What is the Straightened Way? Part 8

Introduction: The Questions of Salvation and Assurance

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, October 2, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I urge you to follow with me in your own Bibles as I read two brief portions from the Gospel of John. The first is found in John chapter 15, the Gospel of John chapter 15, and I shall read verses 17 through 21. John 15, beginning with verse 17. Our Lord Jesus, speaking to the inner circle of his own intimate companions in what is commonly called the Upper Room Discourse, just prior to his crucifixion, says, To them these things I command you, that you may love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hath hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would

1:23 love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore you are not of the world. Therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. Now just over to chapter 17, this that is commonly called the High Priestly Prayer of our Lord Jesus, and I shall take up the reading at verse 13, reading to the end of verse 19. John 17 and verse 13. But now I come to you.

2:36 And these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them from or out of the world, but that you should keep them. I keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

3:19 Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you did send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

3:48 Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, that the same Spirit who has given us His word in the Holy Scriptures will minister by His illuminating presence and grace to each one of our hearts. Let us pray. Our Father, we would take the prayer of the psalmist and make it our prayer, this morning. Open thou our eyes, undress our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. And again with the psalmist we would pray that you would give us grace to run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge our hearts. Our Father, we have not come here merely to have an intellectual exercise with our Bibles open upon our laps. We have come to meet you. O Lord, come to us in the preaching of your word, we pray, through Jesus Christ our

5:06 Lord. Amen. Many of you will remember the words of our Lord Jesus who said, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth, speaks. And since it is true that the mouth is the echo chamber of the heart, there is no heart of any man, any woman, any boy, or any girl that takes seriously what the Bible teaches concerning the reality of sin and its consequences, but that such a heart will force the mouth of the one who possesses it to cry, what must I do to be saved? The reason there are so few in our day who ask the question, what must I do to be saved? And ask it with any burning, earnestness is simply because so few are prepared to take seriously how frightening,

6:27 how dangerous, and how desperate is their condition as fallen, depraved, impotent, hell-deserving sinners. Find me a heart upon which the Spirit, of God, has made some true impressions through the Word concerning the reality, the extent, and the horrible end of human sinfulness, and there you will find a heart that forces the mouth of the one who possesses it to cry out, what must I do to be saved? To such ones, and only to me. To such, the biblical answer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, is good news indeed. And in a similar way, let all those who profess to be saved by Christ lay to heart the teaching of the Bible concerning the possibility of self-deception, the possibility of self-impose, and the possibility of self-deception.

7:48 The possibility of self-deception. The possibility of self-deception. The possibility of self-deception. The possibility of self-deception.

7:49 having a name to be alive while in reality one is dead. Take seriously what the scripture says about the possibility of even preaching and doing mighty works in the name of Christ while never truly knowing him in a saving way. I say find such a heart of one who professes to know Christ whose spirit has been impressed with the reality of these biblical truths and that heart will force the mouth of the one who possesses it to ask this question. How can I know for certain that I am truly saved and not deceived? Now you see the first question, what must I do to be saved, takes us into the realm of the ground and the way of a sinner's acceptance with God. And the ground is Christ and his work alone and the way is the way of God. And the way is the love of God. And the way is the love of God. And the way is the

9:10 way of faith and faith alone. But the second question, how can I know that I am truly saved and not deceived, is not a question regarding the ground or the way of a sinner's acceptance with God. Rather, it is a question concerning the evidences of a sincere and a genuine faith. It is a question which focuses on the concern of the marks of a true saving attachment to Christ.

The 'Are You For Real?' Series and the Restricted Way

9:55 Now, in an effort to set before you some selective aspects of the concern, of that second question, how may I know that I am saved and not self-deceived, I have preached some twenty-one sermons in a series under the heading, Are You For Real? You see, the very title of this series points not to the question, Is Christ For Real? Is His salvation for real? Is salvation by faith alone for real? But it's a question about you,

10:45 for real. It is not the question, What must I do to be saved? But it is the question, Am I in reality truly saved, or am I self-deceived? And in bringing this series, to a conclusion, in the ministries of the Word, this morning, and again, God willing, tonight, in conjunction with our communion meditation, we return to Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.

11:20 Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.

