Entering By the Narrow Gate, Part 7

Introduction: The Solemn Question of Genuine Conversion

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, July 31st, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me as I read in your hearing several brief portions of the Word of God. First of all, the text that has been the basis and framework of our meditation over the last several Lord's Days, Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 13.

0:48 As our Lord is drawing the Sermon on the Mount to a conclusion, He now presses upon all of His disciples, His hearers, the solemn duty and unspeakable privilege of entering into the way of life and salvation. Verse 13. Enter ye in by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow.

1:28 Is the gate, and straightened or restricted the way that leads unto life, and few are they that find it. And now over to the Epistle of James, the book of James, and chapter 4, right after the book of Hebrews.

1:53 And James has been indicting these professing Christians for sins, of avarice and lust after things, leading to tension and friction.

2:09 And in that context, he charges them with being guilty of spiritual adultery. James 4 and verse 4. You adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore...

2:32 Would be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God. Now over to 1st John, the 1st Epistle of John, chapter 2, and verses 15 through 17. 1st John 2, 15.

2:58 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof.

3:37 But he that does the will of God, abides forever. And then one final passage back in the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14.

3:59 Paul has been dealing with people who were glorying in circumcision, in Jewish rituals, and he speaks of the thing in which he... As a servant of Christ, and a true Christian glories.

4:17 Galatians 6, 14. But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. As we sit in this auditorium this morning, I have no doubt, that many of us have gathered with many legitimate and pressing concerns, which clamor both for the attention of our minds and the energy of our souls. However, there is one concern, and one concern only, that ought to be the primary concern of each and every one of us. And that concern...

5:19 One I would express in the personal question, Am I in a state of grace? Have my sins been forgiven, and my person accepted as righteous before God? Or to state that concern in different terms, Have I been made a new creature in Christ Jesus, so that the old has passed and the new has come, or have I been born again by the direct supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit? Or in terms of the present series of sermons, Am I for real? That is, do I possess genuine Christian experience, as one who professes to believe, believe in Christ? Do I truly possess? As one who claims to be a disciple of Christ, does he claim me to be one of his?

6:37 Or as one who confesses to be a Christian now, will he shamelessly confess me in the day of judgment? Now I say, all the legitimate concerns that may press in upon each one of our minds and may sap the energy of our souls, there is no question which is of greater importance and to which we ought to give more careful attention than these questions that focus on the issue, Am I for real? And since Bible-based, Spirit-directed self-examination in this area of concern is a Biblical duty, I've been attempting for the past six Lord's Days to set before you specific portions of the Word of God particularly suited to help us in answering the question, Am I for real? Do I have a genuine saving experience of the grace of God

7:59 with my answer based not upon the dictates of my own deceiving heart or upon the opinions of others, but upon the objective, infallible standard of the Word of the living God? And one such passage that we have been considering among others is Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, passage in which our Lord sets before us the absolute necessity of passing through the narrow gate and walking upon the restricted way if we would enter into heaven, at the end of our earthly pilgrimage. The Lord in this passage clearly teaches that it is the gate and the way which lead unto life. Therefore, if I am to enter into life, I must get through the gate and be found upon the way. Not only are these absolutely necessary, they are inseparable.

9:22 You see, you cannot mix and match a narrow gate with a broad way or a wide gate with a restricted way. There is an inseparability between the narrow gate and the restricted way which alone lead unto life and there is an irreversible order. No one can be found truly walking upon the restricted way unless he first of all comes through the narrow gate. And the tragedy is that as clear as our Lord has made it, there is a rarity of those who find that gate and who enter upon that way for Christ himself said, and few, and few are they that find it. And so the question for each of us in terms of this passage as we ask the question, am I for real, interprets itself into these words, have I really entered the narrow gate and am I walking on the restricted way? Taking the view held by the vast majority of Bible believing and responsible commentators,

The Narrow Gate: Repudiating Self-Righteousness, Self-Will, and Sin

10:46 and preachers both dead and living, that the narrow gate is a figure of speech for biblical conversion, we have been attempting to answer the question, what is involved in getting through the narrow gate? Why is it called a narrow gate? And what is essential for us if we would be stripped down and unpacked in order to pass through it? And in answering that question I have set before you and I trust demonstrated from many passages of the word of God to the conviction of your own judgment that the gate is a narrow gate because one, we must renounce from the heart all righteousness of our own as the basis of our acceptance. with God. We must in the language of Luke 18 take the internal posture of the publican as opposed to the self-delusive posture of the Pharisee. Secondly, at the gate we must repudiate from the heart all self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of life.

