The Strait Gate

Introduction: The Urgency of True Conversion

0:05 Our text this morning, verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7.

0:14 Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight or narrow is the gate, and compressed is the way which is unto life,

0:37 and few there be that find it. Statements of our Lord. To speak to you this morning under the general theme of true conversion, a difficult thing.

1:04 In the text which we have just read together, we come to that section in the Sermon on the Mount in which he is applying with great clarity all that he has previously taught. In the Beatitudes, our Lord had laid out the characteristics of a true Christian. If you want to know the description of a true Christian, you just read the Beatitudes. A true Christian is not marked primarily by his outward zeal or religious activity, but by those inner qualities of heart and spirit which only God the Holy Spirit can produce in a rebel sinner.

1:48 And then our Lord had laid out the standards of his kingdom. His people are going to walk in the light of his holy law, in all the breadth and length. In spirituality of that law. And then his people are those who will pray, who will give, who will discipline their bodies to spiritual ends.

2:08 And yet there are people who have to make a living, and so he encourages them to trust him. For the birds and the flowers don't struggle to have their needs met. And our Lord said, are ye not of much more value than they? And so having covered all the basic aspects of his kingdom, the characteristics, of those who belong to it, the rules that will govern those within it, he now comes to the place where he's inviting men into that kingdom.

2:38 And so in verses 13 and 14, there is an abrupt change in the laying out of the truth recorded here, and we come to a section of intense application and warm and urgent invitation. Now as we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, we consider, as I previously mentioned under the title of true conversion, a difficult fair thing. What do I mean by the term conversion? I find increasingly as a pastor, and then as I'm privileged to get out in meetings like this, that one of the great tasks of one who would teach the word of God

Defining Conversion: Beyond Religious Ping Pong

3:20 is to define terms that everybody throws around. It's sort of like playing religious ping pong. Now when you fellows and girls play ping pong, you learn how to sort of meet that ball and handle it and hit it, it back, and the other fellow handles it and hits it back. And we can do this with terminology like conversion, regeneration, and we can learn how to handle them, but we don't know what the ball is. We've never really examined and dissected the term. Now, when I speak

3:45 of conversion, what do I mean? Well, I'm using the term conversion in its broad biblical sense, the sense in which our Lord used it when he said in Matthew 18, except ye be converted, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. The sense in which Peter used it in Acts 3.19 when he said, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Now, what is that conversion? Well, Paul describes it, or it's

4:17 described in Paul's commission in Acts 26, yes, in verse 18, where God says, I've appointed thee to be my servant. And this is the task you're to accomplish, Paul, by the help and enablement of the Spirit. Open men's eyes to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin. Conversion is that turning from darkness to light, from the power unto God, doing in the forgiveness of sin. Now, true conversion is

The Contrast: True vs. Spurious Conversion

4:58 set forth in this passage. This passage, by our Lord, under the figure of a gate of destiny. It's about a narrow gate that leads unto light. And in its context, our everlasting true conversion with what we're going to deal with tonight, and I'm convinced this is the right interpretation of the passage, spurious conversion is a very easy and a common thing. It's the wide gate

5:33 of a false conversion, which leads to a very easy and a common thing. It's the wide gate that leads to the broad road of sham Christianity, and it'll end up in destruction. And because it's so broad, the gate and the way is so wide, many enter into that gate and walk that way. And so you have a study of contrast. Two ways preceded by two gates ending up in

The Possibility of Conversion Announced: An All-Embracing Command

5:59 two destinies. Now, first of all, as we look at the text, let us consider possibility of conversion announced. Notice how our Lord announces it. These words come as a command. In at the straight way that

6:22 I can make my will known to another is to give a command. I can remember one time when my dad said to me, son, would you like to go to the store and get a loaf of bread? And I thought I'd be smart. And I said, no, I wouldn't like to. Well, he about handed my

6:38 head to me. You see, what he was doing, he was commanding me, but he was giving this command like a suggestion. Or seeking to get my idea. Would you like to go to the store? What he really meant is,

6:51 son, go to the store. Now, had he said to me, son, I would never have said no. Saying no in the house in which I was reared was like cursing the blue street. You just didn't say that to mother and dad. You didn't even look at it. I remember getting spankings just

7:09 for the look that I put on my face when I was doing what I was told, and I was getting a spanking for the way in which I did it. Go down and do it. Likewise, mother and father. You see, when you want to make your will known to someone, the clearest way to do it is to couch it in a command. When I say to my son, Joel, you

