This sermon emphasizes the importance of entering through the narrow gate, highlighting the challenging path of following Christ amidst a culture that opposes moral absolutes. It addresses the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, the battle of surrendering to God, and the urgency of making a decision to choose life and follow Christ.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Matthew 7, verse 13. Matthew 7, verse 13. And you see there, the title of your message is, The Narrow Way is the Only Way. The Narrow Way is the Only Way. Did you catch that? And it's funny, in our culture today, a lot of people don't have problems with certain absolutes. You might say, well, Shane, what are you talking about? Well, hold on, I'm getting somewhere. Nobody has a problem with, that I've meant, agnostic, atheist, Democrat, liberal, Republican, whatever it is, with two plus two equals four. Nobody's arguing that. You see any news stories about that? That men can't fly. We can't jump off of a 100-story building and fly. What will happen? Gravity. Nobody's arguing about gravity, right? Nobody's debating all these things that are somewhat absolute. I mean, the chemical makeup of water and hydrogen, all these things, nobody's debating those. Why? Those are absolutes. Those are set in stone. As far as I know, two plus two is gonna be four from here on out. Is it not? I mean, you never know with the way our culture's going and relativism, and well, if you think it's six, maybe it is. If you can adequately explain why it's six, then maybe it is. But for now, there's really no debating on that. But when you talk about moral absolutes, you just set off a firecracker in the media, in the culture, everywhere. Moral absolutes. Nobody has a problem with gravitational absolutes or mathematical absolutes. But when it comes to this issue of moral absolutes, that's the dividing line. Do you realize that? What I'm going to talk to you, talk about tonight would irritate 90% of this nation and probably 50% of the church. It would infuriate them. They would become irritated. They would become upset. Why? Why? If we're just proclaiming truth. So that's the dividing line, moral absolutes. You can be talking with somebody and say, two plus two equals four. Yeah, gravity. Yeah, this, this. Oh, do you know Jesus is the only way? No. Wait a minute. You can't say that. And then there's this disconnect, and all these things are happening, and you'll see the big culture war now that I've talked about before on these issues. You fill in the blank from gay marriage, abortion, all these things. They're moral issues. They're moral absolutes that God has given to guide man and save him from himself. And that's where the distinction is. So let me read here what's happening, I think, before we get to Matthew 7. John 3, 19. Jesus said, and this is the judgment. There's another word the culture doesn't want to hear. Don't talk about judgment. Well, I'm just reading Scripture. That's all I'm doing. So get mad at God, not me. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil. That's what this is really about. When we talk about moral issues, I'm exposing the way you're living. We're, the Word of God exposes our lifestyle. It's like turning a flashlight on. Get, get that out of here. Get that out of here. I love my sin. Get that light out of here. So the culture hates it right there. I mean, you can talk about God, and nobody has a problem. Jesus is a good teacher. Nobody has a problem. God is this, and God is that. But when you start to define God according to His Word, that's when you stir all kinds of controversy and issues and problems. That one thing does it. The cry of our culture today is, what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. That's the cry of our culture today, is it not? What have we to do with you, Jesus? Get out of here. Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. That's why they want to remove Jesus from prayer. That's why they want to remove manger scenes. That's why they want to take Christ out of Christmas because if I can get that offensive name out of everything, it won't convict me. That's the motive behind this, modus operandus. That's why the culture is doing this because they want to turn off the flashlight in their eyes. And the scripture is crystal clear. We can't do that. The narrow way is the only way. Jesus said, if you were of this world, listen to this scripture. This is absolutely amazing. I wish pastors would look at this scripture. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, the world will hate you. So it begs the question, does the world love the way we do church? I mean, if the world loves the way we do church, we're probably not pleasing God. I'm just shooting you straight tonight. Can you handle it? Why does the world love a lot of what the Christian TV they see? I mean, I'm not gonna name names because I do sometimes, but when I was in construction in 2002, three, four, and digging ditches and digging bars and hard labor, it was good, God humbled me very much. I would talk to tons of, I mean, I was on fire for God. I mean, everywhere I go, I try to work it into God. Many, many, I mean, these guys are swearing, cussing, bringing porn to the job site, drinking afterwards. I mean, these, we're talking heathen. They would always say, but this one guy on TV I really like, or this one guy, I really like him, but I, why? Why do they really like him or these certain people? Because they never convict, they never challenge. They can live in their sin, turn on TV and be encouraged, think they're in right relationship with God when they're not. I mean, it would amaze me. I stopped counting all the time, but I do like that such and such on TV. I don't like what you're telling me right now that I need to repent of my sin, but I do like such and such. Why? If the world loves you, now, granted, we should be welcoming, loving, hospitable places of worship. We should welcome people and love them, of course, but if they love what's coming out of my mouth, I've got a problem, because if the world loves what I'm saying, God doesn't. And when I'm saying what God's word says, the world hates me. Do you realize that? When we talk about martyrs for the faith, and I could show you pictures here that you'd have to have your kids leave that's happening in the church across the world, the persecuted church, women being burned, charred, sitting there, her body with their little baby next to her. Why? This is why. They hate what they stand for. They hate what they stood for. And not only do they hate it, it's that carnal nature, that war. The Bible says that our mind is at war with God. When we're outside of God, unbelievers are at war with God. That's why you can talk about God as long as you don't talk about his absolute truth. You can talk about Jesus as long as he was only a good teacher. Pulpits can be political as long as they're not biblical. Oh, I can keep going. You can preach as long as you're not offensive. The culture loves religion, but they hate the one true and living God. We all worship something. Do you understand that? Everybody on the planet has a DNA of worship. They either worship themselves or they worship the one true and living God or they worship multiple gods, millions of gods in many different religions. We have to worship. We have to worship. It's in my DNA to worship something. So when I'm outside of God, before I knew him, guess what I was worshiping? I was worshiping the world, the things of the world, the lust of the world, the pleasures of the world. That was my God. How do you know? Look at my calendar and look at my checkbook. How do I spend my time? How do I spend my money? I was chasing those things. That's why this moral absolutes is where you're gonna see a lot of division. Not only if we talk about recent martyrs, but martyrs of the past when the church was growing. And I don't know where to stop myself sometimes. So if I cross the line, what's the old saying? Better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission, right? But anyway, a little history lesson. When the church started, the early church, I'm talking first century, second century, third century. It's starting. It's new. It was called the Catholic Church. Met universal church. That's all it was. We are the universal church. So hold on. I'm going somewhere. But as time grew on, fifth century, sixth century, they added the words such as Roman Catholic Church. And that's where Rome became involved, the seat of power and authority. The church and the state were married. And me and these guys were not godly leaders whatsoever. The church got corruption. They brought in much. They were actually bringing in heresy. But what they would do is as soon as people would come out, the Reformation, John Wycliffe, Hus, William Tyndall, all these different names you've probably heard that were burned at the stake. Why were they burned at the stake? For challenging the church and bringing them back to the word of God. Hence the word sola scriptura, scripture alone, through grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone. This is who we look to. We look to Christ and this is our standard. But once you bring that and you confront the church, heretic. No, no, no. Heretic is those who deny this. So it's throughout church history. Anytime you bring in absolutes and anytime you begin to bring people back to the purity of God's word. Why? Because man must take a center. Man must take a back seat. When you bring God's word up and elevate God's word and you glorify Christ, you worship the one true and living God, man's agenda must fall. Because it's no longer about worship of man and worshiping of my agenda and my gods. It's a one true God. So that's why we've seen this throughout history. And I put here the narrow way is the only way that gets in the way, right? The narrow way is the only way and it gets in the way. It gets in the way of everything. It gets in the way of conversations. It gets in the way of marriages, marriage problems. It gets in the way of people