12:13 Jesus said in Mark 8.34, and in parallel passages that the fundamental requisite for discipleship is the repudiation of self. If any man will come after me let him deny himself. And the apostle declared in 2 Corinthians 5 Christ died that they who live should no longer henceforth live unto themselves but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.

12:48 And then last Lord's day we saw the gate is narrow and men must be prepared to agonize to enter it because at that gate we must renounce from the heart the mastery and practice of sin as the pattern of our lives. And Romans 6 and verse 16 is a specimen text which we considered and I only quote it by way of review for those who were not present so that you catch the drift of the biblical teaching. Know ye not that to whom you present yourselves as servants unto obedience his servants you are whom you obey. Not whom you verbally claim to be but whom you actually obey. And there are only two. Whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.

The Narrow Gate: Repudiating the World as Molding Influence

13:51 And in the case of everyone who's come through the narrow gate verse 22 of this chapter is true of them. But now being made free from sin that is having renounced the mastery of sin and become servants to God you are having your fruit unto sanctification. They have ceased from the practice of sin and the end eternal life. Now we come this morning to the fourth and final aspect of that which makes the gate a narrow gate. It is a narrow gate not only because we must renounce self-righteousness repudiate self-will renounce sin but fourthly we must repudiate from the heart to the world as the molding influence upon our lives. We must repudiate from the heart to the world as the molding influence

15:18 upon our lives. You and I are to that gate of a sound biblical conversion. Every one of us is found in a married condition. There are no singles at the gate.

15:39 We all come to it married. And we are married to a bewitching fascinating captivating woman strumpet called the world. Figuratively speaking a wedding band of voluntary and joyful attachment to the world in this spiritual wedding. And the teaching of scripture is that if we would enter the narrow gate we cannot go through arm in arm with our darling bride.

16:18 We cannot get through embracing the life companion called the world. We will only get through the gate when we soon from our into the sea and pass through stripped of our marriage bond to the world. And that's why the gate is called the narrow gate. And why few find it because they will not part with the darling companion of their life. In all of her bewitching seducing beauty that the Bible calls the world. Now what I want to do this morning and the time remaining is basically two things. I want to establish first of all a clear biblical concept of the world.

17:32 For if it is a matter of life and death that I repudiate from the heart my attachment to the world as the molding influence upon my life I'd better know what that world is that God says if I love it the love of the Father is not in me. That world which God says if I would even make myself its friend let alone its spiritual marriage partner I'm an enemy of God. Those passages are pretty pointed aren't they? What is that world which if I have been saved by the cross of Christ has become crucified to me?

18:14 You see why I read the passages and I want to attempt with you not to give a clever simple little definition of the world but hopefully a concise accurate biblical concept of the world. And then secondly I want to demonstrate from the Sermon on the Mount that God when Jesus said toward the end of His Sermon enter in by the narrow gate that this was of necessity a vital aspect of His call to enter the gate i.e. to leave the world.

Establishing a Clear Biblical Concept of 'The World'

18:58 Then God willing tonight we shall take up four specific aspects of the world that must be repudiated we are to leave the world and enter the narrow gate. First of all then I want to establish a clear biblical concept of the world. That world that we must spiritually divorce. Well if you were to take a concordance and look up the word world you would soon discover that the word world has two completely different meanings. Just as we use the word world with a breadth of meaning so do the scriptures. For example when we turn to John chapter 1 the word world occurs in verse 10 of John 1 verse 10 speaking of our Lord the eternal word who came into the world that he made verse 10 says he was in the world

20:27 and the world was made through him and the world knew him not. Well obviously the first two uses of the word world as we know it. He was in the created order as we know it and this created order with seas and mountains and land and trees and birds and fish and bugs and worms and all the rest was made through him. You see to use those synonyms fits.

21:10 He was in the world as we know it and the world was made through him and the world the bugs and the fish and the dolphin and the sea and the mountains knew him not? No. When it says the world knew him not it's now referring to what? It's referring to the world in one verse.

21:45 You have a different meaning in the word world. Sometimes it refers to mankind needing redemption and the object of redemptive love and action. John 1 in verse 29. John the Baptist pointing to the Lord Jesus said behold the world here the world is not the created order but it is mankind in his state of sinfulness and in need of the redemptive activity of the Lord Jesus and then perhaps the best known verse in all of the New Testament John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life but its most frequent use particularly in the book of John and in John's epistles though it is true elsewhere in the New Testament the word

23:14 world is most frequently used to describe the mass of unbelieving mankind hostile to God and to Christ with all of its perspectives goals standards and associations connected with in growing out of that unbelief the world is most frequently used as the mass of unregenerate humanity and all that they are and all that they create and all of their perspectives and goals and standards as these things work themselves out into written or unwritten philosophies of life written or unwritten perspectives on what is good and bad and noble and the present worlds the scriptures and verses and the deeds and evidences are a simple backward circle of transcendental spiritual behavior And we have a different set of model statements or more obvious ways to defend

24:43 the departments of life people and That I must repudiate at the gate. In John 15, Jesus speaking to his own says, verse 17, These things I command you, that you, that is my followers, my people, may love one another, if the world hates you. Here the world is those outside the orbit of his disciples. The world is the totality of unregenerate men.

