Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, August 23rd. Jesus identified himself as the only way to God, and Matthew chapter seven says the way to heaven is narrow. Let's evaluate the choices we're making as we listen to today's podcast.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Zola Levitt Ministries. All kinds of choices that they're to make in their life and in specific areas of their life. Then he comes down to this 13th and 14th verses in the seventh chapter as to say to them, it all ends up being two lifestyles in life.
You either have one lifestyle or the other. And so he pictures that in this way when he says in verse 13, enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.
And he says there are few people who find it. Now let's think about it for a moment. He says it's narrow.
Well, let me ask you a question. How narrow can you be and still be happy, joyful, peaceful, contented, full of life, full of energy, excited about life every day? Well, you Christians can't be that way because look what you're missing in life.
Let's look at it this way. The Christian life is a narrow life. In fact, it's far more narrow than some Christians realize. Somebody says, are you folks narrow minded?
Yes. I'm narrow minded. Because I believe there's only one God because there is only one. There is only one Savior. There is only one way to heaven. There is only one way to be saved. There is only one faith that will get you there. There's only one way to walk with joy and peace and happiness and contentment. There's only one way to walk to have genuine security. There's only one way to die fearlessly, confidently, assuredly.
You'll wake up in the presence of the living God. Are we narrow minded? Yes, we are narrow minded, absolutely narrow minded. Do we have peace and happiness and joy and contentment and security? Yes. Do the folks on the Broadway have it?
No. So there must be something about this narrow way that's not quite so bad. And that is because the Holy Spirit is living on the inside of us. We have understanding. We have perception. We have discernment. Because the light of truth is on the inside of us. We can look at situations and circumstances and understand what's the truth about it. And so while we may appear to be narrow minded, the truth is we have a better perspective on things than those without God because you know what?
Listen to this. We have the capacity to view things the way God sees them. And while it may appear to be narrow, it's all encompassing. Are we narrow minded?
Yes. Because we don't want any alcohol in our body. We don't want any tobacco in our body. We don't want any immorality in our life and body. A lot of things we don't want. That is we don't want to waste our time. We don't want to set our goals on things that have absolutely no eternal values whatsoever. We don't want to be selfish. We don't want to be greedy. We don't want to be unkind. We don't want to trample on other people. There are a lot of things about us we don't want.
There are a lot of things about the broad way. Listen, they don't fit who we are. So if you want to call us narrow, call us narrow.
Absolutely. We are so narrow, we love the Lord God above everybody else in the whole world. We're so narrow that we can love everybody no matter what they do to us. There are many things about us that may be called narrow, but you know what?
We love it because it satisfies the human heart. And there is a security that those on the other side cannot have until they choose to walk through the narrow gate and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. He says, few there be that will find it. What does He mean by that? Simply this, compared to the world's population, compared to the people who live in our country, there are few Christians comparatively of the millions of people who live in America.
It's not how many there are. It's the power of the Holy Spirit within our lives. So when you think about what He says, it's the way of the few, it's the narrow way, but it's the way of wisdom. It's the wisest way, because you see, God has the best for us, and the best for us is to follow Jesus. You see, the narrow way is the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. The narrow way is the way of the Word of God. This book right here, it is given to us not only to understand the two different ways and to describe the two different ways and to characterize them and to distinguish them, but also and primarily, this book is for those of us who are of the narrow way, that teach us how to walk it, how to mature in the process. And so there are only a few comparatively who walk the narrow way. And I would simply ask you the question, which way are you walking? Are you walking the broad way or the narrow way?
Do you like all the freedom just to do as you please and indulge yourself and have the popularity and the freedom and all the acceptance that you get? Or is there something inside of you that desires to follow the Son of God? Deep down inside of you, you want to be obedient. You choose to follow Him.
Something inside of you, which is who is the Holy Spirit bearing witness to you. It's the way of wisdom. It is the wisest way to walk because of the consequences now and because of the consequences later.
And think about it. Where does this way end up? When you come to the end of the way in the narrow way, the next step is heaven in the presence of God. When you come to the end of the way on the broad way, the next step is judgment and eternal separation from God for all eternity. Somebody says, Well, I don't believe that.
You know what? Whether you believe it or not does not change anything. Almighty God is the one who's given us the warning. The reason you don't want to believe it is because you don't like the light. How do you know I don't like the light?
