Enter In

Matthew chapter 7 verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at. Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.

You have to notice that that word enter is emphatic. It's actually a command. Enter ye in at the straight gate.

Luke's gospel is very similar but the word that is used in Luke's gospel is to strive. Strive to enter in. So I like to speak to you about this evening.

As salvation is presented to you, is it something that you would strive for? Is it something that is a burden to your soul? I'd like to speak to you very seriously this evening because really in these two verses that we have read we have to understand that we're speaking of matters of life and death. Maybe you come to a meeting like this and you don't understand the seriousness of it. You look at the people that surround you and maybe you wonder why are all these people here? Why am I here? And no, there is no smoke and no alarms going off but we're here to speak to you about spiritual life and spiritual death.

It is something that ought to be more concerning to you than even your physical life. To have eternal life. To be saved from eternal torment because of sin.

You see in this country at least in some measure great emphasis is placed on this in saving lives. Matters of life and death and people go to great extremes. The other night as we're returning home from meeting there was a fire truck and firemen that were blocking the road and diverting traffic and afterwards we've come to find out what was happening.

Apparently there was a couple on the motorcycle and they hit a deer and from what I heard one of them was med flighted in the helicopter to the hospital. You see there is a tremendous value that is placed on life. Tremendous expense.

The firemen, the fire trucks, the fire engine, the helicopter, the hospital because life would be so important. To save people from death. But in a greater sense this evening we need to understand it's not about physical life and physical death.

We're speaking of spiritual life of heaven. We're speaking of spiritual death, destruction, a place called the lake of fire. As we have already heard each and every one of us will either be in God's heaven with Christ knowing our sins forgiven and we trust it would not be the case with any here but there's a real possibility that someone here could spend eternity far away from God.

In a place of torment, in a place of suffering. It's not just some religious formality to have a gospel meeting. It's not just a way to pass an hour.

But we're here to speak about things that are very serious and that is why a great emphasis needs to be placed on this particularly you being saved. Or as the text says, entering the narrow gate. The narrow gate that leads to life.

Because unfortunately there are so many people that live life and they're on a way that leads to destruction or the loss of of well-being. That is why the Lord Jesus himself emphasizes enter in at the straight gate or strive to enter in. That word is a word where we get the word agonize.

It's to labor fervently. And I was going to say it like this to make God's salvation a priority is what you should do. But I'm going to rephrase it.

If you understood the awfulness of your condition, the danger, the danger that you're in, salvation would become the priority. The priority above every other thing in life. To know that my sins are dealt with and that I am ready for heaven.

The Lord Jesus has strived to enter in. Make it the priority of your existence. The Lord Jesus had to tell the men in John chapter 6 very similar truth.

There were men that were seeking the Lord Jesus. Men and women. Because the Lord Jesus had fed a multitude with a few fish and a few loaves of bread.

And the very next day they are seeking the Lord Jesus again. But he tells them plainly. The reason that you are seeking me is because yesterday you ate and were filled.

But he goes on to tell them this. Labor not for the meat or the food that perishes. But for the food that endures unto eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.

Let me say it like this. He said you're all worried about temporal things. And what you ought to be worried about is eternal life.

It is something that is lasting. Something that is not going to be just for today and then it's gone. But something that is going to endure forever.

God's heaven. Eternal life. The forgiveness of sins.

These are things that are eternal. These are the things that ought to occupy our minds. Occupy your mind if you are not saved tonight.

Have you agonized to know the forgiveness of your sins? Please understand that I'm not speaking tonight about laboring. About doing. To gain God's favor.

To gain the forgiveness of God. But making it a priority to have. To receive the forgiveness that God freely offers.

The Bible makes it plain that we are not saved by our doing. By our works. But if a person never makes it the priority of their life, will they ever be saved? You see preparation needs to be made for eternity.

And when it comes down to it. When our life here on over. When our life here on earth is over.

What really matters? What really matters anyway? The Lord Jesus says strive to enter in at the straight gate. That's what matters. Knowing him as Savior.

He is the gate or the door. He is the way that leads to life. You need to know him.

You need to make it the priority of your life to know him. To agonize over this matter of being saved. We all know what it is to agonize, to labor, to toil for something that we desire.

I don't know why this came to mind but this is what came to mind. Over 20 years ago after I got my driver's license, I labored and toiled to buy my first truck. Rode my motorcycle all summer, all fall in the cold.

Saved up $745 to buy a 1970 Chevy C10. Toiled to obtain what I wanted. An old bucket of rust.

