Jesus Taught That Few Find Eternal Life Matthew — Tim Conway

The Narrow Gate and the Two Ways

Okay, we are in Matthew chapter 7. Now, my brothers and sisters, you don't want to miss this. When something has to do with you, and it has to do with you to the extreme, when it has to do with the most important things about you and the most important questions about your life, we want to pay really close attention.

In verse 13 of Matthew 7. This is where I want you. Matthew chapter 7. Matthew 7, verse 13. Now, if you just go and you read through the Sermon on the Mount, you may not catch this. You may not notice this.

Verse 13 is a massive point of change in this sermon. It is basically where Jesus begins the finale. This is where He applies the sermon. This is where He begins to sum things up. This is a really critical junction or juncture in this.

And I want you to catch it. Verse 13. We are going to get a series of contrasting pairs. And you'll see this. Notice this. Enter by the narrow gate. Well, where's the pair? Well, He's going to get to it.

There's a wide gate. You see the pairs here. Narrow gate, wide gate. Enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy. So there's an easy way and there's a hard way. There's another pair.

The way is easy or it's broad. In the United States and a lot of our cities, we have a broad way. Do you have broad ways here? One. I mean, in San Antonio, there's a broad way. In most cities, in major cities in the United States, you can find a city called broad way.

And it comes, I mean, I don't know where else it would come from, but this concept right here. So there's our pair. You have a narrow way. You have a broad way. Easy or hard. And it leads to destruction, this broad way, this easy way.

And see, there's two ends. One is life. One is destruction. Those who enter it, enter by it, are many. You have two crowds. So you have the great crowd and you have the few. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard.

That leads to life and those who find it are few. You see all the pairs, all the contrasting comparisons here. But it continues. Beware of false prophets. Well, immediately, when you think of false prophets, well, there's true prophets.

But notice a false prophet, they come to you in sheep's clothing. They look like Christians. Inwardly, they're something else. You'll recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

So every healthy tree. So there's your good prophet, the healthy tree. He's using an analogy here. Every healthy tree bears good fruit. But the diseased tree bears bad fruit. So you see our pairs, our contrasting pairs again.

You have a healthy tree, you have a diseased tree. You have good fruit, you have bad fruit. Verse 18, a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit. Nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. There's our pairs. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Again, we have this in verses 21, 22, and 23. Notice the comparison. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

So you get the people that are going to heaven here. And you also get the people who are told to depart from him in verse 23. You see the pair. You've got two types of people here. You've got the people that enter and the people that don't enter.

You've got the people that do the will of the Father and those who don't do the will of the Father. He says in verse 22,. On that day many will say to me, you see there's the many. Again, over against the few.

These are the pairs that are being contrasted. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Again, the pairing continues. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. Rain fell, floods came, winds blew, beat on that house.

It did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And this is a comparison over against everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them. So you've got people that hear and do. You've got people that hear and don't do.

And they'll be like a foolish man. So you've got a wise man, you've got a foolish man who built his house on the sand. So you've got a house on a rock, you've got a house on a sand. The rain fell, floods came, winds blew, beat against that house, and it fell.

So you've got two outcomes. One house stands, one house falls. Great was the fall of it. Do you recognize what's happening right here? Our Lord has just basically finished his sermon on the mount. He's finished telling us about what kingdom people and their righteousness ought to look like.

And now what he's basically doing is he's getting done and he's saying, look, after I preach this sermon to you, you need to recognize there are two sorts of people. There are the people that hear what I just preached and they do it.

And there are people that hear what I just preached and they don't do it. And that's what all these pairs are about. You're either one or the other. There's only two options. There's only two choices here.

Kingdom Righteousness and the Final Decision

That is precisely what's happened. What's most vital is that we comprehend how this series of contrasting pairs here at the end of this sermon relate back to what has been said previous to this. All the things that he's said up until now.

What's the connection? Well, clearly it's this. He said at the beginning, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom. And now he's gone through and he's described what kingdom righteousness looks like.

And in the end he says, okay, what are you going to do with that? Where are you at? Which side of this are you on? Because here's the thing about these contrasting pairs here. It's one or the other. There's not a third option.