11:26 Here, towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus, like any good preacher, having laid out, And having taught concerning the nature of the kingdom of grace he came to establish in the hearts and lives of his people, is now pressing the claims of that kingdom and of the king himself. He is bringing his sermon to a conclusion, urging and inviting and exhorting that man lay hold of the blessings of that kingdom and the salvation within it. And he does so with these words, enter 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. Four. Narrow is the gate, and straightened, compressed, restricted is the way that leads unto life, and few are they that find it. We have noted in each of our meditations upon this passage that according to our Lord Jesus, in a most emphatic and unmistakable way,

12:49 there is an inseparable, relationship between the narrow gate, the compressed way, and entering into the consummate blessings of eternal life in the age to come. One must enter the narrow gate before he can be found upon the restricted way, and only those who come through the gate and along the way will lead. Or will enter into life. Having considered the narrow gate as a graphic picture of what constitutes a sound biblical conversion, we have been considering the restricted way as a figure of the way of gospel holiness and obedience, the way of true discipleship which always results from a real, spiritual entrance through the narrow gate. In seeking to expound the particulars of the compressed or the restricted way, the fundamental principle that has shaped all of our thinking,

14:07 and then our selective extracting of passages out of the Sermon on the Mount and from other portions of the Word of God, I say the fundamental principle has been this, that the restricted way, is nothing more or nothing less than the extension into every area of life for the entire duration of one's life of the issues of life confronted and resolved at the gate. The restricted way is nothing more or nothing less than that way of life, comprised of this extension into every area of one's life for the entire duration of one's life of the fundamental issues of life both confronted and resolved at the narrow gate. And in seeking to expound the particulars of this compressed or restricted way, we have covered three of them. If at the gate,

15:23 we repudiate all of our own righteousness as the ground of our acceptance before God, then the restricted way is living a life in the faith of Christ crucified, risen, exalted and interceding as our only ongoing object of confidence for acceptance in the presence of God. Then the restricted way is living a life in the faith of Christ crucified, risen, exalted and interceding as our only ongoing object of confidence for acceptance in the presence of God. Then the restricted way is living a life in the faith of Christ crucified, risen, exalted and interceding as our only ongoing object of confidence for acceptance in the presence of God. Then the restricted way is living a life in the faith of Christ crucified, risen, exalted and interceding as our only ongoing object of confidence for acceptance in the presence of God.

15:52 Then the restricted way is living a life in the faith of Christ crucified, of God. If at the gate we repudiate self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of life, then the restricted way is one in which we live a pattern of life in which we choose to serve Christ and others at the expense of denying ourselves. It is living the life of daily denial of self and the bearing of the cross that we may follow Christ. At the gate we repudiate the mastery and the practice of sin as a pattern of life, and the restricted way is simple. Simply living in the reality of freedom from the dominion of sin and in the constant mortification of remaining sin. Now today we focus our attention on the fourth and final component or element that comprises the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major

The Fourth Component of the Restricted Way: Resisting the World

17:12 issue confronts us with the restricted way, then the restricted way is the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way, then the restricted way is the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way, then the restricted way is the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way, then the restricted way is the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts us with the restricted way. And what is it? Well, if at the gate the fourth major issue confronts one in whom the Spirit of God is implanting divine life, that man, that woman, will repudiate from the heart the world as the molding influence upon his life. Now if that's so, and if our basic principle is a sound principle, then the restricted way is what? It is the way of living in constant resistance to the world's efforts to seduce us back to its governing passions, perspectives, and companions.

18:07 What is the restricted way? What is the restricted way? The restricted way that leads unto life, it is not only the way of constant feeding on Christ and Christ alone as our righteousness, constantly denying self for Christ's sake and others, constantly reckoning upon our freedom from the dominion of sin and in the power of the Spirit mortifying remaining sin, but it is a way in which we...

18:40 We are constantly resisting the world's efforts to seduce us back to its governing passions, perspectives, and its companions. Now as we take up this fourth element of the restricted way and attempt to expound some very critical passages which throw light upon it, let me say by way of general introduction, several things. There are some of you here who were not here when I preached message number 13 in which I sought to give an extensive description of what the Bible means when it uses the term world in such passages as 1 John 2, 15. 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, or 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.

19:54 But suffice it to say for the sake of brevity, the best mini-definition of the word world in the sense in which we are using it in connection with the restricted way, the way... The way of constantly resisting the efforts of the world to seduce us back into its passions, perspectives, and companions.

20:22 It is that definition given by Fairbairn in his commentary on 1 John for the world. What is it? Fall in human nature, acting itself out in the human family. Molding and fashioning the framework of human society.

20:41 In accordance with its own tendencies. It is fallen human nature making the ongoings of human thought, feeling, and action its own. It is the reign or kingdom of the carnal mind which is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be.

21:06 Wherever that mind prevails, there... ...is the world.

21:13 When our Lord says, I have chosen them out of the world. What was he saying? He was saying, I have chosen them out of the remainder of the human family which is molded and fashioned in accordance with its own tendencies. That part of the human family left to fall in human nature.

21:42 Which makes the ongoings of human thought, feeling, and action its own. I have taken them out of the realm of that segment of humanity that operates with a heart and enmity to me and to my Father and to His holy law. That's the world. The passages I've read in your hearing, this definition of the world fits.

22:09 As we have seen, the world is used with great... ...latitude in Scripture, but in the sense in which we are using it in this more restricted sense of the two passages read in your hearing.

22:21 It is fallen human nature acting itself out in the human family, molding and fashioning the very framework and fabric of all of human society in accordance with its own tendencies.

