Matthew 7:13-14
True Conversion: Rare and Difficult
Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate," arguing that true conversion is both difficult and rare. He systematically unpacks the Sermon on the Mount as a prelude to this invitation, emphasizing that the 'narrow gate' requires shedding the baggage of sin (both general and darling sins), forsaking the world's favor, and humbling oneself before the cross. Martin warns against spurious conversion and dishonest gospel presentations, urging pastors to preach the full demands of discipleship alongside the freeness of the gospel, and calling all hearers to count the cost of following Christ.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 10 sections · 59 min
- The Context of Jesus's Invitation in the Sermon on the Mount 0:04
- True Conversion: A Difficult and Narrow Way 6:08
- The Possibility of Conversion Announced as a Command 7:51
- The Difficulties of Conversion: The Narrow Gate 11:48
- Baggage to Be Laid Aside: Sin in General and Particular 16:06
- Baggage to Be Laid Aside: The World and Self-Life 27:47
- Jesus's Honesty About the Cost of Discipleship 37:32
- The Narrow Way of Gospel Holiness 40:30
- The Rarity of True Conversion and the Danger of Dishonest Preaching 47:44
- The Inseparable Nature of Gate, Way, and Life 53:01
Key Quotes
“It's my own firm conviction in the context that, or in the light of the context, that that broad gate and broad way... is the gate and the way of spurious conversion.”
“But we find that our Lord Jesus found no contradiction in preaching a full and a free gospel, and at the same time setting out the seriousness of the demands of His own kingdom upon those who would enter.”
“But in contemplation of two gates in two ways, the reason so few choose this gate is because it is narrow, because it involves difficulties, because it places demands upon men, because it places demands upon men to make some adjustments which are not convenient to make.”
“See, it's an easy thing to take upon us the name Christian, but quite another to enter the narrow gate.”
“And before that gate within which it is planted the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and to have to see from the heart nothing nothing nothing in my hands I bring to thee to thy cross I bring that oh what a great leveler of human pride is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“It's impossible to get men to walk in the way of gospel holiness who've not come by the narrow gate of true conversion that's why we have so many problems with our people who say they're in the way but have no way to walk in the way of gospel holiness who've not come by the narrow gate of true conversion no real heart to be holy to be identified with the reproach of Christ no real heart to stand it's impossible to walk that way unless you come by the gate.”
“with men this is the gate of true conversion the way upon the mercy of God in Christ for he who spoke of the difficulty in the gate and the way who come unto God that voice which goes where the preacher's voice can never go that voice which quickens grant to us who are the children of God that way that many will know and see that Christianity brings not just a little added zest radical revolutionary or little thing but it brings in the wisdom that it brings so much glory all of the life and the people in the world”
Applications
All listeners
- Ministers should use Jesus's preaching as a model, laying out principles of truth, giving practical application, and then urging hearers with warm invitation and sober warning.
- If you have understood Jesus's message about his spiritual, righteous, and caring kingdom, and desire to enter it, then 'enter ye in.'
- Contemplate the two gates and understand that choosing the narrow gate involves difficulties and demands, requiring adjustments that are not convenient.
- Be specific in considering the 'baggage' of sin that must be set down and laid aside to enter the narrow gate.
- Contemplating entrance to Christ's kingdom requires an honest dealing with sin in general, not just its consequences, but the sin itself.
- Identify and deal with your 'darling sin,' the particular idol of your bosom, which may not be known to others.
- Examine whether your life, though externally impeccable, harbors a 'darling sin' that prevents true entry into the narrow gate.
- Your one concern should be the Father who sees, walking in the fear of God and seeking His approval, not the approval of men.
- Pastors, in setting forth the freeness of the gospel, must not fear to be scriptural and spiritual in also setting forth the narrow gate and the narrow way.
- Understand that true conversion (the narrow gate) is the only way to walk in gospel holiness (the narrow way); without it, there is no real heart for holiness.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 108 paragraphs, roughly 59 minutes.
