What is the Straightened Way? Part 1

Introduction: The Imperative to Enter the Kingdom and the Need for Steadfastness

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, August 7th, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I invite you to turn with me to three portions of the Word of God as an introduction and framework for our ministry in that Word this morning. First of all, the text which I trust by now, if you had not previously memorized, you have memorized, Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.

0:41 Our Lord Jesus, bringing to a conclusion what we commonly call the Sermon on the Mount, having identified some of the leading features of the kingdom of grace, which he came to establish in the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of men, now with the gracious but regal imperative commands his hearers to enter into that kingdom under the figure of a narrow gate or a turnstile and a restricted or compressed way which alone lead unto life.

1:17 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 is the gate and straightened, compressed, restricted the way that leads unto life, and few, and few are they that find it. And now over to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, and we break into our Lord's interpretation.

1:59 of the parable of the sower and the soils and in his own inspired interpretation of the significance of the seed that fell upon good ground and bore fruit 30, 60, and a hundredfold, our Lord says in Luke 8 and verse 15, and that in the good ground these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast and bring forth fruit with patience or with steadfastness.

2:42 In other words, their bringing forth of fruit is not a temporary phenomenon. It is a permanent state of spiritual experience. They bring forth fruit. With steadfastness. And now the third passage, the letter to the Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10,

3:14 the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 36 through 39, Hebrews 10, 36. For you have need of patience, the same word used with regard to bringing forth fruit with patience. Patience or steadfastness. You have need of patience that having done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while he that comes shall come and shall not

3:58 tarry. But my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that shrink back, not unto the loss of a few rewards, unto a momentary shame at the coming of Christ, no. To shrink back is to be damned. We are

4:31 not of them that shrink back unto perdition, but of them that have faith unto the saving of God. Now let us again plead with God that he would attend his word with power, that each of us will bring to our own reflection of that word as it impinges upon us the same degree of honesty that will be forced upon us in the day of judgment. Let us pray.

Prayer for Humility and Discernment

5:06 Our Father, you have said to this man will I look, even to him who is of poor, and contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. We pray that every last vestige of creature arrogance and pride, that would stand up in defiance of your word, that would dare to question the validity and the authority of that word. O Lord, may every such disposition in every heart in this place be mortified and purified.

5:49 That we, as a company, may take the posture of humility and contrition, and wholly trembling before your word. Take away every light and frothy thought. Drive the world from our minds. May none have their eyes upon the preacher, while their hearts are in the ends of the earth.

6:15 But, O God, will you not enable us to rivet all that is in our hearts, that we may be able to see the light of your word. O Lord, we pray that every last vestige of creature arrogance and contrition, that we may set all of the attention of mind and soul upon the great issues of heaven and hell and the age to come, that once again will be set before us. Come, we pray, and minister with power and grace to preacher and hearer alike. And bind the powers of that vicious enemy of our souls. W Tear down the devil from this place, we pray, that your word may

6:48 run throughout society and the nations. and have free course and be glorified. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Danger of Self-Deception and the Purpose of the Sermon Series

6:56 Hundreds of years ago, wise King Solomon, under the peculiar influence of the Holy Spirit that God gave to all of the biblical writers, wrote a most sobering statement.

7:16 And in that statement, Solomon asserted Proverbs 14 and verse 12, There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. As one has written concerning this text,

7:56 the rightness of this way is present only as a phantom, for it arises wholly from the terrible self-deception the man judges falsely and goes astray without regard to God and to His Word. He follows his own. Opinion.

8:25 As Solomon also said in Proverbs 28, 26, Whoso trusts in his own heart is a fool. And those of you familiar with Bunyan's immortal work, Pilgrim's Progress, will remember that when one of the true travelers on the road to the celestial city asked a man named Ignorance, how did he know that he was a true Christian? How did he know that he was on his way? How did he know that he was on his way to the celestial city?

8:56 He said, because my heart tells me so.

9:00 And then when he was asked, why does your heart tell you so? He says, because my heart tells me so. And when they sought to bring the language of his heart to the objective standard of the Word of God, he would have none of it. He was content to have his own heart assure him all was well, and he was not about to allow anyone to intrude into the bubble and come to him.

9:25 And he was not about to allow anyone to intrude into the bubble and come to him. He was content to have his own heart assure him all was well, and he was not about to allow anyone to intrude into the bubble and come to him. He was content to have his own heart assure him all was well, and cocoon of his own self-deception.

9:31 That's exactly what Solomon was referring to when he said there is a way that seems right to a man. Ignorance was convinced he was on his way to heaven when in reality he was on his way straight to hell.

9:49 Whoso trusts in his own heart is a fool. The man who puts his trust in the objective Word of God and in the God of God, and in the God of God, and in the God of God, and in the God of God, and in the God of that Word, he is the wise as well as the safe man. And believing with all my heart that what the Bible says concerning both the possibility and the actual experience of self-deception, for seven Lord's days I have been pressing home to your consciences this very fundamental question, Are you? Are you for real?

10:32 Yes, you name the name of Christ. You say that you believe that you are on the way that leads unto life, but the question is, Are you for real? Or are you one of these who is on a way that seems right to you, but the end thereof are the ways of death? What has been and yet remains my purpose in engaging in this ministry?

11:01 Well, first, to see deception, formalism, and hypocrisy unmasked. And those who are unmasked would run to Christ and become the real saints. For unmasked, every hypocrite and formalist will be. Unmasked you will be, either here in this life by the Word and Spirit, or in the day of judgment by the Word and presence of God Himself.

11:38 But unmasked you will be. And I would with all of my heart see you unmasked and exposed now that you might flee for grace and mercy while the door of mercy yet stands open. But I have had and continue to have a second purpose to see the doubting and the uncertain, to come to a place of solid confidence of their true standing in grace. My heart has been gladdened when not a few of you have come to me or written notes and letters to me and said, Thank you, Pastor, for this series.