25:17 If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, if you were a part of that aggregate of lost, unbelieving, spiritually blind humanity, the world in its lostness and spiritual blindness would love its own.

25:41 Not of the world, that is, you are no longer part of lost, unbelieving humanity, with all of its spiritual blindness, with all of its own arbitrary perspectives on what is true and false and good and bad. If you were of this system, with its people, with its standards, with its perspectives, it would love you because you would be part of it. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. You see the sense in which the word world is used here?

26:23 And it's in that sense that James uses it in the passage that I read in your hearing, where James says to these professing Christians, who are constantly in a state of tumult, fightings, and tensions, as they jockey and vie for positions of influence and for the acquisition of goods and things you covet and cannot obtain, you fight in war, you have not because you ask not. He says to these people, you are spiritual adulteresses. Do you not know that the friendship of the world, you have made yourself friends of that system of those who are blind, who are blind to spiritual realities, whose values are locked in to things and position and possessions? And in clamoring after things and position and possession, you have become holdlings. Don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore wills to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God.

27:48 Whoever wants to be on good terms with that aggregate of unbelieving, impenitent, spiritually blind, spiritually dead segment of humanity, with its standards and goals and values, whoever would be a friend of that system, makes himself the avowed enemy of the living world. The enemy of the living world. And God is the antithesis, the antagonism between the world as we have described it, and God and his kingdom. That to be friends with one is to be the enemy of the other.

28:33 To be the friend of the other is to make himself the object of the hatred of the other. And there is no neutral ground. And the great divider is the cross of Christ. For the cross on which Christ died, as I hope to demonstrate in my concluding remarks this morning, is not only the great instrument of the redemption of sinners from the curse of the law, but it is the instrument of deliverance from the thralldom of the world.

29:06 And if the cross on which Christ died has not been the cross through which the world has died to you, you're as lost as the devil. You're as lost as the devil. If Christ's cross has not severed you from the world, it hasn't severed you from the condemning power of your sins.

29:29 That's why Paul could say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He could have said, by which all my sins have been judged and therefore righteously put away. He teaches that elsewhere, but here he says, that cross by which the world is crucified to me. And I to the world.

29:54 There is mutual moral antagonism. I divorce the world at the narrow gate, and the world was glad to divorce me.

30:09 So you get a feel for what this world is? Let me read several of the authors who were helpful to me in trying to sharpen my own thinking on this matter. One writes, What is it? Fallen human nature acting itself out in the human family, molding and fashioning the framework of human society in accordance with its own tendencies.

30:40 The world is fallen human nature making the outgoings of human thought, feeling, and action its own. It is the reign or kingdom of the carnal mind which is enmity against God, is not subject, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Wherever that mind prevails, there is the world. What is it?

31:08 Fallen human nature acting itself out in the human family, molding and fashioning the framework of human society in accordance with its own tendencies. What is it? Fallen human nature acting itself out in the human family, molding and fashioning the framework of human society in accordance with its own tendencies. and 40 And furthermore when we look onto the scriptures, we see that behind that system, fallen human, fallen humanity working out it's principals in society, that behind that, there is a personal, powerful, spiritual, being called the devil.

The World Under the Sway of the Evil One

31:51 And how is he described in scripture, in 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 4, in 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 4, Look at the description. If our gospel be hid or veiled, it is veiled in those that do not believe,

32:12 veiled in them that are perishing. Verse 3. Now verse 4. In whom the God of this world.

32:22 Though you have a different Greek word, the word age, there are places where age and world, cosmos and ionos, have almost a synonymous significance. Here, Ephesians 2 and other passages. The God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. Behind this world system, there is a ruling principle, and that principle is a principle.

32:57 The personal spiritual being, the devil himself, who is called the God of this world. In John 12, 31, Jesus calls him the prince of this world. Now is the prince of this world cast out. And then one of the most frightening texts in all of Scripture, 1 John 5, 19.

33:21 1 John 5 and verse 19. We know that we are. We are of God. And the whole world, the total number of those who are not of God, who have not been born of his spirit, who are not for real, regardless of what they may profess.