The Context of Jesus's Invitation in the Sermon on the Mount
scripture upon which we desire to focus our attention tonight, the one that was read to us by Dr. Clowney, and in particular, verses 13 and 14 of Matthew chapter 7, where our Lord says, 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, but, or because, or for, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. In this section of the passage that has been commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, beginning at verse 13, our Lord is entering into a realm of concentrated invitation and application in terms of all that has preceded in this section of the Word of God, beginning with the 5th of Matthew. And the section that we commonly call the Beatitudes, our Lord has cleared away once and for all the misapprehensions that people had concerning the kingdom which he came to establish. How anyone can say that our Lord Jesus came primarily to establish a literal earthly kingdom
here on earth, and then change his mind in Matthew 13, is unthinkable to me in the light of his first pronouncement as the King. When he pronounces blessedness...
In terms of those inward characteristics which are the possession of the true sons of the kingdom, poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and he immediately establishes the fact that his kingdom is a rule of grace set up in the hearts of men, which brings out in them these characteristics which grace implants in the hearts of men. And then he tells his people their function in the world. Those...
Those who are poor in spirit, who are meek, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they will be both salt and light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Then he begins to lay out in some detail the righteous standards of that kingdom, and this brings us through the end of the 5th chapter, where we have those sections where he begins by saying, he hath heard that it hath been said, and then he proceeds to strip away all the encrustments that the scribes...
...and Pharisees had placed around the holy law of God, and to bring out the spiritual intent of the law in all of its purity for the subjects of his kingdom.
And then in chapter 6, he proceeds to show his people as those walking in submission to the holy law of God, but nonetheless human beings who need food and clothing and raiment, how these needs will be met. And in the first part of that chapter, you'll remember, he speaks of the practice...
...the practical duties of the Christian life, prayer, giving, fasting, and then the practical matters of human existence, eating, drinking, and clothing, where these shall come from.
Then in chapter 7, he begins to draw these things to a conclusion by dealing on the one hand with the problem of a hypercritical spirit, and on the other hand of what we might call a hypergullible spirit, and seeks to implant in his people some concept of true discernment, and having summarized... ...of all of their duty in verse 12, he now comes, in verse 13, to the matter of application and invitation. And in a very real sense, we might say that verses 13 and 14 are pure invitation, that men might enter this kingdom, the characteristics of which, the standards of which he has described in the prior section, and then for everyone intent upon entering that kingdom, he gives two sober warnings. First of all, the warning...
...beginning with verse 15, and following through verse 20, the warning of false prophets.
For when a man begins to get concerned about entering the kingdom, and asks the question like the question asked by the Philippian jailer, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? He's in a dangerous position, for there will immediately be the presence of the false teacher who will give him some wrong instruction that could be devastating. And so after urging upon men that they enter the kingdom...
...he follows with this warning about false teachers who would give wrong directions as to how you enter, and that the second great danger for everyone concerned about entering the kingdom is the danger of false profession.
And our Lord deals with that in verse 21, not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter. For once a person is concerned about the kingdom, and is convinced that he has submitted to the requirements for entrance to the kingdom...
...he says...
...he stands in this dangerous position of believing that he has entered the kingdom on insufficient grounds of evidence, assuming that all is well, only to find in the day of judgment that though they made profession of him, he will profess to them that he never knew them.
And so this, I believe, places these verses that we're going to consider in detail in their setting in terms of the entire sermon, and they are to us, this is a word to the ministers, the few who are still... ...the few who are still left with us, a model of preaching, having laid out the principles of truth, having given some practical application concerning that truth, our Lord now urges upon his hearers with warm invitation and with sober warning, and in this way he becomes a pattern to us, not only concerning the content of our ministry, but also the manner in which we are to lay that content out to our hearers. Very well, then. For the second...
True Conversion: A Difficult and Narrow Way
...setting of the passage, and now let us consider verses 13 and 14, under the general heading of true conversion, a difficult...
...in the narrow way, and what is said about the wide gate and the broad way is supported to the emphasis upon the strait gate and the narrow way.
It's my own firm conviction in the context that, or in the light of the context, that that broad gate and broad way... ...is the gate and the way of spurious conversion.
It's not the way upon which all men walk by nature, for our Lord says it's a gate and a way which are entered by a conscious act. And in the light of the warning that follows, it is my own deep conviction that he is saying that he will possess it. ...think of the wide gate and the broad road, but the narrow gate and the narrow way that ...conversion...
...difficult...
The Possibility of Conversion Announced as a Command
...incident that one speaks so often in his immortal pilgrim's progress...
...of the wicked gate, and you remember that...
...along the way...
...Christoph and Maxim...
...when he pressed...
...never entered...
...into light because they came in some other way.