12:20 Are you for real? I have never had more solid, well-grounded assurance that the root of the matter is in me. Then my third purpose is to pursue others, to face the truth, what a real christian is and to press you to have no rest until you become one of us to see what a real christian is and by the grace of god to seek the lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near until you know that you indeed are the real thing now in pursuing those goals

The Narrow Gate: Four Fundamental Issues of Conversion

13:01 i've been setting before you some crucial passages from scripture which describe unmistakable characteristics and marks of the true child of god and for the past several lord's days the passage which has been the focus or primary focus of our study has been matthew 7 13 and 14 in these verses the son of god himself makes it clear that you you the narrow gate and staying upon the restricted or compressed way are absolutely necessary if

13:42 we're to go to heaven at last it is christ the embodiment of truth god's final prophet who says get through the gate and upon the way which alone lead unto life anyone who thinks he's going to heaven bypassing the narrow gate and the restricted way is utterly willfully self-deluded christ has said you must get through the narrow gate and you must be found upon the restricted way

14:19 and furthermore our lord makes it clear that these two things the gate and the way are inseparably related and that their order is irreversible. We cannot mix and match the narrow gate in the compressed way with the wide gate and the broad way. We cannot enter into life thinking we can saunter through a big wide gate of Christian experience with no breaking up of the heart, no repentance, no unpacking of the baggage of Adamic lusts and all that goes with it,

15:01 and then suddenly we can somehow walk upon the narrow way which leads unto life. No, these things are inseparable. Inseparable. It's only the narrow gate that will put a man upon the restricted way.

15:16 And if one has come through that gate, he will be not upon a big wide way of a so-called carnal Christian life, truly converted, sanctified, truly regenerated, but not obedient, having Christ as Savior but not as Lord, not according to Jesus. It's a narrow gate that leads to a compressed and to a restricted way. There is an inseparable relationship and an irreversible order. And so for several Lord's days we've focused upon one issue.

15:49 What is that gate? And I've said that in agreement with the vast majority of responsible commentators, Jesus is using the figure of a narrow gate, like a little turnstile, to set forth in word images the reality of a sound biblical conversion. Having described the nature of the kingdom he came to establish, he is now urging his listeners to enter that kingdom, but rather than do it in straightforward, simple assertions, enter the kingdom, he says enter in, ha! The narrow gate.

16:26 And rather than say live in my strength, the life of a subject of the kingdom, he carries on the imagery of the gate, which leads to a restricted, to a compressed, to a straightened way. And we have focused our attention solely upon the gate. And why of necessity it is indeed a narrow gate. We have seen that it is a narrow gate, because there, we must unpack.

16:57 There at that gate, there are four basic issues that must be faced. At that gate, we must renounce from the heart all righteousness of our own as the ground of our acceptance with God. That truth is beautifully illustrated in the contrast of the publican and the Pharisee in Luke 18. Until we are prepared to take the posture of being utterly stupid, stripped right down to the last thread on our shoulder, or stuck to the bottom of our foot, that would have anything to do with our own supposed righteousness, and come utterly naked through the gate

17:40 to be clothed in the righteousness of another, we shall never enter the narrow gate. Renouncing from the heart all righteousness of our own as the ground of our acceptance with God. But then we must secondly, repudiate from the heart all self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of our life. And that's why the gate's narrow.

18:04 The first requisite of discipleship is this. If any man will come after me, let him renounce, let him repudiate, let him deny himself. He must say a resounding no to self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of his life. That is the governing principle of everyone's life until true conversion.

18:32 And Christ died according to Second Corinthians 5.15, that they who live should no longer henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again. Thirdly, it's a narrow gate because there we must renounce from the heart the mastery and the practice of sin as the pattern of our lives. Renounce from the heart and practice of your life.

18:57 The rest isside of you. From the heart, both the mastery and the practice of sin as the pattern of our lives. Romans 16 is the epitomizing text. Know you not that to whom you present yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?

19:20 And fourthly, we must repudiate from the heart our attachment to the world as the molding influence upon our lives. We must repudiate from the heart our attachment to the world. This present order of things as manifested through the thinking and standards and goals of unregenerate men, behind which there is the God of this world, the devil himself. For the scripture says, 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.

20:05 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof, but only he who does the will of God abides forever. There is a moral world of difference between living for this world and living according to the will of God. Now that, in brief, is many-and-many. Hours of exposition condensed into some ten to twelve minutes of review for the sake of those who have not been with us for the whole series.

20:36 And if there's anyone who has and counts it a wearisome burden to have a responsible preacher give a well-thought-out, carefully chiseled review, it's either because you're full of pride about your own brilliance,

The Identity of the Straightened Way: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World

20:55 or you don't like to be reminded of, the truths that you of all people need most desperately to hear. Now you put yourself in the category you belong, either one is not flattering. I, for one, never am irritated when those who teach me give me a responsible review that I may have the nails of truth pounded a bit deeper into my heart. Now, having looked at the gate, we come this morning to begin several Lord's Days of Consideration about the way.

21:36 For look at our text. Our text says, Enter in by the narrow gate, and no sooner does our Lord give that gracious, regal imperative a glorious invitation to life and salvation, but that He draws a contrast. He says, For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in their way. Whereby for narrow is the gate, and straightened, compressed, restricted, difficult is the way that leads unto life,

22:19 and few are they that find it. In the time that remains this morning, I want to accomplish two things. First, I want to set before you the identity of the way. What is the way?

22:36 And then secondly, consider with you the distinguishing characteristic of the way as it is found in our text, and then make three pointed lines of application. First of all, the identity of the way. If the narrow gate is a figure of one's entrance into the kingdom, then surely the restricted, the straightened, the compressed way is nothing more or less than that which Dr. Sinclair Ferguson uses as his title for his exposition, excellent devotional exposition of the Sermon on the Mount.