courting or dating before they get married and then somebody becomes a Christian. Now it's in the way. This narrow way is always in the way. We judge our leaders based on are they on the narrow way? Policies, procedures, law, legislation. Is it, it always gets in the way, that darn way. If they could just move that way and make it open to every way, but then there wouldn't be an only way. So the only way is the narrow way and it often gets in the way and the greatest truth ever spoken by Jesus Christ is the greatest threat to the enemy of God's kingdom. Satan hates this truth more than anything else. When Jesus came on the scene, a carpenter, son of God, he comes on the scene, he says, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man can even come to the Father except through me. End of story. That's pretty narrow, is it not? That right there is very narrow. He narrowed it down. I am the only way, the only truth, the only life. The enemy hates that. And I can't even tell, anytime I'm on messages like this, the whole day's weird, things are happening, things aren't working, people probably are getting agitated because this message right here, this is probably one of the most important message that some of you will hear. And when this goes out on the radio, on the internet, all these different things, this is the most important message you will ever hear. Eternity with God or separation from Him forever. And these are truths that God said, not man. He is the only way, the only truth, the only life. I like what A.W. Tozer said about 50 years ago. Where does Christianity destroy itself in any given generation? It destroys itself by not living in the light, by professing a truth it does not obey. Did you catch that? See, many people profess Christ. Many people profess Christ, their words, but their actions, their heart is not right. And Jesus said, many draw nigh unto me with their words, but their hearts are far from me. See, it's always an issue of the heart, not the words. So be very careful when you say you're a Christian. You go to a Christian home, or you're raised in a Christian home, you go to a Christian school, you own a Bible, I even came to church, I'm a Christian. That has really nothing to do with the essence of who Christian is Christian, Christ follower. I've repented of my sin, I've died to myself, I'm following Christ, he's Lord of my life, he's everything to me, I'm a Christ follower. And then as a result of that, my life is gonna have fruit. Not perfect fruit, polluted fruit. But it's gonna have fruit. Reminds me sometimes to pull apples off an apple tree. I can tell it's an apple tree, and I can tell it's an apple, and it's gonna taste good. Oh, but there's a worm on this side. There's that sin nature, that carnal nature. So be very encouraged, this isn't about perfection. This is about nothing we do, this is not about being better, this is not about being good, this is not about being right with the man upstairs. It's not about any of that. It's have I given my heart, have I repented of my sin, is Jesus ruling and reigning in my heart? Trust me, you couldn't pay me to do this if he wasn't ruling and reigning in my heart. That's the last thing, this would be like going to the dentist. But because he is, that word is in my heart like a burning fire, it's shut him in my bones. I've got to tell you about it. I've got to tell the world, listen, this is Christ. This is what he's done, he's come, he saved the world. Do you believe that? With every soul in my being, the king is still on the throne. He came and he took dominion. He came and he conquered. And at this point, though, a lot of people say, well, yeah, that's just you, you're poor little narrow-minded Christians. You just got, you know, Christianity's like your little crutch. You got your little crutch here. But it's not my crutch, it's the entire hospital. You got it? It's not, you think it's a crutch? A little crutch you lean on? It's everything, everything comes from this. You don't understand, Christ saved me. I should be hitting my wife, not holding her. I should be kicking my kids, not caressing them and reading the Bible to them. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. He's the only way, the only truth, the only life. No man can come to the Father except through him. I believe it, not just because he said it, but because it changed my heart. That's where the truth is. And we've gotta get the pulpits back again, pastors and preachers, preaching the word of God from a spirit of brokenness and humility. That's how the church will break. That's how America will change. That's how revival will happen. When you get the pulpits aflame with righteousness, the pew falls in place. That's the best marketing plan a church could ever have is fire in the pulpit and fire in the pew. And then people come, let me see them burn for Christ. That anointing, that unction, that power, that spirit-filled life. It's not us, it's not me, it's not anything. If it were up to shame, my sinful nature would take over. It