the prayer passages to remembrance what they taught it would shock us all if I asked and had the power to force public honesty for every man, woman, boy or girl who has heard one or more of these sermons who has not spent five minutes alone with God and searched me oh God to stand to his feet I think we'd be shocked

19:49 because you see the person most likely to slip into hell deceived is the one who is most confident he could never be deceived.

The Narrow Gate: Renouncing Self-Righteousness and Self-Will

20:04 It has been those whom I personally over many years of pastoral interaction would have the least doubts about their spiritual state who have been the most responsive to this series of messages and some of you concerning whom I have sleepless hours have given no indication that you've even felt a twitch of self-doubt. God have mercy on you I'm not filling the pulpit to earth with the word of God. I'm not filling the pulpit to earth with the word of God. I'm not filling the pulpit to earth with the word of God.

20:44 not filling the pulpit to earth with the word of God. 粉 what's happened to his brain

21:28 you are responsible if you remain deceived when the word of god has been brought close to your judgment and to your punch we have seen from the scriptures that if we are for real one of the marks of that reality will be that we've come through what jesus calls the narrow gate and we are found walking upon the restricted way for according to matthew 7 13 and 14 there is no entrance into eternal life unless we come by the narrow gate and reach it at the end of the restricted way this is why our lord jesus urges his hearers to enter in by the narrow gate for narrow is the gate and restricted way restricted the way that lead unto life they alone lead to life and though there be few that find it none attain to life but those few and if you would be among them you must get through the gate

22:54 and be found upon the way last lord's day having considered the inseparability of the gate and the way you you a reversible order of the gate and of the way we then began to focus on what is this gate and i said that it is a figure of speech for that mighty work of converting grace to turn from sin unto righteousness to turn in repentance and faith is to enter the narrow gate and the gate is narrow not because of the narrow gate but because of the narrow gate and the gate is narrow because of the because of any restriction in the mercy of god and in the overtures of that mercy through the gospel but it's a narrow gate because of the tragic reality of human sin the fact that we come up to it loaded down with all kinds of baggage and we must be stripped and we must unpack before we can enter that gate and we looked at two aspects of that stripping and unpacking labor last lord's day the first is that we must renounce from the heart all righteousness of our own as the ground of our acceptance with god that's why the gate is narrow

24:20 man does not want to be stripped of all righteousness of his own making and to take the posture of the publican in luke 18 god be merciful to me the sinner and secondly the sin of sin and the sin of sin and the sin of sin and the sin of sin and the sin of sin we must repudiate from the heart self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of our lives for those who were not with us last lord's day evening that was the entire focus of our study for the lord jesus made it clear that the fundamental requirement of discipleship is the repudiation of self as the governing principle of life if any man wills to come after me let him deny himself that's the baseline requirement of discipleship and paul says in second corinthians 5 15 then that he died that they who live should henceforth no longer live unto themselves but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again if you claim to be going to heaven on the basis of christ's death for sinners then his death will be the death of all sinners

25:37 for sinners has spelt your death to self and if his death for sinners has not existed your death to self-will and self-seeking you see for until the cross of christ has fundamentally slain the commitment to live for yourself it has not been the basis of the pardon of one of your sins and you better face that realistically and biblically you'll sing the hymn of the cross and you'll sing the hymn of the cross and you'll sing the hymn of the cross into hell clinging to your own cross but if you've got a cross that'll take you to heaven but doesn't slay your fundamental commitment to live for yourself that's a cross other than the cross of christ it's a damning cross and i fear that's the cross that some of you cling to god have mercy on you i do not make it any player i don't know how to bring the biblical witness any closer to your conscience and will you go out another lord with your paper bag on your head saying i'm a king when anyone who has rationality and even 2050 sight

26:57 says poor man he mistakes a paper bag for a true crown some of you self-centeredness and self-will and self-seeking ooze out of every pore of your being and yet you claim god have mercy on you now we come today and this will be our focus for the remainder of this morning and again god willing this evening that gate is a narrow gate not only because at that gate must there be a renouncing from the heart of all that we have done or have not done or hope not only a righteousness as the ground of our acceptance with god stripped down to where we're prepared in moral nakedness without of our foot to be clothed solely and completely in the righteousness of another that's why it's an arrow but it's also narrow because at that gate we must repudiate from the heart self will

The Narrow Gate: Renouncing Allegiance to the Mastery and Practice of Sin

28:17 and self seeking as the basic governing principle of life but it's a third reason why the gages narrowing it's this because of that gated we must renounce from the heart all the legions to the mastery and to the practice of sin As a pattern of our lives. We must renounce from the heart all allegiance to the mystery and as the pattern of our lives.