And so, our Lord, standards of the kingdom, having laid out... ...that will govern the subject...
...that I believe is set before us here, is the possibility of conversion or command.
The possibility of something is to couch that possibility or that invitation in a command. When I get home with my children, the Lord willing, and I say...
...to my children...
...the sons from all night at supper time, Joel, many, many things.
First of all, I'm announcing with authority that there is some... ...I'm announcing that that supper's on the table.
I'm letting my son know that he's welcome to that supper, and I'm letting him know that I want to have him there. And so, the surest way for me to indicate my will to my son is to say, Joel, come to the table for supper. ...the standards of the kingdom.
What is our Lord's desire with respect to those who hear him? He expects a wonderful possibility of conversion. And announces it by couching his words in the form of a...
...at the street.
He brings you into the way of my kingdom. As the scripture says, it's not in judgment, but in mercy. As Moses said in Deuteronomy, I set before you the way of life and death. There's life that he won.
For the prophet declares that he would that the people of God would... ...and God declares that he has no pleasure in the death.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
...possibility.
The possibility of conversion is announced in the fact that these words are couched in the form of a command, and secondly, in the light of the fact that this command is all inclusive. Our Lord says, enter ye in, and he addresses these words not only to his disciples, but to that great multitude of whom it is said at the end of the chapter, and it came to pass when he had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his dark pressing upon men, not only the three offers of the gospel, but the three offers of the gospel, but the command to repent, and to believe, and to be converted. He does not limit this offer. He does not say, enter ye in, all ye who have mourned for six, all ye who have passed through certain stages of exercise. No. He says, in essence, if you've gotten the point of my message, that my kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. If you've gotten the point of my message that my kingdom is a righteous kingdom, if you've gotten the point of my message that my kingdom...
The Difficulties of Conversion: The Narrow Gate
kingdom is one in which my Father lovingly cares and provides for His children. If you've gotten the message, and if you find in your heart a desire to see and to enter this kingdom, enter ye in. And there is this beautiful proclamation of the free offer of the gospel. And we must keep this in mind, for in the light of what follows, it would almost seem to be a negation of the freeness and the fullness of the gospel offer. But we find that our Lord Jesus found no contradiction in preaching a full and a free gospel, and at the same time setting out the seriousness of the demands of His own kingdom upon those who would enter. The difficulty of conversion announced in the command, enter ye in, we have in the second place the difficulties of conversion enunciated. Under two forms. Enter ye in at the straight gate, and then down to verse 14, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life. Lays out the difficulties of true conversion.
In turn, the narrow gate is a narrow, a compressed picture of a small aperture, and if you're to pass through, you've got to put down all your baggage and strip off all of your winter parkas, and enter in with a minimum of possessions and a minimum of clothing. I think the closest thing we could have to it in our society is the subway turnstile. In fact, I've often wondered how a 300-pound man got through those things, because I found that just tipping the scales near 200, that I sometimes sort of have to squeeze in sideways. And if you've ever come up to one of those turnstiles, coming back perhaps from a long train or plane trip with several suitcases, you find that you can't go through holding your suitcases. You've either got to put them down and push them underneath, or you've got to put them down and push them underneath, or if you're strong and don't have too many books in your suitcases, you can pick them up here while you sort of squeeze through this way. Well, I believe we have in that contemporary setting a little picture of what our Lord is saying here. He's saying that gate of conversion is a narrow gate, and as
you contemplate entering into my kingdom by the gate of true conversion, our Lord says at the outset, this is a difficult thing. It's difficult because that gate is a narrow one. It's a narrow one. And what makes it more difficult is that there stands over here a wide gate. One, when you face it, there's no problem. You can go sailing right through with all your baggage and any other accoutrements you've picked up along the way. And this is why, as people contemplate the two gates, he said many enter that gate because this one is so narrow. You take a man who's coming back home from a long trip, and he has a two-suiter in one hand and the overnight bag under here, his shaving case here, his attache case over here, and there's a little narrow turnstile to the left of him and a big wide door to the right.
Why, it's obvious the moment he sees there's two possibilities of getting into the subway, this one and that one. Why, it's obvious what he'll do. In the interest of convenience and time, he'll just go through that wide gate. That's the picture here.