Christ's Prayer for His People in the World

22:42 And I would also... I would also say by way of introduction that it is the will and prayer of Christ that secures the presence of God's people in the midst of this world and its dangerous influence.

22:59 Why once we get through the narrow gate and by the secret but mighty work of the Spirit of God upon our hearts, making us into new creatures, we are enabled to take the ring... ...of a lifetime of marriage and allegiance to the world and formally divorce ourselves from the world and throw the ring into the depths of the sea.

23:25 Why does not the Lord take us home immediately? Why are we not taken immediately? Well, you'll remember in His prayer, as we read it in John 17, Christ's prayer secures that His people will not be taken out of this world system. ...of a lifetime of marriage and allegiance to the world and formally divorce ourselves from the world and throw the ring into the depths of the sea.

23:44 Immediately? I pray not, verse 15 of John 17, that you should take them out of the world. Had our Lord prayed, O my Father, all whom You've given to me, the moment my grace lays hold of them in their own time-space history, and they are brought into the virtue of my righteousness, they are given a new heart and a disposition to love me and holiness, and to love You and to call You Father, while there's so much danger in this world, O my Father, take them out of it before the danger overtakes them. He does not pray that way.

24:27 He prays, I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil. He knows that praying that we remain in this world is to leave us vulnerable, and expose to evil in general, and to the evil one in particular, that one whom Peter described, who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And so as we think of the restricted way, being one of constantly having actively to resist the seducing influence of the world, and say, why should it be that I must spend my life in this wearisome resistance to the seductive influence of the world? The answer is, Christ prays that it should be so.

25:29 And that for which He prays should be that which we accept in joyful submission. The third thing I want to say by way of introduction, is that we need to remember that it is also the prayer, and the power of Christ, that secures our grace to overcome the world. It is the prayer, and the power of Christ, that secures our grace to overcome the world. Again, the prayer of John 17, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, and that prayer is answered in us, being here in the world. But, and this prayer will be answered for all of His own, that you should keep them from the evil one. And in answer to the prayer of Christ, and by the continuous supplies of His grace, that enables us to continue by faith to lay hold of the virtue that is in Christ, according to 1 John 5, 5, the one who is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.

26:57 Who is He that overcomes? But He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So as we embark upon this study for the remainder of our time this morning, and God willing in our communion meditation tonight, remember what the world is. Don't think of it simply in terms of some of the grosser forms of specific manifestations of worldly mess.

27:28 R-rated movies, PG-13 movies, and 99% of the G-movies as well. It's the world producing them. And it will reflect the world's standards, the G-rating notwithstanding. And don't be so stupid.

27:46 As to think that the world suddenly becomes the kingdom of God when a G-rated movie is made. It's the problem with some of you. You determine what you watch by the ratings of the world, rather than the standards of the Word of God. But you see, worldliness is not just what movies you see and don't see, what you eat and don't eat, and what you drink.

28:12 No, no. Think of it in terms of that definition and description given by Fairbairn that is so comprehensive and so accurate. It is that entire framework of human society left to act out its own principles rooted in blindness to the glory of Christ. Enmity to God.

28:39 Love of this present system. No concern for eternity. No concern. No concern for the state of the soul.

28:49 It's that whole fabric and all that comprises it that is the world. And we are in this thing because Christ has prayed we would be in it, fully knowing we'd be exposed to dangers. But His prayer also secures our triumph and our ultimate ability to be overcomers. Now with those introductory perspectives behind us, let's come now to consider the question, Am I for real?

Resisting the World's Governing Passions: The World's Trinity

29:25 Am I for real? Who has come through the narrow gate and I'm walking on the restricted way? The way that involves a continuous resistance to the world's seducing efforts to bring me back into its passions, its perspectives, and its companions. Well, if I am for real, then I will be one who lives in constant resistance first of all to the world's efforts to seduce me back to its governing passions and we'll open that up. And then the second thing, we constantly resist its efforts to seduce us back to its regulating perspectives and thirdly, we will constantly resist its efforts to seduce us back to its companions. First of all then, those who are for real live in constant resistance to the world's efforts to seduce them back. To its governing passions.

30:50 And that leads us then to two questions. What are the governing passions of the world? And what is it to live in constant resistance to these things? Question number one.

31:04 What are the governing passions of the world? The Spirit of God has told us through the pen of John in 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2 verse 15 and 20. Verse 15 and following.

31:19 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. And as though someone would ask the question, but John, that's such a general sweeping prohibition. Can you put some teeth into it? What is the world?

31:40 What comprises the world? How can I recognize the world? He answers. First of all, assuring us that this is not a matter of indifference or option.

31:53 It's a matter of life and death. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you can hear the summons, do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. You name the name of Christ, you say you've come through the narrow gate, you're on the restricted way.