23:16 He entitles it, Kingdom Life in a Fallen World. What is the Sermon on the Mount? It is a description of kingdom life in a fallen world. What then is the way if the gate is a figure of a sound biblical conversion by which we enter into the kingdom, then the way is a description of the pattern of life lived by the subjects of the kingdom in a still fallen world.

23:54 The way is kingdom life in a fallen world lived out in all the details of what makes life life, as sons and daughters of the kingdom. That's what the way is. The basic principle is this, and I ask you to concentrate and say, Lord, give me understanding to grasp what Pastor is saying, if indeed it is as important as he seems to indicate to me it is. The basic principle is this, the way is but an extension into all of life

24:37 for the remainder of one's life of all the fundamental issues faced and settled at the gate. See what I'm saying? We've said there are four fundamental issues that are settled at the gate, and that's why it's narrow, because so few are willing to reckon with God's terms on those issues. There at the gate, the issue of on what ground can I be accepted with God?

25:07 For whom shall I live? What shall be the sphere of my moral and ethical practice, sin or righteousness? What shall I live for this world or the world to come? We must deal with those issues radically, fundamentally, basically, or we never get through the narrow gate.

25:25 And what is the restricted way? It is simply an extension into the rest of one's life, that's duration, in all of the aspects of life, that's the extent, of the issues that were faced and dealt with at the gate. That's why it is a narrow gate that leads to a compressed and a restricted way. It's not that some fundamentally new issues are introduced into the way, no, the way is simply the issues faced at the gate,

26:08 worked out over time into the manifold details of living life in a fallen world. One of the older commentators expressed it this way, its very first step involves a revolution in our whole purposes, and plans for life, and a surrender of all that is dear to natural inclination, that's the gate, while all that follows is but a repetition of the first great act of self-sacrifice. All that follows is simply the living out

26:52 of the principles reckoned with at the gate. And this old writer goes on to say, no wonder then that few find and few are found in it. But it has this one great advantage, it and it alone leads to life. Anything else leads to destruction.

27:22 That's the fundamental concept of the way. If you get hold of that, it will be in your hands the key to unlock so many basic principles of the Word of God. You'll be reading your New Testament, and when problems are faced by the churches, the apostolic writers don't say, well look, the problem is when you got converted, you didn't know that this is what happened, and this is what happened, and you need...

27:48 I said, look, are you ignorant that when you were converted, this is what happened to you. Now live out what you've already faced. Live out what's already been transpiring in your heart and in your life. It will become a key to life.

28:02 It will become a key to many, many principles of the Word of God. To change the terminology, the identity of the way is unmistakably clear when we bring it to such passages as Romans 6, 22. Remember what I'm trying to do now is from the Scriptures to give you the scriptural identity of the way. And this is a matter of life and death.

28:24 For if you miss this way, you miss heaven, folks. This is not an intellectual exercise. This is an exercise. In our own eternal safety and well-being.

28:37 What is the identity of the way? Well, look at the language of Romans 6, 22. Here is the gate and the way described without any figurative language. But now, being made free from sin, that is, sin's dominion, and the sphere of sin, as willful practice as the pattern of your life, every true Christian is free from the dominion of sin in that sense, and become slaves to God.

29:09 That's what happened when you got through the gate. You are no longer letting self and sin and the world be your willfully owned masters. You kiss them goodbye. You had what we call last week a spiritual divorce and you threw the ring.

29:26 That's what Paul says of every single Roman Christian. They were made free from sin, became servants to God. And he says of every single one of them, you are having your fruit unto sanctification. That's the narrow way.

29:48 It is the life of gospel holiness. It is the bearing of the fruit of holiness in all of the dimensions of life and the end, and the end of what? The end of making a decision? Becoming a reformed Baptist?

30:04 Living a respectable life? No, no. The end of a life of gospel holiness which began when there was a change of masters and you were made free from sin and became servants to God. You brought forth fruit unto holiness which in biblical terms always starts in the heart, in the heart, in the thoughts and in the motives for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

30:32 It's not outward respectability. It's not going through the form and motion of church attendance and Bible reading and prayer at the table, in the living room. It's a heart. It's a heart that pants after God.

30:46 A heart that hates sin and therefore deals as brutally with sin in the thoughts and attitudes as it would deal with sin that brought your name into public disgrace. That's fruit unto holiness. And the end of such a person and only such a person is everlasting life. I didn't say it.

31:09 Look at it. It's in your own Bibles. Some of you haven't even turned to your Bibles and looked at the text. Why don't you?

31:15 Why don't you look at it in your Bibles? Are you afraid? It will be a little harder for you then to say, I asked Pastor Martin for you. Go ahead and look at it.

31:24 You have my permission to look down from me and look at Romans 6, 22. Being made free from sin becomes servants to God. You are having your fruit. That's the pattern of your life unto sanctification and the end, eternal life.

31:49 It is what we saw read or what I read from Luke 8. What is the restricted, straightened, compressed way? It is what our Lord describes in the parable of the sower as the one who having received the word into a good and honest heart, made such by the power of the Holy Ghost, he brings forth fruit with continuance, with endurance. Or in the language of Hebrews 11, one who having professed belief in Christ does not for a while go on in that profession only by a sudden jolt or by gradual erosion

32:32 cast it off, but believes all the way to the saving of his soul, that is, until he lands safely in the presence of God and of just men made perfect. So then the identity of the way should be clear. It's the lifestyle of one who's really come through the narrow gate. He has come by way of kingdom entrance into kingdom life.