There's not a third choice. There's not many choices. And you know what? Everybody in this room is in one of these two camps. I would just ask you the question. What do you think? What do you think right now based on what you know about Scripture?

If suddenly Christ came right now, what do you think? What do you think the percentage possibility that you would be told to depart? What do you think? Are you absolutely certain? Zero percent. What do you think?

And you see what Jesus is wanting us to do is he's wanting us to basically look at what he's just preached. And he's wanting us to recognize there's a righteousness that is characteristic in his people, true people.

That's basically what he's at. He's saying there's a righteousness that's not optional here. That's what's set forth in this sermon. You recognize Jesus came from glory to get a bride. And it says that he gave himself for a particular people, a peculiar people of his own possession, zealous of good works.

You need to recognize this. Jesus did not come from heaven just to forgive sins, just to save people from hell. He came to make people righteous. And he says this is the standard. And if your righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, if your righteousness does not resemble this sermon, he's saying there's two options.

You see, I think we all have to stop and say, what is the percentage possibility in your own mind that you would perish if Christ came? Or you would have life? You see, I don't like to think about that.

You know what, it's only a fool that doesn't think about these things. You need to weigh out what you are and where you are at based on the Word of God. You know what Jesus is telling his would-be followers?

This is the way to enter the kingdom. Listen to it. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus has done is he's laid it all out on the table here.

Here's the standard. And then he looks us square in the face and he says, this being the standard, enter that narrow way. Enter it. He's saying to us, here it is. Here it is. I gave you the standard that I require.

Now what are you going to do with it? You see, when he says enter, he's saying, no, don't you think you just sit there after hearing this passive, somehow believing, well, God's sovereign. If God's going to do anything, he's going to have to do anything.

No, no, no, that's not where he's at. When he says enter that, that word right there is an imperative. And he is calling you to make a decision. He's calling you to make a choice. He's calling you, what are you going to do about this?

I told you about the righteousness that must exceed the scribes and the Pharisees. And see, somebody here is going to say, wait a second, I know enough about my Bible to know we're not saved by works.

You need to recognize something. This is not a sermon about winning salvation by works. He starts his sermon off by pouring spirit. This is a sermon that says you are bankrupt and you can't do this, but you must do this.

How does a person who can't do what they can't do? There's only one way. By faith you lock onto Christ. That's the only way. You see, that's really what this sermon is all about. What are you going to do about this?

He says, I'm looking for doers of my word, not just those that hear. Doers, that's what it says. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father.

You see very well what he's driving home here, the one who does. You know what the question he's asking us? Are there any surrendered to this? You say, yeah, well then enter. Enter. Someone says, but I'm saved.

But Jesus says there's no point talking that way unless you're implementing this reality into your life. Listen, what he's basically saying is there's no point of listening to all this explanation of what the kingdom people are like if in the end all you're going to do is listen.

You see that. In the end he says, you want to know who the foolish man is? A foolish man listens, but he doesn't do. And what he's talking about here, listen, this is not in a vacuum. All these statements that Jesus says right here at the end have to do with the entire sermon.

That's what he's talking about. That's where he's going with this. There's only two options. All these sets of two from verses 13 to 27 are really the same thing. You are those who do what Jesus says or those who don't.

And so, you know what happens? Jesus preaches his sermon and he looks at each one of us and he says, okay, now it's decision time. We can't avoid this. You don't avoid Christ. And listen, to say, I'm not going to consider this is to make your decision.

To say, I'm going to consider this later is to make your decision. To say, I don't like this. That doesn't matter. That really isn't the issue. What we're faced with, I'm faced with this too. See, you're hearing my voice.

I'm the preacher. But what you have to recognize is I'm not getting this from myself. I'm drawing this right off the pages of scripture. The Lord came from glory. God became flesh. And he came here to tell us the way.

And listen, this is by faith. But you have to recognize that's what this sermon is all about. This sermon is about living out a righteousness by faith in Christ. Clinging to him. Doing what he calls. You can't do this in your own strength.

This starts with poverty of spirit, by mourning, by meekness. We are lowly before him. When he calls us to this, yes, he expects us to say, Lord, we can't do this. But you must do this. Well, how must I do what I can't do?