32:10 If you really are, a prevailing love of the world is utterly inconsistent with having come through the gate and being on the way. No such thing as a worldly Christian. There is such a thing as a Christian overcome by an area of worldliness. But to say a worldly Christian is to take the adjective worldly and give it as a dominant description of one of Christ's.

32:43 But John says, if any man is a, quote, worldly Christian, the love of the Father is not in him. If any man has a prevailing love of the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You see, John, the wise old pastor, had seen a lot of people play head games. They had orthodox doctrine.

33:09 They had clear views of the gospel and they had conned themselves into thinking somehow they could hold to Christ and all the benefits of his salvation let loose of the grosser forms of worldliness but fundamentally cling to this world in this horrible spiritual adultery as James calls it and still think they'd go to heaven when they die. And John says, throw your silly notions out the window. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now that we've settled that, that this is a matter of life and death, now we're ready to ask the question, what then is the world?

33:50 What is it to which the world would seduce me as its governing passions? John answers, for all that is in the world. The old Puritans called it, here's the world's trinity. The lust, the desires of the flesh and the lust, the desires of the eyes and the vain glory of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

34:25 All that is in the world. You take that whole system and when you strip it down to its three main turbines that drive the whole machinery of the world, here they are. Turbine number one, lust of the flesh. Turbine number two, lust of the eyes.

34:48 Turbine number three, the vain glory of life. That world's system is driven first of all by the desires of the flesh. That is inordinate or unwarranted indulgence even of our God-given appetites. The world is driven by its passion to indulge its appetites.

35:17 Whether God says, thou shalt not, is irrelevant. If my passions say, indulge me, let God's law stand in the way, let conscience stand in the way, let decency and what Paul says, even nature itself stand in the way, and the passions say, no, I shall be gratified in light of nature and law notwithstanding. That's the world's philosophy. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, inordinate or unwarranted indulgence in our God-given appetites, drunkenness, gluttony, immorality of every kind, and every other human passion and appetite rooted in the flesh. That's turbine number one that drives all the machinery of this world. And if you don't believe it, if you can do it without defiling your mind, just watch the so-called advertising world at work on your television for just an hour or two. And you can hardly sell a bag of peanuts on the basis that they taste good.

36:43 They somehow have got to come floating on the sea of sexual innuendo, the lust of the flesh. Then he says, the desires or the lust of the eyes. What's that? That's the inordinate, immoderate, unwarranted indulgence of desire to have things.

37:03 Do you remember he said of Eve in Genesis 3, when she saw, when she saw the fruit. If only she had closed her eyes, but her eyes became the inlet of the lust that destroyed her, the lust of the eyes. It is said of David, he arose off his bed at eventide, went out onto his porch to walk, and he saw, and he saw! It was the inlet to the eye.

37:41 He hadn't been fantasizing about someone other than his wife on his bed, but when he saw the lust of the eyes, the inordinate, immoderate, or unwarranted indulgence of desire to have things, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's donkey, his car, nor his wife, his spouse, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. The great turbine that drives the world, and alas, so much of our own present economy is seeking to create in everyone from the youngest infant to the oldest adult, to the youngest child, this insatiable bottomless pit of desire for things to keep the economy going. We may dominate the process, but let the G.N.P.

38:42 keep going up at all costs. And then the vain glory of life. What is that? Well, I believe again Candlish has given the most satisfactory explanation of it.

38:54 It is the unwarranted boasting in our possessions, gifts, or privileges, and an atheist's and an atheistical attitude which fails to acknowledge that all is of God and through God and unto God, and robs him of glory. It's either boasting inwardly in what we have, or by ingratitude in the absence of thanksgiving and praise, assuming it's owed to us, or like Nebuchadnezzar, we got it by our own endeavors. This is my kingdom, which I have built. That's the vain glory of life.

39:35 It's the fellow crossing the goal line, and with a look of impudence on his face, making it plain as he looks straight into the eye of the television camera that he knows will catch him crossing the goal line. Everything says, I did it by my wife. I did it by my clever juking of the half bass. I did it by my wife.

40:00 The vain glory of life. Now, that's the world. John says, all that is in the world is driven by the turbines of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life. Oh, mercifully, when God gave us new hearts and called us to repentance and faith and enabled us to come through that gate, we said, Lord, from henceforth, no longer is my life going to be run, driven by the three turbines of lust of flesh, lust of eye, pride of life, but by one turbine.

Living by the Will of God, Not Worldly Passions

40:39 What is it? Look at the text. 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, the lust of the eyes, the vain glory of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

40:52 And the world passes away and the lust thereof. But he who is doing the will of God abides forever. When we came through the gate, we said, no longer are my standards, my choices, my legitimate appetites, the desires I have with respect to things I see and the things I have and am and can accomplish no longer will I be driven by the turbines of lust of flesh, lust of eyes, vain glory of life, but by one turbine, the desire to do the will of God. That in all of my appetites, the law of God will regulate their expression. The law of God will govern what I do with my appetite for food. I am not at liberty to take in as many calories as taste good to me, but as many as are in the best interest of the health and well-being of this body that was bought upon the cross and is now the temple of the Holy Ghost. And the will of God will govern what goes in my mouth.