7:30 come to daddy, he knows what I mean. It's my will that he come to his father and come immediately. Make more clear his desire that his hearers, those who've heard this marvelous description of the kingdom, those who've seen its standards and its laws laid out, how can he make more clear that he urges and desires that men enter that kingdom than he does here when he says, enter ye in. When our Lord says, enter ye in, he's telling us that there is a gate of entrance, that it stands open to all who come, that God is willing for men

8:14 to come. It's Moses' invitation in Deuteronomy 30 where he says, I set before you life and death. Therefore, choose life that ye may live. God says in Ezekiel, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye

8:37 die, O house of Israel? And so the possibility of conversion is announced because our Lord gives this command, and the command is all-embracing. He does not say, enter ye in, if you have this qualification or that qualification. The only qualification is this, and I hope you get it, is that you're concerned enough about that kingdom of grace which our Lord has described, that kingdom of grace which involves spiritual mourning, poverty of spirit, meekness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness,

9:19 walking in the light of the breadth of God's holy law. The only requirement is that you're concerned enough about that kingdom of grace to take this matter of entering seriously. If you're content to have old Adam patched up with a decision or a profession of faith and coming to church once on a Sunday, I'm sure, unless this church is the first rare and positive exception that I've found in any part of the country, there are many of you here, and I can say this without any prejudice because I don't know you, there are many of you here who come here Sunday morning and say, that's not the end of the world, I've got to get back to my job and I've got to do this work. You've got to think about it.

10:00 You've got to think about it. He says, I can't do that because I'm in a coma, but I've got to do this work. and that's the last you're seen until the next Sunday morning. Now, I don't want to be nasty, but I do want to say this.

10:09 If you're going to be satisfied by putting an hour here once a week, you've got a dangerously paltry appetite. The people who, when they read the Sermon on the Mount, come to the place where they say, Oh, God, if that's the kingdom of grace, the kingdom which I must be in if I'm to be found in your everlasting kingdom, then, Lord, tell me how I enter. To such people, the Lord says, Enter ye in at the straight gate. And he announces the possibility of conversion.

10:53 Now, this is necessary because when you see what follows, it could be discouraging. For he talks about a narrow gate. He talks about a compressed way. And lest we be discouraged, we can come back again and again and see the invitation of our Lord.

11:10 Enter ye in. He doesn't tell us about the true gate of conversion to discourage us. He describes it in order that we might enter in and press into that eternal kingdom.

The Difficulties of Conversion Enunciated: The Narrow Gate

11:25 Now, having considered the possibility of conversion, notice the difficulties of conversion enunciated. The Lord enunciates. He describes it all in the light of a narrow gate. It's the picture of a very small aperture.

11:41 I like to think of it in terms of a turnstile down in the sky. Subways. Do you have subways here in Philadelphia? You do.

11:49 All right. Some of you have been to them. I've been to those ones. I still won't go alone.

11:53 As much as I've been around, I'm scared to death. I'll get lost down there and end up riding one of those things until doomsday.

12:01 But when you come up after paying your token, you've got to go through that little turnstile. If you happen to be taking a subway to another part where you're going to take a train on a long trip and you've got two or three bags, you can't go through holding your bags. When you come up to that turnstile, you can just about...

12:17 You can't about get through. And if you're my size or a little bit more on the corpulent side, even with all your baggage down, you've got to squeeze through. Now, get the picture. Down in one of the subways in New York City at rush hour, and here are these thousands of people crowding down into the subways, but then it all narrows down to those little apertures, those little turnstiles.

12:41 And if a man comes up to one of those turnstiles and he's got an attaché case in one hand and a small suitcase, under that arm, and a big three-suiter in this arm, he's not going through like that. He's got to start putting down his baggage. He's either got to push it underneath or lift it over, and then he can go through. That's the picture that our Lord is giving here.

13:02 He says, Do you want to enter the kingdom of God? Then entering that kingdom is like entering into a very narrow, compressed, raten gate.

13:16 And in using that figure, our Lord is telling us that, true conversion is a difficult as it's a difficult. For the simple reason you've got to put your bags down. And you and I were born with certain baggage that is as much a part of us as the hair on our head and the nails on our feet. And we love that baggage.

13:46 We've drawn great delight from that baggage. That baggage is as much a part of us as the breath we breathe. He says, If you're to enter the kingdom of heaven, there must be, a laying down of the baggage. Now, may I be specific?

