Two Gates-Choose One - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Everyone on the broad path is lost.

Everyone. There's no one who's not lost. He hasn't got to the gate yet, but he's lost.

He's on the broad path. And then these two words which change everything. But God, there's the intervention. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you have been saved. God intervened. He loved the world so much, he sent his son. His son loved us so much, he lived a perfect life and died as our substitute on the cross. God changed everything. It's all God's work.

That's what God was able to do. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

One commentator wrote this. He said, There have always been but two systems of religion in the whole world. One is God's system of divine accomplishment. The other is man's system of human achievement. One is the religion of God's grace. The other is the religion of men's works. One is a religion of faith and the other is a religion of the flesh. One is the religion of a sincere heart and the internal and the other is a religion of hypocrisy and the external. Within man's system are thousands of religious forms and names, but they are all built on the achievements of man and the inspiration of the devil himself.

Christianity, on the other hand, is the religion of divine accomplishment and it stands alone. That's true, but that's bothersome to us. We don't really like that. We want it a different way. So he also says there is a wide path. Notice back to Matthew 7. He said, The way is broad that leads the destruction.

The gate is wide. It's like, wow. It's easy to be on this path. You can be on there with all your friends and all your family and the culture.

It's an easy thing to be on, but its end is catastrophic. And I don't know about you, but that really bothers me. Do you understand the scope of this? When someone gives the gospel, and I hate when this happens, you're not trying to get someone to come over to your side of an argument. You're not trying to get someone to join your church.

That's not what you're trying to do. You're dealing with the eternal destiny of a human being. That's what you're dealing with. Where are people going to be forever? You see, where's that going to happen? And in our heart, it's exactly what we want.

Let me illustrate this to show you how much you want it and I want it. I've been here a long, long, long time. I've been involved in countless funerals. Some people in the church, lots of people out at the church, some people at the core, and some people way out on the periphery. I've never been to one funeral, ever, where there was an assurance given that the deceased is now in heaven.

Not once. Now that's some coincidence, isn't it? By the way, think about it for yourself. Think of the people you've known and loved and died.

They're all in heaven, aren't they? You see what I mean? How we think about this.

Why is that? Because we want them to be there. It's emotional to us. I don't want to condemn anybody.

You see, it's amazing. Jesus said few and many. But ironically, the few are apparently all of us. And everybody we ever knew are involved with the few.

See, that's a really difficult thing for us. When I was in Pennsylvania, we were going to the first church we went to. It was a very liberal Protestant church.

And it's where I got started preaching, and I'm very grateful for that, but I was very good friends with the pastor. And he was a very liberal man. And he preached on one Easter morning. He preached that everybody in the world goes to heaven.

And it was universalism. And I thought, wow. And the people in the church were all looking at me funny, like, can't you say something now? But I talked to Jeff after the service, and he said, Jeff, I think I was clear on this, but you said everybody goes to heaven. And he said, yeah, I believe that. I said, wow.

I thought, well, wait a minute. I said, but if that's true, I started quoting verses of what Jesus said. And Jeff just looked at me and said, well, Jesus never said that.

I said, well, right there, he said, no, someone wrote that. Jesus would have never said that. And I said, so what's the distinction of Christian? Well, being a Christian, you get to have a relationship with God now. But if you're a Muslim, a Hindu, an atheist, you don't have a relationship with God now, but you all get one with him at the end. Now, what was Jeff doing? He made up a faith that he liked. And I remember saying this to him.

I wish you were right, but I can't believe you. You see, I know why he said it. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be exclusive. I don't care about that.

We'd love people to come to Christ. But notice that Jesus said you have to make a choice and you have to make it on your own. And you better make it now. You see, that's his words, not mine. And his conditions are clear.

No other name given among men. I'm the way, the truth and life. No one can come to the Father but through me. You see, that's the point that he's trying to make here.

This is very, very serious stuff. Go with me now to Ephesians chapter 2 and sort of get an imagery of this from the Apostle Paul, a little more theological base. Ephesians chapter 2.

Paul starts out by describing something. He said we are all on the wide path. Before we came to Christ, we were just moving along. You might have been on a religious path. You might have been on a moral path.

You see, but you're on a big wide path. He says and you were all dead in your trespasses and sin. Everybody before you enter the gate, the narrow gate is dead spiritually because all sin falls short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death.

That's pretty simple. He said in which you formally walked, according, now watch, why did I walk that way? According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. This philosophy is the philosophy of the world. There are lots of ways to get to God.

This is also the philosophy of the enemy who uses it as the philosophy of the world. The prince of the power of the air is Lucifer himself. He said you were there. Among them, we too all formally lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. So he says everyone on the broad path is lost, everyone. There's no one who's not lost. He hasn't got to the gate yet, but he's lost.

He's on the broad path. And then these two words which change everything, but God, there's the intervention, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you have been saved. God intervened. He loved the world so much he sent his son. His son loved us so much.