42:09 The will of God will govern what goes on in the secrecy of my bedroom. For I have been bought with a price and my Christian wife has a body bought with a price. And no longer will it be in the passion of lust as the Gentiles who know not God, but as Paul says in sanctification and honor, that my God give an appetite and sexual thirst to the flesh and the flesh to the flesh and the flesh and sexual thirst will find its legitimate and God-glorifying expression. The will of God will dictate what goes on in my bedroom, what goes on at my table.

42:52 The will of God will dictate what I do when the new service merchandise catalog comes every three weeks. I just have the money from one mailing. Most of us could retire with ease. Somebody's making bucks and somebody must feel that if they can only get the images into the eye, they'll get the customer into the store.

43:19 Present need must not be bringing them. It must be created need. And so the images are flash, special sale, special this and suddenly there's a hundred things you never knew you needed that you now need. Lust of the eyes.

43:37 But you see the child of God says no, the will of God must touch my purse strings. The will of God must touch my pocketbook. The will of God must touch what I do with my allowance. The will of God must regulate what I see and what I do with what I see.

43:55 And no longer is it the vainglory of life thinking I've done something by dint of my own ingenuity and my own determination and my own abilities. I acknowledge the fact that I'm not lying on a hospital bed in a vegetative state with a bunch of tubes keeping me alive. It's all of God and all of grace. And if I can think as an intelligent human being it's God who gave me the grey matter and has kept it from getting scrambled up in an accident, scrambled up with an aneurysm, scrambled up by some kind of mysterious degenerative disease that would baffle the medical community. If I can think straight it's all of God and if I think I have a good mind what a stupid thing to use the very instrument God is to rise up in vain glory. It's spiritual madness. And I say no longer am I going to live driven by the engine of the vain glory of life.

45:08 And I'm on that way now that restricted way that gives no leave to live by the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of the heart and the unhappiness of the soul. And on the other hand I have a tree that was always in my heart that I loved and loved it so much that it became my most precious treasure. And I now go to at least in one area, will live dictated by the lust of our flesh rather than the will of God. Live by the lust of our eyes rather than the will of God. Live by the vain glory of life rather than the will of God. And the mark of someone who's for real is this.

The Warfare of Mortification and Self-Control

46:17 He is carrying out and all out lifetime to the death warfare. To do what? To resist the world in its efforts to seduce him back to its governing.

46:35 Now, I didn't say he's always equally successful in that resistance. Equally vehement with spiritual dynamics in that resistance. I didn't say that. The Bible doesn't teach it.

46:51 Christian experience does not validate it. But I'm saying that there is a baseline disposition of resistance to that world that would seduce us back to its governing passions.

47:11 The second question then is this. What is it? To live then in this constant resisting to those things. Well, it means, Romans 8, 13,

47:25 If you by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live, it means that in constant dependence upon the Spirit and in crying to the Lord Jesus to give increasing supplies and measures of the Spirit, I am actively killing these things that would be the instrument of this spiritual seduction. And you see, you cannot be killing sin and indulging sin at the same time. You cannot be killing sin It means that appetites will be consciously and deliberately and at times, if necessary, brutally governed.

48:17 You say, Pastor, you let your rhetoric get away with you. No, I didn't. Don't judge me till you hear me. Turn to 1 Corinthians 9.

48:29 Here, as we heard in the previous hour, the man who was most likely the most amazing convert in the world, the entire history of the Christian church,

48:42 saved by direct revelation from heaven, brought into his initial Christian experience when God gives revelatory data to a man named Ananias, a man who has performed miracles, who has spoken the Word of God, who's been the instrument to give us written portions of the Word of God. How is this man's attitude to these things? Listen to him in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9. Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things.

49:19 Now, they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible. He's speaking of the Grecian games and he has noticed that the man who's determined to come off with the wreath of victory, we'd say in our day, to go for the gold. Every facet of his life is under the most rigorous disciplines. What he eats, when he eats, how he eats, where he goes to bed, when he goes to bed.

49:44 His whole life is regulated by one passion. He's going for the gold. Every man that strives in the game exercises self-control in all things and they do it to receive a corruptible crown. Verse 26, I therefore, in a similar way, there is something analogous between that experience of the athlete going for the gold in my life, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I as not beating the air, but I buffet my body.

50:18 Look at the marginal reading. I bruise my body. Now he didn't mean literally that he pummeled his body. There is no efficacy in pummeling the external body and dealing with sins of the heart.

50:32 But he's using graphic imagery. I buffet my body. I exercise the strictest, some would say, brutal self-control. Why?