Dealing with Sin in General: Repentance Demanded

14:02 What is some of the baggage? It's entrance into the narrow gate a difficult thing. First of all, there is this matter of sin in general. You see, our Lord had been describing His kingdom.

14:17 And in that particularly searching section beginning with Matthew 5, beginning with verse 20, describing the nature of His kingdom. The standards of His kingdom. And you remember, that six times He said, Ye have heard that it was said, I say unto you. And then He took the holy law of God that had been encrusted over with the shallow interpretation of the scribes and Pharisees until the effect of God's law had almost been nullified in their lives and in their consciences.

14:56 And our Lord took all that garbage and all that veneer of Pharisaical tradition and He scraped it away until God's holy law stood out in all of its blazing light and searching righteousness. And He said, This is to be the standard by which the members of My kingdom walk. They will not be content if they don't chase their neighbor's wife and end up divorcing their own wives. No, no, He said, My people will be content walking their minds.

15:34 And their minds and their thoughts are as pure as their bodies are pure. For whoso looketh to lust upon a woman hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. They will not be content merely if they don't go out and pull the trigger. So He said, For to stay with a heart full of bitterness, thou fool, is to be guilty of murder.

16:01 So having faith in the standards of the kingdom, a person realized, if I am to enter that kingdom, an entrance is through that turnstile, then I have got to deal with sin. For what is sin? God tells us. 1 John 3 verse 4, Sin is the transgression of the law.

16:24 And our Lord says that My people are not willful, deliberate transgressors of My law. They do transgress. They do sin. In many things we offend all, James says, but they are not willful, deliberate transgressors of My law.

16:40 For whosoever is born of God does not make a deliberate practice of sin. 1 John chapter 3. So the person contemplating entrance to that kingdom realizes that I must deal with sin in general. You see, all of the promises of mercy, almost all of them, are couched in the context of a clear demand for repentance.

17:07 Let me pull a little experiment this morning. How many of you know Isaiah 1.18, Come now, let us reason. How many of you are at least familiar with the substance of that verse?

17:16 Just raise your hand if you will. How many of you know Isaiah 1.15, 16 and 17? Do you know that Isaiah 1.18

17:30 is the middle of the paragraph? It's only one part of a whole unit of thought? Now let's look at it. If you have your Bibles, turn to Isaiah.

17:40 But you might see the principle that I am seeking to bring into focus. Isaiah chapter 1. God through His servant Isaiah has been speaking very specifically and searchingly about the sins of His people, the sins of a religious people. And when He finishes announcing what their sins are, God is now going to give a clarion call to repentance and mercy.

18:16 Now notice verse 16. I'm sorry, beginning with verse 16. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord.

18:44 Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat of the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

19:03 Do you see that that promise of mercy is couched in the context of a demand for repentance? Sin, though as scarlet, shall be as white as snow. Sin that we merely want to escape the punishment of? No.

19:22 Sin that we are ready to suffer, we will turn from. No mercy promised, no cleansing promised for sin, punishment of which men want to escape, but the love of which they are not willing to forsake. There is no mercy of which men want to escape, to forsake.

Dealing with Darling Sins in Particular: The Cost of Discipleship

20:06 Now do you see why the Lord said true conversion is a difficult thing? For I venture to say in a group this size this morning that there are relatively few with your sin, not only in general, but the gate is narrow. The entrance is difficult because we must not only deal with sin in general, but we must deal with sins in particular, especially our own darling sin. Jesus said in this context of the Sermon on the Mount, that if thine eye offend thee,

20:50 pluck it out, for it is better to enter into life having one eye than having two eyes to go into hell. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, for it is better to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell. What was Jesus saying? I believe he was saying this.

21:10 To enter my kingdom to deal with sin at any cost. Sin that's as precious as the right hand and the right eye. He didn't say if you refuse to do it you'll lose some rewards. He says you'll burn.

21:30 You remember when our Lord with men, he made this so clear. Matthew 19 is the record of the rich young ruler. He came to the Lord Jesus saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord began to deal with him.

21:55 And then the whole dialogue between our Lord and the rich young ruler comes to its climax when the Lord turns to him and says, All that thou hast, follow me. He said, young man, your sin is not adultery. Your sin is not theft. Your sin is not rebellion to parental authority.

22:23 You can face the last table of the law and that's the only table the Lord dealt with. He didn't deal with the first four commands but with the last six. He says, young man, as far as the external demands of the law in its relationship to the requirements it makes on you and your fellow men, you're fine. He said, young man, you have one real problem.

