进窄门 - Entering the Narrow Gate — Paul Washer

Let's open our Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. I'm going to ask Brother Larry to read from verse 13 through 23. I'm going to ask Brother Larry to read from verse 13 through 23. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would illumine our minds. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would illuminate our minds. That we might understand your word. That the Holy Spirit would renew hearts.

That they might respond to that word, Lord. That they might be saved. Lord, the words of the man are pathetic. Lord, the words of the man are pathetic. They have no strength. Lord, your Spirit, taking your word, doing surgery upon the heart of a man.

Lord, what is impossible for us is possible for you. Lord, what is impossible for us is possible for you. Lord, will so many perish without the Gospel? Lord, you know you owe nothing to any man. But I pray, Lord, that you would spare some.

The Narrow Gate and the Exclusivity of Christ

And present them to your Son. In Jesus' name. Amen. In this first verse, in chapter 13, verse 13. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it.

Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. Here we see both a gate and a way. We enter into the way by passing through a gate. That gate or that door is Jesus Christ.

And we are called to enter through that gate. Now the Scriptures are clear. There is only one Savior. And it is Jesus Christ. And we say that as Christians. And that is why the world hates us. Do you realize that many of the Christians in the Roman Empire, they were persecuted as atheists.

That was their crime. You say, well, that doesn't make any sense. They say, how can a Christian be charged as an atheist? This is the reason. The Christian denied all other gods. The Christian came to the Roman Empire and said, no.

All your gods are false. Your religions are false. There is only one God and one Savior. The Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth. And for this reason, the Christians were hated. Now, I want you to think about something.

If the Christians had come to Rome and said this, Jesus is a Savior. They would not have had a problem. Because they would be saying this. There are many Saviors. Jesus is one of them. Your Savior is good.

But so is Jesus. The same thing happens today in America. If I were to change just one word in my preaching, I would be a very popular preacher. All I would have to do is do this. Stop using the word, the.

And use the word, a. Instead of saying, Jesus is the Savior. All I have to do is say, Jesus is a Savior. And everyone would love me. If you go into other religions of the world, Buddhism, Hinduism, even the Muslim faith, if you would just say that you are right, but Jesus is also a Savior.

He is my Savior. You may have another one. And that is okay. But Jesus is mine. You would not have a problem. The world hates you because you tell the world that it is wrong. This is why the nations hated the Jews in the Old Testament.

At least when the nation was walking with God. Because the pagan nations, they had all kinds of gods. They had thousands of gods. And they were willing to say that Jehovah could be one of those gods. But the Jews said, no.

Jehovah is the only God. Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God. The Lord is one. You see, that is what you need to see today. If you believe what the Bible says about Jesus, the world will hate you. But if you start preaching a Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible, the world will love you.

But Jesus looked at himself. He pointed to himself. And he said, I am the way. The truth and the life. And no one comes to God, except through me. All those who came before me, they were false. All those who come after me, they are false.

It's me. I am the incarnation of God. That's what Jesus taught. Now, if you will just say, yes, that's what Jesus taught. And I reject it. That's better than denying that he taught it. That's why liberal Christianity is not Christianity at all.

It's absolutely useless. It's lost its reason for existing. Again, let me say this. In the Christian life, in Christianity, it's all about one person. It's about Jesus. Do you realize that Christianity is not necessarily a moralistic religion?

For example, if you become a Buddhist, what does that mean? You follow things that he said. And by doing certain things that he said, you find some sort of peace. Become a Muslim. You follow certain rules.

And by doing those certain rules, you save yourself. Christianity is completely different. It's not about a set of rules that if you carry them out, you will be saved. No, Christianity is about this. It's about a person who saves us.

And we love him. And we cling to him. And we trust in him alone. And we honor him. It's about a person who died and rose again to pay for our sins. And the Bible says that we are to enter through that gate.

Repentance, Faith, and the False Assurance of Easy Conversion

Now, how do we enter through that gate? We do so by repentance and faith. God calls every man to repent and to believe the gospel. Now, this is where historical Christianity and modern day Christianity are completely different.

How do you enter into Christianity according to the preachers today? You repeat a prayer. Just pick up any track. In the back of the track, what does it say? If you want to be a Christian, pray this prayer.

Is that not true? And if you pray the prayer, at the end of the track, it says this. Congratulations. You're a Christian. Welcome into the family of God. Or there's an evangelistic crusade. And the preacher gets everybody to bow their head and close their eyes.

