In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of the narrow gate and its significance in the context of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Jesus concludes his sermon with three vivid illustrations: the narrow way and the broad way, the bad tree and the good tree, and the rock foundation and the sand foundation for a house. The preacher emphasizes that the narrow gate is as small as the eye of a needle, highlighting the difficulty for a rich man to enter God's kingdom. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of understanding and practicing the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, which include being merciful, avoiding lust and anger, speaking the truth, loving enemies, forgiving others, and treating others as we want to be treated.

There are a number of verses in the New Testament that tell us that one of the things that's going to happen before Jesus comes again is a great falling away. And Jesus himself warned about that. I want you to look at some of those scriptures in Matthew 24 first of all. The thing is, this falling away doesn't look like a falling away. That's where we can be deceived. It says in Matthew 24 that verse 10, they were asking Jesus, when are these things going to happen, Matthew 24 and verse 3, what is going to be the sign of your coming? And the first thing he says is, be careful that no one deceives you, because many will come to deceive you. Then he goes on to say, at that time, verse 10, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And again he speaks about many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Now when you read something like that as one of the things that's going to be very common in the last days, our attitude should be, Lord, how am I going to be protected from this? How am I going to know who is a false prophet? How am I going to distinguish between the real and the counterfeit? Because you know that in every area, the counterfeit looks very much like the real. Somebody produces a counterfeit 500 rupee note, it will look just like the real thing. And people are becoming more and more clever at that nowadays. They produce a counterfeit diamond, it will look just like the real thing. Counterfeit gold, it will look just like the real thing. And a counterfeit gospel, it will also look like the real thing. So, how are you going to find out? If we can be deceived in the matter of things like currency and diamonds and things like that, it's very easy to be deceived. And when this happens, it says here, because of these false prophets, lawlessness or sin is going to increase. One of the results of the ministry of false prophets is that people begin to take sin very lightly. And when that happens, most people's love, I think that means love for Jesus, is going to grow cold. And their love for one another, of course. But the one who endures in love till the end, he will be saved. Now, as I've tried to study this matter of false prophets, now, before I come to that, I just want to tell you that the apostles said the same thing. So, I want to show you some other verses. For example, in 1 Timothy 4, if we speak about these things many times, it's because these things are written many times in scripture. 1 Timothy 4, it says, the Holy Spirit speaks explicitly that in the latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience. So, it's not going to be with gross sins like adultery and murder and things like that, that deception is going to come, because there's no deception in those things. Those are all obvious sins. But it's going to be in things which don't look so bad, because most people are doing it in any case. But people are going to fall away from the faith. That means once upon a time they were there, they've gone down now. Let me show you another passage. In 2 Timothy 3, it says, the last days difficult times will come. Now, when we talk about difficult times, we think of you know, it's going to be difficult to live financially. That's not what the Bible is speaking about. It's not saying it's going to be very difficult to live financially. In the Living Bible it makes it clear it's going to be difficult to be a Christian in the last days. And it's not primarily because of persecution, but because the difference between a true disciple of Jesus and a compromising Christian will be very difficult to identify. Churches that started out preaching discipleship will compromise. And so that's what it says here. The last days is going to be difficult to be a Christian because the word for means because, men are going to be lovers of self, lovers of money. There's not going to be any shortage of money in the last days. People are going to love it. And they're going to be boastful and arrogant and revilers and disobedient to parents and so on. And finally verse 4, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And doing all this, all these things mentioned in verse 2 and 3 and 4, they will still hold to a form of godliness, but denying its power. The form of godliness is the doctrine of godliness. That is the form. Like the form of a body, you know, ten fingers and two eyes. But it's a life in the body that makes the main thing. So also in Christianity we have a doctrine. That means people are not going to preach wrong doctrine. And they're going to hold the right doctrine, a form of godliness but without the power of godliness. That is the power of the Holy Spirit. We'll be missing and it says here, avoid such people. Now, why should we avoid such people? Because if you mingle too much with them, you will be influenced by them. And you will yourself become