He lived a perfect life and died as our substitute on the cross. God changed everything. It's all God's work. That's what God was able to do. Notice how final it is. After he says for by grace you have been saved, he says, and he raised us up with him and he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's an amazing stat.

I don't know if you grab that. It's a little abstract, but that's amazing. I'm not only saved. I'm glad. And I did make the choice to enter the narrow gate. But in one way, because I'm in Christ and he's in me, that's what the Bible teaches, so where I am right here, he's here. In fact, he even says where two or three are gathered, I'm in your midst.

But here Paul says the opposite. Where he is, you are. So you may say you're seated here. The Lord may say you're seated there because that's where he's seated.

Now that's an interesting thing. I'm seated. I'm no longer working.

I don't have anything else to do. I'm seated in the heavenlies. Why? I'm in Christ.

Why? I put my faith in Christ. It's an amazing phenomena that he's saying. We shouldn't take it for granted. And then he says, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

It's all grace. The unmerited favor of God. What did I do to earn it? Nothing. I can't earn it.

No one can earn it. The word charos means gift. It's a gift.

All I can do is receive it. That's what grace of God is. This unmerited favor as a gift and all he asks you is to receive it. And it's such an interesting thing that he says because he said, if there's one thing you and I will be grateful for for all eternity is the grace of God. I don't think there'll be a moment in heaven you don't think, man, I am in this place of no sorrow, no tears, the infinite beauty and joy of heaven and it's all his doing. It's not mine.

I'd just be grateful. So he then reiterates this famous verse. He said, for by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God.

Can't be more clear. How am I saved? By grace.

It's a gift. What's the instrumentality of my salvation? My faith. I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

It's that simple. You remember in Acts 16 a Philippian jailer hears Paul and Silas singing hymns and all of a sudden there's an earthquake and he thought he was going to be executed because he thought they were going to leave the prison and they don't. And he read, why are you still here? He was astounded by that and so he finally was convicted and said, well, what must I do to be saved? And all Paul and Silas said to him is, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you'll be saved.

And it says he did and then he went home and shared it with his household and they did. That's salvation. The thief on the cross. A man who lived a horrible, irreligious life. A man who was crucified for his crimes. And all he did was look to Jesus Christ and say, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus looks at him and said, this day you'll be with me in paradise. He just entered the gate.

All he did was put his faith and trust in Christ. It seems so simple and it seems too simple to someone who thinks I have to work for this. There's something I've got to do. I've got to earn this. Notice the next verse.

Paul goes out of his way to make sure you don't do that. Not as a result of work so that no one will boast. There's one thing, there'll be no bragging in heaven. There'll be, you know how I got here? There'll be none of that.

I'm just thankful that I am here. You see, that's what he's trying to say. Two gates, two pathways, two destinations. One leads to the way of life. It's narrow.

Few find it. The other to the way of death. See, that's sobering to me. Jesus is saying that every soul on earth will end up in one of two places.

Everyone. There's no third place. That's it. Sometimes what people do, they'll say sometimes like, well, I kind of like that idea that I can have my sins forgiven and go to heaven, but I'm enjoying my life too much using this. And so I think I'd try to maybe think about that later. Okay?

Remember I told you when Jesus said enter the gate, it was an aorist imperative. You better do it now. I mean, you could think that right now sitting there. I can wait on this. And you go out and an out of control bus runs you over on Clearview Parkway. And your later's right then. You don't get a later.

Let me show you that as I close. Let's go to Luke 13. Luke chapter 13. Verse 22. It says he, that's Jesus, was passing through from one city and village to another, and he's teaching and proceeding on his way to Jerusalem.

Now, I love this. Someone asked him. Someone's heard him teach, and they want to ask him a question. Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? Isn't that interesting? He heard Jesus teaching.

He goes, wait, wait, wait. Are you saying there's just a few that are being saved? You see, that's interesting because that's exactly what Jesus was teaching.

He picked up on it. And I'm sure he's puzzled by it because we don't really want it that way, do we? I don't want it to be that way.

There's only a few being saved? Hmm. So, what ends up happening? Jesus said, strive to enter through the narrow door. So, what's this door like? It's narrow. What was the gate like? It's narrow.

Stenos, same word. He's not misunderstanding this. Jesus said, and remember in John, what did Jesus say? I'm the door. Remember, I'm the door. You want to walk into the kingdom, here I am. I'm the door. He says, strive to enter the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and not be able. He said, there's going to be a time.

You see, here's a very important thing. God is such a God of mercy and forgiveness. Maybe when you get to the great white throne, you can throw yourself in God's mercy and tell him you made a terrible mistake and you'd rather believe in him and go to heaven than not and go to hell. See, maybe you just throw yourself in God's mercy. I was actually foolish enough to ask that question in a class at Dallas Seminary. In Dr. Pentecost's class, I asked him. I said, Dr. Pentecost, why wouldn't people with the great white throne just throw themselves on God's mercy instead of made a terrible mistake?