22:46 You're an idolater. We're living in open rebellion to the first command. Thou shall have no other gods before me. For, young man, as I look into your heart I see an idol shrine.

23:00 And there enshrined within your heart is your riches. Young man, it's your idol. It says, he went away sorrowful for he had great possession. The Lord Jesus did not run down the road and say, I'm sorry, I made it a little bit too tough hoping if you'd come on those terms you'd be a real out-and-out Christian from the start.

23:34 But there's an easier way to sneak in. And then later on, you'll sort of learn to love me more than your...

23:40 No, no, he didn't do that. The Lord said to that young man, listen, the gate into life is so narrow that you've got to unpack. You see, he had laid down the attache case and the small suitcase of open immorality, but he had a big three-suiter. And that was his own covetous spirit.

24:02 And Jesus said, oh, yes, you've laid down the attache case and the one-suiter, but now, young man, unpack your three-suiter. And he said, uh-uh. And the Lord Jesus didn't make the gate wide enough for him to get through with his three-suiter. You see, his darlings is the one sin that kept him out of the kingdom of heaven.

24:27 He'd have passed that. But sins in particular, no. Look at the woman at the well. She came, met the Lord.

24:39 He met her, began to talk with her. He drew her out so masterfully into conversation on spiritual things until she just leaps with response and says, ah, give me this water, but I've come not to fetch again. And the Lord said, how about your husband? Oh, well, I don't have a husband.

25:03 He said, yes, that's right. And the man you're living with now is not your husband. What was our Lord doing? He's saying, woman, do you want a drink of the water of life?

25:12 Then you've got to deal with sin, not only generally, but your specific sin, that man that you're living with back there. I don't need to labor the point, do I? I say to you dear young people this morning, you adults, mothers and dads, sin is a difficult thing because it demands not only dealing with sin in general, but dealing with your particular idol and your particular darling sin. Darling sins are obvious to men, like the woman at the well.

25:56 But sometimes it's only known to the eye of God, like the rich young woman. He was probably one of those that people said, doesn't he honor God with his wealth? He had a place of authority. He was a ruler in the synagogue.

26:13 He was probably known for his, quote, spiritual use of his wealth. But Jesus saw that his wealth was his idol. True conversion is a difficult thing because there must be the dealing not only with sin in general, but darling sins in particular. And then because there must be an honest dealing with the world.

Dealing with the World: Rejection and Ethical Standards

26:37 Now what do I mean when I use the term world? Well, I trust I'm using it in the biblical sense. It's that system that is controlled by the prince of the power of the air. It's that system which has its standards.

26:53 And it's that system that hates darkness, hates light, hates sin and hates righteousness. And to enter into the kingdom of heaven through that narrow turnstile, one must deal with the word. First of all, one must deal with its fable. Jesus said, My people are going to be the light of the world, implying very clearly that the world is in spiritual darkness.

27:25 And you, if you're one of my children, you're going to be a little luminary in the midst of that darkness. Now how does the world feel towards light? John chapter 3 tells us. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light.

27:46 Do you know what the cross of Christ is? Do you know what the cross of Christ was from the human standpoint? It was the supreme and final attempt. You see, Jesus was put not because of light, but because of light.

28:10 The condemnation, light has come into the world and men love hate rather than love. No, no, John says this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men love their darkness rather than light. Jesus said if I had not come, He had had no sin. But since I have come, there is no excuse.

28:35 Now a Christian is one who in that world system is a little luminary, a little light. And the world doesn't like light. And it rejects light. And so that's why it rejects us.

28:47 And so Jesus said in the Beatitudes, Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. You're not a God-blessed man, are you? You're not a woman unless you feel something of the pressure of the world trying to reject you.

29:11 The blessed man is the rejected man. Rejected not because of the funny way you wear your clothes, not because of the boorish way that you try to bowel in and buttonhole people and witness to them at the expense of their rights as a human being. No, not that. But rejection because when you're there on the job, your standard of ethics is different from the world.

29:37 It's not stealing to take a few things from the shop. That's the world's standard. But you as a Christian refuse to take so much as a piece of sawdust if it doesn't belong to you. And your ethical standard shows up there, shallow standards, and there's rejection.

29:56 Know what it means for you, fellows and girls? Even with your Christian friends, so-called. When you go out on that date, you keep your hands to yourself, fellow. Because if Jesus said just to look to lust is sin, you must more to touch.