33:03 In other New Testament language, it's the life of one who now united to Christ as the branches to the vine, abiding in Christ, brings forth fruit unto God without fruit. Jesus said, any branch in him by mere profession shall be cut off and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Or in other New Testament language, it is the life of one having been born of the Spirit and indwelt by the Spirit, now walks by the Spirit and does not fulfill the lust of the flesh as a pattern of life, Galatians 5. He brings forth the fruit of the Spirit,

33:47 Galatians 5, 22 and 23. He no longer lives in the realm of the flesh but of the Spirit, Romans 8, 5 to 9. Or to change the Biblical imagery, it is the life of one who according to Romans 6, having died to sin, now lives unto righteousness in the virtue of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and walks in newness of life. Need I multiply Bible language?

34:16 I trust I've persuaded your judgment about the identity of the way. The identity of the way is nothing more or less than the pattern of life, the universal lifestyle characterized by those who have truly come through the narrow gate as they in the strength of Christ with ever-growing understanding of God's Word, His provisions, His promises, their own hearts, the subtlety of the devil, with all kinds of room for growth and the vicissitudes of growth and the ups and downs of Christian experience. Nonetheless, they're on that way in which they are working out

35:00 in the details of life the issues that they faced and settled at the gate by the grace and power of God through the gospel. Now having considered the identity of the way, secondly, what is the distinguishing characteristic of the way? What is its distinguishing characteristic? The way which leads to life has many things which identify it as the true way and not a way which merely seems right to a man.

The Distinguishing Characteristic of the Way: 'Phleboized' (Pressured, Restricted)

35:36 But what is its distinguishing characteristic? And what do I mean by that? Well, when I want to make an application for a gun permit and at that point somebody's ready to shoot me that a preacher should own a gun. But be that as it may, I believe it's my liberty guaranteed under the Constitution and I own several guns.

35:57 I never aim them at anybody, hope I never have to. I'll accept targets in the shooting range, and some clay pigeons. But when I went to make application, I had to be fingerprinted, and then I had to fill out a form, and on that form, along with name, birth date, name of parents, all kinds of things, it said, please list any distinguishing physical characteristics. Now suppose I put down, I have five fingers on my right hand and five on my left.

36:34 Well, I had a policeman there, Cedar Grove police officers, hey, you trying to joke with me, Rev? What you doing here? Distinguishing characteristics. Well, all normal people have five fingers on the right hand and five on the left.

36:47 I say, I'm sorry, sir, can we ink that out? He inks it out. And then I put in five toes on my right foot and five toes on my left foot. The man sees it, and about this time, he's unbuttoning his gun.

36:59 Wondering what kind of a wing nut have we got here? What's he gonna do next? He says, don't you understand distinguishing characteristics? That is things about you that are not likely to be true but one in another million people.

37:12 Distinguishing characteristics. Every normal person got five fingers on each hand, five toes, got a nose, two eyes. I said, oh, you mean like these scars on my right wrist? A three quarter inch scar on the inside of the wrist and the one and a half inch?

37:29 Ah, he says, now you got it, you dumb preacher. Okay, thank you. And then I write down three quarter inch scar on the inside of the wrist and the scar on inside of right wrist. One and a half inch scar outside of right wrist.

37:44 He says, now you got any others? Oh, yeah, I got a four inch scar where they cut me open to drill in my back and take out some pulp that had worked through a rupture that had put down scar on lower back, lumbar region. But scar on lower back, lumbar. You see what I was doing?

38:00 I was giving those things which set me apart from all other I hope normal people. Those are distinguishing marks. Now when I say what is the distinguishing characteristic of the way, it has many characteristics. But there is one distinguishing characteristic highlighted by our Lord.

38:29 And what is it? Does he say, enter in by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction for narrow is the gate and happy, happy is the way that leads to life. He does not say that happiness is the distinguishing mark of the way that leads to life. He doesn't say prosperous, prosperous is the way that leads to life.

39:08 Of all the things that are true of that way of kingdom life in which there is joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, in which there is the prosperity of communion with God and the promise that if we seek first his kingdom all other things will be added. But our Lord Jesus chose to focus on one thing and one thing only as the distinguishing characteristic of the way. And what was it? In your Bible it may say narrow the way straightened

39:50 spelled S-T-R-A-I-T-E-N-E-D and whatever it is it is crucial if Jesus highlights this as the distinguishing trait we ought to bend all of our powers to understand precisely what he meant. He uses a word which is used in the Bible only one other time in the New Testament and therefore we are going to seek to understand what this distinguishing characteristic is first of all linguistically we are going to have to do a little study of words words which the Holy Ghost himself indited as Matthew wrote this account

40:35 and then contextually showing that the conclusions we draw from the language itself are perfectly consistent with the old overall context of the Sermon on the Mount and in so doing I hope to persuade you that if you ever hope to get to heaven along any other way but one that can fit this description you are in a way which seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death with all my heart and mind and soul and passion I want to convince you of the precise nature of that way linguistically

41:19 and contextually and then to press hold that to hope to go to heaven along any other way is self illusion God help us linguistically what word is Matthew led by the Spirit of God to use Jesus probably was preaching in Aramaic New Testament is written in Greek the Holy Ghost guides the authors to take what Jesus said in whatever Aramaic terms he may have used and bring them over into proper Greek equivalents or substitutes and the word here is phlebo English

42:04 transliteration T-H-L-I-B-O and the word means to press together or to compress and it has only one other verbal use in the New Testament and thank God for this because it gives us a real insight into its significance turn to Mark chapter 3 is anything else phleboized because we have a verbal form here you'd think in your English Bible where it's called the straightened way or the narrow way that it were simply an adjective describing the noun

42:48 way or the phleboized way well what's it mean to be phleboized well in Mark chapter 3 we find out Mark 3 verse 9 Jesus spoke to his disciples that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd lest they should here's our word lest they should phleboize him lest they should come in and pressure him in lest Jesus would be compressed restricted pressured by the crowd that's our word

43:32 you get the picture of it sometimes you've been at a parade and you were desperately trying to make your way up to the front world where you could see the bands all the way and you were being jostled and pressured from every side and if you went home and tried to describe that this would be a word you could use my mom dad I was trying to get to the front of the ranks but everybody was shoving and pushing I thought I was going to be squeezed to death

44:17 if you were a little out of it now very interestingly the noun form flebo I'm sorry flipsis this is the verb flebo the noun form flipsis is the standard word translated in our English Bibles most frequently affliction and tribulation in the world ye shall have flipsis tribulation they are afflicted rest with us so what is affliction affliction is that reality that comes

45:01 when we are pressured by opposition pressured by hostility pressured and buffeted by people unsympathetic to our God and to his Christ and to his word and to his Gospel now that's what we have to this way, it is a phleboized way. That's the meaning of the word itself. And this is why Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich, the most respected, recognized dictionary of Greek words, render it to become restricted or narrow. But now, let me give you a little language. This is

45:45 important. Life and death can sometime hinge, not only in a word, but its form in Scripture.