Because he's a merciful God. And he just looked at me and said, well, I'll just say two things. One is you don't have a clear idea of the holiness of God. And two, you don't understand human beings at all. He said, no one's going to ask for that. He said, you want an image in your head at the great white throne? People will wag their head and gnash their teeth and defiantly walk away from God.

That's human beings. There is none that seek God, no, no, one. So he said that will never happen.

But if it did, Jesus is covering this. What's what he says? He said, once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord, open up to us. He then will answer you and he'll say to you, I do not know where you're from. He said, and then you will begin to say, wait, wait, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets.

I was right there, I heard you. And he will say to them, I do not know you, where you are from, depart from me, all you evildoers. What's he mean? There's not a second chance here.

You don't get to rectify this choice later. That's why he said you have to enter now. He said, in that place, now notice the place where the wide gate leads. Here's Jesus' words.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves are thrown out. Those are really profound words, aren't they? They're hurtful.

I mean, they're overwhelming emotional. You're out. There's a time when you're out. He said, they will come from the east and west and from the north and south and will recline at the table of the kingdom of God and behold, some are last who will be first and some who are first will be last. The first who will be last are the Jews and Jesus won't enter the narrow gate. Thought they could believe in the religious system but who are the last that are now first? You guys.

Me. We came from the east and the west. We're the Gentiles. We made it in. How did we make it in?

We entered the narrow gate. That's what Jesus is saying. You see, they won't get in. There's no second chance for them and he makes it as abundantly clear as possible. So you have two gates, two passways and two destinations.

When I close with an illustration, I think it'll make my point. If you've never went through the narrow gate, I beg you to do so. There's so much at stake and it's so easy in this sense that you don't do anything. You just put your trust and faith in Christ.

That's what he's asking. He's the way. He's the truth.

He's the life. No one will ever come to the Father except through him. This seems so easy, but you know one of the reasons you haven't done it is because you don't like that. You don't want it to be that way. You want it to be your own way.

That's why you don't. I want it to be my way, whatever way I've come up with. I want to close with, show you how hard it is for someone to come to Christ. Back at the Melbourne Daily in Australia, Billy Graham did a crusade years and years ago in Australia.

And a man wrote a letter to the Melbourne Daily and this is what he wrote. He said, After hearing Dr. Billy Graham on the air, viewing him on TV, and reading reports and letters concerning him and his mission, I am heartedly sick of the type of religion that insists my soul and everyone else's needs saving, whatever that means. I have never felt that I was lost, nor do I feel that I daily wallow in my own sin, although this repetitive preaching seems to insist that I do.

Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers the aged and teaches children about goodness but not about sin. If in order to save my soul, I must accept such a philosophy as he preached, that I heard him recently preach, I prefer to remain permanently and forever damned. And he signed his name. What did he do there? He invented his own religion and said, That's the one I want.

What's he failed to do there? I'm not a sinner. He just said I am, but I'm not. You see, he wanted to have a relationship with God on his own terms. And if my terms aren't met, I reject it.

I'm not going to buy this at all. He made his choice. I hope later in his life he made a different choice, but that's his choice.

And that's all of us. Jesus Christ comes to the end of this, and the first thing he talks about is you have to make a choice now. You can choose to enter the narrow gate. You can take the wide gate.

Everybody does. You see, it's easy. You get a lot of support, but the destinations are really different. The profoundness of this passage is not just that I'm so thankful that I'm saved. I hope you are too. I'm so thankful for what Christ did. But it motivates me to constantly be a witness for my Lord.

We're not asking people to join the club and come to... We're not doing that. We're talking about the eternal destiny of human beings. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the only hope they have. And it's a wonderful, beautiful thing.

It's a gift just to be received. So it motivates me to share as well. So Jesus Christ has made it clear. I want you to choose because you have to choose. Let's pray. Father, these words are the kind of words that only the Son of God could say dogmatically. If anyone else said them, we'd be skeptical, but not Him. And the words are so profound in what they represent. He's telling us that every human has to make a choice. You either choose the narrow or you choose the wide. You choose a philosophy or religion or you choose Christ. But the choice is yours. God will not coerce the choice, but He will demand it of you. Father, I pray for those, especially through the radio, that may be hearing this for the first time.

And as they're hearing it, they're wondering about the choice whether they've made it or not. I pray they do that moment. For those of us in the church, I pray for anyone who's in that same predicament.

I've never made the choice. I pray that they do so this day. But for all of us who have made the choice, Father, I just pray that we understand the magnitude of what Christ did for us and that we are thankful and grateful and joyful for the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the assurance that we have we are forever your children. This I pray through the magnificent name of Jesus Christ, the great Lover of Ursulines.

Amen. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .