“Enter
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it. Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.”
“Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? And in they name have cast out devils?
And in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you; depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will
liken him unto a wise man, which built his
house upon a rock; and the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house; and it fell not: for
it was founded upon a rock. And every one
that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon the
sand: and the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell, and great was the fall
of it.”
Matthew 7:13-27
The
passage of Scripture above was given to us
by Jesus Christ Himself. This does not
address our self esteem or whether we feel
good about ourselves, or whether or not our
lives are turning out as we planned.
This scripture reminds us that within
years, a great number of people will be in
hell. And, according to Jesus, even many who
profess Jesus Christ as their Lord will be
in hell.
When
we take a look at Christianity in America,
it is clear that it is based more upon a
godless culture than it is upon the Word of
God. So many people are being deceived into
believing that because they prayed a prayer
one time in their life, they are going to
heaven. They may look around at others who
also profess to know Christ and see those
who are worldly and then compare themselves
to themselves and nothing troubles their
heart. They think, “I'm the same as other
Christians, I love so much that is in the
world. But, I am a Christian.”
The
greatest heresy in the American Protestant
and Evangelical churches today is that if
you pray a prayer and ask Jesus to come into
your heart, then He will come in. You will
not find that in scripture. In fact, it was
never taught until approximately 60 years
ago. What Christians (or those who believe
they are Christians) need to know is that
salvation is by faith and faith alone in
Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is
preceded by and followed by repentance.
True, heartfelt repentance. This is a
turning away from sin. This is developing
hatred for the things that God hates and a
love for the things that God loves; a
growing in holiness and a desire not to be
like the world nor the great majority of
American Christians but to be like Jesus
Christ.
What
we need to understand is that Christianity
in America is almost totally wrong. Because
I honor God this must be said. I'm sure it
won't be popular with some who read this.
The fact remains, I must make the point.
Scripture must be seen as it really is. We
must quit comparing ourselves to other
Christians and compare ourselves to
scripture. The Bible tells us to examine
ourselves, test ourselves in light of
scripture to see if we are in the faith.
“Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
prove your own selves. Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobates?” II Corinthians 13:5
Everyone seems to be a Christian, but they
aren't concerned about holiness. They are
not concerned about being separate from the
world nor are they concerned about the
Gospel being preached among the nations.
But, bless God, they are saved! Why are they
saved? Because some evangelist who spent
more time preaching than more time studying
his Bible told them they were saved? He did
it so that he could brag about how many came
forward in his next revival. Shocked yet?
Listen to the Word of God and ask yourselves
some questions.
Jesus said, “enter
ye in at the strait [narrow] gate for wide
is the gate and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction...”
There IS a narrow gate! There is but
one gate, one God, one Mediator between man
and God and that is Jesus Christ. All roads
do not lead to heaven. Jesus said, “...I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by
me.”
John
14:6
Clearly we see then that the only
way any human being will ever be saved is
through Jesus Christ. One must realize that
“...all
have sinned and come short of the glory of
God.”
Romans 3:23 That means we are all born
radically-depraved and are born God-haters.
It isn't just an issue that we've sinned,
it's that we have never done anything but
sin.
God's Word says that even our greatest works
are like filthy rags before God. We deserve
the wrath of God. One might say, “...but
wait a minute, that can't be correct because
God is love, He doesn't hate anyone.”
No, Jesus Christ, the Apostles, the
prophets all taught that apart from the
grace of God, revealed in Jesus Christ the
Lord, the only thing left for us is the
wrath, the fierce anger of God. Because of
our rebellion and sin, we deserve this. But,
many believe that God cannot hate because
God is love. But God must hate
because He is love.
I
love children, therefore I hate abortion. If
I love that which is holy, I must hate that
which is unholy. God is an holy God. This is
something Americans have forgotten. Many of
the things that we love to do, God hates.
Did you know that? We pray for revival and
we pray for the Holy Spirit to move, but
before we do this, we watch television
programs that God hates, we listen to music
that God hates and we wonder why we have to
create false fire and false excitement,
because God is not in it. God is an holy
God. The only way we can ever be reconciled
to God is through His Son. When He hung upon
that tree, He bore our sins. The sin of
God's people and all the fierce wrath of God
that should fall upon us, fell upon His Only
Begotten Son – in our place. Not because
they put a crown of thorns upon His head,
not because they ran a spear through His
side, not because He was rejected by the
Jewish people and the Romans alike! Someone
had to pay the price, someone had to die. It
was God the Father who crushed His Only
Begotten Son. Isaiah 53 tells us,
“Yet
it pleased YeHovah
to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and he pleasure of he Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied: by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many; for he shall
bear their iniquities.”
