Introduction:

1. As our blessed Lord began to bring His Sermon on the Mount to a close, He gave a very sober invitation.
2. [Most men want to go to heaven; most men want some religion; but very few want Jesus as Lord and King.
3. No one in Noah’s day wanted to drown; they all wanted to live and breath; but they did not want his God.]
4. Jesus’ sermon contained many hard sayings and a very high standard of righteousness for carnal religionists.
5. Having defined the character of the citizens of Zion, the kingdom of heaven, Jesus compared the choices!
6. There is the road to hell that is easy and popular; there is the road to heaven that is difficult and despised.
7. Our text is a warning about the comfort, ease, and popularity of living a carnal religious life and going to hell.
8. We should not get too literal with the metaphor here, anymore than with foundations and storms (7:24-27).
9. Every man chooses either Christ’s strict and unpopular religion or the world’s easy and popular Christianity.
10. Jesus was not comparing Christianity to Paganism, but true Christianity to carnal religion (Matthew 5:19-20).
11. Carnal Christianity is very appealing and comfortable (wide gait / broad way) and popular (many are there).
12. The heavenly way of life is very difficult and restrictive, and the true kingdom of Christ is not popular at all.
13. We enter the strait gate – very tight, difficult, restrictive – as a straitjacket is tight, difficult, and restrictive.
14. Because the wide gate and broad way, the easy and popular way of life, brings destruction here and hereafter.
15. But the strait gate and narrow way, the righteous life described by Jesus Christ, leads to life now and later!
16. The exhortation and warning is clear – don’t measure by ease or popularity; measure by final destination.
17. The consequences are also clear – the way of Jesus Christ will be unpopular and criticized for hardness.
18. Only a few will find it – by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ – to press into His kingdom (Luke 16:16).
19. Are you offended that the way of Christ will only be found by a few? Are you offended with a small church?
20. Now read Matthew 7:21-23; Psalm 15, and II Peter 1:10-11 to understand the character of the truly elect.
21. They that have or desire riches cannot get in this gate, short of a miracle of God (Mat 19:23-26; I Tim 6:9-10).
22. They that want popularity or friendship with the world cannot get in this gate (James 4:4; I John 2:15-17).
23. Our lesson for tonight is the extreme unpopularity of Bible Christianity, especially in these perilous times.

Few there be that find it.

1. How few are there who find it? In the days of Noah only a few, eight, were saved (I Peter 3:20).
2. How few? In the days of Noah, only he found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:8; Heb 11:7).
3. How few? Jesus referred to His church as “little flock,” which is not a mega-church (Luke 12:32).
4. Jesus asked if He would find faith when He returned, in spite of His faithfulness (Luke 18:8).
5. Jesus knew why His doctrine and methods did not work, because men hate the truth (John 8:45).
6. And He kept cutting the multitudes down to size by the high cost of discipleship and exposing them.
7. How few? Leading up to Pentecost there were only 120 together after John and Jesus (Acts 1:15).
8. Immediately after the great blessing of Pentecost, many began to corrupt the truth (II Cor 2:17).
9. John saw this and said the whole world lieth in wickedness (I John 5:19). Is this arrogance? No!
10. We were told of a great falling away and some departing from the faith (II Thess 2:3; I Tim 4:1-3).
11. A perilous compromising of Christianity would force withdrawal and separation (II Timothy 3:1-5).
12. False teachers and silly women would be ever learning but never able to find the truth (II Tim 3:6-7).
13. Living godly lives outside the compromising trend of the times would bring persecution (II Ti 3:12).
14. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (II Timothy 3:13).
15. This downgrade would include rejection of sound doctrine for fables and entertainment (II Ti 4:3-4).
16. We are in living in this prophesied compromise of Bible Christianity, with the evidence all around.
17. Baptists are ashamed of the name; they are ashamed of the mode; and they are nothing like John!
18. Our church is small; it will remain small regardless of our efforts, unless the Lord does a miracle.
19. There are churches in our city more than doubling each year, as they make the gate wider and wider.
20. The tastes of our nation have drastically changed, but our menu remains the same, so sales go down!
21. As in former times, they want us to change the menu, but we cannot and will not (Isaiah 30:8-11).
22. There is no promise of revival, in spite of Presbyterian and other post-tribulationist’s hallucinations.
23. We are at a memorable anniversary here – 23 years since founding and 10 years since withdrawing.
24. Jesus warned, When iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold – for God and truth (Mat 24:12).
25. Even the faithful apostle Paul had to say that all men had forsaken him in Rome (II Timothy 4:16).
26. We are fishing for men, for the Lord Jesus Christ and the kingdom of heaven, so we wait on our net.
27. As we put truth in cyberspace and wait for fish to get caught there, we must not expect to sink ships!
28. The effect of this sermon should be thankfulness (Genesis 32:10; Matthew 11:25-27; 13:16).
29. The effect of this sermon should cause prayerfulness (Psalm 119:136; II Timothy 4:16; Rom 10:1-2).
30. The effect of this sermon should be perseverance (Hebrews 3:6; 4:14; 10:23; Revelation 2:25; 3:3).
31. The effect of this sermon should be to love sound doctrine and promote it (Ps 119:128; Jude 1:3-4).

Conclusion:

1. What did the publicans and harlots do with His unpopular message?
2. They confessed and repented of their sins and were baptized (Luke 7:29)!
3. What did the religious fundamentalists do with His unpopular message?
4. They rejected the strait and narrow way and rejected God’s word (Luke 7:30)!
5. The believers were saved forty years later; the Pharisees were buried by Rome!
6. If you believe on Jesus Christ and are baptized, then believe even more (I John 5:13).
7. And hear His call for whatever service you can give in His kingdom (Isaiah 6:8).