Well, brethren, that's what Christianity is all about. Don't you recognize? We've been called to live an impossible life. But you don't look at it and say, well, because it's impossible, I can't live it.

No. He's saying, get your eyes off yourself and get your eyes on me. And if you're looking at me and you're walking with me, you can live this. If you follow me, I'll never leave you or forsake you. And I'll grant you ability to do what in yourself naturally you don't have the ability to do.

That's what this is all about. So he preaches this sermon. He says, it's decision time. What are you going to do now? Jesus said, I'll tell you what you ought to do. And that's precisely where verse 13 is.

Enter by the narrow gate. That's what you ought to do. This is the way to eternal life. I'll tell you this. Jesus means to make us uncomfortable if there's a shred of contentment in coming here to this church and listening to all these sermons that I've preached from the Sermon on the Mount.

And you just, well, that was interesting. I enjoyed that. I give consideration to that. Hear these sermons. You know what he's doing? He's drawing this sermon to a close. And he wants to know what are you going to do with this sermon and with his words?

What are you going to do with him? What are you going to do with his requirements, with his standards? Brethren, I'll tell you this. The rains will fall. They're going to fall. And the floods are going to come.

And the winds are going to blow. That's for certain. And they're going to beat against the house of your life. And you can't escape this. Brethren, you can't escape this. You say, man, why did I come here today?

This makes me feel uncomfortable. Brethren, he means to make us feel uncomfortable. The only place where you're not uncomfortable is if you hear his words and enter that straight gate, that narrow way.

That is the only place of comfort. And he doesn't want to give you any comfort thinking that any other route is a good or safe way. That's where he's at right now. Jesus says, you can't avoid me. You can't avoid this.

Listen, we know this. He's the judge at the end. And this is his standard. When we come to stand before him, you know what all this demands? Repentance. Repentance is a change of thinking. It's to rethink things.

Like you need to really rethink his words. You don't want to just say, well, you know, I went to church today. I had the Lord's Supper. As though what? As though that seals? Brethren, what we're talking about is we're talking about a faith planted in Christ.

You remember this. Faith without works is dead. What he's talking about here is this is what living faith looks like. This is what looking to him, walking to him, with him. There's a trust. There's an obedience that comes forth from this.

And not to decide is to decide. So, you see the imagery. We're just dealing with verses 13 and 14 today. You see it. 13, 14. Look at it. You got gates. You got width of the gates. You got a way. You've got two crowds.

And you've got an end that's there waiting for those that are in either of these places. You see that. Two gates. Two ways. Two ends. Two crowds. One gate is narrow. One gate is not so narrow. It's pretty wide.

That's what you have. There's one gate that's narrow. There's a way that's narrow. There's a way that's broad. The way that's narrow, that word means it's compressed. It says hard. But it's the idea of being constricted.

Even I think the King James says narrow. Brethren, you recognize this. The gate is narrow. The way is narrow. And the end is life. But there's another way. And that way is broad. And that way leads to destruction.

And that's what we see here. Wide, broad, easy. Problem is there's destruction at the end. Now, listen. As I said before, the Lord Jesus Christ does not speak these words in verses 13 and 14, and even the ones that follow.

He's not speaking it in a vacuum. It ought to be fairly obvious what's meant by the narrow gate and the narrow way. By what he said before this. Now, just think with me. But what he's saying is this. The dominant characteristic of the true Christian life, the dominant characteristic of the life to which Jesus calls us is narrowness.

It's a narrow gate. It's a narrow way. It's a narrow life. Brethren, think with me. Think of what he's been saying. He says, look, I just don't want my people not to murder. I don't want them to hate.

I want my people to be a people that resolve problems. If you've got a brother and he's got something against you, you leave your gift, you go take care of it. I want you to be radical against sexual sin.

I want you to literally rip and gouge eyes out of your head if they cause you to sin. I want you to amputate hands if that thing causes you to sin. I want you to love your enemies. You remember you heard it said eye for an eye?

