Following Jesus: The Straight Gate — Hans R. Waldvogel

Jesus Christ as the Only Way to the Father

Tonight, every one of us is either a follower or not. If you are a follower, how far have you come along the way? It's interesting to see how Jesus says, I am the way, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me, and there he brings into focus the unspeakable gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ without whom no one can find the way, no one can be reconciled to the Father.

Humanity's Search Through Philosophy and Learning

Oh, how humanity has been seeking the wise, that's where our philosophies come from, and our schools of theology, and psychology, and biology, and triology, and phrenology, and all these ologies, they're all efforts to find the way out of the labyrinth into which the human race has come.

You can never pick up a magazine of any description, but you'll find that searching going on, and now they'll follow Socrates, and then they'll follow Plato, and then they'll follow Confucius, and then they'll follow Buddha, and then they'll follow Freud, and then they'll follow somebody else, and they're all blind leaders of the blind, and they're all in the ditch themselves, and they lead everybody into the ditch that follows them.

The Narrow Gate and the Two Roads

Why not follow Jesus? We're all in that labyrinth, we're all going through this life, we're all coming to some goal very, very rapidly, very, very soon. Heaven will open, or the gate of damnation, one or the other will be our goal, the Bible tells us very plainly.

And when disciples came and said, Lord, are there many that are going to be saved? He said, strive. Labor, again and again, we're told to labor, we're told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and Jesus says, few there be that find it.

Why? Because the gate is narrow and straight, and the way is narrow, and it escapes attention. The broad way has many more companions. If you walk on the broad way, that is the way of your own flesh, and the world, and the devil, you'll have a lot of companions, a lot of company.

One way, the only way, there's only one way that leadeth unto life, thank God, and you don't have to miss it. That way is Jesus Christ, Jesus is the way. Not something he tells us, not a religion, not a form of doctrine, not a sect, not a set of ideas and theologies, but a person, oh Jesus, Jesus, thou art the way, thou art the great leader.

Following Jesus Rather Than Religious Forms

I was blessed by that song sung by the choir about following him, oh that wonderful subject, following Jesus. How many followers does Jesus Christ have in this meeting? You know, when you follow him, when he is your way, you can never, never lose the way.

That way leads straight to the heart of the Father. Glory to God, you'll never miss it. God says, he beseeches you by Christ Jesus, be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for us, that we might be delivered from sin.

That's the narrow gate that many people miss, the gate of repentance. Many people miss it, they try to find another way, and theologians give them, you can find plenty of churches where they tell you, come on along, there ain't no hell.

Repentance and the Call to Salvation

Flee on the very day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost had come, he said, save yourselves from this untoward generation. Flee from the wrath to come, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God is able to make of these rocks, sons of Abraham, don't say because you're religious you're going to go to heaven.

Oh God so loved the world that he gave, here is the way, thank God, without which no man shall live. Have you been a follower of Jesus? Tell me tonight, are you an honest to goodness follower of Jesus Christ?

Personal Surrender to Jesus Christ

Then you'll walk alone after him. That was one of the first lessons I had to learn when I followed Jesus, up to that time I'd followed the church. I thought I was safe, you know, being in the company of godly people, of a religious sect, and being surrounded by friends that seemed to be going to heaven, I thought I was certainly on the way, until I found out that I didn't have him.

I wasn't following him, I had not turned unto the shepherd and bishop of my soul, oh wonderful shepherd who leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake and leadeth me to the mansions of God, he says I'll come again and I'll receive you unto myself, where to?

Why, in the place where he dwells, the very bosom of God, beloved religion means to be reconciled to God, the very word religion, what does it mean, religio, means to be reunited to God from whom we have departed, and Jesus is the way, Jesus, a personal surrender to the son of God, it's a very, very personal matter, you cannot take anyone with you, it's Jesus and you alone, and you've got to settle it with Jesus Christ all alone.

I was a boy when I did it and I had very godly parents, but they didn't understand me anymore. I had to go alone, and yet not alone, there I found true companionship, I found him, I found that in the morning when I had to leave house, leave father and mother, leave my home, he came with me, he came with me to the subway, he came with me to the elevator rather, and there I was hanging on the strap and Jesus was with me, talking to me, blessing me, anointing me, oh the wonderful companionship, and all through the busy day at my workbench, surrounded by ungodly people, he never forsook me for one moment, he was there all the time, and he manifested his presence to me all the time, praise God, and increasingly so, do you know why, because I followed on, I found a scripture text, I found a road map, it said somewhere in Psalm 119, where with all shall a young man cleanse his way, oh I wanted to cleanse my way, I was surrounded by a lot of young men, who all were defiled, every one of them, there wasn't a single one who lived a godly life, even though some of them belonged to church, and I said how shall I cleanse my way, how shall I please my God, why the Bible gave me the answer, it showed me the way, by taking heed thereto according to thy word, beloved there's the way, when God gives me his word, he speaks to me by his son, the words that I speak unto you, our spirit and our life, you've got to become a Bible Christian, and again it must be a personal Bible study, personal, I preached one time in a Bible school, and God gave us a gracious revival, and almost all of the students one night confessed that they had backslidden by coming into Bible school, they got interested in their studies, in getting good marks, and they were not so much interested anymore, because they didn't have time to study the Bible, to live Christian lives, beloved it isn't preachers, but followers, God wants followers, Paul was a good preacher, because he was a good follower, you will become a good preacher, or a good witness, when you become a good follower of Christ, a follower of Jesus Christ is magnetic, power of God issues forth from him, like from the son of God, oh beloved that's what the world is waiting for, there are plenty of preachers, but oh how few true and honest to goodness followers who follow God, not in church only on Sunday, but every day of the week, in their business life, do people know that you're fairly honest, absolutely straight up and down, they can trust you in the dark as well as in the daytime, and they can trust you with anything, do they know that they can trust you in any place and any condition, oh a follower of Jesus Christ will be faithful to the word of God, where with all shall a young man or a young woman for all that cleanse his way, how shall I find that way to my God, to my father's house, how shall rabbi, there are so many byways in this world, so many leaders that call me aside, and my own heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, beloved there's only one way, only one way, I must come to Jesus, he must become the ruler, the master of my life, men go astray in their hearts, in their minds, but where with all shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed thereto according to thy word, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, that's it, listen, did you become a follower, have you started following when you were a child, the discussion centered or circled around conditions in Germany somewhere some time ago, the moral conditions, it seems as if the Nazi philosophy has taken away the foundation from the German nation, moral or immoral conditions are fearful, absolutely fearful, unbelievably fearful, but on the other hand there's a wonderful race ascending, coming up, young men, young women who live absolutely and positively for God, I've met them, I've met them everywhere, and they're like shining lights, they shine like the noonday sun in the darkness of Germany, young men, young women, I've met them, I know how they live and my heart rejoiced and almost in every instance it's been people that have known the scriptures from childhood days, they've had a good training at home, beloved there's only one way, thank God there is a way, God calls this world a wicked and adulterous generation and it's never been worse than today, but there's a way, thank God, oh Jesus you are the way and isn't it wonderful as I said Friday night that everyone can experience Jesus, he said to Peter when Peter said what shall this man do, he said it's none of your business, how many people forsake the way because they stumble over somebody else's sins, when people tell you us also does it, but they claim to be spiritual, they do it, listen there's something wrong with you, if that's all the hunger you have for righteousness, if that's your standard, you'll certainly go astray, let Jesus be your standard, he says what is it to thee, none of your business, you follow me, oh how gracious is it of Jesus to make every one of us subject to himself, dependent upon himself, every one, no matter how many thousands travel with you, it must be an arrangement between you and your Jesus and the Lord knows them that are his and he knows the people who haven't thrown him in their hearts, he knows the people who think the thoughts that God gives and refuse thoughts that are not honest, not just, not pure, not lovely, not a good report, he knows the people who guard their hearts with all diligence because he becomes the guardian of hearts like that, oh Jesus says follow thou me and this morning we spoke of that scripture text in Hebrews 13 where he tells us how we follow, what a great shepherd he's given to us, God who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, no man can live the 23rd Psalm until you're filled with the Holy Ghost, beloved God's provided for you to be filled with the Holy Ghost, every one of us, sinners, those who crucify Jesus, he says the promise is unto you, repent, be baptized, that means take an oath of allegiance to Jesus Christ, accept the gospel and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, hallelujah, there's your shepherd, there's your guide, there's your monitor, a place where the world and the flesh and the devil held you gagged and bound, there will be that wonderful liberty of the Holy Ghost, that freedom from sin, that marvelous, the drawing power of the Holy Ghost, the driving power of the Spirit of God, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, I like the German translation better, have you ever seen a diesel engine in our crack trains, what power they develop, there's a driving force on the inside that you can't see, it's invisible but it drives that mighty train, sometimes a hundred miles an hour and if the Holy Spirit is a driving force within you in something, I tell you what, exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe, hallelujah, talk about power, Jesus has power, and people talk about the power of the devil, he has lost his power when you come to Jesus, you were a sheep going astray but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls, that's conversion, it's a personal arrangement between your heart and the heart of God, when you open your heart and you say come into my heart Lord Jesus, salvation in every instance means that God comes into the heart, God himself comes into the soul, has he not promised to do that?