like them, because the vast majority are going to be like that. Is it possible there could be such people in our church who could influence you away from God? I think so, sure. Slowly they can make you a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. That's what it says here. That's how deception comes. Very slowly. The devil is not going to suddenly tell you to see a sexy movie. No. He'll lead you there very slowly, maybe over a period of four or five years. Little by little by little by little, finally you are comfortable to see a movie with four or five seconds of sex in it. It doesn't mean much to you. Oh, twenty years ago you wouldn't have dreamt of it. But see the work the devil has done. He's succeeded because you did not keep yourself in a fervent love for Jesus Christ. You never asked yourself what we have said repeatedly in the church. Can you sit with Jesus and do that? You lowered your standards. And I want to tell you, I can only warn you, I can't stop you from going down to the bottom. But I tell you you're on the way down. It's just a matter of time. You think you're okay because you're coming for the meetings and praising the Lord and all that. All of it can be pretty shallow. I'll tell you honestly, I'm not much impressed by a lot of what goes on in the world today called charismatic praise. Because I see in it all, there is very little of worship. There is very little of reverence for God. The people who come out of such meetings don't come with a sense of awe of the presence of God. They come out of those meetings in a very flippant, casual type of thing and they come out of a meeting where they are supposed to have worshipped God for half an hour or one hour in some cases and talk about the most worldly things of all. Do you think there were such people who were in the presence of God? Oh no! They just had a good time singing. They don't like rock music, so they don't go for that type of singing. Some people go for that and enjoy that. They like Christian singing, so they come for Christian singing and they have a good time. You know, if you were to go into God's presence, if you were to actually go into the presence of God in heaven today and you spent even five minutes there, five minutes not talking about 45 minutes of praise, five minutes you cannot come out and talk about all the useless things that you talk about generally. There will be such a sense of awe, having met with God, that would affect your whole life. I believe we need sometimes like that. The Father seeks for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. The lover of God is one who worships Him. And it's very easy for Christians to become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And I want to tell you that if you don't worship God in your private life, it's very difficult to worship Him in public. I find personally, I'll tell you my honest testimony, I think I can praise the Lord along with all the saints, thank the Lord along with all the saints. In fact, I enjoy it. It's very easy because when we do it together with others, it's a wonderful thing. But when it comes to worshipping God, I find personally, it's almost impossible for me to do it in a public meeting. I have to be alone with God. I can't even do it with my wife. I've got to be all alone. That's as far as I'm concerned. And I think that's the way it is with most of God's saints, those who really long to be worshippers. There is a difference between praising God and thanking Him, and worshipping God. It's altogether different. The Father seeks for those who will worship Him. And a person who is worshipping God will never be a backslider in his whole life. People who come for praise meetings can be backsliders. There are numerous cases of pastors and preachers who lead praise and worship – so-called worship, it's not actually worship – praise meetings, who later on you find they were living in adultery the whole time. It's very easily possible to go straight out of a praise meeting and go and commit adultery. But it's impossible to do that if you worship God. So I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, if you don't want to be a backslider in the last days, seek to be a lover of God, and a worshipper of God. It's not something anybody can explain to you, but seek to get alone with God. And I'll tell you, for myself, very often my life is so busy, that the only time I can get alone with God is in the middle of the night, when I'm lying in my bed, and I wake up, or when I wake up in the morning. All of us can have times like that. If you want, when the whole world is sleeping, and everybody in your house is sleeping, and you happen to wake up, spend a few moments worshipping God. Make it a habit in your life. It will change your life. It will save you from backsliding. It will give you a correct understanding of the things, of the times in which you live. And you will not be deceived by false prophets and deceivers. Have you noticed, when you hear a message in the Bible, there are messages of encouragement, and there are messages of rebuke, from the same Bible. God is a God of encouragement. That's one of his titles. The God who gives encouragement, says in Romans 15. At the same time, Jesus says, as many as I love, those I rebuke and discipline. That is also a mark of his love. We need to encourage our children. I think many parents don't encourage their children enough. But if you only encourage your children, and you never discipline them, and never rebuke them, you're going to have a rebel on your hands by the time he or she is a teenager. So, it's that balance you see in