45:55 Jesus pinned a whole argument about the resurrection on the fact that God said, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not I was. On the tense of a to-be verb, Jesus hangs the whole doctrine of resurrection. Not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law. Listen carefully.

46:20 The Bible says, The form of this verb is what is technically called a perfect passive participle. And to put that in layman's terminology, what that signifies is this. A passive verb is a verb in which something is done to another thing. Let me illustrate. My watch is now on the

46:44 pulpit. I am the subject. I have picked up my watch. All right? The watch is that which I picked up. But if I make the watch the subject, and

46:59 I say, the watch was picked up by me, I've used a passive form of expression. The watch subject was acted upon. The watch was picked up by me. I am drinking from my water glass.

47:18 A convenient way to sneak in the need to drink a water. Passive, the water was drunk by me. See the difference? In the passive, the subject is acted upon and does not act. Jesus uses a passive. He's speaking about this way that has been acted

47:44 upon. It has been pressured. It has been restricted. It has been hedged up. And then he uses

47:53 a perfect. And in the Greek, the perfect tense refers to action in the past, the results of which continue indefinitely. When Jesus cried on the cross, tetelestai, it stands accomplished. He used a perfect. I have fully offered unto God the only sacrifice for sinners.

48:18 It is fully accepted, fully adequate, and it stands for all eternity. Needing no repetition upon no Roman alter in any blasphemous Roman mass. It stands accomplished. And whenever Jesus says, it is written, the perfect tense is always used. It stands written.

48:42 At a given point in time, the biblical penman wrote, and what they wrote stands forever for heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away until they be given a certain time. Then it stands, and it stands forever. Whatever word we may use, might stand forever. That is, it stands. That is, it stands forever, for heaven and earth

48:54 shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away until they be given a certain time. That now why all this little lesson in Greek grammar because when the scripture says compressed hedged up restricted is the way our Lord is conveying this very clear concept the dimensions of that way have been once and for all established and they will forever remain as long as the way nobody is free at any time to change the significance of that way

49:37 so our Lord says enter in by the narrow gate wide is the gate broad is the way that leads to destruction narrow the gate hedged up restricted, compressed is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it while there are multitudes constantly attempting to alter it wide preacher make the way restricted

50:21 make the way a little less compressed means the verses that say if your sin is as darling as a right hand and as precious as a right eye cut it off, pluck it out let's loosen up a little bit and say put a little cream on the offending hand that has a little bit of a narcotic in it to deaden the nerves and neutralize some of its virulent activity but whacking off and plucking out that's gruesome spiritual discipline let's widen it up a little bit oh we don't want to just ignore the offending hand and the offending eye let's just not quite be so brutal

51:05 in dealing with it no man can serve two masters either love one and hate the other that's a bit too radical an antithesis let's just not quite be so brutal in dealing with it let's just not quite be so brutal in dealing with it let's allow for the fact we can have a little bit of legitimate love for the second master so long as we have greater love for the first master let's soften up a bit no man can serve two masters you love one and hate the other no middle ground it's restricted by the word and authority of Jesus Christ blessed are the poor in spirit theirs is the kingdom

51:49 you mean Lord no but he's in the kingdom who does not have as the baseline disposition of his soul a genuine brokenness and humility in the presence of his God who does not inwardly mourn what he is and what he has done you mean people that don't have a keen sense of their sin carried about in their breasts that puts them in a perpetual state of holy grief over their sin they're not going to heaven yes that's what Christ says well we gotta loosen that up a little bit blessed are those who mourn occasionally if they sin in such a way that brings shame and reproach to their name and to their family and gets them publicly

52:33 the Lord doesn't say that he says to the holiest man on earth blessed are they who mourn for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are the poor in spirit those who don't say well they'll never find me crawling to someone begging forgiveness was that so you'll never find me groveling and saying I sin will you forgive me blessed are the poor in spirit they and only they according to Matthew chapter 5 belong in this kingdom which is lived out along the narrow way

53:17 they alone shall be comforted blessed are they that mourn I'm sorry blessed are the poor in spirit my friends look look look look look this verb used in this tense means that the description of the way and all it involves as given by Christ stands inviolable and unchangeable that's the identity of its distinguishing trait no wonder Jesus said few are they that find it few few few few few they don't want to know

54:00 the way that's so compressed so flea-balized want to modernize it smooth it out make the Christian faith attractive to lovers of flesh and lovers of stuff and lovers of things and lovers of name and lovers of position and lovers of reputation why go it away for you call yourself a worm but he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I worship the Lord as I am and worship the Holy Spirit as I am They've advocated changing that in many hymn books.

54:38 But my Lord cried out, I am a worm, and no man. And he became a worm, a disworm, that this worm might not be burned in hell. Let's get rid of a Christian life that cries, oh, wretched man that I am. Good that I would, I do not.

55:02 And evil that I would not, that I do. Let's get rid of the struggle and the agony. See, in this negative self-image, let's all be upbeat and bright and cheery. And we'll attract the world to what?