would take dominion, but because of Christ and what he did on that cross, oh, if I had 20 minutes, I could give you my testimony of how he renewed a broken man, a man who should be dead, a man who should be buried, a man who should be on his fourth marriage, a man who should be an alcoholic and going out to bars tonight. Right about now, 615, oh yeah, oh absolutely. So when he changes that, oh my God, it's powerful. The problem is many of you have never been radically changed by the power of God. That's why you have a distant relationship with God. You have him right where you want him, but not everything. It's religion, not relationship. Religion, not relationship. There's so many scriptures that we could go over right now when Jesus talked about that you can have a form of godliness, but you can deny the power thereof. And if you study that, a form of godliness means I do things that appear to be Christian or I do things that appear to be right. The Pharisees gave, the Sadducees gave. They were religious leaders of their day. They prayed, they fasted, they gave their tithe, they gave their ins, all these different things. They had it, but why would Jesus often rebuke them? Because you draw nigh unto me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. And it's always the condition of our heart that matters. That's why this is so important. Rest assured, a congregation, a church of this size right now, your eternity is weighed in the balance right now, right now. If I can shoot you straight, some of you are on the road to destruction, on the road to hell without Christ and without God. That's just truth, and I don't say it to upset you. I say it to convict you, because conviction is a wonderful gift from God used to turn the heart around. And you remember what I said last week, right? God comes like this. He brings someone like me in here. But then what happens as weeks go by, that once that conviction that was so strong, so strong, I bet many of you right now are thinking, Lord, what must I do to be saved? Let me tell you what you need to do to be saved. Repent, repent, and say, Lord, I need you. Even while I'm speaking, even before the worship, you don't have to wait until this message is over. You can say, God, I've been wrong, I've been on the wrong path, I need to get back on the right path. Would you save me, would you redeem me? I want to give you everything. I repent of my sin. If you confess Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead, you will be saved. Listen, we don't check our brains at the door. Everything lines up scripturally. I've studied this for the last 12 years, read it many times over. There's no inconsistencies. It's from cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation. It's consistent calling, God creating, man falling, redemption, God saving. Do that the whole scripture. It's his story, history, right? Well, that's just the introduction. I better get to the message. Oh, sometimes I get a little too fired up. But yeah, I'm telling you, testimony's powerful because I believe in that with all of my heart. He can change your life. But that's why I preach. A lot of you have been coming a while. That's why I preach on full surrender. You'll hear me say words like full surrender, the totally surrendered life, humility, brokenness. Why is that? Because God would often go after prideful people. It's not until, if you give God this much, he'll take that much. But when you give him everything, saying, Lord, my whole life is yours, my finances, my love life, my relational, everything is yours. Lord, fill this empty void. Would you take me and transform me? He loves to answer a prayer like that. The problem is most people don't wanna pray a prayer like that. I talk to him, you know why? Oh, then I'll have to stop this, I'll have to stop that, I'll have to stop this, and I can't do, and then I'm gonna become some weird Jesus freak like that. No, you're just gonna have, you're not gonna be like me, trust me. Some of you might, it's okay, it's a good thing. But he'll change your heart. The reason you don't want more of God now is because the flesh is dominating. The flesh is, if you don't want more of God, the flesh is dominating what you watch, what you view, who you associate with, how you spend your time, how you spend your money. The flesh is dominating you. So of course you don't want more of God, why? Because I love this right now, I'm in a good spot. But you know you're not in a good spot, because there's conviction, that's why we say, I know I need to get back into that, I know, how long are you gonna keep saying I know I need to get back into that? Five more years? 10 more years? There has to come a point in every person's life where they say here and no further. Choose life that you may live. Matthew 7, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. I want you to picture this for a minute. Jesus comes on the scene, he just opened up Matthew 7, we're talking about judging and judge not, don't put your pearls before the swine, praying, fasting, these different things, and now he gets to this point. This is Jesus, this isn't Shane, this is Jesus saying this. He's telling, put your name in the blank, if there was a blank there. So and so, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Did you catch that? That should be bold, underlined, jump out right there. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Personal testimony, 1999, when I read that after coming back to the Lord, he brought the prodigal son home, I about fell over. Is it possible, is it possible to say, hey, Lord, remember me, I went to a Christian school, I did all these good things, I owned a Bible, my mom baptized me when I was a little tiny baby, Lord, Lord, remember me? He'll say, depart from me, I don't even know you. How can he not know me? Well, of course he's not saying, I know you. I mean, of course he knows us, he knows everybody, but he doesn't have that relationship with us. I've given this analogy before here about a year ago, and I'll give it again. For example, if Billy Graham was here, sitting here, a lot of you know Billy Graham, right? He's a name people know. If he was sitting there, I would say, Billy Graham, I know all about you. I've read about three autobiographies, I know about your conversion, you walked down the sawdust trail, I think Mordecai Ham was preaching, 1940s, and then the press really pumped you up, and this, and they got your name out there, and you begin leading thousands to Christ. I know all about you. Ruth passed away, I know all about you. You know what he'd tell me? Who are you? Young man, I don't know you, sorry. What happened here, what's the disconnect? What happened in that relationship there? It was one-sided. See, a lot of people know all about Jesus, but knowledge doesn't put anybody in heaven. Knowledge is knowing what to do, wisdom is applying what you know. See the difference? Many people have knowledge, but very few people have wisdom, and the relationship is, so when I, for example, a believer now, they pass away, they died in heaven, I doubt they're gonna be, hey, shooting the breeze with Jesus, they're gonna be on their face worshiping Almighty God, but they're gonna say, Lord, thank you for what you did to me, I know you, you've got me through that, and this, I knew you as healer, I knew you as restore, I knew you as deliverer, you deliver me from my pain and destruction, and when I went through those difficult times, Lord, I knew you as provider, I knew you as everything, Lord, I knew you, and he'll say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the presence of the Lord. See, we don't realize that that's all we hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant, or depart from me, I don't know you. There's not a little middle ground, we all think we're gonna give God a sales pitch, but come on, Lord, you know, remember, I was a pretty good guy, I gave, I did this, depart from me, I don't know you. You see how serious this is? We are talking about heaven and hell, light and darkness, right and wrong, good and evil, this, everything hinges on the balances here. Do you know him? Do you truly have a relationship with him? Stop playing games, God knows. You might have your parents fooled, you might have your friends fooled, you might even have me fooled, but God knows. That's my job, is to convict the heart so that change takes place. I'm like a hired assassin, but it's not a sniper's rifle, it's 66 books of the Bible. Won't just take a man down across the street, this will travel to Uganda, and Ukraine, and Africa, and Alaska, and hit with deadly force, and the man falls out and repents and believes in Christ. I could end the sermon right there, without even getting to the points, but I believe it's important, listen to this, this is Jesus. Enter by, enter by. When Jesus says enter by, that tells me it indicates responsibility on the part of the hearer, right? If I said, listen, can you hand me your piece of paper? That means she can hand me her piece of paper, right? Could you get that for me? When Jesus says enter by, that denotes responsibility on the part of the hearer. So there's no excuses. People say, well, I didn't know this or this. Romans 118 says this, for the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven. The wrath of God, yes, is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. So he says you're without excuse. Listen, I'm not preaching this from anger, I'm just preaching this from love. I'm not upset at all, I want people to come to know Christ in a powerful way. That's what preaching should do. It should set the pew on fire to know more of God, a deeper relationship with God. So there's no excuses. Jesus said, enter by. So if we reject that, there are no excuses. The next point, Jesus said, the way that leads to destruction. Wow, you won't hear that word on TV, will you? You email me the last time you heard on TV, national audience, people saying, destruction, hell. It just doesn't happen, why? Because it doesn't taste good. That sure didn't taste good. I did not like to hear that. But you realize that's the power, the way that leads to destruction. So Jesus says, enter by this, if not, it leads to destruction. There's no gray area, there's no maybe, there's no might, there's no if, you just do, it's settled. Jesus is not politically correct. Destructive is a very offensive statement. And you've noticed this, right? You can tell, I've seen this all the time. God loves you. No matter who you, God loves you. Most of the time, oh man, thanks so much. Well, he loved you so much that he gave his only begotten son, who died for you, you must repent of your sin. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you telling me there's a judgment to come if I reject God? I don't like what you're saying now. Can you go back to the God is love part? I really like that part. But you see, God is, how do you understand the good news without the bad news? You realize that? How can you say God is love without understanding what the other end of that is? God loved us so much that he gave his only son to die for us. So you gotta talk about the bad news to appreciate the good news. If all I sing is about God's grace and love and mercy, but don't understand the backdrop on which that was painted, it's not gonna make a lot of sense. But when I understand a sinner on his way to hell, eternity, separated from God, and God, Christ, Jesus, save me. Oh, now amazing grace, how sweet the sound. It saved a wretch like me. Now it makes sense. I know what he was talking about. I was blind, but now I see. Now those are not just words on a song, but they're songs of my heart singing to God because now I truly understand grace when I'm standing over the abyss of hell as Jonathan Edward preached in his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. People were said to hold on to trees so they wouldn't fall into the abyss of hell, painting that vivid picture. But grace reaches down and grace saves and grace sanctifies and grace transforms. Now when you sing amazing grace, how sweet that it is, it saved a wretch like me. I understand it. It's not just songs and lyrics. I'm looking, I'm watching. How quick can we get out of here? That's saving grace. And you can't preach it. You can't scream it. You can't force anybody. Your heart's got to break. And you've got to have God open the eyes of your understanding. I understand that. Number three, Jesus said there are many who go in it. Listen, think about this. Jesus says enter by this narrow gate, this narrow little path, because there are many who go on the broad road of destruction. And I want to tell young adults this right now, if you take anything away from this sermon, this is one of the points. Anytime the crowd is going in a certain direction, you better be going the other direction. You will be swimming against the crowd. Stop worrying about all the posts on Facebook. Stop worrying about what direction your friends are going. Stop worrying about, the world's going hell bent against God. So you will be swimming upstream. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's tiring. Yes, it's challenging. But I'd rather swim upstream towards God than downstream towards hell. That's just the truth. Think about that. Young adults, when it comes to finances, when it comes to spending, when it comes to food, when it comes to drink, when it comes to media, when it comes to Hollywood, when it comes to God, and when it comes to the Bible, do not go the direction of the culture, because the culture is hell bent on leaving and exiting whatever has to do with God. So anytime your parent tells you to do something, you say, but mom or dad, everybody's doing it. Guess what they'll say? Absolutely right. And you will set a different standard, young lady. Oh, I can take that in a whole different direction. But we won't go there tonight. The point is, do not, anytime the crowd, think about this, top movies. Probably not a good idea to be watching. Top songs on the billboard, 50 Cent. All that stuff. Kardashian says, all this stuff. If you're into all that stuff, you're going a wrong direction. You're going against God. No wonder your mind's full of fear and anxiety and depression. No wonder God seems distant and the Bible's boring. You want me to hurry up so you can get the heck out of here. No wonder. It's because you're feeding those very things that God has said to walk away from. So as a young adult, you've got a very serious decision to make. Am I gonna go with the flow of the culture, or am I gonna go with the flow of God? I might be called radical. I might be called extreme. I might be called fundamentalist. I might even be called a Jesus freak. But woe be to the man who looks to the opinions of others and not the opinion of God. Think about that. We have edited down the message of the cross so much that it's no longer offensive. Could it be possible that we've offended God? Could that be possible? I mean, it's not beyond the realm of believing, right, that we maybe could have offended God as a church, as a nation. Maybe. Just