30:12 Your standard of social conduct is set out in the word of God. Flee youthful lust. Be not a partaker of other men's sin. When the other kids begin to hold hands and smooch, and you keep your hands to yourself and your body pure, what are you doing?

30:30 You're showing them up, and the darkness doesn't light the light, and there'll be rejection. Even by the professing Christian kids. I have a dear sister who's now married, went to one of the most influential fundamental churches in central Pennsylvania, gives thousands every year, 200 admissions, dozens of young people in full-time Christian work, and she was mocked by the other kids, 40 or 50 kids, because she went with a man who's now her husband for a whole year, and could testify that she'd never kissed him,

31:07 that he had not kissed her, but by the others right in the good fundamental Bible-believing missionary-minded church. Why? Because the light of those holy standards exposed the darkness of their hearts. See how practical it is?

31:32 And to enter into that narrow turnstile, you and I must deal honestly with the world, the favor of the world. The standards and goals of the world, Jesus said you're to be salt as well as light. Putrefaction and decay. Appreciate its decaying influence being checked, so when the dirty story gets passed around at the office, and you don't smile in approval, the world doesn't like that.

Dealing with Self: Pride, Love, and Dependence

32:06 You're being salt, checking its evil influence. Now the Lord said to enter into that narrow turnstile, you must deal with the world. That's why it's narrow, for you and I by nature would rather lose a right arm than lose the favor of the world about us. And then we've got to deal with ourselves.

32:27 And this is why the gate is narrow, and true conversion is a difficult thing, for everyone who comes up to that gate has got to deal basically and honestly with self-righteousness, with self-love, with self-defense. What is the first beatitude? Look at it there in chapter 5. He opened his mouth and he taught them, saying, Blessed are the what?

33:01 The poor in spirit. The old Puritan says when God begins to sound the chord of grace in the heart of a sinner, he starts on the base note. And there's the base note. The first characteristic of a true Christian is this.

33:20 He is poor in spirit. He has been stripped of his self-righteousness, and he confesses, I am nothing. I have nothing. I stand in need of all things from the hand of the gracious, sovereign God, grace and mercy.

33:44 You see, by nature most of us will admit we've done some bad things. If we didn't, we could always get our husbands and wives to prove us wrong or get our kids to witness against us. And even the psychologists talk about guilt and the rest. And so we'll admit in general terms we're not all we ought to be.

34:02 And we'll even admit maybe Jesus can help us to be a little bit more what we ought to be. Ah, but listen. To stand before the Son of God and gaze upon his cross and say, Oh God, there is absolutely nothing in me that can commend me to yourself. I am nothing.

34:24 I have nothing. Sin in my own corruption. Am I guilty? But I am depraved.

34:34 Not only do I stand under your wrath, but I am helpless to do anything about it. Adam doesn't like to be thus stripped. That's why the gates narrow. And to that gate a person must unpack the three-suter of his own pride and become a mourner in the spiritual sense who echoes not merely with the lips because a personal worker has put the words into his mouth, but from the heart who can stand and say as did that publican who would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven but beat upon his breast and said, Oh God, be merciful to me.

35:19 The sinner sells righteousness. Sells love. The standards of the kingdom there in the Sermon on the Mount. And you see that the place where they pinch us the most is that everything that our Lord expects is so contrary to what I am.

35:43 When somebody strikes me, what's the reaction of the flesh? I'll strike him back. The Lord said, No. Turn the other cheek.

35:54 We're not talking about something literal. There may be in rare occasions a literal application that he's dealing with the principle. And by the principle of self-love and self-dependence. You've got to deal with self-love.

36:14 In fact, our Lord always made this the first requirement of discipleship. He didn't say, If any man will come after me, let him deny his cigarettes and beer and all the rest. He said, Let him say no to himself. He didn't say no to himself.

The Lord's Uncompromising Call: No Tricks

36:27 He didn't say no to himself. You notice our Lord made it clear at the very outset of the mission that this is what's involved. He said, To enter the kingdom, it's narrow at the outset. The Lord never used the tricks of the recruiting sergeant.

36:52 Here's a group of fellows hanging around at a local pool hall or ice cream parlor. And a recruiting sergeant comes by who hasn't had any recruits for a while and so he's out trying to look up prospects and he sees these few fellows and they're just standing there sucking on their cigarettes and passing the time. And he comes up and strikes conversation and after a while, they begin to get interested. They douse their cigarettes and begin to listen.