33:45 We are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. Think of it. The whole world lieth in the evil one. One perceptive consciousness.

34:01 Commentator, writing on this text, says, The world lies in the wicked one. The figure may suggest several different ideas. First, a stranded vessel lying embedded in the sand. You've all seen pictures of a tanker run aground on a sandbar, and it sinks into the sand.

34:22 Held captive by the sand. And nothing can budge it, even at high tide. He says that may be the imagery. Another image, a lost sheep lying engulfed in a treacherous swamp.

34:37 A sow contented to lie wallowing in the mire. A Samson lying bewitched in Delilah's lap. These are the images called forth, and they are all but too appropriate. Consider in its origin this lying of the world in the wicked one may be taken in a very literal and personal way, in a very literal sense, and listen carefully, this description has gripped me like few things have gripped me in recent days.

35:09 The Fall is out of the arms of God, and into the embrace of the wicked one. He is ready to receive the Fallen, and in a measure to break their fall. He has a bed of his own prepared on which the Fallen may lie in him. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall.

35:29 It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall.

35:31 It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall.

35:33 It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall. It is shrewdly and plausibly, and in a measure to break their fall.

35:35 and spirit, the acting out of his very self. It is a couch composed of the very materials he had before woven into the subtle cord of that temptation which drew the unfallen Adam and Eve out of God's hold and into his. The same elements of unbelief which he turned to such cunning account in his work of seduction he employs with equal skill in getting the seduced to lie and to lie quietly in his own lap. The world listens willingly to its seducer, now become its comforter and guide, and frames its creed and constitution according to his teaching and under his inspiration. The devil is the world's doctor of divinity. Its faith, its worship and discipline and government are dictated by him, so the world lies in him, dependent on him and his theology for such assumed license and imaginary peace

36:45 as it affects to use and to enjoy. What a sad picture. The whole world lies like a seduced Samson lying in the lap of his own father. The world lies in him, dependent on him and his delight, not knowing it was the beginning of the end. So the world, this system of men with their thoughts and desires and standards and goals, perspectives, ambitions, all of that is under the control of this malicious foul fiend of hell who instigated the first defection of our first parents. So you see, the world is no innocent thing. The world, the aggregate of mankind in its fallen state

37:52 with its goals and ambitions and standards is that which is framed by the evil one himself and stands in direct antagonism to God. Then Jesus said, enter the narrow gate and part of getting through that gate will be a formal divorce between the would-be gate enterer and his darling bride called the world. His companion and judgment and affections, she must be divorced and the ring thrown away into the bowels of the sea, henceforth to be married, to God as revealed in Christ. And as Paul said of the Corinthians, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I want to present you as a pure virgin Christ. You see, the picture is that having left the world, we're not prepared to have James' words legitimately said of us that we have been guilty of spiritual harlotry, having professed to have forsaken the world. We're not prepared to have

39:18 the world and been duly divorced from the world and married to Christ. That we should go back and defile ourselves with spiritual adultery by flirting with that strumpet that would damn us when this present world system goes up in smoke, for the scripture says the world is passing away and the lust thereof. In summary, as we come, then, to the gate with nothing more than what we possess by nature, we come arm in arm with the world and a wedding band in our finger. And at that gate, there must be a formal spiritual divorce from the world, for there is no biblical conversion. Now, having sought to establish a biblical conversion, we must first and foremost, first and foremost, the biblical concept of the world. Now, I want to demonstrate in the time that remains,

The Sermon on the Mount's Call to Repudiate the World: Beatitudes and Identity

40:34 the clarion call to repudiate the world that is in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. But remember, Matthew 7, 13 and 14 are part of the conclusion of Jesus, part of Jesus moving from instruction to invitation and entreaty, that having described the nature of the kingdom of grace which he came to establish, he's now urging people to enter that kingdom under the figure of getting through the narrow gate and entering upon the restricted way. Well, is there anything that is patent and clear in the Sermon on the Mount with respect to identifying the world as that which those who enter the kingdom must put behind them? Well, look very quickly at five lines of evidence in this broad overview of just some of the major sections of this sermon. First of all, in the Beatitudes. Look at the first and last Beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit. And then our Lord tells us why

41:49 they are blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In his initial Beatitude, he says, the blessedness of the subjects of this kingdom is to be found in this, that they possess the kingdom of heaven. Not the kingdom of this world. And the last Beatitude has the same emphasis, where he speaks of those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