throwing that out there. So any time the culture's going a certain direction, be very careful. Be very careful. Remember last week I talked about, if you weren't here, get the message on fasting and taking care of our body physically. And even in that area, you see the culture ramped up on high stimulant drinks and fast food and all this stuff. The culture's doing it. Well, guess what, Christians? You better be taking care of the temple a little bit better because the culture is gonna take you in any, physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, every area you can think of, the culture's going that direction. It's running away from the cross. From what they read, from what they listen to, to what they view. Shane, you might say that sounds a little extreme. Well, you can call it whatever you want, but the Bible calls it historical biblical Christianity to come out from among them, be separate. Fill your mind with the things of God, not the things of the world. Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Flee sexual immorality, abstain from fleshly lust. What do you do with all those verses? Put them in the trash? If we would just obey the word of God, you would see so much power and deliverance happening in your life. Not easy stuff. Not easy. The Christian life is not easy. It's called warfare for a reason. Put on the weapons of your warfare. The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ, bringing every thought into obedience. Paul says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God. The weapons, the sword, the shield, the helmet, all these things, it's warfare. It's not easy. So next time you turn on the TV and you just talk, you just see, just think positive thoughts, just be nice, you know, be very careful because the Christian life is difficult, but that's okay. I know the one who's driving the vehicle. See, I rest on him, not me. As it gets difficult, I look to him. That's why people know him as healer because they've been sick. They know him as deliverer because they've almost been killed. They know him as provider because they've been in need. See, we know him as all these things because God has moved in our lives. So enter by the narrow gate, it leads to destruction, and there are many who go by it. A couple last points, I'll be out of your way, and you can hit In-N-Out Burger. I won't be going there, but you can go there. Culture, well, I won't say it. I'll stop there. I heard that it's a Christian company, so I better, I got an email from Pepsi a while back when I came out against them. I think it said, we make a lot of good products, too. I'm like, I don't, maybe you do, but let me tell you about all the junk you're putting in that stuff. Yeah, I know, big mouth gets me in trouble sometimes. The road is narrow. Jesus said the road is narrow. Do you get that picture right there? There are not many ways. Do you see 12 other roads going anywhere? There are not any roads there, any other roads. The road is very narrow. So yeah, this is difficult, this is narrow. I don't like this, the unbeliever would say. Yeah, but Jesus said the road is narrow. There are not many ways to God. And actually, I corrected myself last year. There are many ways to, every way you choose is gonna lead to God. Oh, Shane, I can't believe you said that. I like your church until that statement. Well, let me fill in the blanks. Every way you choose is going to lead to the judgment of God, not to heaven. So you will find God, no matter what you do, you can become Buddha, Hindu, whatever, you fill in the blank, you will find God. And when you do, you'll say, oh my God, I've been wrong. Lord, I've been wrong, and it's too late. You don't see well done, thou good and faithful servant, or depart from me, I never knew you, or a second chance. Can I, I'm just gonna be honest with you, sit up straight, listen to this. Do you wanna know what the second chance is? Right now, right now. There are many in this room, I will never preach to you again in my life, I guarantee it. You'll never set foot in this place again. This is it, this is it. What would you do if you told me you got 40 minutes to lay it out? What would you say? Would you talk about your best life now? Would you talk about just all these things and bypass the true message of the gospel? I will not see some of you ever, ever again. I'm laying it out, I'm spilling my heart. It is, the road is narrow. If I, when I speak to groups that aren't a lot of Christians, there's only a small percentage of them that actually come into saving faith. The rest of them wanna get the heck out of Dodge and don't wanna talk to me. I see it all the time, after an event, I'll go over there, they'll go out that door. They just, I have to get away from this guy. Why, it's just the truth. And if I'm wrong, why are you so upset? Well, think about it. If there's no God, if there's no God, the Bible's wrong, and I'm just up here, poor soul that I am. Gosh, that guy, he's just losing it, he's a fool. Then why are you so mad? Why, at some point, am