But in contemplation of two gates in two ways, the reason so few choose this gate is because it is narrow, because it involves difficulties, because it places demands upon men, because it places demands upon men to make some adjustments which are not convenient to make. And so he sets before them conversion in its difficulties in the light of this narrow gate. Now bringing together what the rest of the scripture teaches on this subject, I want us to be specific in considering some of that baggage which the word of God, and particularly the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, declares must be set down and laid aside if we are to enter that gate.
Baggage to Be Laid Aside: Sin in General and Particular
First of all, our Lord is clear in this sermon and elsewhere that there must be a setting down of the baggage of sin in a general sense. He has been describing his kingdom as a righteous kingdom, a kingdom in which his subjects will regard his holiness not merely as a code touching external conduct, but as an expression of the demands of God and the standards of God that touch the very thoughts and the intents of the heart. He had dealt with the sin of sin in a general sense. He had dealt with the sin of sin in a general sense. He had dealt with the sin of sin in a general sense. He had dealt with this matter of the lustful thought being adultery, of the angry spirit being murder. He had dealt with sinful anxiety about bread on your table and milk in the refrigerator and crackers in the cupboard as being sinful. Established in the hearts of men was a righteous kingdom, a kingdom in which the holy law gets breath, death, and all of it. It was a kingdom in which there would have to be radical spiritual amputation. He had used those very sobering words.
It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands or two eyes to be cast into Gehenna, into the hell of fire. Anyone who was listening realized that this kingdom of the great king who stands before us is a righteous kingdom. And to enter that kingdom means that I will come under the discipline of the righteous and holy law of God and of the God who gave that law. Our Lord Jesus is announced in Matthew 1.2. He is announced in Matthew 1.2.
He is announced in Matthew 1.2. He is announced in Matthew 1.2. He is announced in Matthew 1.2.
He is announced in Matthew 1.2. He is announced in Matthew 1.2. He is announced in Matthew 1.2.
The consequences of his sin, touched and transformed by the grace of God to be delivered from, to provide for his people, is one that has as its end the delivering of a people from its consequence, yes, but from the thing itself, and one day from the very presence of that sin. And so to those who would contemplate entrance to his kingdom, he says, enter in, which there must be an honest in general, but not only in essence, it must be dealt in,
not a matter of the gaining or the losing of certain rewards, he makes it a matter of life or death of the words of our Lord. And as we with men, and confront the narrow gauge of true conversion, speaking of sin in general,
in particular, two examples suffice to show this. You have the classic example of the rich young ruler in the 19th, the young man came to the Lord Jesus, and there's every indication that he was in earnest. He came running, he came and he knelt before him, and then he cried out, good master, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? And we don't have time to go into why our Lord quoted to him the last six commandments.
There's a beautiful illustration here of a proper use of the law of God. But then he pressed the issue to the young man and said, young man, one thing. One thing thou lackest. Here's the issue.
Go and give to the poor, and come, follow me, and thou shalt have what you came to get. You came asking about heaven? Look into your heart, young man. I see.
And the problem is, have this pleasure. But your hand, man, one thing thou lackest,
is the fishing of the darling idol of your bosom, your covetous grasp of your wealth. Young man, the young man went to the dark, and notice the Lord Jesus did not run down the road. And say, well, you know, I was shooting for a thousand, but I missed. I've got another standard.
No, no. I dealt with sin in general. I do not steal. I do not commit adultery.
I don't kick my mom and dad in the shin. I don't kill for money at work. This young man was an idolater. And so he moved from the general and external, and he went to the heart of the issue.
The young man turned away sorrowfully. Our Lord did precisely the same thing with the Samaritan woman at the well. He finds the same intent in his dealings with her. He draws her into condemnation.
Is this a something we committed wrong in our olha?
Attention. Awaken her interest.
Would you enter that gate that leads to life in this figure? Would you become one who drinks of the water of life? There's no drinking of the pure water of life. until you're ready to face the muddied waters of your own sin, and to face them not only in general, but to face in particular your own darling.
It's well said you've had no husband. You've had five, and the one you now have, this woman knew, that to deal with this in the war meant that she had to come in her dealing with the bosom sin of her heart. This could be illustrated from other passages in the scripture, but in the interest of time and dealing with the whole passage, I will only give these two, and he has never changed. When he says,
What is that darling sin, would you?
