Difficulties to Endure Along the Narrow Way, #2

Introduction: The Enduring Reality of the Narrow Way

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, October 8th, 2006, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I would urge you to turn with me in your own Bibles, or looking on with someone next to you who has a Bible, and follow as I read two portions of God's Word. The first is Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 7. Matthew, Chapter 7.

0:29 These are the words of our Lord Jesus, spoken near the end of what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. 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. 4.

1:05 Or, perhaps better rendered, how narrow is the gate, and compressed, or difficult, or narrow the way that leads unto life, and few, and few are they that find it. And then in the book of Proverbs, Chapter 14, and verse 12.

1:35 The book of Proverbs, Chapter 14. And verse 12. There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Is the gate still narrow?

2:06 Is the way that leads to the enjoyment of eternal life still compressed and difficult? And is it true?

2:19 Now, as in the day of our Lord Jesus, that there are few who find it. Is it true that there is yet a way that seems right to a man? In other words, surely God would not do this or would not do that, and surely God would this and God would that. There are ways that seem right to men, but the end thereof are the ways.

2:52 Of death. Few questions should be of greater concern to you and to me. With respect to these very issues, is the way that leads into the kingdom still narrow? Is that path that leads to life still difficult and compressed?

3:13 Well, surely, if it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who came out of heaven to make a way to heaven, then these words ought to be taken very seriously when he himself says, If you would go to heaven, you must get through a narrow gate, and you must walk on a way that is difficult and pressured and compressed, and furthermore, recognize that in any generation, in any group of people, the many will choose an easy alternative.

3:54 A big wide gate, and a big wide way, but it leads not to heaven, but to hell.

Review: The Narrow Gate and Discarded Baggage

4:03 And burdened with this reality, several weeks ago, we began a study of these words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. After sketching in the larger and more immediate context with the great emphasis upon the nature of God's kingdom that comes from heaven, we began a study of these words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. In the person of the king himself, our Lord is not content that people have a head swelled with knowledge about the nature of the kingdom of God. He is passionately concerned that they actually enter that kingdom.

4:42 And so we discovered in our first study of this passage three things. First of all, a gracious but regal command to all who were listening to him to enter the kingdom. through that which our Lord describes as a narrow gate. The closest thing in our experience would be a turnstile.

5:05 And when you come up to that turnstile, only one person at a time can pass through. If you come up to it laden down with baggage, you've got to get rid of your baggage, either push it underneath or have someone hand it over. But you've got to get rid of the baggage to get through that turnstile. And our Lord says, this kingdom that I've been describing, the character traits of all the members of this kingdom, the righteous standard by which they shape their lives, how they engage in religious activities not concerned with the eyes of men, but with the eye of God, into this kingdom you may enter only if you're ready to go.

5:50 If you're ready to press through that which our Lord likens to a turnstile, a narrow door. And according to the parallel passage in Luke 13, 24, we must spare no pains to get through that narrow door. Secondly, in these verses we have a gracious but regal warning to beware of the attractive and popular alternative to the narrow gate. If the narrow gate...

6:20 The narrow gate represents true conversion. What it means for a sinner to turn from his sins unto God through Jesus Christ. Notice what Jesus does. No sooner does he issue this gracious command to enter the kingdom by the narrow gate, but he says, for, I'm telling you, I'm urging you, I'm commanding you, for, wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction, many are they that enter in thereby.

6:54 There will always be an attractive and popular alternative to the narrow gate. And in the context, it is the gate of entering in to a profession of a religion that doesn't touch the heart, that doesn't frame the life. It's all comprised of activities and show and external religious trappings. In the context of the Sermon on the Mount, this is what our Lord is addressing.

7:23 Always that attractive and popular alternative to the narrow gate. A big wide gate and a big wide highway, but it leads to destruction. And then we saw thirdly, there is a gracious but regal insistence of this inseparable relationship between the gate, the way, and life. Look at our Lord's words in verse 14.

7:49 Narrow is the gate, and compressed, or pressured, or difficult, or narrow the way that leads unto life. Here is this inseparable relationship between gate and way and life. And if you and I are serious about entering into eternal life at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, in all of the glory of what that life, life is, we must get through the narrow gate and must walk upon the difficult and the compressed way. Jesus gives us no notions

8:31 that we'll go to heaven simply because God is generally good and kind and He would never send any of His creatures to hell. Jesus knows God far better than you do, for He Himself is God. And He says if you don't get through the narrow gate of true conversion and walk upon the road of radical discipleship and attachment to Jesus, you are not going to end up in heaven, you're going to end up in hell. Now don't go out of here angry and say, who is that preacher?

9:07 If you're going to get angry, get angry with Jesus. He says, narrow is the gate, difficult and compressed the way that leads unto life, narrow is the gate, difficult and compressed the way that leads unto life, few there be that find it. You may sit there and say, well if that's so, then there's an awful lot of my friends that are all wrong. Yes, Jesus said that.