42:29 Verse 10, for theirs is the kingdom. And furthermore, he says, blessed are you when men shall reproach you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward where not, but in heaven. You see, in the very opening of his mouth and pronouncing blessedness upon the subjects of his kingdom, Jesus makes it plain. It is comprised of people to whom is the great focal point of their highest joys and their most expanded longings and their most ecstatic, exuberant peace and expectation. In other words, they are a people who don't say, huh, you mean I got to wait for the blessedness for something in the future? I didn't bargain for that. My friend, if you've come through the gate, you not only bargained for that,

43:47 you settled that. You settled that here in this world, whatever you may or may not have of peace and earthly possessions and friends and all of the good gifts of God that Paul gives us richly to enjoy, you know that your deepest joys and your highest longings and your most expanded spiritual desires are no longer rooted in this world. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that have been persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

44:40 The order of things controlled by Satan, that order that is expressed in the masses of unregenerate people. All of the streams come out of the earth and lead back into the earth. Amongst the true subjects of Christ's kingdom, all of their greatest blessedness comes out of heaven and consummates in heaven. A different source, a different end. Marked, stark, contrast, antithesis.

45:18 Look at the next grouping, the identity of the subjects of the kingdom. How are they identified in verses 13 and 14? You are the salt of the earth. Verse 14, you are the light of the world. What's he saying?

45:34 My people are in this world what salt is in the presence of meat that would otherwise putrefy and become rancid. Bacterium multiplying first on the surface and then penetrating through the fibers like the hamburger patty. The eyes that someone forgot and left out in the hot August sun for three hours on the side of the grill. They've already begun to be slimy and covered with flies. Jesus said that's the world with its slime.

46:15 With its flies of satanic instigation of desires and appetites and passions, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the vain glory of life. People are like salt. You check that putrefaction. You are not a part of it. You are separate from it.

46:36 And when you come in contact with it, for he says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil. Sanctify them in the truth. He says, yes, you are still physically, geographically in the midst of the world, but you are not a part of it any more than the salt is a part of the putrefying back. Bacteria laden, rancid meat. No, the salt is to be applied to check the putrefaction.

47:08 That's the identity of his people in the world, but not a part of it. Then he says, you are the light of the world. That is, the world is in darkness. It's in darkness about its own identity. Men don't know who they are.

47:23 It's in darkness about who the true and living God is. It is in darkness about, right and wrong. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. With the voice of conscience and with the law of God and the remnants of it indicated in their moral consciousness, they cannot sin with impunity unless they've been wholly abandoned by God. Yes, I know that. But relatively speaking with respect to those in whom there is the light of gospel grace and a new heart and the law written upon the heart and a passion and a disposition. To please and serve God according to the light of his law, the world is in darkness.

48:07 John uses that very terminology that the world is in darkness. And he says, you are the light of the world. You have left the darkness. You have left that which is dictated by darkness and you are now light.

48:25 You have come out of that world and become something that is of benefit to it. Even though it doesn't like it for this is the condemnation that light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than the light. Neither will they come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved.

48:40 And the world doesn't say, Oh, you son of light, but Jesus said, whether they hate you or love you is not the issue. The issue is this is my people. You are the light of the world. What you've become is one who has entered through the gate constitutes you light and you are light.

48:58 And whether that light is openly rejected or blessed by the spirit of God to bring some to inquire of the hope that is in you. You are the light of the world because you are no longer a part of that world in its darkness. You move from the Beatitudes to the identity of the subjects of the kingdom. Then look thirdly at the standard by which the subjects of the kingdom will regulate thought and attitudes and deeds.

The Sermon on the Mount's Call to Repudiate the World: Standard of Righteousness

49:28 Chapter five, verse 19 and following. The subjects of his kingdom are marked as those who are concerned about the least of Christ's commandments. They are concerned that there be a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. They had only an external righteousness that kept the letter of the law at some points and other points kept their human traditions and even broke the letter as well as the spirit of the law.

49:59 They were concerned with external appearances as Jesus said in Matthew 23 like whitewashed sepulchers. Like those who scrubbed the outside of a cup and a platter but within were full of excess. They were concerned with minutia and they looked over the great mountain peaks of the moral demand. You tithe mint and anise in common and you've left undone the weightier matters of the law.

50:23 Justice and mercy. That was the Pharisees. Jesus said the subjects of my kingdom are concerned for a righteousness that takes as its standard the law of my father in all of its divinely intended depth and length and breadth. So that verse 21 when they read the commandment thou shalt not kill simply to keep from raising the gun and putting some enemy in the crosshairs and pulling the trigger and murdering them.

50:58 They're concerned not simply that they keep the knife from being plunged into the bowels of someone who has crossed them. But I say unto you everyone that is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment. Whosoever shall say to his brother racha. It's a term of derision.