55:17 To a broad road that will take them down to hell thinking they're on the narrow way? Not me, not me. No, sir. No, ma'am.

55:29 Jesus accepted the mentions.

55:32 Linguistically, it means one thing. It's a flea-balized way. It's pressured, restricted, compressed. And in the perfect passive tense, it stands.

55:48 And if you get to heaven, you'll get on that way or any other way and you'll go to hell.

Contextual Confirmation: The Sermon on the Mount as a Description of the Way

55:56 But what about contextually? Very quickly, isn't that exactly the way Jesus has described kingdom life in the Sermon on the Mount? The context, we've gone back to it again and again. It's the way in which the character traits of the Beatitudes are the dominant features of everyone who's on it.

56:18 When you look down upon those that are on the way, this is true of all of them. Some of them, certain of these characteristics, dominate more at given periods of their life. Some of them more in comparison to others. I'm giving all due allowance for the biblical doctrine of Christian growth, the variety of that growth, the pace of that growth, the reality of periods of backsliding and declension, I'm not talking as a biblical or an experimental fool this morning.

56:50 I'm giving all due allowance. But at the end of the day, if the Beatitudes aren't descriptive of your basic character, you're not on the way. Everyone on the way is poor in spirit. Everyone on the way mourns.

57:04 Everyone on the way is meek. Everyone on the way hungers and thirsts for righteousness. Everyone on the way is merciful, quick to forgive. Doesn't carry grudges.

57:17 Doesn't sit around stewing in his or her juices, waiting for the world to come crawling to them. Everyone on the way is pure in heart, has a single heart to serve God and please God. Everyone on the way is a peacemaker, not a troublemaker. Everyone on the way will experience some degree of persecution for righteousness' sake.

57:40 Everyone on the way is described in the Beatitudes. If they don't describe you, you ain't on the way. That's a description of all the sojourners that are on that fleboized way. It's a compressed way.

57:54 It's a narrow way. It's a restricted way. Everyone on that way is part of that community called salt and light, verses 13 and 14. Wherever they go, they don't blend in with the crowd.

58:08 They're the salt that checks the putrefaction. When the dirty joke starts in the locker room, they're pressed. Porno magazine. In the locker, their presence suddenly causes it to be shoved out of sight.

58:23 And when they're on the telephone and someone starts to gossip and realizes who it is, they say, oh, I'm sorry. They're salt. They are salt. They're checking putrefaction.

58:35 They are light. They're exposing the world for what it is. The world, to save face, may not cheat in its tens and thousands of dollars, but it'll cheat in its dimes and nickels, but not at all. True Christian.

58:49 He's as honest with a penny as he would be with a million. Because honesty is a principle in his heart. And Jesus said, he that is faithful in little is faithful in much. And he that is unjust in little is unjust in much.

59:01 If you'll be deceptive about a penny, you would be deceptive about a million if you couldn't get away with it.

59:09 If you're part of this community, you're salt and you're light. Furthermore, all those on the way are described in the next verses. They have a meticulous concern about the least commandments of Christ. Verse 19.

59:22 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least and teach men so shall be called least. But whosoever shall do and teach shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. They have a righteousness that exceeds that of scribes and Pharisees. It goes beyond external deeds and external religious practices and forms and rituals.

59:44 They have a righteousness that springs from a heart that knows communion with God and would rather die. Than lose that communion for any of the flesh pots of this world.

59:57 They have a righteousness that is concerned not merely with the outside of the cup and the platter, but the inside. Everyone on the way is described by Jesus in the latter part of chapter 5. The law of God is the regulating standard for their conduct. The law that touches their thoughts, their motives, their looks, their desires.

60:18 All of those on the narrow way are seeking with Dave. It is to say, oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day long. Thy commandments are exceeding broad.

60:29 Therefore doth thy servant love them, not be irritated by them. And when you read chapter 6, there you are on the narrow way. When these people give, when they pray, when they fast, they're not concerned about what people think and know. They have an eye to their heavenly Father.

60:48 They come to church and have no hard dealings with God. They go home. They go home grieved. Even if the building is filled on a beautiful day, they go home with a heavy heart.

60:57 Because they didn't see the face of their Father. They didn't feel the presence of their Father. They don't just say their prayers when they go into their closet to pray. If they have no felt sense of God's presence when they pray, they pray anyway.

61:13 But they mourn over the fact that they have not known His nearness. And they're honest about their sins daily, they forgive us our sins, our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And their great concern in prayer is what? Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil.

61:34 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Your name be hallowed. Ah, everybody on that narrow way is a God-centered man or woman. A sin-sensitive man or woman.

61:47 A communion with God-aware man or woman. Is that you? I'm asking you, is that you?

61:55 If it isn't, my friend, you're not on the narrow way. Jesus is describing everybody that's on it. This is not the great, ultimate ideal to which a few super saints may reach. This is the norm for all the sons and daughters of the kingdom.

62:15 You come into chapter 6, 7, and there are people who are far more concerned with their own sins, than the sins of others. They aren't going around with a big log of hypocrisy, and unmortified anger, and unmortified lust and pride hanging out of their eye, while all the while they're the great spec inspectors of everybody else's little specs. No, no. Their specs to them are like a forest in their own eyes.

62:45 And there's a speck of irritation, a speck of lust, a speck of pride, a speck of jealousy. They have dealings with God. But they're deeper than what a worldling knows when he's caught in the act of thievery or adultery. You know anything about that?

63:04 If you're on the narrow road, you do. You say, Pastor Martin, these questions are devastating. Then thank God, if your religious experience won't stand up to the test of the Bible, let it get devastated now. Well, there's something you can do.

63:19 Because there's a horrible wrecking day coming in the day of judgment. If you've got a religion that isn't described, you can't do it. You've got to do it. You've got to do it.

63:26 You've got to do it. You've got to do it. You've got to do it. You've got to do it.