9:31 The vast majority at any given time in any given place are comfortable with a big wide gate and a big wide highway that leads to destruction. But Jesus who loves the souls of men is honest with us and He says unless we get through the narrow gate, and walk on the compressed and difficult way, we will never enter into life. Then having opened up the passage under those three heads, we then in our second message concentrated on this matter. What is the baggage that we must discard from the heart if we're to get through the narrow gate?

10:12 If we're to get through the turnstile of what the Bible calls conversion, if we're to get through the turnstile that is marked by the cross, marked by the two words repentance and faith, what baggage must be discarded this side of the turnstile? Not along the way, but before we can ever enter the way. For Jesus makes it plain, nobody can walk on the way if they don't get through the gate. And what is it that we must discard at the gate?

10:47 And we looked at four things, four suitcases, suitcases that must be cast off, repudiated, thrown away from the heart, or we'll never get through that turnstile. And what were they? We must repudiate, we must cast away from the heart the baggage, first of all, of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency. When Jesus describes the people who've come through the gate in the Beatitudes, He describes them this way, Blessed are the poor in spirit.

11:22 The first mark of those who come through the gate is they know that they are nothing and have nothing, and can do nothing to commend them to God. They need to trust solely and completely in what Jesus Christ has done for sinners if they are ever to find acceptance with God. And so they cast away the baggage of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency as the ground of their acceptance with God. But secondly, we must cast away from the heart the baggage of self-will as the governing principle of life. The Bible teaches by nature

12:06 every one of us lives by one fundamental major principle. It's the principle of pleasing ourselves. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned each one of us to his own way.

12:22 Or the language of 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 15, in that the one who lives should no longer live unto himself, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. That's why when Jesus in the days of his flesh was calling people to be his disciples again and again, what was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was

12:42 the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was

12:42 the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What

12:43 was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first verse? What was the first If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Deny himself to self-will as the governing

12:58 principle of your life. No longer are you going to accept that your thoughts of what God is like a reality. No, you're going to believe what God says about himself and what God reveals of himself in his word and supremely. in His Son. You're no longer going to judge what's right and wrong by your own sliding scale of

13:22 evaluation of right and wrong. You're going to say no to proud self that would dare to dictate to your Maker what does or does not please Him. No, we must cast away from the heart the baggage of self-will as the governing principle of life. Thirdly, we must cast away from the heart the baggage of sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of our lives. We must cast away from

13:56 the heart the baggage of sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of our lives. Listen to an old Anglican preacher who wrote on this matter and wrote as follows, If we would get through the narrow gate, it will cost us our sins. He must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God's sight. He must set his face against it, quarrel with it, break off from it, fight with it, crucify it, and labor to keep it under whatever the world around him may say or think. He must do this honestly and fairly,

14:40 there must be no separate truce with any special sin which he loves. He must count all sins as his deadly enemies and hate every false way. Whether little or great, whether open or secret, all his sins must be thoroughly renounced. They may struggle hard with him every day and sometimes almost get the mastery over him, but he must never give way to them. He must keep

15:08 up a perpetual war with them. He must never give way to them. He must keep up a perpetual war with them. He must keep up a perpetual war with them. He must keep up a perpetual war with them. He must

15:10 never give way to them. He must keep up a perpetual war with them. He must keep up a perpetual war with his sins. The word of God says, cast away from you all your transgressions, break off your sins and iniquities, cease to do evil, learn to do well. This sounds hard. I do not wonder. Our sins are

15:26 often as dear to us as our children. We love them, we hug them, we cleave to them and delight in them. To part with them is as hard as cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right eye. But it must be done. The parting must come. Though wickedness be sweet in the sinner's mouth,

15:46 though he hide it under his tongue, though he spare it and forsake it not, yet it must be given up if he wishes to be saved. He and his sin must quarrel if he and God are to be friends. Christ is willing to receive any sinners, but he will not receive them if they will stick to their sins. Let us pray.

16:10 Let us set down that item second to our account to be a Christian. It will cost a man his sins.

16:20 It's plain speaking, but it's true. That's why it's a narrow gate, because at that gate there must be a casting off from the heart of sin as a practice, as a pattern and a way of life. And fourthly, we must cast away from the heart the baggage of the world and its ways, as our chosen companion in life. We must cast away from the heart the baggage of the world and its ways as our companion in life. God willing, we'll focus on this next Lord's Day morning in

16:59 greater detail, but simply to remind you that this world system, according to the scripture, is under the control of the devil. And the scripture says, whoever would be a, friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God. And you can't get through the narrow gate saying, O Lord Jesus, I'm trusting only in the virtue of your precious blood. I am truly forsaking sin and self-will from the heart, but I want to come through the gate with a companion. This world,

17:34 its smiles, its standards of right and wrong, its perspectives on entertainment and dress and clothing, and what's innocent and what's not innocent. I'm prepared, O God, to divorce wicked, wretched. If you're not ready for that, you don't get through the gate. You don't get through the gate.