50:43 That I might bring it into bondage. That is, that I might have self-control over all my bodily appetites and passions. Why? What's at stake, Paul?

50:55 Lest by any means, after I've preached to others, I myself should be ad documus, reprobate. Paul said, if I ever do as the man in the iron cage, lay my reins upon the neck of my lusts, leave off to watch and to pray and abandon myself to be driven by the turbines of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, vainglory of life, God in righteousness will have to send me to hell. You say, but pastor, wait a minute. He heard the voice of Christ on the Damascus road.

51:36 He's the one who said nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Yes, he did. But he also wrote this.

51:43 And he knew that the God who had determined that nothing should separate him from the love of Christ would manifest that keeping power by keeping him in the restricted way, in the way of constant resistance to the seducing influence of the world trying to bring us back under the power of its governing power. Now, if that isn't what the passage says and what it means, I stand ready to be instructed and corrected. But if you correct and instruct me, you've got to correct and instruct the most responsible, knowledgeable, godly commentators who have written on the book of 1 Corinthians.

52:30 You see, that's the problem with some of you. You're really not convinced it's a matter of life and death. You're really convinced you can flirt with the world in terms of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life and flirt just enough to find some kind of temporary satisfaction and not jeopardize your soul. God help you this morning to see that's a lie from the devil.

53:02 It is the restricted way that leads to life. And that restricted way is the way of constant resistance to the world's efforts to seduce us, to seduce us back to its governing passions. It'll mean mortifying the deeds of the body. The special emphasis of the passage in 1 Corinthians 9 is the inordinate craving of our God-given bodily appetites.

53:31 But the same will be true with respect to our eyes, the lust of the eyes. And if it means, dear Christian, that you simply can't flip through the latest service merchandise catalog and that you simply can't flip through the latest stern sales and everybody else has always got sales, sales, sales, sales, sales. It's all a con job to create a sense of need and create a bargain. And if that's a stumbling to you, then instruct your husband or your wife, when that stuff comes, throw it in the bin.

54:09 Unless there is something you've prayerfully discerned is a need. And having discerned it is a need and having come to the conviction before God, that you can glorify Him by spending $50 for that item or $500 or $5,000. You're now scouring all the sales sheets to be the best steward possible of that money. That's an entirely different thing.

54:33 You see the difference? In one, you sit back thinking you are totally impervious to the lust of the eyes. And you let that old whore call the world bare her thigh. And you say, well, I'm just so grown up, I don't get seduced by a bare thigh.

54:55 You let her show her cleavage. You let her wink. You let her blow her perfume under your nose. You say you can walk away.

55:06 Listen to the scriptures. Whoso trusts in his own heart is a fool.

55:22 Scrupulous. Overly fastidious. But if by the grace of God you can come to the end of your days saying, by grace, I got through the gate, I walked upon the way, and now I'm going across the river. And I ain't missed nothing because I didn't feed my eyes with everything I saw until I got it in my hand.

55:50 And because I acknowledged that all that I had and all that I possessed was God's gracious gift and I refused to boast in anything save the cross of the Lord Jesus. You let a man just crossing the river be stopped if we could as the Lord's about to put him in the boat and cross and say, oh, wait a minute. Lord, can I hold him back for a few minutes and tell him, would you like to leave us a parting word of woe that you were so strict in disciplining your appetites of the flesh and the inlet of your eyes and the vain glory of life? Would you leave us a little word to warn us that such a life of strictness has really brought you to this point? And filled you with grief. You'll never find such a person. Never, never, never, never, never.

56:44 If God were to put you in the boat to take you across the river today, I fear there's some of you would ask God for a megaphone to shout back as you were crossing. Don't play the fool as I did.

56:59 For my ability to enjoy Christ across the river has been greatly shriveled by the many times I allowed the world to seduce me with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Self-Examination: Are You For Real?

57:21 I ask the question, are you for real?

57:25 Are you for real?

57:28 I'm not asking, does Christ save sinners who believe on him? No question. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now should you say it. I'm asking the question, are you for real?

57:38 Has Christ really saved you? Have you come through that narrow gate? The proof of which is you're on the restricted way. And one facet of that way is the constant resistance of the world's efforts to seduce us back into its governing patterns.

57:57 Can you say with a good conscience, with judgment day honesty,

58:03 Lord, you know,

58:06 that's the fundamental posture of my heart. Though I grieve that my resolution at times is so weak, and though I mourn the fact that at times I'm caught on a way where's in my surprises, I've never once had a second thought about trying to go out and put on the scuba diving equipment and see if I can find the ring that attached me to the world. And just to look at it, I don't want to put it back on, just to look at it.

58:39 You can honestly say the moment you're conscious that the world is bearing her thigh and showing her cleavage, that you say with the psalmist, turn away! Can you say that? If so, my dear friend, you're on the narrow road that leads unto life.