28:57 Now what do I mean by those words? We must renounce from the heart all allegiance to two things. And what is allegiance? That is voluntary loyalty and devotion.

29:10 That's what allegiance is. When you kids stand in that phase one auditorium, you who go to the Trinity Christian School, and you say, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. What are you saying when you say I pledge allegiance? You say I am pledging my loyalty, my devotion, not to a piece of cloth with some stars inside, stripes, insofar as it symbolizes and represents your country.

29:49 You are committing yourself voluntarily in a renewed act of public expression of what? Of loyalty and devotion to your country. That's what allegiance is. And what I am saying is this.

30:04 The gate is narrow because at that gate we must renounce from the heart all allegiance. That is all to two things. The mastery and the practice of sin. That is to sin as our gladly owned master and lord.

30:27 And to the specific acts of sin by which that mastery has been hitherto expressed. We must renounce from the heart. We must go through something more than a mere surface acknowledgement. I'm a sinner.

30:45 I've goofed up. I've goofed up. I've goofed up. I've goofed up.

30:46 Open up, Lord. Help me. No, no, no, no. Talking about something that touches the deepest springs of our being.

30:55 Renouncing from two things. The mastery and practice of sin as the pattern of our lives. So makes it clear that sin in the most holy, true Christian will always seek to regain and usurp its former lordship and mastery. And at certain points it does take over a mastery it ought not in this or that point.

31:27 But it never becomes the pattern in the life of a true child of God for the scripture says sin shall not exercise lordship over you for you are not under the law but under grace. And to prove that that disavowing of our loyalty to the mastery of sin is real. It will be manifested in the fact that we have renounced specific acts of sin as the pattern and the practice of our lives. Though we may be overcome in this sin or that sin.

32:05 And though Jesus said daily we must pray that God will forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. That he would forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. As we have read in 1 John. Whoever is born of God does not make a practice of sin.

32:25 Now that's why the gate is narrow. That's why the gate is narrow. Because as we come up to that gate. The scriptures tell us there must be a renouncing from the heart.

The Sermon on the Mount: A Kingdom of Righteousness

32:40 All allegiance to the mastery and the practice of sin as the pattern of our lives. Now we said in our initial study that. It is the Sermon on the Mount that becomes the key to understanding the concept of the narrow gate. And spend just a couple of minutes with me and see how pervasive is the emphasis in this sermon.

33:04 On the fact that the kingdom that Jesus came to establish is a kingdom where sin is to be hated. Sin is repudiated. Righteousness is loved. Righteousness is practiced.

33:19 It is practiced. It is a kingdom of purity, of holiness, and of righteousness. Open your Bibles and very quickly look with me at several aspects of the sermon in a very broad overview. What is the first description of the sons and daughters of the kingdom?

33:40 Verse 3 of chapter 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn. He says the people who belong to my kingdom in one sense are sad people.

34:02 They are continually mourning. And what is the greatest grief to a true member of the kingdom of heaven? It is not the loss of his reputation, the loss of his goods, the loss of anything else. It is the reality of sin in his heart.

34:17 Though God has pardoned, forgiven him, accepted him, brought him to the kingdom of grace. And has pledged to keep him to the kingdom of glory. He still sins against so gracious and glorious a God. He must sing from the heart as we sang this morning.

34:39 We have not loved thee as we ought. We have not feared thee as we ought. We have not served thee as we ought. When shall I love and fear and serve as I ought?

34:53 Why are the blessed people the poor in spirit? Who have nothing, can do nothing but sin in themselves. And they know it. And they look out of themselves to another for righteousness.

35:06 Why do they mourn? Look at them in verse 6. They are described as those who have a yearning for righteousness that has parallels with the physical appetites of hunger and thirst. Hunger.

35:22 Real hunger pains are not pleasant sensations. Real. Thirst is not a pleasant sensation. They are natures painful that there is not sufficient food and drink.

35:40 And God says those in my kingdom are those who know the pain of true hunger and thirst. For what? Not for money. Not for ease.

35:50 Not for reputation. But for righteousness. The opposite of sin. They see so much unrighteousness yet in them.

35:58 They see so many areas where the kingdom of righteousness has not extended its scepter. They hunger and they thirst for righteousness. Look at them in verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart.