Because here's what He said. He said, Men don't like the light because their deeds are evil and they hate the light. And I would simply say to you, if you're listening to this message and something inside of you is getting angry and you don't like the fact that you're being categorized in one way or the other, ask yourself the question, What is it that's disturbing you? Is it that the light of truth is shining on your conscience and making you uncomfortable? And you either have the courage to keep listening to discover the truth or your fear of discovering the truth. Your fear of being exposed because of the life that you're living is making you so uncomfortable. You want to walk away, cut it off, shut it down.
Don't want to hear any more of it. Your response to this message will tell you where you are. There's a broad way and there's a narrow way. Now, with that in mind, here's a big question, because you may be saying, Well, you know, I know I'm not on the broad way. I know I've trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, but sometimes.
So let's talk about it. How is it that a Christian that is a person who has trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior? Now, listen carefully. You've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You know that you're saved. You know that you've entered the narrow gate and you walk in the narrow way. But if you looked at your life, you'd have to think, Well, you know, I know I'm on the narrow way. I know that's true, but sometimes I act like something totally different.
Well, listen carefully because I want to explain it. There's a Greek word that is translated in the Scripture carnal or fleshly. It depends upon which translation. In the New American Standard, it is fleshly. In the King James, it says carnal.
Both mean the same thing. It really means our naturalness, that is, what we are like, that part of us that doesn't act godly. And all of us still, even after we're saved, we still have our flesh, as Paul said. And in 1 Corinthians chapter three, he uses a word and also in Galatians. But listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians chapter three.
It's very evident what he's talking about because he's talking about people living this way. And he's talking to Christians and here's what he says, chapter three. He says, and I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual men and women, but as to men of flesh. Now, he's not talking about physical flesh, but that is spiritually. He says, as to infants in Christ, that is, you haven't grown up. I gave you milk to drink, not physically, but speaking of the simple things of the Word of God, not solid food like the deep things of God, doctrine in the book of Revelation, for example, would be a little deep.
For you are not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you're not able. For you are still fleshly, not talking about human flesh, but you're acting. Listen, you are allowing your naturalness to exercise itself and you, listen, you're sinning against God.
You're still fleshly. But since there's jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and are you not walking like mere men? So when the Bible talks about flesh and about carnality, he's talking about living our lives. Listen, not being who we are, but acting like who we used to be.
Now, watch this. Turn to Galatians chapter five and look what he says beginning in verse thirteen. He says, For you were called to freedom, brethren. That is, God saved you and set you free from the power of sin. A believer chooses to yield to sin.
You don't have to. You choose to yield to sin when we sin against God. What are we doing?
We yield to those natural tendencies. Listen to what he says. You were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. Watch this. On the broad way, anything goes. You can drink. You can lie. You can cheat. You can steal.
All kinds of immorality. You know, it's somehow we'll just rationalize it all away. Now, he says, Those of us who believe us, we have freedom. We have the freedom to do what is right. We're not in bondage to sin. We have the freedom to live a happy life, a joyful life, a life of contentment and peace and all the rest.
Now, he says, Look, because you have freedom and you don't live by this restraint. Must not do this. Must not do that.
Must do that. We have freedom to live a godly life. Don't turn your freedom.
Misuse it for the opportunity, he says. But through love, servant of it, that is, I'm not to use my freedom in such a fashion that I would cause somebody else to stumble in their Christian life. But, he says, we're the servant of it.
We're to be sensitive to that. Look in verse sixteen. But I say walk by the Spirit and you'll not carry out the desires of the flesh. Now, what are the desires of the flesh? It's our naturalness. We still live in these human bodies.
We still have our five senses. And so we have natural, normal tendencies and desires. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the Holy Spirit came into your life. One of his primary responsibilities is to teach us the truth, to give us the discerning spirit, to help us to perceive things as they are, not as they appear to be. But also, listen, to caution us when we have some tendency to act out that naturalness within us, whether it's to lust after something or somebody or desire to be greedy or to gossip or a lot or whatever it may be. When those tendencies within us are there, he says the Spirit of God is there to enable us to put it to death, to crucify.