Scripture, that God is a God who encourages us, and he's a God who rebukes us and disciplines us, according to what is necessary. So, a ministry that's faithful to the word of God will be a ministry that encourages us and also disciplines us and rebukes us. And why is it that so often when we listen to a message that encourages us, and we feel so uplifted, and we like to listen to such messages, but the effect of it doesn't seem to last. Have you noticed that? It doesn't seem to really bring a permanent change. You sort of still backslide. And then you hear another message of encouragement, and you sort of get a bit lifted up, but it doesn't seem to be a permanent overcoming coming into your life. And that's because there are certain other passages of Scripture that we don't take so seriously. See, nowadays in the world, in India and other countries, there are many, many people coming to very large churches. Thousands and thousands of people, and one would think that it's a tremendous revival going on. There are churches with 5,000 people, 15,000, 20,000 people. Can you imagine? So many services. They can't all fit into one service, so they come two, three, four services. And everybody thinks that the Lord is doing a wonderful thing. Well, I hope so. But I personally have my doubts about all this, because I'm not easily fooled, because my guideline is God's Word. Let me show you something in Matthew chapter 7, where Jesus spoke, as far as I can remember, it's the first time, I haven't really checked it out in a concordance, but I think that's the first time in Matthew 7 that Jesus spoke about false prophets. You know, we read that in Matthew 24, that towards the end of his life, he spoke about false prophets as coming and deceiving people in the last days. But the first time he spoke about false prophets, I think was in Matthew chapter 7. I didn't look up the concordance, but it's probably the first reference to false prophets in the New Testament. And if that is the first reference to the false prophets in the New Testament, it's very significant where it comes, and the context in which it comes, because then we understand how to identify a false prophet. Anyway, one of the ways in which to identify a false prophet. It's in Matthew 7, verse 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. When you talk about false prophets, you know, the word prophet, let's call it a preacher. You understand that better today. You know, otherwise people think a prophet is a guy with a beard and a robe. A prophet can come in a suit and a tie. It's not his dress. A preacher. A false preacher who comes to you in sheep's clothing. The sheep's clothing is again the doctrine. The doctrine can all be correct, but inside he's a ravenous wolf. Now to me, that's one of the first marks of a false preacher or a false prophet. It's the first time Jesus spoke about it, remember. He's got the right doctrine. So when I'm looking for a false prophet, I'm looking for a man with the right doctrine, okay? I want to look around and see who's preaching the correct doctrine. Because false prophets are usually found among such people. I'm not looking for the people who are preaching false doctrine. There are no false prophets there because they're already preaching a wrong doctrine and we won't accept them. If somebody comes here with the Gita or the Quran, you're not going to accept them. But the false prophet will come with the Bible. The false prophet will talk about being born again. The false prophet will talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. The false prophet will talk about speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and miracles and healings. He'll talk about all types of things which he claims to have done, but which you never see him doing. You notice that? He'll talk about somebody over there whose eyes were open and somebody else whose ears were open. But it never happens in front of you. Jesus was never like that. He never spoke about something that happened there or something that happened there. He did things right in front of people. And that's why he's a true prophet. Anyway, the doctrine is right, but there are ravenous wolves inside. Now what is a wolf? Why does a wolf, I mean think of this, a wolf dressing up like a sheep. Why does he do that? Why would a wolf put on a sheep's clothing? As far as I can see, there's only one reason. He wants to get in among the sheep and pretend that he's a sheep. He looks nice on the outside and he knows that 99% of the sheep will be fooled. And they are being fooled. Because they see the right doctrine and he speaks the same language as the rest of us. And he believes in the same doctrine and he nods his head and says the same things and he looks so spiritual and he sits here. But inside, he's a wolf. Now what is a wolf coming to the midst of sheep for? Only for one reason. What can I get out of the sheep for myself? What can I get from these sheep for myself? Can I get some meat from them? Bite some of them and eat some of them? The only purpose with which a wolf comes into the midst of the sheep is to take something for himself from the sheep. He wants his dinner. He wants his lunch. And he's going to get it from the sheep. And he's a ravenous wolf means he's not just an ordinary wolf. He's a wolf who's really hungry. Ravenous. That's the meaning of ravenous wolves. Yeah, they are people who are wanting to exploit you. That means, how does this apply to a preacher? He's going to come into the church and speak the right language and the right doctrine but all the time in the back of his mind is what can I get out of these