The New Birth and the Narrow Road

Yes sir he has, he says I'll put my spirit within you, I write my law upon your heart, are you a follower? Oh have you found the way? You're on the road but you may be on the road to destruction, the road that leads us to destruction, many go in there and he says strive to enter in at the straight gate for many will try and shall not be able, why?

Because they're not honest toward God, they don't repent of their sins, there's a very narrow gate and you can't take anything with you, nothing, no sin, oh praise the Lord but the way is the way of life, hallelujah, you may have gone astray, oh how many have still gone astray, they're still roaming, still roaming, this is one thing we need to be careful about our children, we need to pray mightily that God will lead them through the narrow gate, the fact that they're born into our families and the fact that they've had Sunday school training does not give them a new heart, they also need to be born again, they've got to have an experience with God that will make them a new creation and beloved our prayer will do it, we've seen it happen again and again and oh how important it is that we who are gone astray like sheep are now returned, returned where?

Not to church, no thank God, but to the shepherd, the shepherd, oh when you come to the shepherd first of all you're saved from your sin because this is the good shepherd who laid down his life, Jesus, Jesus Christ alone was able to lay down his life that his sheep might have life, that's the grace of God we sing about because he laid down his life that by his poverty we might be rich and so he has not only forgiveness of sins but the fullness of the Holy Ghost, I was glad that I had to go alone in those days because it taught me many lessons, I found out that God will come when you seek him with your whole heart, when everybody's against you, they watched my room every night to see whether I stayed up too late then I got a calling down, but you know when your heart's hungry for God you want to eat the bread of heaven, you can't be satisfied anymore, oh but I discovered that when you draw night can you afford to be without this guy, one day young man can you afford to be careless about it, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, tell me how shall we escape people laugh, they fool like they did that night, on the 14th of April 1915 I think it was, no 1912 when the Titanic that great mastership, the pride of the white star line was flying across the ocean on its maiden voyage and they had proclaimed to the nations that this was an unsinkable ship, absolutely unsinkable and when the messages came across the ether I first danger ahead, other ships lay at anchor they wouldn't move ahead, the wireless operator said shut up, we've got more important messages to send now, why the Titans were on board that ship, John Jacob Astor, other great millionaires and by wire they were creating a panic right here in New York, while they were sailing the seas, while they were playing poker together they were fighting one another, drawing millions out of each other's pockets, these great men of the earth and when the danger signal came and the captain came to the owner of the white star ship and said what shall we do, he says there's danger ahead, he said go ahead, we're we're an unsinkable ship, the very joke of it he said and somebody had written across the belly of the ship we don't need God, this is an unsinkable ship, we don't need God and then a giant finger was drawn across the belly of the ship, split open like the belly of a pig and the waves of the ocean pouring into it and the orchestra leader was given command by the captain keep them dancing, keep them dancing, don't let them know that we're in danger although the ship stopped, although people were full of consternation and full of fear like they are in the world today, what do they do, keep them dancing, the church of the sacred heart is having a bingo party tomorrow night, keep them dancing, Presbyterian bunch down there is having a baseball game, keep them dancing, go ahead, coffee clutch, keep them dancing, don't let them come to prayer meeting, don't let them cry to God day and night, don't let them get filled with the Holy Ghost, there's plenty of time for that, we've got business, we've got pleasure to attend to, let's thunder, there is your business, for me incurs it into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels will be spoken by the one who cried, it is better to die.