It need not be a form of sin that's known to others. As with the rich young ruler, his sin was not probably known to others. He may have even, and said with his lips that he aspired his, had this in common when they came face to face with our Lord,
part of the issue, and said that in both cases, there had to be a dealing with the darling sin in particular. In the circles you and I move, and in the light of our cultural refinement, in the right of our Christian influence, it's doubtful there are too many Samaritan women here tonight, but I wonder do we have some rich young rulers, who though your life is impeccable as concerns, have the external, surface obedience to the law of God, disobedience.
See, it's an easy thing to take upon us the name Christian, but quite another to enter the narrow gate.
Baggage to Be Laid Aside: The World and Self-Life
And our Lord shows the difficulty in terms of that gate. Remember in the, when he said,
of the world, he was bringing a terror upon the state of the world.
Putrefaction. Holy morning. One of the Beatitudes is this, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all will not only be people who like us. Rejection. There's enter into the narrow gate. Not only be a leaving of the baggage of sin in general, the darling of your heart in particular,
but again, when once you enter through, what did the Apostle Paul declare? God forbid that I should glorify the cross of Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and unto the world. The cross which became the means of his acceptance with God, became the cross which meant his severance with the world. He said, what does the world's favor mean to me?
He said, it has as much attraction for me, as a cadaver hanging on a cross, and the buzzards kicking the flesh from the bone. He says, that's how much attraction the world holds for me. By that cross, the world is putrefied to me. That's why this man went through the then known world of slaves, with a holy passion for Christ, thrown in prisons, beaten, jailed, possessed of the spirit of Christ, that had drawn him into such identification with the will of Christ, till resistance of the world meant nothing to him. I'm sure none of us has attained to that degree, but I'm convinced the seeds of that attitude are in the heart of everyone who is truly converted. And then he reversed it and said, by which I am converted. I am crucified to the world.
You know what the world thinks of me? So I don't care about trying to gain a reputation. They think about as much of me as they think about a man hanging on a cross. So since they've got that evaluation of me, I'm not too concerned to check my latest TV ratings.
I didn't care. And our Lord made abundantly clear in this Sermon on the Mount, that to be a subject to this kingdom, was to be subject to a kingdom and to a king, was to be subject to a kingdom and to a king, was to be subject to a kingdom and to a king, was to be subject to a kingdom and to a king, was to be subject to a kingdom and to a king, was to be subject to a kingdom and to a king, , and to be subject to angels and angels behind, was to be subject to angels and angels without religion. God'sicing was all about if a person close to God were to be architected or Philadelphia without religion quite to be eaten by him. Not to be thought of valid, but to be a gjorde mune, a doctrine, a faith and an oil, a religion of truth, to be seen of men. And he says, Your one concern is this, the Father who seeth.
Concerns and standards and men's thinking and men's approval are to bring us so we walk in the fear of God. And where the smile of the grave concerns the easy thing to leave the world. Oh, to leave the world in its closer forms is an easy thing. It's just good economic practice.
Let's face it. You're going to make your budgets, make the ends meet if you're not spending all your money on booze and cigarettes and running to the latest profession of the world, philosophy. Just good economic sense.
Good social sense. You're respected in the community as an upright person, a church-going person. It helps when you go to the bank to take out a loan. It speaks of stability.
All of that's fine.
But the world has not become any more favorable to a true child of God who by his very presence as thought and as life will rebuke the wicked man.
In one sense, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is nothing more or less than the world's attempt to plow out the light that exposes us. Isn't that what John says in the third chapter of his gospel? This is the condemnation that light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light.
Why? For their deeds were evil. John provided salvation in a way that left people in a state of non-exposure. They would have loved that.
But he knew what was in their hearts and again and again it said he knew, they knew, that he spoke of them. He exposed them through the veneer and laid bare and they could not stand this exposure.
The world has not changed and every true child of God through the narrow gate by the grace of God is an exposure to the darkness of the world and it hates exposure and it shows its hostile attitude to the Christian.