18:04 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2, 15. Friends, that's why the way, the gate's narrow.

18:22 A lot of people love the thought of going to heaven, according to their idea of what heaven would be like. But to go to heaven at the expense of getting through a gate where they must say, I have nothing to commend myself to God. My baptism as a child, my going to catechism classes, my church attendance, all of my confirmation, all of my religious activities are nothing but stinking, rotten. Filthy rags in God's sight. And I need a righteousness that can only please God,

19:00 that has come from God, that has been procured by the perfect life and the substitutionary death of Jesus. Nothing in my hands I bring, O God. Simply, Lord Jesus, to thy cross I cling. That's what makes the gate so narrow. Because there at that gate,

19:23 the religious, sweet, nice, upright person, and the besotten drunkard, and the harlot, and the drug addict, and the murderer, they all meet on level ground. They have nothing to commend themselves to God. Furthermore, the baggage of self-will is the governing principle of life must be cast away. There is no getting through the gate if you haven't settled the issue.

19:50 Who am I going to live for? Me or Jesus? In every area of life, will it be me or will it be Jesus? Not me and Jesus, but me or Jesus.

20:03 That's why Jesus called it a losing of your life. He that would save his life shall lose it. He that shall lose his life for my sake shall save it. He's not talking about martyrdom. He's talking about

20:14 repudiating from the heart self-will that has been your life, that has been my life by nature. And it is so repudiated, it's as good as dead.

20:26 You've lost it at the narrow gate. And then the baggage of sin is the deliberate practice and pattern of life, and the baggage of the world and its ways as our chosen companion. Well, that's what must be dealt with at the gate. Now then, we saw in our third message, and this is an extensive review, and I make no apology for it. We have a lot of visitors,

The Nature of the Difficult Way: Kingdom Lifestyle

20:53 and I don't want them confused as to where we've been and where we're going. Having identified the baggage of sin, we've lost it at the narrow gate. We've lost the baggage that must be discarded at the gate. We then began to look at the difficulties we must reckon with if we're to walk on the narrow or compressed or difficult way that leads to life. And we began by looking into the scriptures to see what do these words mean,

21:20 the narrow or compressed or difficult way. And the word for way is the standard word for a path or a road. And the word for way is the standard word for a path or a road. And as a metaphor, it means a lifestyle. As a metaphor, it means a pattern of living.

21:37 And our Lord says that if you get through the narrow gate, it issues into a pattern of life, into a road, into a lifestyle, and I have chosen to call it kingdom lifestyle. The lifestyle described in the Sermon on the Mount. That lifestyle, marked by the character traits delineated in the Beatitudes, a respect for God's law, which our Lord deals with from verse 20 on in chapter 5, in which we seek to live by the standard of the law, touching even our thoughts and our motives and our words.

22:19 We seek to do so in the strength and power of Christ. And so our Lord is talking about a lifestyle, a way of existence. And he says it is a narrow or better translated, rendered a compressed or a difficult or restricted way. The verb used is a verb that means to afflict, to place pressure upon another. And in

22:49 contrast to that wide way that many choose, where one can saunter in, hands in pocket, looking at the puffy clouds going by, whistling while we go. This is a dangerous road. It has precipices on either side. And it is a road in which there is great pressure from a number of sources. And our Lord says to all of his hearers,

23:14 I want you to know, if you get through and encounter from the heart the difficulties at the gate, it isn't going to lead you into an easy life. The narrow gate will lead to a difficult, compressed and a restricted life. A restricted way. And if the gate is entrance into the kingdom, the way is the lifestyle of the kingdom. And then we had time to articulate a principle and then identify the first two

The Difficult Way as an Extension of the Gate's Issues

23:43 difficulties. And the principle is this. The way, that narrow, compressed, difficult way, is nothing more but nothing less than an extension into the totality of life of the issues dealt with at the gate. And if you get hold of that, you've got hold of the heart of the matter.

24:05 What is this difficult way? What makes it difficult? It is simply an extension into the totality of life of the issues faced at the gate. So, if at the gate, the first thing we do is to cast away from the heart all self-righteousness as the ground of our acceptance with God.

24:31 Then that difficult way is maintaining a death grip upon Christ alone as the ground of our acceptance with God. And in addition to that, as the source of our strength to live well pleasing to God. Having repudiated all confidence in ourselves at the gate, the way is constricted and narrow because it is a way in which we must cling with a death grip to Christ alone and the New Testament makes it plain that that's not an easy

25:11 thing while the apostles were still alive. People were going out in the name of Christ, and in the name of the Church, teaching that Christ was enough perhaps to get you started, but he wasn't enough to keep you in the way. You needed circumcision and kosher laws and Jewish holidays, et cetera, et cetera. Others said you need certain ascetic practices if you're going to be whole Christians and you're going to know fullness in the Christian life. And so it is a difficult way because the human heart by nature is the heart

25:46 of a Pharisee. It wants to constantly present something of its own virtue to God as the ground of acceptance with God. It wants to find something in itself as the source of strength to live well-pleasing to God. And then secondly, the difficult way is the way of a serious pursuit of a life of universal obedience to the will of Christ as embodied in the word of Christ.