37:15 He starts talking about, Listen, fellows, good career for you in the Marines. He begins to talk about the esprit de corps of the Marine Corps and the pride that will come and when you walk down your home street there on furlough dressed in your Marine blues, why, you'll just be irresistible to the young ladies and everybody will respect you and all the rest. And it isn't long before as he makes his way back to the recruiting station, he's got three or four fellows with him. And so they go down and they sign up and it isn't long before they're down in Parris Island and eight months later, one of them's laying on his belly in a rice paddy in Vietnam with the burning pain

37:59 of a bullet wound in his shoulder and he begins to curse that recruiting sergeant under his breath and he says, He didn't tell me all the truth. He talked about a pretty uniform and he talked about seeing the world but he didn't talk to me about blood and mud and bullets. You see, our Lord never did that. Look at the glories of the Christian life.

38:34 You can't read the Sermon on the Mount and miss it. He says, If you're one of mine, you'll be under the tender loving care of my father who, if he takes care of lilies and sparrows, you're of much more value than they. Won't he care for you? Won't he care?

38:49 Won't he care for you? He talked about the loving concern, the provision of the Father. He said, If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts, how much more will your Father give good things to those who ask? He always gave a balanced picture of what it meant to be a Christian.

The Danger of Modern Evangelism: A Wide Gate to Destruction

39:08 And where he spoke of the provisions and the privileges and the blessings, he spoke of a narrow gate where you've got to deal with sin in general, sins in particular, the world and self. And he made it narrow at the outset. Brother, that's the curse of modern evangelism above all other curses. It's setting before men a wide gate and then it's trying to tell them after they get in that it isn't quite as wide as they thought.

39:44 It's a little bit narrow. I've never had a vision. I've never seen anything mentally, but I do try to picture things to make truth clear. And when you try to picture something with me this morning, I'm only about halfway through the message, but I'm going to have to quit, so I'll quit with this illustration.

40:00 Picture this. Where's the kingdom of light and light? Will you try to picture a path that leads upward until it's lost in a blaze of light and glory? That's light.

40:16 Eternal light in his presence. And there's a narrow, winding path beset with many difficulties and dangers such as you find in Pilgrim's Progress. And that leads there. Now, what's at the head of that path?

40:30 A narrow, narrow turnstile. But one thing you notice is that everybody who gets through that turnstile is on that path, and blessed be God, they end up in that blaze of light. None are lost along the way. And end up in his presence.

40:51 You know what modern evangelism has done? It's made a big, big, big, big, wide, wide gate. And then it's built a corral that's just as wide as the gate. That corral, there's a little narrow opening, and then there's a narrow road that leads out.

41:12 That opening is called taking Christ as your Lord, or surrendering to Christ, or being dedicated to Christ, or becoming a disciple. And modern evangelism has said it's a good, wide gate. All you need to do to get in, you don't need to unpack, you can go in with us and tell him you believe that he died on the cross for sinners. Give it to Jesus.

41:40 But if you'd like to, the challenge is us to decide. You can go out the far end of the corral and begin to live a holy life. Live a life that is taking a decided stand against the world, the flesh, and the devil. But, but, don't get too concerned, because whether you step out of the corral and get on that narrow, difficult way or not, when the Lord comes, he's going to pick up everybody in the corral.

42:19 Beloved, that may be the description of modern evangelism, but it's not the description of the Lord of Glory. It's a narrow gate. A narrow gate. And nobody ends up in life unless they're through that gate and they walk that way.

42:53 Do you see it? That's why Jesus could conclude his statement by saying this, few there be that fight. You see, true conversion is not only a difficult thing, but it's a rare thing. Now, the few are not few absolutely, because my Bible says that there's a great multitude whom no man can number out of every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation.

43:18 I preach no pathetic, disappointed Jesus, but one who shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Hallelujah. One who will receive the full reward of his suffering in comparison with any given church, any given group, in any given generation. Do you know that only few that I'm looking at this morning will find that narrow gate?

43:49 I believe that with all my heart. That the few is talking about good evangelical churches, like the one that I'm privileged to pastor, and like the one in which I'm preaching this morning. That if all you fellows and girls who've been brought up through the Sunday School and you've heard about the Savior, relatively few of you will enter the gate of true conversion and walk the narrow road of Bible holiness and end up with life. Oh, may God grant that you shall be one of the few.

44:22 Enter ye in to the narrow gate and may God grant that you shall take this matter seriously. And as God spares you and me, come back again this evening as we carry on this process and seek to lay out some of the other principles which our Lord has given us for our good and for his glory.