I gonna get death threats pretty soon in this culture? Oh, you can bet it's coming, we've already prepared for it. I have to use a PO box, I can't tell people where I live. People are calling me out on the editorials in the paper, on emails, on Facebook, false teacher, this. Why is that? What am I, if I'm so wrong, why is that? If I gave this message down in West Hollywood tonight, I would be killed. And I'm not laughing, I'm telling you the truth. If I gave this message on the corner of Sun, whatever those streets are down there, I would not make it home. I would not make it home. There'd be too many stabbings or just, see you, preacher, bye, why? If I'm wrong, why are you upset? If I'm wrong, why do you wanna take my life? I'll tell you why, because it's not wrong and you know it. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God said, the Bible says that God has highly exalted him. God has highly exalted him, so at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. They know it, they just haven't surrendered to it. So because they haven't surrendered to it and the judgment is coming, they're repulsed at that. The demons know of Christ, they even flee and tremble when his name is mentioned. The devil knows his time is coming. So they know these things, yet that's why people get upset because it is the truth and the truth offends, the truth goes right to the heart and it calls a spade a spade. If it's not true, you wouldn't get upset. I have people tell me about metaphysical this and the divine center of consciousness and hey, I'm not getting upset, you're very misled, but I'm not upset, I'm just fascinated by your belief in something that did not exist but now it does, but then when I tell you about the truth, I tell you about the truth, now you're very upset and you probably hit me if there wasn't a policeman here. Why is that? You have to ask yourself that question. Why do these types of messages offend? Because there's something inside of us or those who aren't right with God that they don't wanna hear it. The light, Jesus said the light and the darkness, the darkness does not wanna see the light. Finally, Jesus says the road is difficult. The road is difficult. See, I'm here to tell you this isn't easy because before you know God, let me tell you what's going on right now. There's a battle inside. You're saying, oh, I know what he's saying. Gosh, if I could just repent and believe, the other side's saying, nope, then you'll have to give up that alcohol, you'll have to give up those drugs, you'll have to give up, I know, but if I just, I don't wanna go to hell, yeah, but I'm gonna live like hell right now and then maybe on my death bed, and then there's a struggle in the flesh just saying I don't wanna submit to a God, I'm God! I'm God! I cannot submit to a God! And that's usually why after years of life spitting you out and chewing you up, people finally say, okay, I'm walking, I'm limping, I surrender to you now, Lord, finally, finally. That's the battle. You're God and we don't wanna submit to the one true and living God. We all worship something. And that's where the major battle is. That's why the road is so difficult. That's why people have such a hard time because their flesh is against God. So an unbeliever is, where I start with, why are you at war with God? I just hate that, I hate all that stuff, hate all that truth, why? Your mind, everything is at war with God, it's enmity, and they start to break down, they break down. Usually people, there's travail of the soul. Have you heard that word? The hound of heaven is let loose. They can't sleep at night. I'm waking up, I'm having these bad dreams. I can't, I'm falling back into sin and destructive lifestyle. I'm falling back into drugs and pornography and hookers and prostitutes and people, they're falling back into all these things. Not me, I'm just saying that's what people say. And they're falling, I wouldn't be up here if that was happening. We gotta clarify, because people get these clips on YouTube and then they make me look like I said something. But the other side is saying, I want that, I want that, but the old carnal flesh is pulling you back. And like, I want that, it's a struggle. Paul says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death? Who will deliver me? My mind, for with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin, it's this constant struggle, the old man and the new man fighting in a war. That's why it's difficult. And that's why the final thing, few find it. It's narrow, it's hard, it's difficult, few find it. Jesus doesn't pull any punches. He doesn't paint a great picture here. He says, few find it, few find it. And that's why I often say you cannot live your life with a question mark here. If you're living with the question mark here, that means you have not found it. And scripture says, choose life that you may live. Choose life that you may live. I could have said that 40 minutes ago and saved you a lot of time. Choose life that you may live. That's what it boils down to.