26:15 If at the gate we cast away the baggage of self-will as the governing principle of life, the difficult way is carrying that disposition into the totality of life in which there is now a serious pursuit of a life of universal obedience to the word of Christ as embodied, to the will of Christ as embodied in the word of Christ. No longer am I living to myself, Paul says, but unto Him. And what is living unto Christ? Having some gushy feelings

26:52 in my devotions in the morning? No! It's coming out of my devotions. Determine, that in every single step I take, insofar as God gives me light and understanding, my life will be framed by the will of Christ as embodied in the word of Christ.

27:13 As a husband, as a wife, as a citizen, in what I look at, in what I hear, in what I put on my body, in what I take off my body, in where I go, in the people I choose, to make my friends, every area of life is to Jesus Christ. That's a narrow way. It's a difficult way, because my remaining sin is constantly wanting to wiggle out from His gracious and easy yoke, deceived into thinking there's some pleasure, there's some fulfillment to be found

Difficulty #3: The Serious Pursuit of Universal Gospel Holiness

27:58 in some other path other than the path of strict adherence to the word of Christ. Now then, I'll have time with that lengthy review only to identify the third characteristic of that way that is compressed, narrow, and difficult, and it is this that makes it a compressed and difficult way. And what is that? Well, remember the third suitcase that we deal with at the gate? The first, self-righteousness and self-sufficiency. The second, self-will

28:36 as the governing principle of life. What was number three? Number three was the baggage of sin as the deliberate practice and pattern of our lives. Well, when that principle dealt with at the gate extends into a way of life, what does it produce? It is the way or the

28:58 lifestyle characterized by a serious pursuit of gospel holiness, and it is the way or the pattern of life. It is the lifestyle characterized by a serious pursuit of gospel holiness of heart and of life. Remember the principle? The difficult way is but an extension into the whole of life of the baggage dealt with at the gate. That's why Paul could say in

29:36 Acts 26.20, wherever he preached, this is where he preached, this is where he preached, this is what he preached, that men should repent and turn to God, doing works meet for or answering to that repentance. When it comes to the basis of my acceptance with God, my works have nothing to do. It is Christ's work, not mine. But when I've embraced Christ

30:02 and the sufficiency of saving work in Him, and I've come through the gate, my works don't work. They do indeed have a lot to do with who I am and where I am. They validate the reality of my professed entering through the gate. Now let me define my words. What do I mean by gospel holiness? I mean a holy life that

30:27 has all of its taproots in the truth and in the power of the gospel. And what is the gospel? It is the good news of God's saving mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And I am saying that if we get through the gate and we are on the compressed or difficult way, it is the way of gospel holiness. That is, a holiness that has all of its taproots

30:55 in the gospel. Listen to a 17th century Puritan, my good friend John Owen. This is what he says, John Owen, The whole matter of sanctification and holiness is peculiarly joined with the doctrine, truth, and grace of the gospel. For holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realizing of the gospel in our souls. I love that. What is true holiness

31:29 or sanctification? It is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realization of the gospel in our souls. And so by gospel, holiness, I mean a holiness that in its motives is rooted in the gospel. In the gospel, God comes to hell deserving sinners, and he offers in Jesus Christ a complete salvation. And

31:55 when we have repudiated all trust in ourselves and our religious deeds and practices, et cetera, and we have laid hold of Christ himself as our only hope of salvation, the Holy Spirit, who has brought us to so embrace Christ, always implants in the heart of the believing sinner a love to the person of Christ. That's why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, If any man loves not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Why? Let him be accursed.

32:29 Why? Because he's never truly believed in Christ. When there is true faith in Christ, there is always born in the heart of the believing sinner a love to the person of Christ, and how does that love express itself? Not by singing spine-pingling songs, though that has its place. What did Jesus say? If you love me, keep my commandments. So this pursuit of holiness

32:58 is gospel holiness. Its motive is love to Christ, gratitude for God's salvation in Christ, a jealousy for the honor of Christ, that I, who now, name the name of Christ, will rightly represent Christ. So in its motives, the gospel percolates through the motives, but also in its dynamic or power. What is it that enables me to live a holy life? It is the dynamics, the power imparted through the gospel, and the gospel says that

33:35 when I believe on Christ, I will not only have planted in my heart by the Holy Spirit a love to Christ and a desire to please Christ, but I will enter into a wonderful union with Christ, and in that union, the very power of Christ by the Holy Spirit is operative in me, so that I am able to live a life of holiness, not perfectly, but really, and purposefully, and powerfully. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. God is at work in us,