36:12 Puritive heart does not speak of sinless perfection. It speaks of singleness of purpose. A pure heart is an undivided heart. It is a heart that is set upon loving Christ supremely.

36:24 Loving God with undivided devotion. Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God.

36:34 And then they are described in verse 10 as those who are persecuted for what? For righteousness sake. Their mission of allegiance to the mastery and practice of sin as a way of life is so real that they can't live their lives in a sin-cursed world where their fellow mortals are under the dominion of sin and practice sin without their lives exposing themselves. They can't live their lives in a sin-cursed world where their fellow mortals are under the dominion of sin and practice sin without their lives exposing themselves.

37:02 Those for what they are and therefore as the world hated Christ it hates those who are his true people and Jesus assumes they'll be persecuted for not for their stupidity's sake, not for their boorishness' sake, but for true righteousness. They are so enveloped in a context of a lifestyle of righteousness that the world can't stand them and it persecutes them. Now how does a person become one described in the Bible? By attitudes unless he gets through the narrow gate where at the entrance of that gate there is a renouncing from the heart all allegiance to the mastery and to the practice of sin as a way of life. And you read on in chapter 5 and he describes his people in their corporate life as the salt of the earth. All of society is in a putrefying state. But they have been transformed.

38:06 By the grace of God and their lives are now salt to check the putrefaction. They're not a part of it. And in a world of moral darkness they are the city set on the hill. They are the light of the world.

38:19 From them emanates the light of practical godliness and holiness of character, of word, of desire, of action and reaction. Why? Because at the gate they settled the issue all voluntary allegiance to the master. The mastery and practice of sin as a way of life was renounced and repudiated.

38:42 And now as a company of renouncers and repudiators they are salt and they are light. You read the rest of chapter 5 and Jesus describes the subject of his kingdom as those who are concerned with the least of his commands. Verse 19, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and teach men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

39:13 I say unto you accept your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and the pharisees you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. It's a kingdom in which both the gradation of reward and entrance or exclusion has to do with this issue called righteousness defined by the law of God. In other words in that kingdom into which we enter through the gate. Righteousness defined reigns supreme.

39:43 And it is the great passion in the heart of all who get through the gate to be governed by that law of righteousness. And when Jesus goes on to expound the commandments he makes it plain that they touch not just the outward deeds. Murder has its seeds in ill will. Adultery in the lustful glance.

40:06 And those who are in his kingdom are committed. To have the law of God touch them not only in their outward lives where their hands go and don't go where their feet go and don't go what their tongue says and doesn't say. But in the deepest springs of motive and desire where the eyes rest. The members of his kingdom are committed to the standard of verse forty eight.

40:31 You shall be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect though they know they will never attain to that perfection. With all their heart. This is their greatest burden that they cannot attain to it. And their greatest joy in anticipating heaven is that they shall.

40:50 And for those who say I will never be perfect. That statement becomes the couch and bed of ease on which you lie. It's because you've never gotten through the gate. When someone who's come through the gate says no one's perfect he says it with a broken heart.

41:08 And with a heart that yearns for whom he's perfect. And with a heart that yearns for whom he's perfect. And with a heart that yearns for whom he's perfect. And with a heart that yearns for whom he's perfect.

41:11 Oh one day I shall be when I see him as He is. And I shall honor him especially. I shall like him. And you go on into chapter six.

41:19 Look at the theme again. And then you go on into chapter six. Look at the theme again. Do not your righteousness' before men.

41:24 Because he can't escape it. He said in my kingdom even your external religious duties are to be viewed in terms of righteousnesses. And he talks about alms giving. And praying and fasting.

41:40 And he says amongst my people the great concern is not that amount that you would number an cent a week. It's not whether your fellow men see you engaged in these deeds, but your great concern is the eye of your Father. You see, what's happened? At the gate, there has been a renouncing from the heart of all allegiance to the mastery and practice of sin.

42:00 There is a new master and a new allegiance. And it is to the living God revealed in Jesus Christ. And there is a passionate desire to know that when I pray and when I give and when I fast, I do so in such a way that my Father is pleased. Let the whole world see me as a saint if my Father doesn't smile.

42:26 Who cares?

42:29 That's the emphasis of chapter 6, the first half of it. And the last half of it is what? It's about the world of things, the world of food and clothing. And what does our Lord say?