63:26 You've got to do it. You've got to do it. You've got to do it. And fits this description of kingdom life in a fallen world.

63:31 And how does Jesus end the sermon? The wise one is the one who hears and does my words. The fool is the one who hears and does them not. Everyone on that narrow, constricted, restricted, pressured way has a heart committed to universal obedience.

63:50 He does not in his performance work out that commitment. He sins daily and sometimes with a high hand. But never with a cavalier attitude and never without it being followed. He doesn't say, oh, well, time is past, time heals everything, water over the dam.

64:09 My friend, sins don't go over the dam. They'll either press you into hell or go under the blood of Christ by thorough repentance and confession, one or the other. They'll float you into hell or you will see them floated away in the blood of Christ. But time does not float them away.

64:28 And you delude yourself if you think you're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong.

64:29 You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong.

64:30 You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong.

64:30 Nothing you think it does. Now have I read anything into the sermon of the mouth that isn't there. Have I imported anything that isn't there? Let your conscience answer.

64:43 Have I stretched the standard of Jesus? When he said, get through the narrow gate and get upon that sleeve of life? What is the way? He says the way I've been describing.

Three Crucial Conclusions and Applications

64:58 Kingdom life in the fallen world. That is the distinguishing spirit. characteristic of that way. Now briefly in conclusion without going into particulars, that's what I hope to do in our communion meditation tonight. Take the first

65:17 element of the narrow gate and show how it is part of the phlebolized way and it will be an appropriate communion meditation I trust and God willing when we return from our vacation we'll pick up the other characteristics of that way. But I want to say in conclusion three very crucial issues and they should be obvious to you already. Number one there is no other way that leads to eternal life but this narrow, restricted compressed and difficult way. Look at the text. Narrow

65:56 is the gate and straightened compressed, pressured, phlebolized is the way that leads to life. Not a way that leads to life but pressured, restricted is the way that leads to life. There is no other way that leads to eternal life but this narrow, restricted, compressed and difficult way. And isn't it interesting when Jesus was evangelizing his hearers he was honest with them at the outset not only about the cost of conversion but the dangers and difficulties

66:40 of the Christian life. He didn't say folks you want tingles up and down your spine or as one loony headed charismatic teacher said you want an experience that's like having pure vodka in your orange juice get to baptism in the Holy Ghost. That's no more the religion of Christ than voodooism is.

67:08 Jesus said you want to go to the heaven that I'm preparing by my perfect life and death and you get through a narrow gate and you get in a fleboized way. Say what do I get for it Lord? He says life. If you haven't had a sight of the glory and privilege of what life means, of what heaven is, that's not reason enough for all the difficulties of the gate and the way you're still as blind as a dodo about spiritual realities.

67:39 Didn't Bunyan understand that? When Christian leaves the city of destruction, puts his fingers in his ears, what's the one word on his lips? Remember kids? What's the one word he kept saying?

67:50 Life! Life! No, no, no, no, no. Fingers in his ears.

68:00 He caught a thief and he was willing to pay any price to get it.

68:08 No other play, no other way. That's the burden of this series of messages because there's always the alternative that Jesus knew his hearers faced. Why did he introduce the idea of an alternate gate? And an alternate way. Look at the text.

68:25 Enter in by the narrow gate. Yes, I know there is a wide gate. I know there is a broad way. It is the wide gate of a pseudo-conversion.

68:37 Take up enough religion to make you respectable with your leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees. Take up enough temple attendance and Bible reading and giving of your substance to be regarded as a member in good standing of the local synagogue. Yes, that's a big wide gate. You don't need to deal with your self-righteousness, with your self-will, with your sin or with the world. But it leads

69:01 into a big broad way in which people got all kinds of elbow room to carry all the baggage of the world plus their profession of Christ. I never cease to be amazed when men who in interviews are known to curse, who profane the Lord's day week after week as professional athletes, who may be divorced for no biblical reasons, whose lifestyle is far from this lifestyle. When they get in the ward, look in the camera and say, I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to vomit.

69:34 I want to vomit! Christ becomes Lord and Savior. The life becomes His. And if a man's got to give up the potential of millions to get in that fleboized way, he says, what are millions? When there's life

69:56 out there, and what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses himself? No other way, folks. Settle it. Secondly, the way is narrow and restricted at the beginning, the middle, and the end, and all points in between.

70:16 All aboard! And they name the places and all points in between. It's a local. Jesus said, this is a local. It's

70:27 narrow at the beginning, the middle, and end, and all points in between. He doesn't say, get into the narrow gate and upon the fleboized way, and when you've learned a few good lessons, it'll open up and widen a little bit in mid-course, and then just become like, no, no, it's narrow all the way. And as some of the older men have been saying to me in recent days, Pastor, it gets more narrow the further you get along it. I understand what they mean.

70:55 That's why the apostles, when they went to the young Christians in those early churches we've been reading about, one thing they could assure them they were going to face in Acts 14. Look at the text. They went back to all these young churches and young Christians, and they said, this is what you've got to look forward to. They confirmed their souls, Acts 14, 22, strengthening the souls of disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many flip-seos, the noun form, through many pressured, afflicted, restrictive, galling pressures, through many tribulations,

71:40 and then you have that, that little Greek particle of necessity day, pronounced die, if you pronounce the epsilon yoda diphthong that way, we must enter. It is necessary for us to enter, would be a literal rendering into the kingdom of God. They said, hey folks, you had a little trouble? I've got news for you. There's going to be

72:01 trouble all along the way until you get to kingdom. That's how they strengthened the souls of disciples, continuing the faith, even though in continuing, you enter into and pass through many flip-seos, many fleboized circumstances. Pressure from your relatives, pressure from the world, pressure from your own flesh, pressure, pressure, pressure. They said, take heart.

72:32 It ain't over yet. You're going to face it all the way.