34:12 to will and to work for his good pleasure. I am the vine, Jesus said. You are the branches. As you abide in me, you will bear much fruit. The opposite is called holiness of the Pharisees. All their

34:30 holiness was external, legalistic. If we do this, and do this, and do this, and don't do this, and don't do that, we earn brownie points with God, and if we get enough brownie points, maybe God will take us to heaven. That's a holiness that is suitable holiness, and I've used the term on a pursuit of personal gospel holiness of heart and of life. Jesus said in Matthew 12, make the tree good, and its fruit, and out of the good treasure of his heart,

35:10 brings forth good. And here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made that very clear. He said, in my kingdom, unlike the Pharisees, if a man doesn't plunge the knife into another man's bosom, he thinks he's kept the commandment. you shall do no murder. Jesus said, in my kingdom, my subjects are concerned when they even have

35:32 a feeling of bitterness that breaks out in the words saying, you knucklehead, you stupid jerk. If you say you fool, he says, that's the very seed of murder. The Pharisees, as long as they didn't go to bed with a woman other than their wives, they thought they kept the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. Jesus said, when a man looks on another woman,

35:58 not to observe whether she's ugly or plain or beautiful, but Jesus' words are clear. Whoso looks to lust, the man that looks with a view to undressing her in his mind and having undressed her, going to bed with her, he has committed adultery already in his heart. He may never be able to get his hands on her and get her into bed. But in his heart he has. He has broken the command. In my kingdom, Jesus said, my subjects,

36:30 those who've repudiated sin from the heart as practice and way of life, they long for a holiness that touches the heart, attitudes, motives, desires, but it goes out into the life. Make the tree good and its fruit good. And in this very sermon, Jesus said in chapter seven, by their fruits, by the pattern of their lives, you will know them. A good tree, heart, does not bring forth evil fruit, life. Neither, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. So this

37:12 idea, oh, my heart's right. If your life is not right, your heart's not right. And if you think your life is right and your heart is not right, you deceive yourself. Either way, heart and life go together.

37:24 In true gospel holiness. And then I've used the term universal. By definition, universal means that which affects or includes the whole of a particular thing. It is not limited or restricted.

37:42 And if we get through the narrow gate, we don't come through with a few favorite sins in our pocket or in our purse, saying, we're going to spare those. I'm going to spare my jealousy. I'm going to spare my envy. I'm going to spare my quick temper. I'm going to spare my gossiping

38:06 tongue. I'm going to spare my jug ears that listen to all the slop of the gossip and the slander that anyone's ready to put in my ears. I'm going to spare my inordinate amount of time at my computer, surfing the net, picking up scuttlebutt. From around the world, for no other reason, and I've got a soul that wants to drink in scuttlebutt.

38:37 No, nothing spared. You come up to the gate, you turn your pockets inside out. And the back one, too. I can't. I've got my thing here. Cast away all your sins and all your iniquities, God says.

38:56 And if you're on that narrow road, you're on a road in which you are committed by the grace of God to a life. A lifestyle characterized by the serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness. Jesus says through Peter in 1 Peter 1, 13 and 16, these very simple, clear, unmistakable words. Listen to them.

39:26 Girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance, but like as he who called you is holy, be yourselves holy in all manner of living, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. God is holy in the entirety of his being.

40:04 And in all of his ways they celebrate in heaven, just and holy are all thy ways. God says, be holy in all manner of living as I am holy. And though I know I shall never know it in attainment until I am brought into his presence, I know the reality of in my heart saying, oh God, I want to be holy in every single facet of heart and of life. Holiness in my motives, holiness in my words, holiness in my dress, holiness in my entertainments,

40:44 holiness in the music I listen to, holiness in the videos and DVDs I watch, holiness in the theater I attend, holiness in the beverages I drink, holiness in how much food I put into my belly,

41:01 holiness, holiness, holiness. And I've committed to you. And I've committed to universal holiness. You're not committed to any true holiness in any part of your life. The area you spare and say, I will not pursue holiness there, shows that sin still reigns.

41:25 That's why Jesus said, when you are committed to universal holiness, even though there's a sin as dear as your right hand, as attached to you as your right hand, as dear as your right eye, and as much a part of you as your right eye, hack it off, cast it away, gouge it out, and cast it away, or you'll go to hell. I didn't say that here in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, that's how my kingdom subjects live. And it's time some of us faced realistically that we're not committed to

42:10 universal holiness. You'll glibly say, well, I know that I'm not committed to universal holiness. I know that my gossiping tongue is my weakness. Then what in God's name are you doing with it?

42:19 Are you waging all-out war? Are you setting bars upon the use of your telephone? Are you cutting off certain friends who precipitate your gossiping tongue? And say, well, I know I've got a weakness with the Internet. And when the pop-ups come, I look to think,

42:39 what are you doing? Have you put the filters on? Yes, but I load how to break it. Are you getting rid of it?