They lower the lights. They play soft music. The preacher begins to talk very softly. How many of you want to be saved? You don't have to be ashamed. No one will look at you. Raise your hand. Then when you raise your hand, they go, I see that hand.

Now you can't escape. I know who you are. Now come forward. Come forward. Remember, I saw you. And then they'll even do this. They'll put Christians in the audience and have them come forward to make it easier for the others to come forward.

And then they come forward. Do you want to be saved? Yes. Then pray this prayer. And ask Jesus into your heart. They all pray the prayer. And then the preacher says this. Welcome into the family of God.

Now I'm not making this up, am I? Many of you are smiling. You've seen this happen over and over and over. That's why practically everybody in North America is a Christian. And almost no one lives like one.

And you say, well, Brother Paul, I got saved in something like that. You did not get saved because of it. You got saved in spite of it. Even through the heresy of men, God can still save souls. And for that we are appreciative.

Look at what we're doing. That's what it means to enter in. Just hold your place for a moment and go to Revelation 3, verse 20. This is a famous verse. The preacher will say this. Verse 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me. And then the preacher says, God is knocking at the door of your heart. But the handle of the heart is only on the inside.

God can't come in unless you open the door. And how do you open the door? By prayer. You open the door and ask Jesus to come in. And so what do you do? You pray the prayer. And if you pray the prayer, and you think you're sincere, then the preacher pronounces you saved.

First of all, you need to understand something here. In Revelation 3, he's knocking on the door of the church. He's not knocking on the door of a sinner's heart. There's no where it says that. There's a very famous painting where it's portrayed as that way.

But we don't follow a painting. We follow the Scriptures. Now, I want us to look at this text for a moment. There is a sense in which we can use this verse as an illustration. But we have to do it in the context of the rest of the Scriptures.

Jesus is calling out for men to be saved. And He is waiting patiently. His hands are extended all day long. Calling out to men to be saved. All of creation calls for men to be saved. In the book of Proverbs, wisdom calls out for men to come and learn.

She stands at the gates of the city. She's in the crossroads of the city. She stands on the high hill above the city. Constantly calling out for men to repent and to come to her and learn. That's what the Gospel does.

Even now. Through a preacher. God is calling out to you. Repent and come to Christ. Put away your foolishness. And come to Him in faith. So there is a sense in which He is knocking on the door. And He says, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door.

What does it mean to open the door? It means to open up your life to Him. It's not just praying a prayer. It's realizing that you're wrong about everything. That you've been leading your own life. That you have shut God out.

And this applies to many of you who call yourselves Christians. You call yourself a Christian. But God is not in your life. You are not seeking to do His will. You do not seek to submit to His commands.

You call yourself a Christian. You may go to church on Sunday. You go to the youth group. But as soon as you walk out. You have nothing to do with God. You direct your own life. He's not in there. But to open the door is to say, Lord, come in.

Let me put it this way.

Let's say that your life has no peace. There's just nothing but emptiness. And all of a sudden you hear a knock at the door of your life. And then you hear a voice. It says, let me in. Open the door to me.

And I will give you peace. And I will give you life. Life in abundance. And you think to yourself. Well, this is fantastic. I would love to have peace. And life in abundance. And you run to the door. And you grab the door handle.

But right before you turn it. The one outside the door. He clears his throat. He says, wait. Before you open that door. Know this. I will give you peace. I will give you life eternal. But when I come in.

The house is mine. Everything in it is mine. Door mine. The door is mine. The door handle is mine. Everything is mine. When I come in, I come in as Savior. When I come in, I come in as Lord. Now do you still want to open that door?

When I come through that door. I will give you life. But it may cost you your life. Now do you still want to open that door? And there's two reasons why the true believer opens that door. One is desperation.

Before a man will truly open the door to the Lord of Glory. It's because he's desperate. He's exhausted himself. He can't go on anymore. There's no reason to be alive. It's all worthless. He does it out of desperation.

But there's another reason. And it will always be there.

He does it.

Because that voice is beautiful to him. And he says to himself, I have got to see who that is on the other side of the door. I'm terrified to open that door. But my desire to see the one on the other side is greater than my fear.

He may take my life. But I've got to see him. I so desire him. I cannot live without him. That was Moses, remember? Moses has the biggest ministry of anybody in the world. He's led the entire nation out of Egypt.