42:40 Here, he says our great concern in his summary statement, verse 33. Seek his kingdom first and his righteousness. You can't get away from it, folks. With respect to legitimate concerns about food and drink and clothing, the most passionate concern of the child of God is to maintain a commitment to righteousness, even in the real world of food and clothing and housing and bills and mortgages and all that.

43:11 You see, the gate's narrow because at that gate there has to be a renouncing from the heart of all allegiance to the mastery and practice of sin as the pattern of our lives.

43:35 You see that emphasis in the Sermon on the Mount? I hope you see it. I haven't read it into it. It's there wherever you turn.

43:42 The notion that you can just come up to the gate, get up to the gate, get up to Jesus, pick up a few little new habits like reading your Bible once in a while and praying and going to church and all this. You won't find that in his mouth than that which some of you think it is.

44:11 That's why Jesus said, get through the narrow gate. Get through the narrow gate.

44:20 Because there is always the pleasing alternative that stands open right next to it. The big wide gate. Where you need not be stripped. You need not unpack.

44:33 The big wide gate where you can go tripping through with all of your allegiance to sin and your love of self and your subtle forms of self-righteousness. You don't need any stripping. All you need to do is throw on a cheap garment called, I belong to Jesus. And be respectable.

44:52 And you get through that gate and onto a big unrestricted way where you can have everything the world has. Plus, the hope of heaven to come. And you'll end up in hell for that gate in that way lead to destruction.

The Natural Condition of Man: Slave of Sin

45:08 And Jesus said in the day of judgment there are going to be many who say, Lord, Lord. And he's going to say, I never knew you.

45:17 Well, having explained the words, having seen that the emphasis of the Sermon on the Mount does indeed warrant those words, consider with me as we try to press on in analyzing this. It says, the condition of all men by nature when they come to the gate, the command to all men if they would enter the gate, and the condition of all men if they have come through the gate. What is the condition of all men by nature as they stand before the narrow gate? Well, again, use your imagination.

45:52 Every one of us comes to that gate and we have a big bright cap on and on the front of that cap are embossed the letters. S. O. S. S. O. S. And we look down from the cap, we see that everyone who stands before that gate has a chain around his neck to which is attached what looks at first sight like a bib, but upon closer examination, it's a big road map around the neck. And then, sad, sad, sad reality. Everyone who stands before that gate has a chain from every member of his body, from his arms, his fingers, his ears, his eyes. Think of chains going out all over like the tentacles of an octopus, chains going out and those chains are wrapped around large boulders.

46:56 And on those boulders are the names of the sins committed by the various members of the body. The hands stealing. Touching, but they should not touch. The eyes lusting and coveting.

47:14 The ears listening to filth and to gossip. The feet going into forbidden paths. You see the picture? Every one of us comes up to the gate and we have the hat with the letters embossed S.

47:27 O. S. Around our neck is a smaller chain and a bib that has all the markings of a road map. And from every member of the body are chains going out attached to massive blocks of stone, concrete...

47:45 So pastor, what in the world are you talking about? Maybe you're getting heartening of the arthritis? No? I want that picture to be embedded.

48:03 What's the cap? S.O.S, Slave of Sin.

48:07 By nature every one of us comes to that gate. And until grace has liberated us, we are the slave of sin. Never will the grace of God succeed. Because in friends, there are just as many years ever.

48:13 Next universe this universe will bring Haus und helfen. There is venture to happen here. And by nature, life, love, happiness, glory, grace is bound to be finishing off our greatschimb. And even before grace passes away, we will deliver the free will of grace to the come to our Lord Jesus And he says, Slaves of sin.

48:16 How do we know that? Two key texts of Scripture. Jesus said in John 8, in verse 34, Whosoever commits sin is the bond slave of sin. When sin is our pattern and practice of life, it's because we are slaves of sin as a master.

48:43 Slave of sin. Polite, respectable, impolite, unrespectable, up and out, down and out, and everything in between. Whosoever lives a lifestyle characterized by sin is the slave of sin. Romans chapter 6, the truth is taught in undeniable language.

49:06 Listen to chapter 6, verses 16 and 17. Paul writing to people, some of whom were very religious in their background, some of whom lived very respectable lives, others who were the dregs of society, but they had this in common. Verse 16 of Romans chapter 6, Know you not that to whom you present yourselves slaves unto obedience? His slaves you are whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.

