What happened to the Narrow Way?
The Narrow Way
Matthew 7:13-14
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
According to a recent survey, 70% of adult American Christians believe there are no moral or ethical absolutes that apply to everyone.
In other words most Christians have joined the non-Christian culture and believe we set our own standards.
In essence this survey reveals that 70% of Adult American Christians have decided that God is not capable or worthy of establishing guidelines for their lives.
In a similar survey only 20 % of Adult American Christians said that living a life according to God’s will is the single most important thing in their lives.
So if this is true then what about the other 80%? Does this mean that 80% of Adult American Christians have more important things in their lives than God? Is this even possible?
If you have really looked around, talked to folks out on the street or done any research at all then you would not really be surprised by these facts.
These facts are lived out before our eyes everyday. As a matter of fact, if we would be honest with each other and ourselves, they are more than likely lived out to some degree by that person we look at in the mirror every morning.
To put it very simply, I am almost ashamed to be called a Christian in this day and age? Why
Let’s go for a second to the lastest Barna Poll on Born Again Christians.
In order to do this we need to understand a little information about what they consider to be a Born Again Christian.
In Barna Research Group studies, born again Christians are not defined on the basis of characterizing themselves as "born again" but based upon their answers to two questions. The first is "have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?" If the respondent says "yes," then they are asked a follow-up question about life after death. One of the seven perspectives a respondent may choose is "when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior." Individuals who answer "yes" to the first question and select this statement as their belief about their own salvation are then categorized as "born again."
Having said that Barna Concludes that:
92% of born again Christians believe "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches." (2007)
•One third of born again adults (45%) say that abortion is a morally acceptable behavior
•30% of all adults consider having a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex a morally acceptable behavior.
•61% of adults view gambling as a morally acceptable behavior.
•Enjoying sexual thoughts or fantasies about someone 59%
•Living with someone of the opposite sex without being married, sometimes called co-habitation 60%
•Having a sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not married 42%
•Looking at pictures of nudity or explicit sexual behavior 38%
•Using profanity (36%)
•Getting drunk (35%)
•Using drugs not prescribed by a medical doctor 17%
How can this be possibly true? How can someone say that they believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches and then go on to throw this trash out of their mouths?
Why am I ashamed to be called a Christian? Because Christians have strayed off course.
Those very People that claim to have Jesus Christ living in the hearts no longer seem to understand what being a Christian truly is.
Folks we have forgotten that not only is the Gate narrow but the way is narrow also.
Matthew 7:14
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
It is high time we learn again the cost of Christianity and it is high time that we return to the teaching and the belief that Narrow is the Way.
It is a Narrow Way
We are quickly becoming a society of acceptance. We have given into the Opra Winfrey America. That is to say that we have accepted the belief that all roads lead Home.
Yet, we have transformed it to read, all roads lead to Heaven and Salvation is within you.
No longer is it acceptable to suggest that there is only one way, even if that way comes straight from the Bible.
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is a sad day when those who claim to be followers of “The Way” move in an opposite direction of the “Way”.
Close minded as you may claim it is, the Bible is the final authority for our lives and even though there are many paths in this world, only one “way” leads to God and eternal life.
John 10:7
7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
This seems pretty clear to me. If you have never accepted Christ and you want to become a Christian then you only have one choice, one way, there is only one path that will get you there.
In other words, all roads do not lead to Heaven, rather only one road leads to God and that is the road that passes through Jesus Christ.
Do you want to know what the real problem is with those Born Again Christians that Barna researched?
Those that say they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and they have confessed their sins and they believe that their names are in the lambs book of Life, but then go on to say stuff like its O.K. to have an abortion, or its O.K. to have sex with someone other than your wife.
Their real problem is that they are lying to themselves and to everyone else, they are not really Christians at all!
Now I’m sure you are saying, hey wait a minute you have no right to say something like that about people you do not even know.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Matthew 7:17-18
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
If you claim to be Born Again or to be Saved then what you are saying is that you have Jesus Christ living within your heart and life. If you have had an event in your life such as true salvation, there has to be a change from the old to the new.
Take an empty glass. That empty glass is not really empty at all. It is full of air.
Now let’s say I wanted to fill that glass with water.