51:18 Hey, dummy, stupid jerk. That would be modern equivalent of this. Shall be in danger of the council and whosoever shall say thou fool. Whosoever would speak to another in language that he speaks disdain and ill will shall be in danger of the hell of fire in my kingdom.

51:42 You see, unlike the world that if they don't pull the trigger and even if they do, then they want to claim no moral responsibility. It was temporary insanity. It was this or it was that. But in my kingdom, those who left the world and it's very shallow cavalier attitude to my law in my kingdom.

52:06 My people are concerned about my law touching the very disposition of their heart. The very words they use when they address other people. Furthermore, Jesus says in this very context of thou shall do no murder verse 23 if thou were to offering thy gift at the altar and members your brother has ought against you leave your gift and be reconciled. They realize that any unresolved tension.

52:33 Between fellow human beings is the very seed of murder in their concern to deal with the very seeds of murder even in the midst of worship. If they're conscious that there's ill will in their heart to another, they're concerned to deal with it because they know God doesn't want their offering heavenward if their hearts are not right manward. That's in the Bible. I didn't write it.

53:06 So when Jesus said, get through the narrow gate, you see why I called it a narrow gate? Respect to my interpersonal relationships to be tailored by the command that touches the deepest springs of attitude and disposition and the way I address others as well as the way I treat them in my actions. You see? You see the world would say, oh my, what a horribly unreasonable standard by which to live. But the son of the kingdom says, oh, how love I by law. I commandment is exceeding broad and Lord, I would have it no other way. You take the next command verse 27, you have heard that it was said thou should not commit adultery.

54:15 They had. They had interpreted that as to mean, as long as a man did not go to bed with another woman's wife or a woman go to bed with another woman's husband, they had kept the commandment as long as there was no actual illicit physical intercourse that Jesus said, no, that was never the intention of that law. I infallibly interpreted significance to you that everyone who looks on a woman with an intention to lust after her. Has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

54:49 It doesn't say whoever looks upon a woman and appreciate, she's a beautiful woman. It doesn't say that. There are examples in scripture where women are described discreetly and with purity as being beautiful women. It says who so looks to lust?

55:13 Who so looks with a desire to possess? Whoso looks with the intention of lust? Whoso looks to lust? Whoso looks with the intention of lust?

55:18 This is the moment. This is the moment. This is the moment. intention of the mind to seduce or to enjoy the fruit of seduction, anything that enters into the realm of the erotic, who so looks to lust in his heart, he's already broken the seventh commandment.

55:37 It's only circumstances, saving face, or a thousand other things that have kept him from actual physical intercourse, but if all those things would be removed, he would if he could. She would if she could! And in my kingdom, my people, who have left the world with its constant rationalization, oh, men will be men. What do you expect? I've sold a few wild oats. You can't expect people. How does the world treat the sanctity of sex? Those in my kingdom, they've left the world's standard for sexual purity, and they've come to the place where in their hearts, there is a shrine of sanctity in this area, and they are so committed to it, that if they even find that there are patterns in their life, as much a part of them as a right hand, and as dear as a right eye, it's in that context, verse 29, if thy right eye causes thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. If thy right

56:43 hand causes thee to stumble, in my kingdom, my people are committed, conscious of thought and desire and intention. They are prepared to go to any length short of sin to deal with any breach of that command. Now, my friend, that in the world, that's not the world's perspective on sexual purity, but he said, in my kingdom, that's the perspective my subjects embrace. They are prepared from the heart to say, I take Christ infallible interpretation of the command. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And he does the same with the command against unjust and unnecessary oaths. And then that ancient law, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and the law, love your enemy, I'm sorry, thou shalt love thy neighbor, hate thine enemy.

57:49 You have heard that it was said, this was a complete twisting of even the word of God, but what's the point? The point is that when Jesus said, enter the narrow gate, and I'm asserting that part of that entering, and that's what makes it a narrow gate, is that the world must be divorced. We see the otherworldliness of the Sermon on the Mount, not only in terms of the blessings pronounced in the Beatitudes, the first and last, and even in between several, but I just looked at the first and the last, which point the people of God heavenward, not only in the identity of God's people as salt and light, but in the standard by which they will regulate thought and attitude and deed. They've left this world with its light and low and cavalier attitudes to sin, and they are not part of those who are content simply to look righteous and appear righteous and keep out from under the sheets of another man's bed, and keep the gun and the knife out of their hand. No! They want the gun and the knife out of their hearts!