Isaiah 53:10-11
People say the cross is a sign of how much
man is worth. That is not true. The cross is
a sign of how depraved we really are; that
it took the death of God's own Son paying
the price and rising again from the dead,
powerful to save! This IS the Gospel of
Jesus Christ! Now, what are we called upon
to do? We are to go through the “narrow
gate.” How
do we do that? Jesus said, “...the
time is fulfilled: and the Kingdom of God is
at hand. Repent ye and believe the Gospel.”
Mark
1:15. What must one do? Repent! And
believe the Gospel.
You
weren't saved by some magic formula or some
words you repeated after someone else. You
were saved because you repented of your sins
and you believed. Not only that, you
continue to do it until now. A proper
translation of that verse in Mark is: “The
Kingdom of God is come, the time is
fulfilled. Spend your life repenting of your
sins and believing in Me.”
Conversion is not like a flu shot! We
repented, we did that...that question is:
are you continuing to believe, to follow Him
and His commandments each and every day? Do
you do this and love Him and seek His will?
Or do you give Him lip service? He who began
a good work in us will finish it!
Believers, pastors and parents: we have
forgotten a very important teaching in the
Gospel. It says not only that the gate is
narrow, it also says that the path is
narrow. What we basically do now is lead
someone in a prayer and then they spend the
rest of their life living just like the
world. If you deny this, there are plenty of
statistics to prove it. Gallup Poll, Barna
Research, every kind of poll you can
possibly look at all show when it compares
the church in America against the morality
of those who claim to be lost in America;
polling data finds no difference. Let that
soak in.
Book
after book is being churned out by
theologian and philosopher alike, asking
what has happened to the church? We find
that abortion is just as prevalent in the
churches today as it is in the world. We
find that divorce is just as prevalent in
the churches today as in the world. The
immorality is unbelievable. Christians do
all manner of immoral acts in the churches
of today, as is happening in the world. The
immorality is unbelievable! Christians do
all manner of immoral acts and then go to
their churches to worship God? Worshiping
God is a daily thing – or should be. It is
what we DO all of the time, or we should
want to. These things are happening and no
one is saying anything except this: “They
are just carnal Christians. They are REALLY
Christians, they are just carnal.”
That
was a doctrine started in a seminary several
decades ago and it is not a biblical
doctrine. It is not historical. There is no
such thing as a “carnal Christian.” The
Scofield Reference Bible revived this flawed
ideology. The Word
of God directly refutes the so-called
“carnal Christian” teaching in many, many
places, first because of God’s decree that
all Christians will be conformed to the
image of Christ progressively in this life.
The Scriptures teach that all those God has
ordained for salvation are also ordained by
God’s unchangeable decree to produce the
fruits of holiness. In other words, it is
impossible for a person who has been called
by God to salvation to not be holy. We can
see this clearly from the Book of Ephesians.
Some
might say, “Wait a minute, I Corinthians 3
says, 'are ye not carnal?' Paul said
that...”
No, that is what Paul said, but we
need to read
the
whole book to find out what he meant. In
America, most of our Christianity is based
upon cliches that we read on the back of
Christian t-shirts. Most of our Christianity
comes from songwriters and not the Bible.
What we “believe” to be true is dictated by
our culture; not the Word of God.
The
Bible never teaches that a person can be a
genuine Christian and live in continuous
carnality and wickedness and sin all the
days of their lives. The Bible teaches that
the genuine Christian has been given a new
nature. The genuine Christian has a Father
who loves them and who disciplines and
watches over them and who cares for them. My
heart is broken because those reading this
know as well as I that there are so many
around us who have wickedness in their
heart. There is no difference in them. There
is no light. Everything the world does, they
do and that is “appropriate and okay.” That
is NOT Christianity! They are not in danger
of losing their reward, they are in danger
of hell! They know not God. You might be one
of them or know others who are this way.
What
do we teach? When was the last time you
heard someone say there is not only a narrow
gate into heaven, but there is a narrow way?