42:46 You can go to heaven, but you won't get to heaven for sin of lust. With all my heart, that there are not a few of you who don't really believe this. The saints have marked you as a professing Christian for years. When my Bible says it's a narrow way, it's a compressed way. And everyone who's on it,

43:23 no matter how weak, no matter how faltering, no matter how inconsistent the patterns may have been, they can't see you. So, I'm going to say, well, I'm not committing to universal holiness. I'm not say, by the grace of God, I'm committed with all of my being to a walk as difficult as it is, characterized by a serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness.

43:51 What do I mean by serious pursuit? Well, I mean what God means. In Hebrews 12, 14, God says, follow after peace with all men and the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And the verb follow after peace and holiness, dioko, is the standard Greek word for persecute.

44:19 Now, when someone's persecuting someone, what do they do? They get the object of their persecuting spirit in their minds and they go after them till they get it. They get them in their hands and then they do them harm. God says, persecute, track down with intensity and seriousness a life of holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

44:43 That is, see him with joy, what the old writers called the beatific vision. See him in all of his glory and have the most deep and passionate longings of the heart fulfilled in beholding him. Beholding your Savior face to face. Now, that's what I mean by this third aspect of the difficulty of the compressed way.

Scriptural Affirmation of Holiness as Evidence of Life

45:08 It is the narrow way characterized by a lifestyle of a serious pursuit of universal holiness of heart and of life. And I've supported the use of each of those words with scriptural allusions. And references and demonstrations. Are any of you prepared to tell me that the Bible anywhere says someone's on the way to heaven whose life is not characterized by a serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness?

45:47 If you find anything in your Bible to support that perspective, please show me. But if that is what the Bible teaches, then you must ask yourself the question, am I the one walking on that, that difficult, that narrow way? Let me give you several scriptures again as time is getting away from me that clearly affirm this reality. Romans 6 and verse 22.

46:19 We looked at it last week in another connection. I want us to look at it again.

46:24 The great theme of Romans 6 is Paul's answer to the question, because we are saved by grace, that is, on the basis of Christ's work for us. And not our works. And wherever human sin abounds, grace to forgive sin does super abound. Paul takes up the question, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

46:46 He says, God forbid. It's impossible, morally, spiritually impossible, for two reasons. Reason number one, verses 2 to 14 of Romans 6. In the faith that lays hold of Christ as our Savior, we are united to Christ in such a way that the world will be saved.

47:05 That the power of His death for sin, His burial and resurrection, becomes the dynamic of our new life. And we in union with Christ have died to the reign of sin. We have risen to newness of life. Sin does not exercise any lordship over us.

47:24 Its lordship was exhausted in the person of our Savior. And when we're united to Him by faith, the virtue of that exhausting of sin's power becomes operative. In our lives. And then verse 15 and following, he uses another analogy.

47:40 He says, no, if you're a true Christian, you've been converted by the grace of God, you've had a fundamental change of masters. Your former master was sin. Your new master is God and righteousness. And though he does not explicitly mention Christ, we know that because of the place of Christ in the gospel, we can include Christ.

48:01 And in the opening up of that second line of thought. That there's a place of Christ in the gospel. That there's a place of Christ in the gospel. That there's a place of Christ in the gospel.

48:05 There is not only union with Christ that breaks the dominion of sin. There is a change of masters that is real and fundamental. And as you served your old master by presenting your members, your faculties as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, you now present yourself and your faculties to be instruments of righteousness unto God. And now notice his summary statement in verse 22.

48:31 But now, having been made free. Free from sin and become bond slaves to God. That's what happened to you. If you're a real Christian, you are having your fruit unto holiness.

48:48 You are having your fruit unto sanctification and the end eternal life. Who has the promise of the end of eternal life? Those who have fruit unto sanctification. Who has fruit unto sanctification?

49:05 Only those who have been made free from sin and become bond slaves to God. That's the narrow gate at which we become the bond servants of God. No longer the willing slaves of sin. And as a result, we have our fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.

49:27 For the wages sin pays out is death. But the free gift of God is death. For God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, Christ is the procuring cause of eternal life.

49:46 But fruit unto holiness is part of the way to the full possession of that life. Don't separate what God has joined. None take second place. We do not take second place to any in affirming that the fruit of life is eternal life.

50:06 We do not take second place to any in affirming that the fruit of life is eternal life. The free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. But God help us when we do not hold with equal tenacity that in imparting that free gift to all who believe in Jesus, they experience this change of masters that results in this fruit unto holiness. And if there's no fruit unto holiness, there's been no true conversion.

50:37 There's been no true conversion. And without conversion and fruit unto holiness, there will be no eternal life. There will be the wages of sin. Sin still willfully served as a pattern of life.

50:51 Sin as the darling bottom of the heart. And then one other passage. I had four or five key passages, but time is slipping away and I have another vital point to make. 1 John chapter 3.