But guess what? It's not enough. It's not enough. If ministry can fill you, it's because you're lost. If you're a Christian, nothing can fill you. Not even ministry. Nothing but Christ. Moses had the greatest ministry of his day.

But this is what he said. Show me your glory. Moses, no one can see my glory and live. Listen to the heart of Moses. It's almost as if he's saying, I know. I know I will die. I don't care. If I can just see one glimpse of your beauty, it's worth it.

Show me your glory. And so you open that door. And he comes in as Savior and as Lord. Now that doesn't mean when he comes in that you become perfectly obedient. The Christian is full of failure. But the Christian is broken over his failure.

Because he knows Jesus is Lord. And he longs to please Him as Lord. Now notice something else about this text. He says, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him. Look at this.

This is the God who created the universe. This is the God who sustains the universe. The universe itself cannot contain His glory. And He's going to come into you. And you're going to tell me that that doesn't change you at all?

Are you going to tell me that the Lord of Glory could come to indwell your heart and it's not going to have any impact on you at all? You're going to be just like everybody else? You're going to remain the same?

That, my friend, is ludicrous. I am not saying that when He comes in, you'll be perfect. I'm not saying that when He comes in, you will have no longer any struggle with sin. No. But what I am saying is this.

There will be a difference. And not only will you know it inside, others will see it on the outside. And then look what he says. And I will dine with Him and He with me. Now, that's interesting. And that's what most preachers never talk about.

They say, did you pray that prayer? Were you sincere? Then you're saved. And they'll even say things like this. Even if you live the rest of your life in sin, you're saved. Even if you remain the same, you're saved.

That's not true. Now, when I say that, people will say, well, your preaching works. You're saying that a man is saved because he believes and because he changes. Absolutely not. A man is saved by faith alone.

But those who believe have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. They've become new creatures. And what does the book of James tell us? Does James disagree with Paul? Paul says we're saved by faith alone without works.

James says that faith alone without works is dead. Are they disagreeing with one another? No, they're saying the same thing. Paul is saying we're saved by faith alone. And James agrees. But James adds one thing.

The evidence that we have truly believed is the way we live afterwards. We're not saved by works. The changes in our lives demonstrate that we have been saved. And look what he says in the book of Revelation.

He says, I will dine with him and he with me. How do you know that Jesus Christ came into your heart? How do you know that He saved you? Most people believe it because they think they were sincere at that moment.

Isn't that true? Preachers will say, when you prayed that prayer, were you sincere? And the person says, well, I think so. Well, then you're saved. You're trusting in the sincerity of one of your prayers?

Do you know most people who say they're believing in Jesus are not believing in Jesus? Do you know what they're trusting in? Their prayer. I prayed. I did that. Don't worry about me. I already prayed that prayer.

So the evidence you're converted is that one time you prayed a prayer? Jesus says this is the evidence that He came in. I will dine with Him and He will dine with me. Now, in many cultures in the Middle East, and even many cultures still in Asia, what is one of the greatest demonstrations of friendship or fellowship?

Eating together. You can go into the jungles of Peru. People living in huts. But if you come to their hut and you are their friend, they'll put the best food they have out in front of you. They will eat with you.

And what He's saying is this. If I have truly come in, then the evidence will be our ongoing fellowship together.

We will walk together. We will talk together. I will be your Lord. And you will be my servant.

Examining the Evidence of Conversion

I will speak into your ear. And your heart will learn to obey me. Young person. Many of you don't even have any kind of relationship with Jesus Christ. Your parents are Christian. But they're from China.

They don't even speak English well. They don't even know how to use the internet. You don't esteem them or respect them. Yeah, they have their Christian faith. But we're more modern. And you also may be without Christ.

With a false sense of security. Oh, you go to youth group. But mainly just to see your friends. You very rarely talk about Christ. You don't really walk with Him. Just can't wait till whatever preaching goes on is over.

So that you can play your games again. Because you're all about fun. Do you honestly walk with Christ? Is He a friend who sticks closer to you than a brother? Do you study His Word? Do you seek Him in prayer?

Do you want to conform your life to His will? Some of you have never heard questions like this. But this is what the Bible teaches. Please, I beg you. Make your calling and election sure. Are you truly Christian?

Counting the Cost of Entering the Kingdom

Now let's go back to Matthew chapter 7. Enter through the narrow gate. Now this word, enter, is a command. There's the idea that you need to enter through the gate. Now, people will tell you today. I've heard preachers say this.