59:06 If not,

59:08 you better have dealings with God and ask what kind of road you think you're on that's going to take you to heaven.

59:16 But it surely isn't the restricted way if it allows for a pattern of indulgence in this world system. For my Bible says, if any man loved the world as the preventer, failing disposition of his heart, the love of the Father is not in him.

Resisting the World's Regulating Perspectives

59:42 Secondly, and much more briefly, those who are for real live in constant resistance to the world's efforts to seduce them back to its regulating perspectives.

60:01 When we dealt with the gate, we said forsaking the world meant forsaking its governing passions, but also, we said forsaking the world, but also, it's regulating perspectives. So the question is raised, what are the regulating perspectives of the world?

60:16 And the Bible's clear. The regulating perspectives of the world are these. The temporal, as opposed to the eternal. 2 Corinthians 4.18 Paul says, As a Christian man, I and my companions look not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. And what is one of the designations of the people of God? They're not only called saints, they're not only called disciples, they're not only called believers, the people of the way, many titles and names given to them in Scripture, but what else are they called?

61:01 They are called strangers and sojourners. They're called pilgrims. People whose heart is in their homeland,

61:13 not in their tent in which they happen to be dwelling right now.

61:19 The world's perspective, its regulating perspectives are those of passion in pilgrim's progress. Passion who would have all now. The only world that matters is the now world. I want it all now.

61:35 I'm only going through life once. I want to grab all the gusto I can. That's the world's perspective. The temporal as opposed to the eternal.

61:44 The world's perspective is the external as opposed to the internal. This is where religion gets into the world. For the most scathing denunciations of that worldly perspective come toward religious people. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6?

62:01 Don't pray like the Pharisees. Don't give like the Pharisees. Don't fast like the Pharisees. Why?

62:08 With respect to all three activities, he says they do it to be what? Seen of man. What they were on the outside was all that mattered. But Jesus said with my people it's what is on the inside and secret and known only to God that matters.

62:24 Pray to your Father who sees in secret. Give in your Father who sees in secret. Fast in your Father who sees in secret. Or take the indictment of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 27.

62:38 You appear outwardly beautiful. Like white-clothed sepulchers but inwardly you are full of extortion and excess.

62:50 You see, the world's regulating perspectives are the temporal as opposed to the eternal. The external as opposed to the internal. The physical as opposed to the spiritual. Matthew 6, 32.

63:05 After all these things do the Gentiles seek? Their perspectives are on the things they can see. And therefore they seek them. The scripture says we seek the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.

63:24 We seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

63:30 The world's regulating perspectives are the earthly as opposed to the heavenly. Philippians 3, 18. They mind earthly things. They are Bunyan's muckraker.

63:41 Their eyes are down Their rake is in the muck of this world. That was Bunyan's opinion of the world's praises, riches, fun, possessions. He called it nothing but a bog of muck. And every person whose soul sees nothing beyond this world is a muckraker.

64:07 But according to Colossians 3 the child of God seeks the things that are above where Christ is seated. At the right hand of God. So you see the regulating perspectives of the world temporal as opposed to the eternal. External as opposed to internal.

64:28 Physical as opposed to the spiritual. Earthly as opposed to the heavenly. And the man who's on the constricted, restricted, narrow path that leads to life. What is it like to live in constant resistance to the world's regulating perspective?

64:45 It means, it means to constantly refocus the gaze of the soul on the realities of the eternal. To be concerned with the state of the internal. More concerned with the spiritual than the physical. The heavenly than the earthly.

65:05 This is why Solomon says guard your heart above all things that you guard for out of it are the issues of life. To the child of God the state of his heart is an object worthy to be more carefully guarded than the heirloom jewels that are stuck away in a hidden compartment in the wall of your living room. You'd sooner have those jewels stolen than have a heart that gets cold to Christ and careless about sin and indifferent to the glory of God and the kingdom of God. I ask you, are you in the narrow road that leads to life?

65:47 Are you in that road in which you are resisting the world's efforts to seduce you back to its regulating perspective? You can answer. You see, you can be a proper regular attender member in good standing in Trinity Church and be a worldling at heart.

66:14 And in the day of judgment it's not your standing in our eyes that's going to make the determination of heaven or hell. It's what you really are beneath God's eye. Let that regulate your response.

Resisting the World's Companions

66:30 And thirdly, and even more briefly,

66:33 if we are indeed on the narrow road, that restricted road that leads unto life, if we are indeed and in reality resisting the world's efforts to seduce us, we're resisting its efforts not only to seduce us back to its governing passions, its regulating perspective, but also back to its companions. Remember when we preached about getting through the narrow gate? One of the things Jesus made plain in the Sermon on the Mount is this. Become my subject and part of my people and you're the despised minority.

67:18 You'll be part of the blessed ones, the happy ones who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Concerning whom men will say all manner of evil. You will be such as to stand out as the counterculture, light in darkness, salt in the midst of putrefaction.

