Are You in the Narrow Way?

(Article for publication week of 5-8- AD 2013)

“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 “ (Matthew 7:13-14).

Dear reader, are you in the narrow way? According to my text, you are right now in one of two ways- you are either in the narrow way that leads to heaven, or you are in the broad way that leads to hell. There is no middle ground; there is no other way but these two.

I ask you not if you are religious. Many of you are religious as all get out, but you are in the broad way, not the narrow way. I ask you not if you have “accepted Jesus.” That terminology is not in the Bible, and you don’t accept a Lord, you bow down to Him, and Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. There are many of you that have made some kind of profession, or “accepted Jesus”, so-called, but you are in the broad way, and unless you get out of the broad way, and enter into the narrow way, you are going to wind up in hell forever and ever. Many of you are irreligious and living ungodly lives, but you vainly imagine that you will escape the wrath of God, and you are in the broad way, not the narrow way.

The vast majority of you are in the broad way. My text says, for there are ‘few” who enter into the narrow way by the strait gate. The narrow way that leads to God and heaven is the way of true holiness and perseverance, and there are but a few in that way. The way that leads to hell and destruction is broad enough to accommodate about everything. It is broad enough to accommodate scandalous sin, imagined morality and dead profession as well. The devil doesn’t care if you are living in open sin, or if you are outwardly moral, or if you are lost in the church, he’s got you any way.

Now if you claim to be in the narrow way, I have another question for you- how did you get into the narrow way? My text says there is only one way to get into the narrow way, and that is through the strait gate. The word “strait” is somewhat archaic, and is not used that much today, so we need to be sure we know what it means. The word “strait” means “difficult”. Contrary to what many teach today, salvation, or true conversion is not easy, it is difficult. Now be sure you understand, salvation is simple, but simplicity and ease are two different things. Conversion is simply repenting of your sins and believing in Christ. That is so simple a little child can be saved, if and when the Holy Spirit draws him. Salvation is so simple, a simple-minded person can be saved, and that is good, because I am a simple-minded man. But repentance and faith are not as easy as most think. In fact I will tell you it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to repent and believe in Christ without a supernatural work of God. Our Lord said in John 6:44, “no man CAN come to me, except the Father which sent Me draw him.” Dear reader, please heed my text if you value your never dying soul. If you have not entered through the strait gate, you are not in the narrow way, and your case is desperate. Dear reader, if you claim to be saved without going through the strait gate, I fear for your soul, and pray the Lord may have mercy upon you before it is too late.

I want to be sure that you understand that Christ Himself is this gate of conversion. He said Himself in John 10: 7, “I am the door.” I can point you to the door, but you must enter in. May the Lord by the power and personality of His Holy Spirit draw you to Himself today.

Save Yourselves

(Article for publication week of 5-1- AD 2013)

“…Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:37). There was never a generation of which this verse was any more applicable than the one in which you and I live. We live in an “untoward” generation, that is crooked, warped, perverted generation. A nation that condones and even promotes perversion is an untoward generation. A nation where roughly half the people being born are bastards is a warped generation. A society where the people go practically naked is a crooked generation. A nation that murders its unborn citizens is a perverse generation. A culture where the people live for carnal pleasure is an untoward generation.

What will God do with an untoward generation? Psalm 9:17 tells us, “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” God has turned whole nations into hell, and He is set to turn such a one as our own into hell. Some learned men have estimated there may have been as many as three billion people on earth when God sent the Great Flood about 4300 years ago. (No one can prove that, but it is a reasonable theory. When men lived to be over nine hundred years it is a reasonable theory that the human race had multiplied exponentially by the time of Noah’s generation.) However many there were, God killed all of them except Noah and his family, and sent every last one of them down to hell. Go read II Peter 2, if you don’t believe me. God will send a crooked generation to hell. Think of it my friend, God sent the entire population of the world in about 2340 B.C. to hell, except for one clan of eight people. That untoward generation has been in hell now for over four thousand years, and won’t ever get out except for long enough to appear before God in the final judgment, and receive a condemned body fitted for eternal punishment, and then back down to hell forever.

Now that is where most of you are headed. Everybody that is outside of Christ is damned and doomed for the torments of an eternal hell. This untoward generation is headed for a Christ-less eternity. My friends and neighbors, if you are outside of Christ, you are part of this untoward generation.

Actually, the term ‘untoward generation” refers to the whole human race since Adam fell. Though there are times and localities where it is pronounced, the whole human race has been warped and crooked and perverse since Adam fell. We are condemned in Adam, and that in and of itself is enough grounds for God to send the whole human race to hell. You were conceived and born into an untoward generation. You immediately began to willingly practice sin. You are a fallen sinner; you are a natural sinner; and you are a practicing sinner. You are thrice unholy. God is going to send you to hell unless you save yourself from this untoward generation.

There is set before you two gates. One is wide and leads to the way to hell. The other is difficult, and leads to the way to heaven. There is set before you two ways one is broad, and the other is narrow. This untoward generation, the vast majority of you are in the broad way that leads to hell. Save yourself from this untoward generation by repenting of your sins and fleeing to Christ Who is the only Way to be saved from this hell bound generation. “Save your selves from this untoward (warped, crooked, perverse) generation.

There is somebody reading the Narrow Way this week that needs to get in you car and come see me so I can tell you how to be saved. If you will call me at 601-927-5070, I will tell you more of how Christ saves poor sinners.