I've heard Christians say this. It goes something like this. Well, the easiest thing in the world to do is to get saved. It's so easy. All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is pray that prayer.

It is by faith alone. But it's not easy. There are terrible decisions you have to make. The reason why they tell you it's easy, because they don't tell you about those terrible decisions you have to make.

Hold your place and look in Luke chapter 16. In Luke 16, verse 16. The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is forcing his way into it.

What does he mean? The forcing their way into it. Look real quick at the book of Matthew chapter 11. Look at verse 12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.

Now in Matthew, this is very difficult to interpret grammatically. Does it mean that there are violent men who are trying to suppress the kingdom? It could mean that. But when we get over to Luke, there seems to be a little bit more clarity that people are forcing their way into it.

And what does that mean? You've got these people and they're hearing the preaching of Jesus. But to the religious leaders, Jesus is a scandal. They hate him. The whole world hates him. But he's preaching these words.

And they're words of life. And some people are hearing those words. And they're wanting to believe them. They're wanting to follow Jesus. But in order to get to him, they have to force their way past certain obstacles.

The religious leaders who want to stop them. Maybe their own family members who want to stop them. Maybe the fact that the world's opinions are stopping them. And their own heart may be stopping them.

Their own heart may be saying this. If you follow him, you're going to get killed. And a person forces themselves beyond that. I don't care if I die. I'm going to follow him. Yeah, but the heart of the rich young ruler, if you follow him, he told you you had to give up everything.

And that stood against that rich young ruler. And he could not fight his way past it. And he died and went to hell. When Jesus is calling you to come, your friends may stand in front of you. Even your supposed Christian friends.

You get serious about following Jesus Christ in your youth group. And all those fine little Christians will begin to mock you, and talk about you, and hate you. Do you see that? But see, today in the Americas, there is no cost.

There's nothing. I mean, believe in him. Stay in the world. Believe in him. Not only that, if you believe in him, he's going to make it better for you. There's nothing to fight against. There's no reason to press in.

Because you can have Jesus. And your best life now. How different is it in other parts of the world? I know of people who work in the Middle East. I can't even mention their names. They're friends of mine.

If I mention their names, they could be hunted down and killed. For them to believe in Jesus, they had to press in. If you trust in Christ, not only will your family reject you, they'll put a sentence of death on your head.

Your own father will kill you. You come to Christ, you'll lose your job. You come to Christ, your wife and your children will leave you. And they have to enter in by faith. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Some of you knew how hard it was to come to Christ. But you said to yourself, He alone has the words of life. He alone died for my sin. I must have Him. I must. You see how dangerous it is to live here?

You see how dangerous the Christianity is that you've been fed? Be very careful. And if someone in another country listens to this, be very careful. Because the superficial gospel that's found in the Americas is either already in your country or it's coming there.

Reject it. And stay with the Scriptures. And stay with church history. Salvation is by faith alone. But those who have believed they have become new creatures regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And they will begin to live a different life.

Leaving Worldly Hopes Behind the Narrow Gate

And so we go back to Matthew. Enter through the narrow gate. Now, this is a narrow gate. It is a restrictive gate. It's hard to press through. Kind of like a camel through the eye of a needle. It's hard to get through there.

All the stuff that you're carrying on your back. All the world that you're carrying with you. It's not going to go through there with you. And you've got to make a decision. Stay in this world and keep your stuff.

And die and go to hell. Or reject the world and pass through the gate. Now, I'm not saying here that Christians have to be poor to be saved. I'm not saying that you should not go get a good education.

I'm not saying that God can't bless your life in every way. But all the hopes you have of this world you have to leave behind to follow Him. The narrow gate. I would recommend to every one of you to read one of the most important books ever written.

It is one of the best illustrations of this passage. And it's translated in Chinese. It's the Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. What's amazing is this. Almost all the preachers today say it's a wonderful book.

But almost every one of them preach a different message than what's found in that book. The gospel they preach totally contradicts Bunyan's gospel. I can go almost everywhere and say, what do you think about Charles Spurgeon?

And people say he's the greatest preacher who ever lived. He's the Apostle. And I say, then why do you preach completely opposite of him? You see, true conversion is faith in Christ. That faith is costly.

It is costly. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. And I pray, dear God, that you would use it to bring people to Christ that they would enter in. God help them. In Jesus' name.