67:41 But you see, the world's companions are those who live by the world's perspectives and anyone living in this Christian counter-cultural perspective is an irritant. Men love darkness rather than light and will not come to the light. So if they can't kill you, you know what they'll try to do? Get you to join them.

68:01 Read Proverbs 1. The Father knew this. He said, My son, my son, if sinners consent, can sinners entice you? Don't consent.

68:12 If they say, Come, lie with us. We'll go ahead and get together and form a gang and we'll divide our booty. He says, Look, look, avoid them like the plague. I'm giving a paraphrase.

68:25 But He says, Stay clear of worldly companions. 1 Corinthians 15.33 Be not divided, deceived, evil companions, corrupt good morals.

68:40 Scripture tells us, Marvel not if the world hates you. We read in John 15, If they hated me, Jesus said, they'll hate you. My friend, how in the world, how in the world can you claim to be one of Christ's if you know nothing of the rejection of identification with a despised and a rejected Christ? And I say again, when the world bears its thigh and shows its cleavage and winks its eye and wafts its perfume your way, you court just enough to take away the reproach of Christ.

69:18 They don't mind you being half-decent just so long as you never tell them the reason why you're half-decent. They don't mind you being reasonably honest because they know you won't pick their pocket.

69:32 But you tell them why you're honest and then go one step further and tell them God will judge their dishonesty. And then you've had it. And my Bible says, first half of Ephesians 5, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. That's not enough.

69:51 But rather, reprove them.

69:56 That's when the reproach will come.

70:00 I say again to you, dear young people, you've been cheated. You've been reared in a generation that says the purpose of your existence is fun and games and more fun and games and more fun and games. And be ungrateful for everything you have and complain because you don't have more. This rising generation is the most ungrateful, unthankful, avaricious generation probably that this nation has ever known.

70:36 If you're going to say as a young person, look, I don't know how much life is given to me, but life is serious. God's surrounded me with marvelous privileges. I'm going to live for something more than fun and games. I have a mind.

70:50 And I'm going to cultivate it to the glory of God. That sets you against the posture of the world that says do as little as you can, just enough to get by and get your high school diploma. Just get shoved along from grade to grade and shoved out.

71:06 Then borrow a bunch of money from the government. You never have any intention to pay back so you can party for another four years at college.

71:15 You dear young people, you need to stand against that if you claim to be a disciple of Christ and say I'm going to cultivate this mind to the glory of God. Whatever my station and calling in life may be as a man or woman, I'm to love the Lord my God with all my mind as well as with all my heart. And I will not stay in the companionship of guys and gals that will discourage me from industrious intellectual pursuits. That's what it means to resist the world, kids.

71:47 I will not have as my friends anyone who discourages me from being respectful to my parents. Anyone that makes me feel embarrassed to kiss them goodbye when I go out with them. I'll only have as my companions those that encourage me to walk in the ways of God. Whether they're saved or unsaved, I will have no companions who will discourage me to be all my God wants me to be.

72:17 You ready for that? That's part of the restricted way. The psalmist could say in Psalm 119.63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee.

72:32 Say, Pastor, nobody's going to heaven but we will live that way. Ain't many going there. That's right. That's exactly what Jesus said.

72:40 Few there be that find it.

Call to Conversion and Perseverance

72:43 You got the message. But I hope you'll go beyond that and say, but by the grace of God I'm going to be one of them. By the grace and power and if you've not come through the gate my friend Christ to receive. Ready to break your chains.

73:07 Ready. To give you grace to tear the ring of this adulterous relationship to the world and divorce her to become Christ's. He stands ready to change you from a lover of self to a lover of himself. Go to Christ and say, Lord Jesus, no way I can shrivel myself down and unpack and get through the gate.

73:32 Do in me what must be done to get me through.

73:36 And if you're through the gate and on the way you don't look to someone else. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. More of that tonight in our communion meditation, God willing. But dear people, I plead with you as we bring this series near to its close to ask yourself, am I for real?

74:00 Am I for real?

74:04 Or have I concocted a convenient kind of Christianity that's more like a big wide gate? And a big broad way than the narrow door and the compressed way which alone lead to life? Let us pray.

74:29 Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray that the Holy Spirit will apply it with great power and incisiveness. That where there is flirtation with the world, where there is any courting of the world, where there is any spiritual harlotry with the world, amongst your people, oh God, expose it and bring it to the cross of Christ, we pray.

75:06 And for those, our Father, who are enmeshed in this world, they live driven by those three turbines. They live with a heart that is attached to the perspectives of this world and to the people of this world. Oh Lord, may they become part of those for whom you pray when you said, my people are not of this world even as I am not of this world. Bless your word then to the conversion of some and to the ongoing sanctifying grace of Christ in all the others.

75:45 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.