No, none of that anymore. You love your enemies. You love your neighbor. You love your enemy. And you do good to them. And you pray for those who persecute you. He said the things that you would have other people do unto you, I want you to do unto them.

He said in teaching us about prayer in this sermon, he said, Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. He wants you to forgive other people. Forgiving others, loving others.

He said tax collectors greet one another. What do you do more than any? You need to be perfect like your heavenly Father is perfect. Do you recognize that this is the life he calls us to? Do you recognize just being a person that walks through this life and doesn't retaliate, that forgives, that goes and seeks to be a peacemaker and to bring reconciliation, to be a person that is going to seek to love this world, even your enemies, even those people who curse you, you're rather going to bless them.

They strike out against you, but you're going to pray for them. Do you recognize the kind of people that he's calling us to be right here? Brethren, this whole thing starts with a narrow entrance and it stays narrow all the way to the end.

I mean the very note that this sermon begins with, poverty of spirit. Do you recognize what that, poor in spirit. We are a self-righteous race. We are independent and we don't want to have to need God.

That is us by nature. That's not easy. This is not an easy life that he is calling us to. You know what he's basically saying? You need to leave your self-righteousness at the door. More than that, you need to leave your self at the door.

I mean, think about it. That's how straight and narrow it is. How can you bless those who curse you and pray for those who despitefully use you unless you leave your self at the door? Brethren, leaving self at the door doesn't mean that you make yourself perfect at the door, at this straight gate.

It means you come to the Lord and you recognize I can't fix myself. I hear what you're calling me to. Lord, take me down this path, this narrow way. Help me to survive it because I can't do this on myself.

It's much like Levi when Jesus said, follow me. He basically looked at all of his tax collecting stuff and he got up and he walked away from it. He wasn't making himself perfect, but you know what? He was trusting this one, that wherever he took him, he was going to follow.

It was a very narrow way. Very narrow. Brethren, you do recognize he's calling us to the highest life ever. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. That is the highest life of all. You better believe it's going to be difficult.

Suffering, Prayer, and the Few Who Find Life

And it's also hard because why? It involves suffering. Did he not say in this sermon, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Did you get that?

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. People that get persecuted, that's a hard road. Blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you out of all manners of evil against you falsely on my account. It's also a hard path.

Because it's a fight of faith. You remember what he said on prayer. He said we need to not just ask. We need to keep asking. We need not just ask. We need to seek. Not just seek but keep seeking. We need to knock and keep knocking.

He talked about fasting in here. While the world's out there and they're drinking it up and they're eating up and they're enjoying themselves and it's all about pleasure and all about how they can get, God's people are supposed to be people that are desperately clinging to the Lord and pleading with Him in prayer and crying out to Him and asking Him for help and fasting and praying and giving.

This is the life. This is it. Listen, I'll say this again. He has not come to simply save you from your sin and from hell. He has come to make a people who are righteous and who live this reality out.

You know what He does? He comes to slay our old man and to make us new creations. Old things passed away. That's what He's come to do. And the reality is He's come to lead a people through a very straight gate and down a very narrow path.

And you know what He says? He says those on this path are few. Few. I don't know if you've ever had this mindset that there's many. There's many. I don't know. You know, you see what He's saying here?

This is a lonely path. The narrow road is always a lonely road. Oh, Bunyan portrayed this perfectly in Pilgrim's Progress. Why? Pilgrim. Christian. He took off running by himself. Yeah, he was joined for a moment, but then he was by himself again.

And he found the gate by himself. And he took off from the gate by himself. And he went up the hill of difficulty by himself. And he went between the two lions by himself. Did he walk with friends at times?

Yeah, but just one. Both the times he walked with somebody else. Large segments of this. Brethren, this is so perfectly portrayed for us. I just say this. How can the narrow way appeal to our race? How can it?

You know what appeals to people? You know what appeals to people. Most people, what appeals to them this day is eradicate God from their thinking altogether. Let's just talk about religious people. You see, the many on the broad way are religious people.

Do you know what most people want? Most people want heaven. They don't want hell. But they want to get there. They're doing it their way. Holding on to their sin and keeping their idols. Well, they won't admit they're really damning idols.