49:39 But thanks be to God that whereas, you were the slaves of sin. Here is a clear, unmistakable statement that every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, by nature, is the willing, voluntary, bond-slave of sin. We all have on the cap, S-O-S, slave of sin. In Adam's personal choice and volition, I am the slave of sin.

50:13 And what is the road map around my neck hanging down like a bib to which I can make constant reference? Well, on that map you don't have I-95 and I-80 or 202 and Route 23. All of the roads are marked with one of two letter symbols.

50:36 You look at any one of them and it either has L of F or L of M. Look at this map, L of F. Look at this one, L of M. L of F, L of M.

50:48 L of M, L of F. What's its then? Ephesians chapter 2 answers the question. Paul says, By nature all of us, with the powers of darkness agitating and governing and controlling our lifestyle, what determined the directions we would go, whether we go left or right, whether we go north, south, east or west?

51:14 Look at Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3. Among whom we also once lived in the lust of our flesh. L of F.

51:24 Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Lust of the flesh, lust of the mind. He says that's what our life was all about. We took the direction that the lust of our flesh dictated or the lust of our mind.

51:42 Whatever road we took, it was L of F or L of M. That's you. That's me by nature. Living by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the mind.

51:59 With all of us having our cap on. Slaves of sin.

52:06 And then out from every member of the body are the chains that bind us to our specific sins. Go back to Romans 6.19 and you see the clear statement of it from the word of God. I speak.

52:24 Look after the manner of men because of the weakness of your flesh as you presented your members. That is the various faculties of your humanity. Your mind, your tongue, your ears, your hands, your feet. These are your members.

52:43 Your faculties as a human being in a psychosomatic entity. A body, soul, existence. You present it. There is the volitional element.

52:54 You willingly presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to iniquity. Unto iniquity. There's the chains. Chains forged by our own acts of a depraved will.

53:11 Chaining us to one form of iniquity after another. The peculiar iniquities of the ear, of the tongue, of the eyes, of the hands, of the feet, of the affections, of the ambition, the energy. All of our faculties had a chain binding us to some peculiar manifestation of iniquity unto iniquity and uncleanness. Now that's the condition of every one of us.

53:44 You say, Pastor Martin, that was never my condition, my friend. That's part of the tragedy of sin. You're like the guy sitting in Central Park. You're out of your mind.

53:56 That's why you don't see this. That's a real description of you. You're living in the never-never land of spiritual ignorance of your true state. Because the scripture says that's true of every one of us.

54:10 Every one of us.

The Command at the Gate: Break the Chains of Sin

54:17 That's the condition of all of us by nature. Our cap, our bib map, and our chains. Now then, standing in that condition before the gate, that's the condition of all of us by nature when we come to the gate. What is the command to all men?

54:35 Even if they would enter the gate, listen carefully. The command is, take your cap off and change your loyalty from slave of sin to slave of God, of Christ, and of righteousness.

54:54 Tell you no lie. Lust and lust to the mind. But now it's going to be dictated by the revealed will of God in Holy Scripture.

55:15 And no longer are you going to have the chains that bind you to this world. This iniquity and that and to the other. The call is to hold up your chains to the great liberator. That he would break them.

55:31 That he would utterly remove them. That he would bind you to himself and to righteousness. And those very members would now be chained by links forged in the grace of God, in the mercy of Christ, and in the ministry of the Spirit. So that those very hands, hands that were chained to uncleanness and iniquity will now be in the language of Romans 6 chained to righteousness.

56:01 So that those very members become instruments of doing what is right and pleasing to God. That the eyes that once burned with lust will now look out with compassion upon sinners. Will look out for human need that I may minister to. A tongue that once was filled with lies.

56:21 And cursing and bitterness and acrimony. Will be a tongue that speaks truth. Will be a tongue that speaks purity. A tongue that speaks words of life.

56:33 And hands that stole and touched inordinate and touched forbidden objects will be hands that now work and honorably earn. And will not touch a penny that belongs to another. Hands that will be instruments of righteousness and feed instruments of righteousness. To us, at that gate, to the call that goes out to those standing with their cap and their bid map and their chains is always a call not only to enter and have forgiveness.

57:06 To enter and have pardon. To ENTER! And have a righteousness, not of our own. Bless God, that is part of the call.

57:15 But listen carefully. Every call to obtain And to receive the mercy of God is joined with a call to take your cap off, tear your bib off, and cry to God to take your chains off.

God's Mercy Joined with the Demand for Repentance

57:35 And the tragedy in our people have been told. You can stand in the church and hear the call to have forgiveness and mercy. And that's all that matters, my friend. That's not all that matters.