Jesus indicates that one of the principal
signs of being a genuine Christian is that
they walk in the narrow way. The sign for
being a “genuine” Christian in America is
they prayed a prayer one time. Isn't that
amazing? If you doubt your salvation,
examine yourself, test yourself in the light
of scripture to see if you are in the faith
because a Christian will be different. Is
this suggesting that a Christian is without
sin? No, because in I John, we learn that
Christians do sin. And, if any man does not
acknowledge his sin, he knows not God. He is
not walking in the light.
If
you are a genuine, born-again Christian; a
Child of God, you will walk in the way of
righteousness as your lifestyle. And, if you
step off that path of righteousness, the
Father will come for you and will discipline
you. He will put you back on that path. But,
if you profess to have gone through that
narrow gate, yet you live in the broad way
just like all the other people in this world
who are carnal and wicked, you should be
terribly, terribly afraid. God wants you to
know you should be terribly afraid because
you know not God.
I
fear men who have spent most of their life t
elling others that they are saved. I fear
you if you have done that. You don't tell
men they are saved. You tell men HOW to be
saved. God tells them that they are
saved!What we have forgotten to believe is
that salvation is the supernatural work of
God and those who have been genuinely
converted, regenerated by the power of the
Holy Spirit are going to be a new creature.
The Bible says, “if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature.”
So,
we find here in scripture, the narrow gate
and the narrow way. In verse 15, we read, “beware
of the false prophets who come to you in
sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous
wolves, you will know them by their fruits.”
Remember this, your best friend is the one
who tells you the most truth. In America, we
have become so thin-skinned that no one can
rebuke us. No one can tell us that we are
wrong. Ministers and leaders alike have
bought into this lie. We do not want to
offend, we want to be seeker-friendly. What
must be realized and understood is that
there is only one Seeker and that is God. If
churches want to be friendly to someone,
then it should be God. We must be more
concerned about the glory of God than we are
the attitudes of men.
The
person who loves you most will tell you the
most truth. One of the marks of a false
prophet is that he will always tell you what
you want to hear! He will never rain on your
parade. He will get you clapping, he will
get you jumping, he will entertain you and
he will present a Christianity to you that
will make your church look like a “six flags
over Jesus.”
And, he will keep you so entertained
that you are never addressed with issues
such as these: Is God working in my life? Am
I growing in holiness? Have I truly been
born again? How does one truly know they are
saved? Because someone told you?
Because you prayed a prayer? Because
you believed? Because everyone says that
they believe. Because you say you are not
like them? How do you know you are not like
them?
The
Bible teaches us we know we have been saved
because our lives are in a process of being
changed and our lifestyle is walking in the
path of God's truth. When we step off that
path because of disobedience, God comes for
us and puts us back on the path. One of the
greatest evidences that we have truly been
born again is that God will not let us talk
as our flesh might want to talk. He will not
let us dress as the sensual world and the
sensual church allows us to dress. God will
not allow us to act like the world, smell
like the world, speak like the world, listen
to the things that the world listens to! God
will make a difference in our life!
In
verse 16, Jesus tells us that we will know
them by their fruit. How will you know a
false prophet, and a broader application
here is how will you know if someone is a
genuine Christian? By their fruit! Look at
your life, the way you walk, the way you
talk, the passions of your heart.
Is
Jesus in there somewhere? Or is he merely an
accessory in your life? Is He something you
“just do” on Sunday, or Wednesday? Is He
something you give “mental assent” to or is
He the very center of your life?
What
is the fruit you are bearing? Do you look
like the world, act like the world,
experience the same joys that the world
does? Can you love sin and relish it? Can
you love rebellion and relish it? Then you
know not God. Then you will know them by
their fruit!
God
has the power to change us. Imagine Jesus
teaching this passage. As you listen, He
looks at you and says, “Thistles, do you
find thistles on fig trees?” You respond,
“Of course not, Lord. I mean, you ARE a
carpenter; not a farmer, but everyone knows
thistles don't grow on fig trees!” Then He
asks, “Do you find figs (good fruit) on
thorn trees?” You answer, “Why no. Jesus,
that's ridiculous! You won't find thistles
on a fig tree and you won't find figs on
thorn trees. Anyone who tells you that
Jesus, they are either crazy or they are a
liar.” And then Jesus responds, “Well then,
those who call themselves my disciples and
who bear bad fruit would not it be the same
to say they are lying or are out of their
minds to make such a statement?”