And then it's narrow not only because there's the involvement in dealing with sin in general and our darling sins in particular in the world but also but dealing with self-life. And before that gate within which it is planted the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and to have to see from the heart nothing nothing nothing in my hands I bring to thee to thy cross I bring that oh what a great leveler of human pride is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see standing that woman cleanliness and immorality off of it living? And there you see that hair refined cultured educated well-bred and together they stand and they sing the same song nothing in my hands I bring
to his back in the eyes of God it's a narrow gate for it admits none but those who will stand gladly confessing in the words of that hymn they bring nothing but their sin to the free gift of righteousness under my gracious are dealt with and there's a principle that I'd like to emphasize that our Lord Jesus made this fact clear at the outset when he comes to he tells people right at the outset
Jesus's Honesty About the Cost of Discipleship
having heard he says I want you to know what you're getting in for it's a narrow gate our Lord did not and then what they got involved in at the outset he planted the cross as it were on the threshold of Christians and he did this again and again in Luke chapter 9 we don't have time to look at the instances but you have three of them at the end of the chapter three would-be disciples and in each case our Lord Jesus Christ faces them with the implications of attachment to him in the 14th chapter of Luke he does the same thing having just given that marvelous parable setting forth the freeness of the gospel offer the parable of the wedding feast and telling the servants to go out into the highways and edges and compel them to come in in the very next word it says now there went great multitudes with him and he turned the multitude to him if any man come to me and hate not his father mother, brother, sister and his own life also he cannot be my disciple whosoever does not take up this cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple then he gave two illustrations the illustration of the builder who never builds before he takes the reckoning of the money the capital in hand what it's going to cost him for materials he soberly weighs both
he sees if he's going to be able to finish the job the general who doesn't go out to war until he soberly counts the cost and then our Lord says in conclusion verse 33 whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple you see there's no contradiction between the freeness of the gospel offer and the fullness of that offer and the strange demands of discipleship our Lord put them back to back in the chapter of the gospel of Luke he made clear at the outset that the gate was a narrow gate and then gracefully let us consider the narrow way it's interesting isn't it that our Lord told them in his invitation that the gate led to a way that these were inseparable entering in at the straight gate for he says this is a straight gate which leads to a narrow way which in turn issues and eventuates in life and he put these three things in an inseparable relationship life is the end and the gate and the way are the means to that end but you can't separate one from the other enter the gate which leads to the way which issues in life and he has given them a full-orbed description of that life it's a life of blessedness he begins by saying blessed
The Narrow Way of Gospel Holiness
perfectly happy are they who and he describes the life of blessedness he speaks that it is a life which will know the tenderness of the Father's care if he says he cares for the sparrows are you not of much more value than they he reasons with them ardens with them to get them to see that this is a life lived under the tender loving concern of the Father but he also made clear it's a life lived in a hostile world a life lived in the context of pressing on to that holiness expressed not only in him but in his holy law and so he spoke about cutting off hands and blocking out eyes he spoke about pulling out beams he spoke about purity of motives and he told them it was a narrow way the way of holiness the conviction that we have greatly earned in our day in that we have been dishonest with people in setting before them the gospel and the invitations thereunto our Lord Jesus set before them the gate that he set before them the way I think so often in this light of some of the tricks used by the recruiting sergeant he walks down the main street of a certain town and sees a group of fellas they look to be 18, 19 years old
standing around the local drugstore probably telling him all his dirty jokes and trying to pass the time and he thinks well I've got some good hunting ground and he goes over all dressed up of course in his marine blues and all the sharpness of it and he walks over with all the zip and spring that is so common when you send something of that esprit de corps of the marines and he engages the fellas in conversation he gets their ear and then he begins to talk to them about the glory of being a marine and he talks to them about what it's like to come home in your dressed blues and walk down your town and all the nicest looking girls can't resist the turning of their heads and the local paper shows your picture and he gives them this big tale and tells them all the opportunities and speaks of the places they'll see and all the benefits they'll receive in the service and after and it isn't long before two or three of the fellas are hooked and they're following back to the recruiting and induction place and they sign in the dotted line and in a little while they're down in Paris Island and while they're there they begin to wonder if he told them the whole story but they count the days and it isn't long before that training is over and sure enough they come home and they're dressed in their navy and their marine blues and when they step off of the bus there everybody in town turns around turns their heads and boy they said this guy gave it to us straight and he picks his head high and throws his chest down and walks down the street and goes home