57:49 And I want you to open your Bibles with me and look at four or five clear texts of Scripture. That make it plain that when God's call at the gate goes out to give mercy to the vilest of sinners, it is not to sinners who are determined to go on in the mastery of sin and in the practice of sin. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1, one of the richest, most beautiful promises of mercy to the vilest of sinners.

58:22 Words familiar to many of us. Just a memory of all our snow this time of the year. This year, I'm sure, is refreshing to us. It was a pain in the neck back when it was on the ground three feet deep.

58:36 But the thought of it brings a little refreshing in this hot summer. But listen to the promise of verse 18. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, deeply ingrained as scarlet dye, they shall be as white as snow.

58:57 Though they be red. Red like crimson, they shall be as wool. There's the promise of mercy that goes out to those whose souls have been so steeped in sin that it is as indelible as scarlet dye. God says, I can handle it.

59:18 I am well able to cleanse you whiter than the new fallen snow. Will you look at what precedes and follows? That mark. Marvelous call to embrace the mercy of God.

59:33 Look at verse 16. Wash you. Make you clean. Away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.

59:45 Not just enough evil that will make you respectable.

59:51 See, God says, the evil of your heart as well as of your outward life.

59:58 Learn to do well.

60:01 Life of holiness. See justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless.

60:07 Plead for the widow. Get out of your self-centeredness and preoccupation with your own interest. That's the call. Now he says, Come now, let us reason together.

60:19 Though your sins be as scarlet, white as snow. Look at verses 19 and 20. If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat of the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword.

60:34 For the mouth of the Lord is strong. He hath spoken it.

60:37 Isn't it amazing how people have lifted verse 18 out and hung it up in isolation? From verses 16, 17, 19, and 20. What God has joined, let no man put asunder. God has joined his promise of mercy through his demand to cease from allegiance to sin.

61:05 God says you must renounce from the heart all allegiance. To the mastery and the practice of sin is the pattern of your life. If you would know the mercy that he promises to the vilest and to the most deeply died sinners who will come in the way of his appointment. Turn over to Isaiah 55.

61:30 This is the teaching of God in the Old and the New Testaments. Chapter 53, most of you know, is the marvelous prophecy of the suffering. The sufferings of the servant of Jehovah, the ground of the sinner's hope for pardon and forgiveness. Chapter 54 is a wonderful chapter of comfort and consolation of how the kingdom of God will be extended and established on the grounds of the sufferings of the servant of Jehovah.

62:00 Chapter 55 is a marvelous invitation to come and partake of gospel privileges. And under the imagery of a street hawker, Jehovah says, Oh, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. He who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

62:23 Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me and eat that which is good. And let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear.

62:39 Come unto me here and your soul shall live. Marvelous gospel promise. God says all that is needed to fill the deepest needs of the soul I have and it's yours without money and without price. But now verse 6, God goes right on to say, Seek the Lord while he may be found.

63:03 All of these blessings are in him. Seek him while he may be found. Call upon him. While he is near.

63:11 And in what posture must I seek him and these blessings and call upon him for these very mercies? Let the wicked forsake his way. Not let him dabble with one or two of the grosser expressions of his way. Without which he couldn't give a credible testimony before a group of elders.

63:30 No. Let the wicked abandon his way. The holy renounce it. Let the wicked forsake his way.

63:42 Let it not just be. The external and the unrighteous man his thoughts. All of those thoughts about God that aren't according to truth. Hard thoughts of God and of his law and of his righteous standards.

63:59 All of your wicked thoughts. Your vile thoughts. Your thoughts of lust. Of envy.

64:05 Of envy and of anger and of jealousy. All of your thoughts in which you conceive plans according to. L of M and L of F. The road map you see.

64:18 Where your whole life's been dictated by doing your own thing and thinking your own thoughts. Tear the big map off. Let the wicked forsake his way. The unrighteous man his thoughts.

64:31 And let him return unto Jehovah. Tear your cap off. No longer the slave of sin. You're going to be the bond slave of the God who made you.

64:43 Who has the rightful claims of Christ. Creator over you. And who in his son has purchased redemption. Tear the cap off.

64:51 Return unto the God that made you. To live for that God. To honor that God. To serve that God.

64:59 Not simply to grab his goodies and go running back to live your own way. So that you won't have to go to hell. In your mind.