It
is impossible to have an encounter with God
and not be changed! How is it that so many
people profess today that they have had an
encounter with Jesus Christ and yet, they
are not permanently changed?
How many times do you get fired up
for God and it lasts about a week? One might
say, “Oh but it was a great move of God.” No
it wasn't, because if it had been a great
move of God, it would have lasted. It was
emotion, it was so many things, but not a
great move of God.
Has
God worked in your life? Is God working in
your life? You will know them by their
fruit! Every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire,
so then you will know them by their fruit.
Understand Hebrew literature. When you and I
want to emphasize something, we raise our
voices. If we are writing, then we put it in
capital letters or we put an exclamation
point after a sentence! But, in the Hebrew,
it is different. When he wants to emphasize,
he repeats something and repeats it. That is
why we read so many repetitive scriptures
such as we find in the Proverbs...”The
wicked shall not live in the land, the
wicked shall be destroyed...it is saying the
same thing; in a different way, to give
emphasis. That is exactly what Jesus was
doing in the referenced passage of
scripture...”you
will know them by their fruit...” You
will know them by the path they walk. Anyone
who does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. What is He talking
about? He is talking about the judgment of
Almighty God that will one day fall upon the
world. It will one day fall possibly upon me
or upon you.
Oh,
I cannot look into the heart of men! I am so
easily deceived by my own heart! But there
is One who is not deceived and He is not
deceived by a contemporary Christian
culture. He knows, you will know them by
their fruit. He goes on and says, “not
everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will
enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does
the will of my Father will enter.”
According to this, our “profession” of our
faith in Christ is worth nothing. No? Read
the passage again.
There are many people who are going to
profess Lord, Lord, but they are not going
to enter the Kingdom of Heaven...He said,
Lord, Lord, he didn't say Lord. What does
this mean? From the passage, we can know
that this person being described by Jesus is
not just someone who suddenly decided “Oh,
it's judgment-I'd better profess Him to be
Lord.” This is a person emphatically
declaring to other people that Jesus is
Lord. He walks around saying, “Lord,” he
sings “Lord,” but Jesus says to him, “Depart
from me, I never knew you.”
Rev.
Billy Graham is a loving, kind man. He has
said that he believed a great majority of
people who attend Bible-believing churches
are lost. He has said that he would be happy
if even 5% of people who made professions of
faith were even saved. This is incredible!
There are people in theird world countries
professing Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior. They can be martyred for doing so!
So, when these people make this profession,
one can be pretty sure that they mean it
because they can die for even making that
statement. But, in America, oh consider the
cost! Think, examine your life in light of
scripture. Do you know the Lord? Because not
everyone who says.....
But,
look what else is said in this passage! “But
he who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven”! What is the sign that someone
has become a genuine Christian? I wish that
churches would teach this again! No one
wants to hear the truth anymore. They just
want to listen to songs and read the back of
Christian t-shirts. What happened to truth?
The evidence, the way that we can have
assurance that we are born-again Christians
is the way we live. We do the will of our
Father. I am not referring to “works” here,
but evidence of FAITH!
Your
profession of faith is not evidence that you
were born-again. Why? Because everyone makes
that claim. Barna studies indicate that
65-70% of Americans say they are saved.
This, the most godless country on earth! WE
kill 4,000 babies a day, but bless God, we
are born-again! How do you know that the
faith you have is not false? Your style of
life is to practice the will of the Father.
Walk in obedience to Him. The Holy Spirit
reprimands you either personally through the
written Word of God or through a brother or
sister in Christ. And God puts you back on
the path again. If you are a genuine
Christian, you cannot escape Him.
If
we can play around in sin and love the world
and be involved in the things of this world;
if our heroes are worldly people, if we want
to look like them and act like them, if we
practice the same things as they do; please
heed this! There is a good chance you know
not God and you do not belong to Him.
Many
will say to me, “Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in they name have cast out devils? And
in thy name done many wonderful works? And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
We may think that the most important
thing on the face of this earth is to know
Jesus Christ. I don't believe that is true.