72:37 But look what lies at the end. The kingdom of God. You're going to see Christ. You're going to have a perfect body, and the sinless soul, all joined to that body.

72:47 And you're going to be with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a new heavens, in a new earth. You're going to serve God, never having again to bring in the clod of a dull mind and a distracted heart and besetting sins. I tell you, for a true Christian, you can hold out anything, and you say at the end of it is the kingdom of God, and he rolls up his sleeves and let's go to it. In the strength of Christ, let's go to it. Does that excite

73:14 you? How about you teenage kids? Some of you going into public schools for the first time. You ready to be called nerd?

73:24 Maybe that's outdated now. Can't keep up with all the current lingo. Maybe nerd's old-fashioned now. But whatever a nerd used to be, that's what they'll call you. A weirdo?

73:34 You girls, as the skirts now creep up to the immodest mini-skirt-pairing half-the-fi standard, are you ready to wear skirts that will cause the other girls to look at you?

73:48 In order not to bare your thigh and be an occasion of sin to young men. Are you ready for that, girls? If not, don't say you belong to Christ. If your love to Christ won't regulate the length of your skirt, I tell you, it isn't much.

74:04 If your professed possession of the power of God and the salvation hasn't saved you from a deliberate attempt to dress modestly, that salvation isn't worth a nickel. It'll never take you to heaven.

74:16 If it won't take you to your closet and there let Christ put his stamp on your wardrobe, it'll never take you, across the river, into heaven.

74:25 Folks, we've got enough, enough, enough, enough, wide Christianity in this place.

74:33 And in the world, it's worse.

74:36 But if Trinity Church has any justification for its existence, it is this. She is determined to live out from its ministry and its leadership in life and in proclamation down to every last member a thoroughgoing commitment to get to heaven through many flip-sets. Through many pressures, many tribulations. Why? Because there's no other

75:03 road that leads unto life. And then finally, the only valid proof that you and I have ever truly entered the narrow gate is that we are really and truly upon the restricted way. That's the only real proof we've come through the gate, is that we're on the way. Nobody ever gets through the gate and then builds a monument to it, puts himself, to sleep, lies down and virtually is in tomb until the day of resurrection and then suddenly wakes up and says, whoosh, I'm through the gate.

75:38 Thank God. What about the way? I don't know anything about the way, but I got through the gate. No, no, my friend.

75:44 You get through the gate. It's really the first time you've ever really lived. You got through the gate because God brought you to life in union with His Son. That life is a life that will bring you along the narrow road that leads eventually into the presence of Christ. I'm not saying

76:03 you got to know when you got through the gate, precisely how you got through, that you needed to get through with the best, no. It's sort of like people whose job is to cultivate the best, strongest, most virile oak tree. And they can tell you out in the area where they plant their acorns, what crossbreed this is and what type this is and all the rest, and they can tell you the exact date, it was placed in the ground, and if eventually a mighty oak grows, they can punch in the computer and tell you what was its genetic background, when it was planted, how much it grew. My friend, if I know none of that, and on a hot day, I'm looking for a little shade, and I see the arms

76:48 and boughs of a spreading mighty oak, and I plop under it. Someone says, do you know when this oak tree was planted? I said, don't have a clue, sir. Do you know when the acorn went in the ground?

76:58 Don't have a clue, sir. Well, there is no oak tree. I say, hmm, that's very interesting. I sure love its protection from the burning sun.

77:07 I sure love the sense of the breeze coming through. I could care less. And I'm not saying, you've got to know when you got through the gate, and you've got to know all the particular, the issue is this, if you really got through the gate, the proof is you're on the way. And if you say, pastor, everything you've said about the way, my heart is leaked within me and said, Lord, that's true of me, by your grace, that's true of me.

77:31 So what troubles me is, my beginnings were so indistinct and so, so mixed up, and there was, I was in charismatic nonsense, and I was in Arminian, woolly-headed thinking, and I was, and I just, my friend, forget all that worrying about when the acorn got put in the ground. If you're on the way, it's only because you got through the gate. Bless God, he got you through. And if you knew all the details, you'd probably be an insufferable tyrant, making sure everybody else got through.

78:04 Exactly as you did. So God said, I'm going to spare my people. Having one of their compatriots on the way, being a persecutor, telling them, did you get through this way? Did you get through this way? So God says, I'll get you

78:16 through in the way you hardly knew how.

78:20 And then you can rejoice with your fellow travelers that you're on the way. Oh, dear people, are you on the way? That's the issue. That's the issue!

78:29 Are you on that restricted way that leads unto life? Well, again, thank you for your patience in attending to the word. And I do not apologize that I have preached too close to one o'clock over the last few weeks. That's not my general pattern.

78:48 But, dear people, a few more minutes in the light of heaven and hell. I don't want blood on my hands. And I hope you don't want your soul to go to hell because you had a 15-minute itch to get out of here and get your afternoon meal and fill your belly. May God help us. May God help us.

79:10 Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. Oh, we bless you that it is a lamp to our feet, a light to our pathway. And we're grieved in our heart that that way so clearly, graphically described by our Lord Jesus has been so altered by carnal men. Have mercy upon us to the extent at which we've allowed our thinking to be influenced by the world. May the word

79:44 bring us back to think as we ought and by your grace to live as we ought in that way which alone leads to life. We pray for those who've never come through the gate. Lord, convince them of their desperate need and may they cry to you for mercy until they know by your grace they have indeed come through the gate and are on the way. In our day, we beg of you, Lord, raise up voices to thunder throughout this land to explode the delusion of people who perpetrate the theology of a way which seems right.

80:24 But the end thereof are the ways of death. Hear our cry. Give great comfort and assurance to everyone who's truly on the way. Send them out of this place with joy unspeakable and full of glory, anticipating the blessedness of the end when we shall see our Savior face to face.

80:46 We ask in his worthy name. Amen.