65:10 Because you've grabbed some goodies from God. Not according to this passage. The wicked must forsake. His way.

65:16 The unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him. Upon who?

65:24 Upon the person that forsakes his way. And who forsakes his thoughts. He doesn't have mercy on those of you. That have got just enough of Jesus and the gospel in your head.

65:34 To make you feel comfortable that all is well. But not enough to change radically. The mastery of your life. And the patterns and practice of your life.

65:44 There's no mercy for you. There's no mercy for you. Hell will have its hottest places for people like you. You've turned the grace of God into a license for sin.

65:53 You've turned the grace of God. Into an excuse to go on living for yourself. Without any fear of judgment.

66:02 At least your neighbor has haunting fears. You'll go to hell for the way he lives. You don't even have those. Because you've got just enough of Christ in the gospel.

66:10 To make you think all is well. But you have not renounced from the heart. Your allegiance to the mastery. Of sin.

66:18 Your allegiance to the practice of sin as a pattern of life. And God's overtures of mercy always join the two. You find it. Time has gone from us.

The Condition of Those Who Enter the Gate: Dominion of Sin Broken

66:29 Ezekiel chapter 18 verses 30 to 32. Similar emphasis in the Old Testament. The book of Hosea. We could bring text after text.

66:39 And what is true of the old is true of the new. Jesus said that repentance unto remission of sin. Should be preached in his name. From among all the nations.

66:48 Luke 24 45 to 47. Peter said in Acts 3 19. Repent and be converted in order that your sins may be blotted out. Paul said in Acts 26 20.

67:01 He preached that men should repent. And turn to God doing works. Meet for answering to repentance.

67:11 And so our condition at the gate. We've got the cap. The map and the chains. The call goes out.

67:17 Tear your cap off.

67:21 Put up your chains to be broken by another.

67:25 And then the condition of all who get through the gate. God says the dominion of sin is broken. Romans 6 says sin shall not have the lordship over you. If you're in the orbit of grace.

67:36 You were the slaves of sin. You are now the bond slaves of God and of righteousness. He doesn't say you ought to be. You may eventually become.

67:45 He says you are. You're either the slave of sin. Or the slave of God and of righteousness. The dominion of sin is broken.

67:53 The commitment to live by lust has been crucified. Galatians 5 24 says. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh. With the affections and lust thereof.

68:05 Not they ought to. They may eventually. They have. There's been a fundamental repudiation of that road map.

68:11 L of M. L of F. And if that's not true of you. You are not of Christ.

68:19 They that are word of God. And according. To the passage we read from first John. The practice of sin has been abandoned.

68:39 He that is born of God does not make a practice of sin. He cannot do so. For his divine seed remains in him. Sin is not his practice.

68:49 You say but pastor. Where's the law between law and practice. In God's name man. Why do you want to know where it is.

68:57 Get as far away from it. So there's no question in your mind. That wherever it is you're not near it. That's the teachers.

69:07 A Christian have besetting sins. And can be overcome. And so I'm the. My friend.

69:14 The Bible says whoever practices sin is not born of God. I want to make sure. Whatever my struggles with sin are. No rational person could say.

69:23 It was my practice.

69:26 The very fact of thinking that way. Show. Some of you are not for real. And God help you to face it.

Final Exhortation: Agonize to Enter the Narrow Gate

69:35 Well I must conclude.

69:39 Come back full circle to where we started. Jesus says. Enter the narrow gate.

69:47 Narrow. It's narrow. And I imagine he said it with pathos in his voice. When he said few are they who discover it for why this gate for all is the way that leads to destruction.

70:01 He was talking to a bunch of religious people who had a religious system that let them have in the theater of their own conscience the best of both worlds. They didn't have to strip down. Didn't have to have their chains broken. Didn't have to change their cap.

70:17 Didn't have to change their map.

70:22 Jesus said. You better get in the narrow gate. It alone leads to the restricted way. Which alone lead unto life.

70:32 No wonder it's narrow. No wonder few find it. No wonder the masses will choose the wide gate of cheap decisionism. The wide gate of convenient Christianity that has enough of Christ.

70:46 Enough of God. Enough of holiness. To make you respectable. So you can move amongst the choice ones of the earth who do love God.

70:55 But not enough to bring any reproach. To bring any real rub from the world. To pinch your lusts. Your carnal ambitions.

71:07 To pinch your flesh. You've got a Christ of convenience and a salvation that disrupts nothing. My friend it isn't worth the paper it's written on in your own mind. You're like the man sitting on the park bench.