The most important thing on the face of the
earth is that Jesus Christ knows US. I won't
get into the White House tomorrow just
because I walk up to the guard gate and tell
them that I know Barack Obama. But, they
will let me in if Barack Obama walks out and
says that he knows me! You can
profess to know Jesus but the question
is,
does Jesus know you? Look at how Jesus
describes the lost man in this passage of
scripture, “depart
from me you worker of iniquity...” In
Greek this means
anomos:
a= without, nomos=law; thus, without law or
lawless. This passage is saying, Depart from
me, those of you who claim to be my
disciples who confessed me as Lord and yet
you live as though I never gave you a law to
obey. I just described a great majority of
North American Christianity. If anyone
starts talking about “law” and biblical
principles on what we are supposed to do and
not do; how are to live, people start
screaming “legalist!” But Jesus said,
depart from me....
In
Christian America today, many live with the
attitude, “pass through the gate, praise
God, live like the rest of the world, it's
oaky; you're just carnal and maybe one day
you'll come back.” Do you know what happens
because of our bad evangelism? We have
gazillions of children saved in Vacation
Bible School and when they become teenagers,
they enter the world and live like demons;
many of them. Then, when they are about 30,
they come and rededicate their lives to
Jesus; maybe they just got saved. It's more
than just telling someone you're saved or
because you might acknowledge that Jesus is
Lord you are saved. Satan acknowledges that
Jesus is Lord.
Is
your life in a process of change? “Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock; and
the rain descended, and the floods came, and
the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
and it fell not: for it was founded upon a
rock. And every one that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall
be likened unto a foolish man, which built
his house upon the sand: and the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it
fell, and great was the fall of it.”
It
is important to study God's Word and also
history, so that we are not deceived. The
“contemporary” interpretation of the passage
above is this: If you are a Christian, you
need to build your life upon the rock.
Because if you build your life upon the
sand, you'll be an unhappy Christian and
your life won't go right. That is NOT what
Jesus was teaching and history backs that
statement up. It was hardly ever interpreted
in that way. The interpretation is: there
are two ways; a narrow way and a broad way.
Which one are you on? There are two types of
trees; there is a good tree that bears good
fruit and it's going to heaven. There is a
bad tree and it bears bad fruit, it is going
to hell. It will be cut down and thrown into
the fire. There are those who profess that
Jesus is Lord and they do the will of the
Father. There are those who profess that
Jesus is Lord and they do not do the will of
the Father who is in heaven and they go to
hell; not because of the lack of works but
because of the lack of faith DEMONSTRATED by
the fact that they had no works.
This
scripture is not describing Christians
building their houses on foundations. It
describes a saved man and a lost man. The
lost man hears the Word of God preached but
he lays no foundation. His life is producing
no change; no good fruit. Are you building
your marriage on the Word of God? Are you
raising your children on the Word of God?
Are you managing your finances according to
the Word of God?
Are
you separating yourself from the things of
this world? How many of us would be able to
answer these positively?
I
could have written something astounding that
would have lifted the reader up. Something
funny and the reader would laugh. But, I
love you too much for that. Time is short. I
know this because the Word of God is true.
Remember this: we may look like our fellow
church members, or small group members, but
we will not be judged by them on the day of
His coming. Enough of this! How does your
life stand before that blazing fire that is
the Holiness of God? On that final day
beloved, precious; will your confession hold
true? Are you saved? Not do you THINK you
are saved, or that your heart tells you that
you are because the heart can be deceitful.
Not because someone told you; what does the
Word of God tell you?
Radical Christians are not people who jump
around in church or who wear Christian
t-shirts. Radical Christians are those who
bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They do
not dress sensually in order to show off
their bodies. Let's get serious while we
have time to do so. People are dying at the
hands of Muslims in parts of this world
because they will not denounce Jesus Christ!
Walk in holiness, be Godly.
We
may say that the Word of God is the
inspired, infallible Word of God Almighty
but all we get “fed” are these quaint little
stories, illustrations; not the Gospel. WE
must renounce the things that are
displeasing to God. Run to Him and love Him.
We must carry the banner of Jesus Christ
each and every day...even if it could cost
us our lives!
I
pray that this message is accepted in the
spirit with which it is written. My heart is
heavy and burdened for the lost. If you are
doing or not doing things addressed here; I
strongly urge that you turn to God and do so
with all of your heart. Surrender your life
to Him. Time is short. The fields are white
for harvest....there are so few workers.
Your
comments are always appreciated.
Address comments to: sylvester.lea@gmail.com
Sources cited:
Barna Research
http://www.barna.org
(Scofield Reference Bible, pp. 1213, 1214).