People are toiling. The farmers are toiling to get that seed in the ground because they're anticipating a harvest. They're laboring, they're agonizing.

People are toiling, are toiling, are laboring for for academic greatness. Advances. Hopefully a career and a job and gain.

And the student he studies day and night, he's diligent, he agonizes. People labor for recognition, people labor for possessions. All these things that people toil for, that occupy their time and their energies.

But what about being saved? What about you in the meeting tonight? Is this something that you understand? This is important. This is the most important thing. But unfortunately for those who are in their sins, it's so much easier to be occupied with other things.

And I was there. I know what it was to sit in a gospel meeting and think about being at home and riding my motorcycle. Well that's why we have meetings.

That the Spirit of God will use His Word to impress upon us the truth of these things. Enter in. Enter in.

Strive to enter in. Agonize. Because when life is over, the only thing that is really going to matter is whether you knew Christ as Savior or not.

Whether you are on the way that leads to life. Or whether you are still on your way that leads down to destruction. How sad it is that we can be so preoccupied with the things that are passing.

The things that are temporal. It's easy because we live on this earth. Day by day we're surrounded by the things that occupy our time, that appeal to to our flesh, our desires.

The things that are presented to us. You know advertising, it does it does quite a job to make us think that what they're presenting is something that we need. So we rush out and buy it.

Please understand that if there is something that you need in this life, it is God's salvation above any other thing. Maybe your goal is a car. Maybe your goal is a husband, a wife.

Maybe your goal is to graduate from university. Maybe your goal is to have lots of money or to buy a farm. But if those things are the priority in your life, you are mistaken.

The Bible would tell us of people who were so occupied with material things. There's nothing wrong with having a house, having a car, with having food on the table. But you know you can have all those things and die in your sins and spend eternity in the lake of fire.

Just to give you an idea of what is really important in life. Luke chapter 12, the Bible tells us of a man and he was all preoccupied with his farm and the fruits and the increase and then the plans to eat and and take it easy. And the many years that he thought were ahead of him.

Yet the Lord Jesus reminds us that God spoke and God said, you're a fool because this is your last night on earth. Thy soul be required of thee. What was he occupied with? With being ready to meet God? Knowing that he was ready to leave this world? No.

He was occupied with material things. With temporal things. Things that appeal to this body.

But friend, please consider this evening eternity. We are only here for a little while. James makes it so plain.

What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. We are just passing through this scene. We are here for a little while.

How sad it would be to be occupied with the small things of life and neglect the greatest need of your soul. The Lord Jesus says, enter in at the straight gate. Why does it get brought as a way that leads to destruction? And many there be which go in there at straight as a gate or narrow and narrow the way that leads to life.

And few there be that find. Few there be that find it the way that leads to life. You ever stop to consider why that is? You ever stop to consider why it is that multitudes would go down to a place of destruction, of suffering, of torment, rather than turning to life? Well likely there are a number of different reasons the Bible presents.

I just share a few with you that come to mind. Because maybe these are the reasons that you are not saved. We won't take the time, but if you want to look later at Matthew chapter 13, the parables of the kingdom.

The Lord Jesus begins with the parable of the sower. Of a sower who goes out to the field to sow the seed. And he spoke about four different types of soil where the seed fell.

And the result of sowing that seed on those soils. What it comes down to is this. It is the gospel being preached.

It's the Word of God that is being spread. And the application I'd like to make this evening is this. Is with the with the purpose of salvation.

The Word of God, the seed being sown, being preached. And yet it falls upon different kinds of hearts. Different experiences in the life of a person that impact what happens with the Word of God.

With a message that is heard. First of all, the Lord Jesus says, some of the seed, it fell by the wayside. And the evil one snatches away the seed.

You see, Satan, he is working. He is continually working to take the Word of God out of the hearts and minds of men. So that they do not believe the message.

That they do not take this as something in a serious, important. And he is tirelessly working, as we've already heard, to to maintain men and women in spiritual darkness. But the Lord Jesus said that part of the seed also fell on stony ground.

That is, it was a little bit of soil, but underneath it was just stones. It was just rock. And even though the seed could grow, could sprout, it says it's like this.

When the sun comes out, it dries it up because there was no root. The Lord Jesus says it like this. Because of tribulation and persecution.

Could I say it like this this evening? Some people do not make salvation a priority because of the suffering of other people. That might come because of other people. That because of a person who hears the Word of God, considers the Word of God, people would be contrary to it.

And they would, as it were, come and hinder any growth. Tribulation, persecution. But just let me remind you what the Lord Jesus said.