They won't admit that they're really that selfish or that independent or that rebellious against God. They want to convince themselves that's not the case. But that's what people want. People want a way to heaven that's easy.

Only problem, that's not one of the choices. You got two choices. One's easy. Destruction's at the end. One's hard. Life is at the end. There are few because it doesn't appeal even to the religious multitudes in this world.

They don't want that. It's just totally unappealing. This could never appeal to those who want to hang on to all their garbage. And that's the vast majority. Oh yeah, easy believism we hear it called.

Just the easy way. I'll tell you, that way goes to destruction. Don't think. It's very easy. You recognize. Church going, owning a Bible, taking the Lord's Supper. It's easy. The kinds of things He's talking about.

Doing unto others what you want them to do unto you. Loving your enemies. Praying for those who despitefully use you. Asking. Seeking. Knocking. Giving yourself to a life of prayer and fasting. Not just for that one desperate need that you feel when your child's sick and you don't want them to die.

I'm talking about constant clinging, constant fighting. That fight of faith. Constantly gouging out eyeballs and cutting off hands. Mourning. That poverty of spirit. Brethren, this is what we're talking about.

Striving to be salt. Striving to be light. Striving to do your good works in the sight of the people that are watching. This is the nature of this sermon. And Jesus is saying this. You listen to this sermon and you just waltz away like, well, that's great.

That's nice. Like that church. Or don't like that church. That was biblical. Jesus is not looking for you to praise this sermon or give some affirmation that yes, that's biblical. Well, of course it's biblical.

It's Him speaking. What He expects you to do is come to a decision and make some choices here. Brethren, and if you make the right decision, you're going to be among the few. But it's always been that way.

It's always been that way. Brethren, Christians have always found themselves in the despised minority. That's always the way. Now consider carefully. Many travelers are on the broad way. But perhaps it's not who you might imagine.

You see, it's very easy for us to say, oh, we're in church. We're in the church meeting. And there's lots of people out there. Masses and multitudes. We're few compared to them. I recognize we can look at things that way and that's not totally...

I mean, yes, people that don't even identify with God's people, of course we know where they're at. But the people in these pairs all the way through here are not such as you might think at first glance.

At first glance. This is not the godless masses. I mean, just look here. Verse 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And basically he breaks all this down into there's two types.

There's a healthy tree and there's a diseased tree. And there's good fruit and there's bad fruit. But do you recognize what he's dealing with here? He's dealing with people that look like sheep. People that look like sheep but are not sheep.

And when you go to verse 21, look at this. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Isn't that interesting? He could say, well, not everybody who follows Allah will enter the kingdom of heaven.

No, no, no. You see what he says? Not everybody who uses my name. Not everybody who relates to me and talks Jesus Christ talk. You see, that's what he's saying. But you've got people that are using the lingo.

These are people that are in the church. These are people that are among professing Christians. These are would-be followers. And they're using His name, Lord, Lord. And you see what they did. They say on that day, verse 22, many are going to say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not...

See, Lord, Lord, not just Lord. It's double. It's profound. It's emphasized. Did we not prophesy? See, we were doing things. Lord, we were doing these religious things. We prophesied. We cast out demons in Your name.

You notice that? It's always in His name, in Your name. This wasn't done in the name of some Hindu god. This was done in the name of Jesus Christ, in Your name. We did mighty works in Your name. And then he says, I don't know who you are.

I don't know you. You are a worker of lawlessness. You say, wait a second. We prophesied. We did mighty works. We took the Lord's Supper. We came to church meetings. He said, I never knew you. You see who he's talking about here?

And when you go on, and you go on to verse 24, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them over against verse 26, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them, you recognize who these people are.

These people are sitting under the preaching. These are people that have listened to the sermons from the Sermon on the Mount. You see, he is not interested in whether people come and hear the preached sermon.

He's interested in whether you actually have a living faith that clings to the Christ and to the truth that He proclaims. You see, your faith is nothing if it doesn't hear these words and say, yes, Lord.

I believe You are King and You are Lord and You are God and You are the only Savior. I believe You came from heaven. I believe You came with the truth. I believe these words are from God. I believe this is the way to eternal life and I am not going anywhere else.