51:07 1 John chapter 3. And here I read from the English Standard Version that helps give the sense of the verb tenses that make the message of the passage more clear.

51:20 1 John 3 and verse 4. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. And you know that he, that is Jesus, appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

51:39 No one who keeps on sinning, has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. No one. No one.

51:49 Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

52:06 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God's seed, the principle of divine life, he received at the gate, abides in him. And he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God by this. It is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

52:29 Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Many other passages could be brought forward. If you by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. Everyone who abides in him ought himself so to walk, even as he walked.

52:55 But we all with open face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into that image from one stage of glory to another, even by the Lord the Spirit. You see, the Bible is clear. My dear hearers, whether you're visiting among us this morning, whether you're a member of Trinity Church, whatever your place is in identifying who you are, the issue is clear.

53:28 The gate, the way, and life. But then you ask, but pastor, if we were made to be holy, and we were, and if Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and it is, and if God says his commandments, his commandments are not grievous, why is this life of a serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness in heart and life, why is it so difficult? Why is it so compressed? Why is it such a narrow way?

Why the Way of Holiness is Difficult: Three Realities

54:06 That deserves an answer, and the answer of the Bible is clear. It's because of three realities that accompany us in that narrow way. Why? Though we repudiate this baggage at the gate, there is yet some baggage internal to us and external to us that assaults us on the way.

54:29 And some of you have already figured out what it is. There is the powerful, aggressive, and ever-present reality of the indwelling sin or what the Bible calls the flesh. And while the Scriptures are clear that sin does not reign in those who enter the kingdom and are found on the way, it is equally clear telling us that sin remains, and it remains as a powerful, active, and ever-present harassment to the child of God. Just read Romans 7, 19-23.

55:04 The great apostle speaking autobiographically says, I find then a law that to me who would do good, evil is present with me. Think. That great man saved by direct revelation from heaven, the recipient of the words of God to give to the churches of God throughout the entire age until the Lord returns. He says, When I set myself to do good, I discover afresh there is another principle of operation.

55:40 I find then another law operative warring against the law of my mind. I delight in the law. I delight in the law of God. With the inward man, only the child of God can say that for whom God has taken out the heart of stone, given him a heart of flesh, written his law upon the heart, placed his spirit within him.

56:01 I delight in the law of God after the inward man. However, he says, I find then another law. The good that I would, I do not the evil that I would not. That I do, wretched man that I am.

56:16 Galatians 5, 17. The flesh lusted, against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary, the one to the other, so that you may not do the things you would. I would love God with all my heart. When I come to pray, I would have unfettered, unclouded communion with God, and a host of thoughts rush into my mind, and my spirit becomes dull and distracted.

56:45 What's happening? There is this principle of the flesh. There is my remaining sin. That's why Peter had to say in 1 Peter 2, 1, as strangers and sojourners abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the spirit.

57:02 There's a warfare going on in my soul as I'm on that narrow way. It is the powerful, aggressive, and ever-present reality of indwelling sin or the flesh. Secondly, there is the subtle and aggressive activity of a wicked devil, and a host of his minions. 1 Peter 5, 8, and 9.

57:24 Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist. That's the language of intense, serious combat. Whom resist?

57:39 Steadfast in your faith. Ephesians 6, 11, and 12. We do not war against flesh and blood. He doesn't say we do not war.

57:48 He says we do not war against flesh and blood. But we do war against principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness. Stand, therefore. Be clothed with the whole armor of God.

58:01 Dear people, we're in a cosmic warfare if we're going to get to heaven.

58:08 Indwelling sin, a subtle and aggressive devil, and then the seductive and ever-present influence of a hostile world system. More on this next week, but suffice it to say, when Paul says, as in Romans 12, 2, and be not fashioned according to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the clear implication is the world is pressing in upon us, constantly seeking to mold us to think like the world thinks. Some of you will like it, but I'm going to keep harping on some of these issues till I see some changes. The world has a standard of innocent entertainment.

58:47 Don't let the world dictate to you what is innocent entertainment. The world has a standard of modesty. It's gotten so low now about the only thing that's immodest is total nakedness in certain situations. Don't let the world dictate what God means when he says, I will let the women dress modestly.

59:13 And when God tells us, buying up the opportunity, don't be a time waster and a time squanderer, the world has its standard, but God has his standard. There is no area of life, in which the world's standard is in diametric opposition to God. That's why God says, whoever would be the friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Why?

59:37 Because this world system is in opposition to God, as we'll see next week, God willing. Jesus said, if the world hates you, don't be upset, you know that it hated me. And why did it hate me? I am not of this world, even if you are not of this world.

59:52 The Lord is saying, my people have their taproot, it's a perspective on reality, drawn from kingdom standards, not the world. Not the world.