That is, I don't have to express it. And so what happens is we as believers have the power to live and walk a godly life. Now, let's think about, for example, the Christian. Let's think about, remember we've said there's a difference in being a believer in Jesus. You've trusted him as your personal Savior. But what about following him? The Bible says we follow him by keeping his commandments. And one of these commands here is he says, enter the straight gate walk, that is, walk the narrow path. Let's say, for example, that you're a child of God. You know that you're saved. But what happens is deep down inside of you, you have, a lot of your desires are over on the broad path.
In other words, you have allowed those natural tendencies, that fleshliness, that carnality within you to rise up and to express itself. And so the truth is what you'd like to do, you'd like to go over on the Broadway and just spend a little time over here and then come back over here before Sunday. So come Sunday morning, you want to come to church. So what you want to do really, you'd like to just straddle the whole median. And you'd like to live, especially on Sunday, you want to be in the narrow way.
And other days of the week, you'd like to sort of hang around over here a little bit. Well, the truth is, watch this, you can't switch lanes. Once you start down the narrow way, you're saved.
You're eternally secure. Jesus Christ is your Savior. You're not allowing him to be Lord in your life.
You're not acting like who you are and who you ought to be. And here's what I want you to see. I want you to see how absolutely deceived you are when you allow those natural tendencies that come to the surface. And what happens? You want to get over here.
You know it's not right. And so you allow your natural tendencies to express themselves. So now, while you're over there, this is where your heart is and you're sort of enjoying it for a while. And then you want to come back over here.
And what do you do? Oh, God, forgive me. In Jesus' name, I know I shouldn't have done it, but Lord, here's what I want you to see. You lose your reputation. You lose your testimony. You lose your rewards. You lose your peace, your joy, your content, your happiness, and you feel dirty. Let's face it, you do. Because if the Spirit of God is living within you, you are not going to keep Him quiet. He's going to convict you. And if you, listen, if you hang over on the broadside so long that you don't feel anything, you're in serious trouble getting ready to, listen, to feel the awful hand of a loving God whose disciplining hand can be torture.
Now, here's what I want you to see. A follower of Jesus lives a narrow life, so encompassing, so fantastic, so energized. You wouldn't swap it for anything in the world. But there's some things you don't lay on your life. Listen, God made it narrow because He loves you. God knows every single thing that'll cripple you, hinder you, handicap you, and destroy you. He knows every one of them. So you know what? He's made our pathway so narrow, He doesn't have those things in there. Why? Because He loves us.
And for those of us who walk that way, it's not narrow at all. Because once you fall in love with the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't think you're being deprived of anything. You don't feel like that you can't have fun in life and enjoy life. You don't think God's keeping anything from you. You see, the world's so deceived, they think, well, if I couldn't do these things up here, in other words, then God doesn't want me to have any fun.
He's got me buckled down. No, you just don't belong there. And if you know that you've been saved, but that's where your heart is.
That's where your plans are made. That's the crowd you run with. Then you are playing the hypocrite. They don't respect you and neither does the believer.
Now, how can you win in that kind of a situation? You say, well, but the people I run with, they understand me. Oh, they understand you all right. And what they understand is you're weak. You don't tell the truth. You're living a lie. You're a hypocrite and you can't be trusted.
And if I ever needed anybody to pray for me, I wouldn't come to you. That's what they think. Can anybody look at your life and discover the narrow way?
When you go to work on Monday morning, the people who have watched you, watched you work, watched you relate, listened to you talk, listened to what you listen to, watched how you responded, relationships you have. When they look at you, can they say, now there is a true follower of Jesus Christ. You see, what you don't understand is this. A believer living in the flesh has the approval of none, not the world, not the believer, nor God. That's why it's so important that every single one of us who is saved become a follower of Jesus, obedient to Him, trusting Him, and lying upon Him and walking in a way that is not perfect, but that is so right and so consistent that the unbelieving world will have to look at us and say, now there's one you can trust. Isn't that what all of us should want? Then ask yourself the question, when my family, my friends, my co-workers, or people who observe me from a distance, see me, watch me, hear me, where would they place me?
In the broad way or on the narrow way? Father, how grateful we are that the Holy Spirit lives within us to warn us, to caution us, to convict us, and to lead us in such a fashion that we can walk holy and godly before You. May Your righteousness shine in our lives is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of The Choices We Make. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