As I pour the water into the glass it has to force the air out in order to make room to fill the glass. It actually takes the place of the air.
The same goes if I were to pour out the water. As the water pours out of the glass the air moves in behind it replacing the water.
It is impossible for both air and water to occupy the same space at the same time. As one comes in the other has to leave.
It is the same with us. When we accept Christ as our Savior and He moves into our hearts, the old has to move out. If the old does not move out then there is no room for the new (Christ) to move in. They can not occupy the same space at the same time.
It’s time to stop embracing all these people that claim to be Christians but lack the fruit to prove it.
If we go around saying O, they’ve given their heart to Jesus but they are just carnal Christians, they will come around, then all we are really doing is watching them to go to Hell. As a matter of fact we are pointing them in the direction of Hell and saying there it is over there, that way.
Our Job as Christians is to try to keep people from going to Hell, not send them there.
We have to be willing to change. We have to Give up the old to allow for the new.
I know it’s not really taught anymore but it’s called Repentance.
Matthew 4:17
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
Mark 1:15
15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
Mark 6:12
12 They went out and preached that people should repent.
Luke 5:32
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance
Luke 13:1-5
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Without repentance there is no Salvation and Satan has figured out how to get us to take this word and other Biblical words out of our preaching and teaching today.
He has deceived us into believing that if we use words like Repentance and Hell and Judgment then we will offend everyone and they will stop coming to Church. We won’t have anyone to preach to.
He has done this by convincing us to stop using he Law (the Ten Commandments) to bring sinners to Christ.
Galatians 3:24
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Psalm 19:7
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple
The law shows us that we don’t measure up. It shows us that our sin is really against God and not man.
If we do not know that the Law says in:
Exodus 20:15
15 Thou shalt not steal.
And we sneak next door and take our neighbors lawn mower then in our minds we have only sinned against out neighbor, but when the Law is brought into the picture, then we realize that our Sin is really against God not man.
Then and only then will sin become sinful. Then we realize that we have really broken God’s Law. We all of a sudden become guilty before God.
Romans 7:13
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Once we realize that we have broken the Law and we are guilty in the eyes of God, we can understand that we have to face a judgment to come.
Most Christians today do not know there is judgment to come. They have been told that all they have to do is, “Pray this prayer” and you will be fine, God will make your life right and all your troubles will go away.
This is one of the biggest lies the Church is teaching and preaching today.
If we are telling folks that all they have to do is pray a prayer and Jesus will immediately come into their heart and they will be saved, then we had better check our Bible again.
Just because we pray a prayer does not guarantee that Jesus will come in. We have to make room for Him to be there.
The problem with most Christians today is they know the gate is narrow, but they have never been told that the way is narrow also. The Church today no longer teaches this.
All you have to do is get through that narrow gate and you will be fine.
But there is a problem with this.
The only way you could possibly come to believe that it is ok to have an abortion or to commit adultery or to look at pornography, or to Lust over everyone you see, is because you are of the World.
This is stuff that the world believes. We are not supposed to think like the world.
Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
That word conform is defined by Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words as "to fashion or shape one thing like another."
This means to be the same as or to blend with. In other words you can’t tell the difference between them and the world, they look exactly alike.
1 John 2:15
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:16
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Does this sound familiar? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life, these are all things that those Born Again Christians believe are just fine.
But according to this, God says, If you believe that, then the love of the Father is not in you and You cannot be a Christian.
Today, if you have figured out that there is something wrong with your Christian walk then now is the time to throw yourself at the foot of a blood stained cross, repent of your sins, ask Jesus for forgiveness and have faith in Him and allow Him to come into your life and change you.
Know that without repentance and Faith in Jesus, true salvation through Jesus Christ can not happen, and you are headed for a day of judgment that you can not and will not be able to talk your way out of, no matter how Loving and Forgiving you believe your God is.
If you are out there sharing your faith and leaving these truths out because you are afraid what people will say, what would God say?
Pastors, if we are leaving these important Biblical truths out of our messages then today we also need to throw ourselves to the foot of that cross and seek repentance and forgiveness.
We have to stop watching people go to Hell!
Stop worrying about what your congregations will say if you use words like Hell, Judgment, repentance and start worrying what God will say when we have to face Him on our day of Judgment and we have left these things out.
Invitation