He says, do not fear him who kills the body. Do not fear the one that can kill your body, but cannot touch your soul. Rather, fear the one who has a power to put your soul and your body in hell.

In other words, be far wiser to fear the God of heaven that you have sinned against and the consequences of your sin, than to fear those who might take your physical life. That is the importance of being saved. What if it was put to you like this? Trust Christ and know your sins forgiven in your home in heaven.

Or reject Christ and live. Trust Christ and die. Reject Christ and live.

How many people would choose physical life and eternal death? You see, that is the urgency of this matter. Far better to die physically and spend eternity with Christ, than to save your life physically and die spiritually and spend eternity far away from God. But the Lord Jesus also spoke about part of the seed that fell among thorns.

Thorns which grew up around the good seed and choked out the good seed so that there was no fruit. What did the Lord Jesus say this was like? He said it was like those who are, who receive the Word of God, who hear the Word of God, the message of salvation, the necessity of being saved, of entering through the door. But really they're preoccupied with cares.

Cares of this life. Riches. When Matthew says it like this, the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches.

Luke says it like this. Choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life. There it is again.

That which is temporal is impeding that which is for the eternal well-being of the soul. There are people today and they have no time for the gospel because it's all work or it's all play. It's all pleasure or they're busy obtaining possessions or even the legitimate things of life we say, providing for the family and so on.

But how sad it is because those things can actually impede men and women coming to Christ, knowing their sins forgiven, being prepared for eternity. It's interesting the Lord Jesus mentions the deceitfulness of riches because really the truth is no one will ever obtain enough. It is something that men and women grasp after.

They're continually grasping after and it occupies their time, their energy, their minds. And yet there is never a point that they arrive to to say it is enough. The deceitfulness of riches, like the thorns that grow up.

The Lord Jesus also mentions the pleasures of this life, this life. What about the pleasures of that life? Can the pleasures of that life of the glory, of the presence of God, can they really compare with the pleasures of this life? Should we barter heaven for the momentary pleasures that this world has to offer? There's a man that comes to mind in Hebrews chapter 11, Moses. Moses was one who despised the treasures of Egypt and even the pleasures of Egypt.

He understood that these things are really of little important in the great scheme of things, but to be found among the people of God, to suffer for Christ's sake, in simple terms. What about you in the meeting this evening? Are any of these things that the Lord Jesus mentions the things that are occupying your mind? The things that you are agonizing over? Or are you agonizing over the well-being of your soul? That you are in your sins? That you could die at any moment and spend eternity far, far away from God? Is it any wonder that Hebrews tells us how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? We don't make it a priority, if we don't see the urgency of it. My time is almost gone, but I'd like you to consider someone else who agonized over the well-being of my soul, over the well-being of your soul.

The Lord Jesus in providing salvation for sinners. You know, it wasn't by a word that he spoke and salvation was made available. It wasn't merely by his coming to this earth, speaking the words of God, doing the miracles of God.

You know, it was because of the agony of his soul, because of his suffering on the cross at Calvary, because of the one who was going to deal with our sin. It was the one who was going to be made the sacrifice for sin. Think of the words of Isaiah, it says, he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

It speaks to us of the agony that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was in great agony as he contemplated what it was before him that the sins of the world would be laid on him. And then to go and to be beaten by men, to be scourged and mocked and spit upon, to have the very hairs of his face plucked from it.

The Lord Jesus was willing to suffer. He was willing to suffer the agony of even being pierced through his hands and feet, to be nailed upon a cross, and then to bear the wrath of God as the Lord would lay on him the sin, the iniquity of us all. We could hardly enter into the anguish of his soul.

The agony that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered as he knew what it was to bear the sins of the world in his own body upon the tree, upon the cross. Why did he agonize? To open up the way for us to life, that we might know our sins forgiven by God, that we might be cleansed of our sin, that we may be right made right in the eyes of God and fit for heaven, all because of the anguish, the agony, the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other example that came to mind is this.

This is actually for Sunday school tomorrow, if you want to come to Postville. What's Rachel? Giving birth to Benjamin. And it speaks about the anguish, the toiling, the travail, the hard labor.

And the Bible tells us this, that she delivered a son and she died. If you could say it like this, she gave her life that he might have life. Through the anguish, the sufferings that she bore.

Is that not a small picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? To give us life, he died. He suffered and he gave his own life. You see, friend, it is a matter of life and death.

His life for my life. His life for your life. Please consider this evening, if you are not saved, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, enter.

Enter in at the straight gate. Let's pray.