and he has his two weeks leave and then he gets his orders and a month later late in the evening inky black darkness settling upon a little muddy rice paddy in the heart of Vietnam and he feels the crash and the sting of a bullet in his shoulder as he lies there in the mud the fever begins to rage and he thinks of home and thinks of mama and he thinks of his kid brother and his kid sister and he approaches the point of delirium his mind goes back to that day in the street corner and all the talk about the glories of the marine blues and the press seeds and the popularity but he remembers that recruiting sergeant never talked to him about bullets in the shoulder and raging fever and muddy rice paddies and the V.C. and he begins to think to curse under his breath because he feels he was dishonestly trapped by the setting forth not of lies but of an unrealistic picture of what he was going to get involved and I am personally convinced and I've met them in many places of our country we've got a lot of people in our churches just like that
who when the demands of discipleship begin to be set forth when the stringent demands of gospel holiness begin to be laid out begin to be laid before them when they begin to see that the Lord Jesus is not only a gracious savior but he is an absolute sovereign it begins to form within their hearts a subtle resentment somebody wasn't honest with me they spoke of the joy and they spoke of the peace and they spoke of the glory and right hand say to my dear preacher brethren let us by the grace of God in our setting forth the freeness of the gospel not fear to be scriptured let us by the grace of God be spiritual in setting forth the narrow gate and the narrow way and the two are inseparable there's only one way to get on the way of gospel holiness that's to enter the gate of true conversion involving the deep and genuine repentance and the faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ it's impossible to get men to walk in the way of gospel holiness who've not come by the narrow gate of true conversion that's why we have so many problems with our people who say they're in the way
but have no way to walk in the way of gospel holiness who've not come by the narrow gate of true conversion no real heart to be holy to be identified with the reproach of Christ no real heart to stand it's impossible to walk that way unless you come by the gate but having entered the gate the same grace that quickens a man to life enabling him to enter the gate becomes the grace that enables him to walk the way that leads unto life and in closing let us consider the last statement of our Lord and few there be that find it having stated the possibility of conversion the difficulties of conversion our Lord concludes by announcing the rarity of conversion few there be that find it now of course comparing scripture with scripture we know that that few is not absolute but relative for Revelation 7 and verse 9 declares that there will be a great multitude whom no man should number out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and the Lord Jesus is set forth in the fifty-third of Isaiah not as a frustrated savior but one who will see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied one who will realize
The Rarity of True Conversion and the Danger of Dishonest Preaching
in that when he stands in the presence of the Father the possession of all for whom he shed his precious blood shall be with him in the presence of the Father in terms of any given group as our Lord speaking to here any segment of society any individual community and I am bold enough to say in almost any individual visible community of the saints there are far away narrow gates frightening and a disturbing thing to me for in this context our Lord is speaking to a group of people gathered out of that one nation under heaven that had that peculiar blessing of the ministry of the prophets and out of that great nation here are a few thousand people and of that group notice the selectivity here one nation amongst the many one little group amongst the many and he says
to them two and the reason few there be that find it he says because there is another alternative the alternative of a spurious conversion which you can take upon you the profession you can incorporate it except you've got a little sprinkling of Christ in the midst of it this is why he said there are few that enter that narrow gate and he affirms that true is not only a difficult thing Romans where Paul gives us in more theological terms what our Lord has given to us in pictorial language of the Roman Christians
what truth had he then in those things whereof he are now ashamed for the end of sin and the description of truth quickened to life the quickening work of God his repentance they from sin and they turned unto God into that state where they were free from the dominion of sin and now they had a new master being made free from sin and become servants to God that's the gate that's constituent sanctification that's the narrow way of gospel holiness the inevitable result of the change of masters one who's experienced the change of masters true conversion change of practice progressive sanctification is this is the gate and God's salvation involves three factors
the gate the way and life the change of masters the change of practice and the thing that greatly disturbs is that the script is extremely clear that the only proof that I've got this and the only that I'll have that so pernicious
The Inseparable Nature of Gate, Way, and Life
taken into that state of blessedness which consists of the enjoyment of God in heaven not the but it is sanctification the gate the way and life and our Lord says it's not only a difficult thing
it's a rare thing it's an impossible thing according to Matthew 19 for when our Lord finished dealing with the rich young ruler and telling him he had to unpack his baggage and made a little comment the disciples cried out in despair who then can be saved and our Lord's answer was this with men this is the gate of true conversion the way upon the mercy of God in Christ for he who spoke of the difficulty in the gate and the way
who come unto God that voice which goes where the preacher's voice can never go that voice which quickens grant to us who are the children of God that way that many will know and see that Christianity brings not just a little added zest radical revolutionary or little thing but it brings in the wisdom that it brings
so much glory all of the life and the people in the world
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Passages Expounded
This passage is the core text, providing the sermon's title and central theme of true conversion being difficult and rare.
Texts Expounded
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