71:25 Your paper bag is not a crown. Your moth-eaten garment is not the robe of Christ's righteousness. If you ask me pastor why have you been almost relentless in pressing the issue. I answer again because self-deception is a frightening reality and there are too many indications that too much of it has made its way into this congregation.

71:53 And pastor you keep preaching like this we're going to end up with 50 people. My friend if the word of God causes us to end up with five people. I. I frankly don't care.

72:03 Will the five people be able to support you? No. There's lots of ways I can go out and work. Put bread on the table.

72:10 So pastor you're serious aren't you? Yes. You know me well enough to know I don't traffic in idle talk when it comes to the worth of never dying souls.

72:22 If you want cheap religion and you don't want a narrow gate and you don't want preaching that's going to get into your conscience and press the issue. There are dozens of places where you can comfortably be lulled. Sleep and slide into hell and I don't want you to vote and leave. I want to see you get honest with God and spend some time today taking the word passages we've looked at and get on your knees and say oh God is it true of me.

73:06 With all of my being to be holy and unquestionably the property of the God who in Jesus Christ purchased sinners.

73:17 Have I torn the map off. And said oh God from henceforth I don't want the path of my life to be dictated by the lust of my flesh and the lust of my mind. But I want every facet of my life to be governed by your holy word in the strength of your spirit out of love for your son. And oh God I want the chains broken.

73:41 I don't want the things to which they're attached merely to be refined and less ugly. I want the chains broken. I want to be Christ free man. That is to be Christ bond slave.

73:55 And at the end of every chain to have a deed, a thought, a word, an act of righteousness. No longer iniquity and sin. Are you for real? Are you for real?

74:09 If so then you've come through that gate. You may not know when. I'm not saying you've got to point to a day. You may not know.

74:17 It may be a very indefinite dealings. With God in your soul you can't pinpoint a day, a month, or even a year. I'm not saying you've got to point to a time. But I'm saying this.

74:29 If you've come through the gate. You've been stripped. You sit here today saying. My only hope for acceptance with God is in the righteousness of another.

74:40 I hang my helpless soul on Christ and Christ alone. If I perish I'll go to hell clinging to the garments of Christ. Have you come to that gate where from the heart you've renounced self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of your life saying I am done with this wretched idolatry of living for myself and by the grace of God from henceforth I live in your strength Lord in your grace and in your power. I live unto you who love me and gave yourself for me.

75:22 Oh Lord. By your grace. I've renounced my voluntary allegiance to sin as my master and to the practice of sin as a way of life. I'm committed to you as my master to righteousness as a way of life in every facet from the deepest springs of thought and motive to what I do when I'm gathering for public worship to what I do in my interpersonal relationships in the home in the family at the shop in the office.

75:53 Lord. I'm committed. I repudiate the slavery of sin. The practice of sin as a way of life.

75:57 If you're through the grate my friend you can say by the grace of God that's me and if you can't the words of Jesus come to us into this very place this morning saying enter. You say it's hard. He says agonize to enter. Pay any price but get through the gate.

76:02 It should never be done. It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin.

76:07 It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin.

76:11 It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin.

76:15 It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin.

76:19 It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin. It's a sin.

76:23 It is agonized to enter. Pay any price but get through the gate. It's your never dying soul that is at stake. Let us pray.

76:28 Our Father, how we beg of you that you will not allow your word to fall to the ground unblessed, cannot owned by the Holy Spirit, but fulfill your promise. So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall be our whole, all in all. Only yours we shall give.

76:59 not return unto me void but it shall prosper in that where unto I have sent it and oh God may it please you to make it prosper to bring some out of their self deception and through the gate and into the way and for those who can by your grace say blessed be your name that you did indeed strip them you did indeed bring them to disavow voluntary allegiance to sin and to the practice of sin as a way of life you have brought them to repudiate self's will and self's serving as a governing principle of life we ask for each such person Lord help us that with renewed determination we will press on in that restricted way of gospel holiness that we would be done dabbling with marginal issues in our consciences that we would be determined by your grace to be as holy as redeemed men and women can be this side of heaven as selfless as true disciples can be this side of heaven oh God help us help us we pray that we may have your grace and the

78:27 power of your spirit upholding and strengthening us in every holy resolve that we have made in your presence this morning dismiss us now with your blessing continue with us throughout this day may your name be praised as your word is received in faith and obedience Amen