I may be weak. Lord, I see it. Poverty of spirit. But where are we going to go? And You're just like His disciples. You're just like Peter. Where are we going to go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.

We're not going anywhere. I mean, we may fall. We may do this. We may do that, but we're clinging to You. And if You tell us to go through this, if You tell us to enter at this point, we're going in there.

Whatever may follow. You see, You follow them no matter what the consequences are. He never guaranteed you you wouldn't die, you wouldn't be persecuted. In fact, He said you would be persecuted. And it's very likely you could die.

It's not guaranteed. But brethren, this is it. These people, you see. You see who the people are. The many on the broad way. These are religious folk. Some of you. Brethren, there's no question about it.

I don't doubt that at all. We have people in this very room right now that are proclaiming to be followers of Christ. And on Judgment Day, there are people in this room that will go to the right and there are people in this room that will go to the left.

And there won't be any real mystery about it. When the facts are laid on the table, if you're on the left, it's going to be because you heard. You might have debated, thought about the truthfulness. You might have said, yeah, that's true.

You might have looked at that and appreciated it. You might have done whatever. But you heard it and you did not do it. You were happy with just mechanical religion. And one of the things He said is judge not.

There's not to be hypocritical judgment. You were just happy going on and judging. You were just happy going on with the hypocrisy. See, that's really what went behind the scribes and the Pharisees who had a righteousness that you better have a better one.

It was hypocrisy. They appeared to be something on the outside. They appeared to be sheep on the outside, but inwardly, they were altogether something else. Brethren, this is easy religion. The way is easy.

This is a broad way and it's easy. And you know what it says over the top? The sign over the top says come to heaven the easy way. And the vast majority say, yeah, yeah, sign me up. That's what I want.

I don't want to go to that terrible hell place. I don't want to suffer for my sin, but I want it easy. Show me the easy way to heaven. And you know what? They look at the sign and they go in with the crowd and they walk with the crowd, but they never really pay attention to where this road goes.

This is why God's way can never be discovered by appealing to the majority opinion. Do you hear what I'm saying? The majority, Jesus says, are on the wrong way. Don't appeal to the majority. Don't appeal to the crowd.

You see, the few, even... My wife says it. When my wife was growing up, she was not a Christian. And she went to a church and she said, you know what? There were a few people in the church who were oddballs.

She said once she got saved, she recognized they were the true Christians. Brethren, that's so often the way. The majority are always wrong because the majority are always on the wrong way. That's clearly.

To travel the narrow way... You remember what Paul said, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins and we were following the course of this world. You see the picture? We were in the stream. We were in the flow of the majority.

But what happens? When God saves you, there's a 180 degree turnaround and you suddenly go against the majority, against the world, against... against, brethren. You go the other way. The Christian. The Christian.

Why is it that people call... You know what I found throughout the years when I meet Christians, you go to different places and they're like, my family's calling me a fanatic. That is so common. Brethren, I'll tell you this.

You can almost smell the real deal just because you got the majority calling them a fanatic or calling them a cult or calling them this or calling them that. The true Christian is always somebody unusual.

There's so few. You make a break with the world. You make a break with the crowd. You make a break with the vast majority of people. And you know what happens? You also have to make a break a lot of times with your closest friends and your closest family members.

This is it. This is the way. The Christian way of life is not popular. That's why so few are on it. D .A. Carson has said that the narrow way doesn't win many popularity contests. He's absolutely right.

It's not popular. It's radical. It's fanatical. It's unusual. It's strange. It's different. That's it. Brethren, you know what happens? This happened to me. You know what? I ran with the crowd. But as soon as God saved me, you stop running with the crowd.

And I found that I didn't even run with the crowd that was in the first churches that I went to because they were content to have the kind of religion where you could still be a slave to your sin. I looked at these people.

Brethren, I'll tell you, like I said before, Bunyan hit this right. One of the things about getting on this narrow way is it's intensely personal. You go in there by yourself. You don't go in with the crowd.

And you don't go in there with your family. You don't go in there with a whole bunch of others. You come in there by yourself. Formerly, our identity was with the crowd. There's no question about that.