The Pilgrim's Progress: Navigating Vanity Fair and Hill Difficulty

60:05 That's why it's a difficult way. No Bunyan had it right. Christian has just engaged in interaction with two characters.

60:16 And he's coming up with faithful into a place called Vanity Fair. And this is what he writes. Now, as I said, the way to the celestial city lies just through this town, where, where this lusty fair is kept. And he that will go to the city and yet not go through this town must needs go out of the world.

60:38 Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this fair.

60:44 We're in this world, folks, and we're susceptible to its pressures. And that's why it's a difficult road, because in spite of it, those that are on this road, Jesus described them how, you are the salt of the earth, you are the light, you are the light of the world. So in spite of the world's pressures, they have managed to escape being conformed to this world to such an extent that they are salt to check the putrefaction of the world, and they are light to expose the darkness of the world. The Lord assumes that here in the Sermon on the Mount.

61:24 But alas, so many who name the name of Christ in our day are so much like the world, there's little, if any, light. They cross their salt, they drink at the world's fountains, they feed in the world's pastures, and they wonder why there's no grip in their testimony. Let me ask you as we close this morning, would anyone living close to you this past week suspect that you were in this narrow way, this compressed way, would there be any hints from your life that you are living a life marked by the salt

62:09 in this serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness? When a bit of an edgy word has come out of your mouth, have you been quick to confess it to God and to your spouse or to your parents or to your work associates? And when you were flipping through the paper and you saw the Macy's ads with the bare bosoms and the bra ads, man, in your eyes lingered longer than they should, did you say, that was mental adultery, forgive me. Did you? Come on, get honest.

62:51 I'd be willing to say how many of you were tempted in that area. I'm not a dirty old man. This is realism. Did you get concerned with heart holiness when you knew you were insensitive to your wife and weren't loving her and cherishing her as Christ does the church?

63:09 Did you go to her after going to God and say, sweetheart, dear, forgive me. I'm taking seriously. Holiness as a husband. Will you forgive me?

63:24 Come on, get on people in God's name. Get honest. If holiness is anything, it's going to touch you in these areas. Did you stand in front of your clothes rack as a woman and say, oh Lord Jesus, I want to take seriously what your word says about modesty.

63:50 Help me not to put on anything that could legitimately be called immodest. Did you take it seriously? Did you take Pastor Martin out on his hobby horse? That's Bible, not my idea.

64:08 And in an age where the world and where men's abandonment to sin finds its most critical expressions, it's in those areas that as the people of God our light ought to be the brightest. Where we have a crass, insensitive, boorish, socially insensitive generation just a Christian being kind and gentle and meek. He shines his light. Are you shining?

64:37 Would anyone following you from Monday to this morning watching you in your actions if they could get inside your head and read your thoughts would they be forced to say I don't know if there's another person in the whole world who is engaged in a serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness but that man is that woman is there for real. More than that let me ask you the God who knows all things will he be able to testify in the day of judgment

65:21 that you've come to that throne by way of the compressed difficult constricted way of a serious pursuit of universal gospel holiness if not he'll vindicate you in the last day. Well I trust in Jesus. If your trust in Jesus hasn't put you into this way it doesn't issue in life. That's what my Bible says dear people.

Conclusion: Choosing the Difficult Right Way

66:03 That's what this God who is truth incarnate this is what he has said. I close with my friend Bunyan again. He's interacted with formalist and hypocrisy. Christian has.

66:27 He told them that they all went up till they came to the foot of hill difficulty. Formalist and hypocrisy and Christian they come to the foot of hill difficulty at the bottom of which was a spring and there were also in the same place two other ways beside that which came straight from the gate one turn to the left hand and the other to the right at the bottom of the hill but the narrow way led right up the hill and the side of the hill is difficulty. So get the picture hill difficulty the narrow way straight up but there is a left hand and a right hand path.

67:12 Christian now went to the spring and drank thereof to refresh himself he finds his strength in Christ see the principle he gets his strength from Christ to climb hill difficulty he drank thereof to refresh himself and then began to go up to the hill saying though high I covet to ascend the difficulty will not me offend for I perceive the way to life lies here come pluck up heart let's neither faint nor fear better though difficult the right way to go than wrong though easy where the end is woe.

67:57 That's a man who's on the narrow way and he said I'm not looking for the easy way I'm looking for a broad way but I know the end is life God grant that we will stand with Bunyan's Christian and say from the heart I perceive the way to life lies here come pluck up heart let's neither faint nor fear better though difficult the right way to go than wrong though easy where the end is woe. Let's pray. We pray for the words of our Savior simple, plain,

68:41 urgent words and we pray that they will not fall upon deaf or disobedient ears we pray that you will bless your word to confirm your true people to give fresh resolve like Bunyan's Christian to look at every difficulty in this narrow way and determine as we drink of the springs of life and grace in Jesus to climb whatever hill to press through whatever opposition that we might know that life that is promised seal then your word to our hearts we pray in Jesus name Amen