people for myself? Usually some material thing. Can I make some profit by being in the church and speaking the right language? You know, there are so many preachers today who if they were in a secular job, I'm talking about full-time workers in India, who never did one day of secular job in their life. If they were doing a secular job, they would not even earn 10% of what they're earning today as preachers. That's what I mean. Their colleagues who are doing secular jobs are earning 10% of what they're getting. But they're in the Lord's work. Now when Jesus came from heaven to earth, he did not get 10 times more on earth than he had in heaven. No. Or it may not be a preacher like that. And you see these preachers, they take these poor wolves and many of these people from whom they collect this. Very simple poor people who are fooled by all the verses this preacher preaches to them and threatens them with verses like, if you don't give to God you'll be cursed or promises them blessing like, if you give to God, he will bless you. And there are verses in the Bible about that, mostly in the Old Testament. And when they don't give to God, they give to this man's pocket. So that's one type of ravenous wolf. Now when Jesus came into the temple, the people who were making money there were not preachers. They didn't preach. They were doing business in the temple to make money from the poor people who came from Galilee and distant places. They sold sheep and doves in the temple and made a profit for themselves. Now you say, what's wrong in making a profit for yourself when you do some work? Absolutely nothing if you do it in the marketplace. But everything is wrong if you come to the church and do it. Do you think those money changers understood that? Do you think the people selling doves and sheep understood that? Nobody objected to them. They say the temple is a good place because we can make contact with people who believe the same thing and we can sell these things there. In fact, if we sell in the marketplace, it may be a little more difficult, but if we sell in the church, people will trust us. We can make some profit. These are the deceivers. There are lots of people doing that today. They are taking advantage of their contacts in the church to make money for themselves, doing business. See, at the same time when these people were selling sheep and doves in the temple, there were other people selling sheep and doves in the marketplace in Jerusalem. Jesus never went there and disturbed anybody there. He didn't go to the marketplace and drive out people. No, no, no, no, no, no. He would have gone to the marketplace and said, that's good that you fellows are making a profit here. Because that is the place to make a profit, not the church. And I have seen through the years, and I've seen it in our church also, people who seek to take advantage of their contact with people in the church to do some business to make profit for themselves. And it's good to do business. I remember when some people were doing the Amway business. And they would sit and spend one hour trying to convince somebody to buy this expensive soap for washing dishes and expensive type of, I don't know what all gadgets they sell. I mean people who never spent in all their life, they would never visit these other people in the church to spend 15 minutes talking about God's word, but would now spend one hour trying to sell some dishwashing soap. And those people are in the church, so they don't want to offend them, they'll listen to you. I mean if they went to some other house and tried to do that, they'd kick them out in two minutes. But people in the church don't kick you out in two minutes, so you can sit and take advantage of it. You know this type of thing went on here. All types of, it's everywhere, it's this nature of Adam that always wants to get a profit from somebody else for myself. Those are the children of Adam, even if they wear sheep's clothing. And I'm not fooled by any of them. When they get caught, they stop doing it. It doesn't mean they've changed. They got offended that they got caught. That's all. It didn't change. Such people are still wolves until they repent. Repent radically. So, there are so many ways like this, you know, you could say, what can I gain for myself out of the other sheep? Can I get them to do something for me? Get some work done for me? I'm here to get something for myself. This is the mark of a wolf. So that's the first mark of a false prophet. That's why in the second century the apostles left a message before they died and passed it around to all the people in the early churches saying, you know, those days they didn't have a Bible. They couldn't check up when somebody came and said, I'm a servant of the Lord. So, even Paul's letters were not widely distributed those days. So, the word they passed around to all the people in those days was anybody who asks you for money is a false prophet. That was a very good guideline and if Christianity had followed that guideline for 2000 years, we would have had a much purer Christianity today. Anybody who tries to make a prophet out of you in the church in the name of Christ is a deceiver, a wolf, a ravenous wolf and a false prophet. There are people who borrow money from believers. If they go and borrow it from the bank, the bank will chase them and chase them for years till they pay it back with interest. So, they don't go to the bank. These wolves borrow money from people in the church because they know that the church won't, those people won't send goondas after them to make them pay up the money. It's good to borrow money