59:04 And they know if they sit in a building like this, and they have ill will to another brother, that is the beginning of the gun and the knife, and they're prepared to deal with it. They're prepared to deal with anything that would feed at the deepest levels of thought even the slightest desire for physical intimacy, with any other woman but their God-intended wife. And if they are single, they're prepared to deal with anything that will keep them from having erotic thoughts to any woman under any circumstances whatsoever. That's not the world.

The Sermon on the Mount's Call to Repudiate the World: Spiritual Disciplines and Life's Focus

59:43 These are my people who have left the world. They've kissed it goodbye. They've pulled off the ring. It's buried in the sea. And then in the fourth place in this sermon, it's clear with respect to the great concerns by which the subjects of the kingdom regulate,

60:01 their spiritual disciplines.

60:04 This brings us into chapter six. Take heed, you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them, else you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Here the Lord sets up an antithesis and He carries it all the way through to verse 18. He says, seen of men, reward of your Father who is in heaven.

60:31 Seen of men? Reward of your Father. And He says there's only two ways to carry out your religious exercises. One, like the Pharisees, you have your eye fundamentally towards your fellow men.

60:45 You see, you're part of the world and segments of the world are religious. The Pharisees were worldlings, but religious worldlings. And being worldlings and being social beings, they desperately long to be accepted of one another. So they had their written and unwritten codes of mutual acceptance.

61:05 And He says, you Pharisees, or speaking of them, He says, my people, don't be like them for when they give alms, they sound a trumpet before them. For what purpose? That they may have glory of men, verse two. But He says, when you do your alms, do it in such a way that you have an eye single to your Father.

61:30 He says the same with regard to prayer. Be not as the hypocrites, they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corner of streets to be seen of men. But He says, when you pray, go into your closet, shut the door and pray to your Father. And then He says the same, verse 16 through 18, with regard to fasting. What's the point? The point is this. Men of the world, their primary concern is my reputation among all. And anybody touch my reputation and man, am I ready to fight? You see, the issue is not my reputation before men. The issue is what am I in reality before God? What I am before God? Not what I appear to be before men. And my dear friends, in the day of judgment, what's going to matter?

62:30 Not what men think you are when you go to judgment, but what God knows you to be. That's going to determine whether you go to heaven or hell. So why are some of you so let any reputation, and you're livid, and you're ready to fight and hold it grudged for years because somebody sullied your reputation.

62:57 You can have a sinkhole of iniquity, of anger, and bitterness, and lust. You can speak angry words to others and never ask their forgiveness. You can speak words of untruthfulness to others and never have a conscience about it. Why?

63:15 Everything about you is worldly. You are in the orbit of the eyes. That's the mark of the world, keeping up appearances. See the man!

63:31 But when you kiss the world goodbye, when you repudiate her, you've divorced her, thrown away. Now you're great.

63:44 What does the Father say? What does the Father know? What will the Father reward? That's what I'm concerned. You see it?

63:57 Whole half a chapter. Then when he concludes the chapter, and this is the fifth specimen, and with this I have to close this passage, or our treatment of the passage. When he comes to the primary focus of life itself, verse 19, what does he say it's going to be among his disciples? Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, wherever your treasure is, there your heart is, and where your heart is, that's where you are. For no man can serve two masters, either he'll hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So he goes on to say, yes, you live in a world where you need food and clothing and the concerns of this life, but these are not your preoccupation. You seek first my kingdom and righteousness. Confident

64:58 these things will be added in the way of responsible prayer and dependence upon me and responsible labor. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. The great concern of my people is expressed in the very prayer he taught them to pray. And you look at the so-called Lord's prayer and what's the preoccupation of it?

65:18 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Hallowed be thy name, God's name, God's kingdom, God's will. Tell me, when did the world ever get excited about God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will?

65:35 And then the next primary area of focus in the Lord's prayer is what? Forgive our sins, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. It has to do with being holy. Is that what the world does? No. When the world prays, it prays about things that are far removed from God's kingdom and the pursuit of holiness is night from day.

The Cross as the Motivation for Divorcing the World

66:02 Well, I hope I've convinced your conscience that when Jesus comes to the end of his sermon and says, get through the narrow gate, what he's saying is, if you're going to be one of mine, you and the world have got to come to a fundamental, irreversible divorce. You must take the darling who's hung to your arm through life, sue out your bill of divorce and get rid of her. Pull the ring off, throw it into the sea.

66:31 She's an unworthy marriage partner because the world passes away and the lust thereof and all who are joined to her will perish with her but he that does the will of God in union with Christ, such a one will abide forever. And that brings me in conclusion to this very simple question.

66:54 What is it that will ever motivate us to repudiate the world, its ways, its standards, its goals, its associations, its molding influence in our lives? What will bring us to the place where we're willing to divorce the world?

67:14 Well here I say the answer is Galatians 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. You see in the cross of Christ this question is answered. What does Jesus think of this world system?

67:38 What does Jesus think of this world system? Look at him hanging on a cross and you get the answer. He saw this world system as so offensive to his father's laws and ways that he was willing to die to satisfy the provoked justice of God upon this world system.

68:01 And he so loved his own that he died to deliver them out of it. Galatians 1.4 he gave himself for us that he might deliver us out of this present evil age.

68:13 So when we stand by the cross and we see the world, in the light of the open wounds of the Son of God, see the crown of thorns, see the drawn face, the mingled blood and spittle upon his brow. Hear his cry, my God, my God, my friends, that's the world stripped of all her paint, stripped of all of her cosmetic adornments. That's why God says you want to be a friend of that? Then you're an enemy of me because my beloved Son went through all of that to deliver people from their attachment to the world. That's why Paul could say through the cross of Christ the world is crucified to me. Because in the cross we see God's estimation of this world system and furthermore the world finally exposes itself at the cross. Who put Christ to death?

69:19 It's accurate to say it was the religious leaders of the Jews and it was the political leaders of the Romans. Here are the separated ones, the epitome of what they would say revealed religion come to full blossom and flower in the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees. And what do they do when they have God incarnate in their hands? They say take him out and crucify him.

69:55 That's worldly religion that could not stand a Christ who said drawing me with your lips is not enough when your heart is far from me. Staying out of another man's bed is not enough if your heart's there. Keeping the dagger out of your hands if the dagger's in your heart.

70:17 You see it was Jesus pulling away all of the veneer of empty formalism that provoked their hatred. That's why the common people heard him gladly. And even Pilate said he knew that for envy they had delivered him. He listened to all the false charges and he said it's all a bunch of smoke. I know why they're delivering him up. Because the crowds are going after him and not them.

70:41 That's what worldly religion did. And then Rome prays for her roads and prays for her senate and prays for her authors and her historians and her poets and her genius. What does Rome do?

70:58 Rome becomes the hands of apostate Jews to put him on a cross. Now my friend, is that what you want to have as your friend? Religiously? Politically?

71:11 In any realm? That which when given the chance crucifies the Lord of glory?

71:21 You stand by the cross and there evaluate your lifetime marriage partner and say do I want to stick with her and put Jesus to death? Who caused his wounds and his agony and his groan and his cry of dereliction? And if you can stand at the cross and see the world in the light of the agonies of the Son of God and say I still want the world. My friend, it's right that God should send you to hell and forever banish you from his presence.

Call to Repentance and Deliverance

71:57 But I pray God there be some this morning who say oh God what a fool I've been. If Christ died to deliver me from that which could only eventually destroy me. What a fool I am to remain wedded to this world sister. Lord I do repudiate and turn away from all supposed righteousness of my own. I desire to be saved with the righteousness of another. I do turn from living unto self. I do turn from the mastery and practice of sin and oh Lord I would divorce the world and throw the ring away. I would be yours forever yours for time and for eternity. Enter the narrow

72:49 gate. Are you for real? If you are you've come through a gate where you and the world have parted. You've parted basically fundamentally resolutely as we'll see tonight what some of the particulars are some of the qualifications but I'm not going to take off the right angles if you would be the friend of the world you're an enemy of God and God doesn't take his enemies to heaven he sends them to hell and if you're a friend of the world you're an enemy. Blaming to be a Christian and at least go to hell honest better yet repent and flee to Christ and find forgiveness and acceptance and deliverance from that bewitching horrible companion who will only take you to hell and then join to him who died to take his own to be with him forever. Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for

74:08 your holy word. We thank you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway and we pray that you would take the portions that we have studied together this morning and write them upon our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray that you would indeed deliver many from their voluntary spiritual marriage to the world that they may enter that narrow gate which will usher them into the restricted way but which blessed be your name leads unto life. We ask for those who by your grace have entered that gate but who perhaps through spiritual dullness have begun to allow the flirting eyes and the seductive words of the world to entice them into areas of compromise, compromise, gracious God this morning strip away all of the paint and all of the cosmetics of the world as we see its naked state in the light of the cross. May we hate that which opened up the wounds of our Lord Jesus and caused his agonizing cry, caused his sweat drops in Gethsemane. Oh God help us ever to view this world system in the

75:36 light of the cross that through the cross the world may be crucified unto us and we unto the world. Seal then your word to our hearts we plead in Jesus name, Amen.