from people in the church, right? Because they will hear messages on forgive others and you can live right off that loan. Wolves, where do you find them? In CFC. You never see such people progressing. My dear brothers and sisters, these are going to be the last days. Men will be lovers of money more than lovers of God. And they don't have a conscience about it. They don't have a conscience about returning all the money they borrowed and cheated others out of. They don't have any conscience about how they've taken, exploited others in advantage. I'll tell you something, if you don't settle it now, you'll have to settle it when you stand before God. It's better to settle it now. And if you're not sure, better to give more back than hold back something. It's pretty serious. The other thing you see here is that Jesus spoke here about false prophets in relation to what he said earlier in verse 13 and 14. In verse 13 and 14, he says 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. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are very few who find it. Now, if you were to give those two verses to a small child who can read and understand, even ten years old, and say, listen son, just read those verses and tell me do you think many many people are going to find the way to life? Do you think churches are going to be huge or small? He'd read it and say, well, I think it looks as if they're going to be small. So how do we get these huge churches with so many people, such big crowds that nobody knows the other person? Like cinema theaters. The way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it, but the gate is small. The way is narrow that leads to life and the few who find it. So how small is this gate? How small do you think it is? Is it one foot? Broadway is a hundred feet? Is it one foot or three inches? What's the size of this gate? You know what Jesus said it was? He said, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God's kingdom. The narrow gate is the size of the eye of a needle. That's pretty small. Not even one inch. You can't take your wife through it. You can't take your children through it. They all have to come one by one. I mean you know that. You look around and you can see a wholehearted brother, his wife is not wholehearted. Or you see a wholehearted wife, her husband is not wholehearted. You see a wholehearted man, his children are not wholehearted. Or you see a wholehearted young man and his father is not wholehearted. It's all individual. There's no guarantee that a man is wholehearted, therefore his wife is wholehearted. No. I've seen that deception in so many of our churches where we appoint somebody as an elder and his wife thinks that she's also become an elder. She may be just the same carnal old person she always was. Her husband is wholehearted. You don't become spiritual by being married to a spiritual man. No. You have to choose yourself to be broken and humble and sensitive to God. So nobody is spiritual by marriage and nobody is spiritual by coming to a particular church. We become spiritual when we choose to go through the needle's eye and say, Lord, I forsake everything and I come through. I want to go this way that you went. It's very small and the way is very narrow. So then we say, well how do we define it? I mean the needle's eye and all these nice pictures but what does it actually mean in practical terms? And you know that you've always heard me preach in a very practical way. I don't preach any theories here. I've never preached a theoretical message in my whole life. And this one's not going to be theoretical either. I'll tell you exactly what this narrow way is. Whenever you read scripture, always read it in its context. That's like saying if you got a 10 page letter from your dad, don't read one sentence in page 9 and then try to understand what it means. No, you can't understand it. Reading in context means read the whole 10 pages and then you will understand what that one sentence on page 9 means. But if you don't read the whole letter and you try to understand that one sentence on page 9, you may get a wrong understanding. Here is one sentence on page 7. Chapter 7. The gate is narrow. How shall we understand it all by itself? No, we shall read it in its context. This is the concluding statement, concluding in fact verses 13 to 27 is the, sorry not 27, 13 to the end of the chapter, yeah 27 is the closing paragraph where Jesus used three illustrations narrow way and a broad way and verse 17 onwards a bad tree and a good tree and verse 24 onwards rock foundation and a sand foundation for a house, three illustrations is the concluding paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount which begins in chapter 5 verse 3 so chapter 5, 6 and 7 is the only lengthy sermon of Jesus written in the whole Gospels which we know as the Sermon on the Mount and at the end of the Sermon on the Mount he concludes with three very vivid graphic illustrations a narrow way and a broad way, a bad tree and a good tree and a sand shaky foundation and a rock unshakable foundation so in the context of Matthew 5, 6 and 7 we understand what it means because when it came to the house he made it very clear Matthew 7, 24 who is the man who builds on the rock the one who hears these words of mine which I have just spoken in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and does them his house is on a rock that means he has read through the Sermon on the Mount understood it and does it what are the things written in the Sermon on the Mount we must be merciful to everybody we must not lust with our eyes after women we must not get angry, we must always speak the truth, we must love 100% of our enemies, forgive all those who have hurt us just like we want God to forgive us, we must not let anybody know about the money we give to God, we must not let anybody know how much you pray, we must not let anybody know how much you fast, you cannot serve God in money, you got to make a choice whether you are going to serve God or you are going to serve money you must cast your anxiety upon him so that you are not anxious, you must not seek for those things that the Gentiles seek after, money and comfort and possessions and things like that but seek the Kingdom of God first, you must not judge other people, get the log out of your own eye first and concluding the finally he said in verse 12 of chapter 7, treat people exactly in the way you want them to treat you, that's called the golden rule, he concluded with that, how do you want other people to treat you, treat other people exactly like that, how many of you like somebody yelling at you anybody, and don't yell at anybody that's the simple meaning of that verse that's what it means, do you like your wife yelling at you, no, and don't yell at her do you like people cheating you, don't cheat anybody treat other people exactly the way you want to be treated yourself because the entire message of the Bible is that, that's what it says in verse 12, that is the message of the whole Bible the law and the prophets is an expression for the Bible if you listen to these words and you do them, verse 24, you're building on a rock if you don't do them, the foolish man is like a man who heard these words of mine, verse 26 and did not do them, how many of us have heard and heard and heard these words in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and tried to do them, you know then we go back and look at the trees the problem is that we have a bad nature that's what he was trying to teach us in the matter of the trees we have a nature that will do everything the opposite of what is written in the Sermon on the Mount that's a bad tree, now how to get a how to live the way described in Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says you need to have another tree you need to acknowledge first of all that what you have is a bad tree, and a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit, that's what he says here the bad tree, verse 17 will only bear bad fruit, so if you have a bad tree, you're not sick and tired of that nature you got from Adam you can try when you hear a message like this, you can say oh well I'm going to try and do that, it's like a bad tree trying to bring forth good fruit you can try, but you'll fail so that's the second lesson you need to learn having learned that if you don't obey the things written here you're going to have a shaky foundation, you say well then how shall I do it, well you got to let the Lord put a new tree in there and the only way you can do it is first of all if you acknowledge that what you have originally is bad, that's so difficult for us to acknowledge, it's so easy to see that the problem is with your wife, or with your neighbor, or with that other brother who's so difficult to get along with, and as long as you concentrate on that you'll never see what a bad tree you yourself have, but when you acknowledge Lord it's my tree that's bad I mean it's not that guy's provocation that's producing bad fruit in me, it's this tree itself is bad, I mean if a tree is producing bad mangoes, and it says well I'm producing bad mangoes because so many people are throwing stones at me that's crazy, when people throw stones at you and that's why you're producing bad mangoes, but that's the argument stupid people make, brother people provoke me and then I do like that no no no, Jesus said it's because of a bad tree, acknowledge it, it's not because somebody else is difficult, it's because the tree itself is bad a good tree cannot, verse 18, produce bad fruit what a verse, a good tree cannot produce bad fruit, how in the world is it bad fruit coming out then tree is bad, so what should we do with this tree that doesn't bear good fruit, verse 19, it has got to be cut down and thrown into the fire Lord this wretched nature I've got from Adam, I hate it I want to kill it, cut it down, throw it into the fire, burn it up that's what the Holy Spirit has come to help us to do that is part of the baptism of fire, but you'll never do anything without your cooperation, if you sit back and say well God has blessed me, he's given me a good job, I've got a good salary now and I'm okay and everything's going well and I'm healthy and strong and everything's okay, I've got a good house to live in, etc. etc. etc. and this bad fruit is coming out, brother you've got all your values wrong now I'll tell you how you got those values wrong, we come to the third thing that's the narrow game, see we are working backwards from the two houses to the two trees to the two ways, who is the false prophet? The false prophet is the one who has told you and even if you don't go through the needle's eye you will still come to life, the false prophet is the one who has told you it's very easy to get into God's kingdom, Jesus said how difficult it is to go through a needle's eye, the false prophet comes and says nothing doing, it's so easy man, here are four steps, you get in and what is the result? Thousands get in this looks like a huge crowd the church is multiplying because the gate has been made wider and wider and wider and all types of people who haven't given up their sin, who haven't given up their love for the world, the love of themselves, the love of money, come in you are told that God loves you it's true, there are verses in the bible, God loves you like he loves Jesus he's got a verse, but he's being said to the wrong person, God will bless you mightily with the blessing of Abraham, that's also in the bible but it's being said to the wrong person the fellow hasn't come through the narrow gate, he will never leave you nor forsake you, that's also in the bible but it's being said to the wrong person you are more than a conqueror in Christ, that's also in the bible but it's said to the wrong person, these are the false prophets at the end of the sermon on the mount he says false prophets, first time he speaks about false prophets, I told you they are ravenous wolves seeking to take advantage of you, the other is they will not tell you that the narrow gate and the narrow way is what Jesus spoke about in Matthew 5 6 and 7, so if you want to know what the narrow gate and the narrow way are, just read Matthew 5, 6 and 7, that is, I tell you you read it slowly, it is extremely narrow very very narrow, and most people don't like to make it so narrow, they don't like to say this is the way to life, so they broaden it, and Christendom is full of people who have broadened almost everything written in Matthew 5, 6 and 7, and so people are being pushed in, they are being told the main thing is, you know, keep fit, you must be slim, eat good food and healthy habits, and marriage counseling, people must be happy as husband and wife these are things they talk about in the world too, and how God can prosper you in your business, and all this type of stuff but what about things mentioned here, blessed are the pure in heart whose hearts are totally pure, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who are crying out to God for righteousness, where are the people who immediately go to somebody whom they have hurt, and say God is not listening to my prayer brother, please forgive me, I hurt you with my words, and then go back to God and give their offering, because they know God will not accept their offering without their settling matters with everybody where are people like that, who say my yes is my yes I made a promise with my mouth to me, it is as good as my having signed a sale deed or a document on stamp paper certified in a court my word is as good as that that's what Jesus said where do you find Christians like that we have Christians who go back on their word in 24 hours you know, the false prophets have done a tremendous work Jesus says you can't love God and money, false prophets say no you can that is how the way gate has been made so broad all types of people are rushing in, there are thousands and thousands of people coming together here and there, and everybody thinks they are on their way to heaven well, what a surprise they are going to get when Christ comes again, but from the beginning in this church, we have proclaimed the narrow way narrow gate, way of discipleship way of repentance, the way of, we have preached on the Sermon on the Mount numerous times, and we will do that until Jesus comes again so, all we can say is God has given you the opportunity to hear, to repent, whatever God has shown you we are not here to judge other people, because one of the things in the Sermon on the Mount is don't judge others, we are not here to judge anybody you judge yourself, and say Lord I don't want to be fooled by the false prophets, so now we can think of what Jesus meant when he said many will fall away, does it look as if these 30,000 people sitting in a church have fallen away, it doesn't look like that at all, they are singing and clapping the praise of Jesus, and they are holding up their Bibles and all that and they come there every Sunday, it doesn't look as if they have fallen away they have, because it's a sheep's clothing, that's all it's a form of godliness, the inner power of the Holy Spirit that makes them holy, that makes them live like the Sermon on the Mount tells them to live, they don't have, they don't hear about repentance, they don't hear about the acts being laid to the root of their selfish nature and so, they are deceived so brothers and sisters, we should thank the Lord that we can hear the truth it's not a difficult way, you know why let me say this in closing, who can go through a needle's eye a camel, you find it very difficult, even an ant an ant may sort of scrape through the needle's eye but if you've studied biology there's a thing called the amoeba, have you heard of the amoeba it's the smallest creature of all you've got to look through a microscope to find it you tell the amoeba, can you go through a needle's eye, he says no problem I can run in and out of it all the time, this is such a wide open space for me, he says, a needle's eye, it's so huge for the amoeba, it's as broad as this it's like asking you, can you go up and down this hall, oh no problem at all, that's exactly what the amoeba says about a needle's eye why, because it's so small the secret of going through the needle's eye is to be small in your own eyes, to be nothing Lord, I'm nothing, I'm nobody, I'm nothing compared to other people, I'm nothing compared to anyone a needle's eye would suddenly become like a huge room for you why is it so difficult, it's difficult for the proud let's pray, heavenly father help us to go down and humble ourselves as Jesus did to walk in the way he walked, we know that you give grace to the humble, and grace will make us conquerors over everything, make it like that for each of us Lord we pray, preserve us from deception in these last days, we pray in Jesus name, Amen