A very sad reality taught by Jesus at Luke 17:26= These last days are compared to Noah’s day. The sad reality = in Noah’s day=99.9% minimum mislead to destruction. This goes along with Jesus teaching-FEW will find the road that leads off into life( be saved, get grace, salvation, etc)–So by those #,s 8.5 to 9 million give or take are the FEW. Yet Billions are being told-you are saved, or born again, or get grace free or salvation. Some religions teach ones go to a higher plain of existence-Billions are being told those lies. They do not match Jesus-RUN FROM THEM
Amen. Most definitely run from them. It is a true tragedy. Jesus made Salvation so easy and open to all. Yet His words will remain true.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13–14
If anyone cares, this is part of Jesus’s famous Sermon on the Mount. It serves as a stark warning about the direction of one’s life and the ease with which one can follow the “crowd.”
In the ancient Near East, city gates were the points of entry for trade, news, and safety. A “wide gate” welcomed everyone and everything, caravans, commerce, and chaos. A “narrow gate” or a “postern gate” was a small, secondary entrance used for security, often requiring a person to enter one by one, sometimes even stooping.
Why narrow? It isn’t narrow because God is “exclusive” or trying to keep people out. Rather, it is narrow because it requires singular focus. Much like a mountain pass, you cannot bring everything with you; you have to leave behind the things that weigh you down, such as pride, malice, and self-reliance.
Peter
Just to add…
By the narrow gate (dia tēs stenēs pulēs). The Authorized Version “at the strait gate” misled those who did not distinguish between “strait” and “straight.” The figure of the Two Ways had a wide circulation in Jewish and Christian writings (cf. Deu_30:19; Jer_21:8; Psa_1:1-6). See the Didache i-vi; Barnabas xviii-xx. “The narrow gate” is repeated in Mat_7:14 and
straitened the way (tethlimmenē hē hodos) added. The way is “compressed,” narrowed as in a defile between high rocks, a tight place like stenochōria in Rom_8:35. “The way that leads to life involves straits and afflictions” (McNeile). Vincent quotes the Pinax or Tablet of Cebes, a contemporary of Socrates: “Seest thou not, then, a little door, and a way before the door, which is not much crowded, but very few travel it? This is the way that leadeth unto true culture.” “The broad way” (euruchōros) is in every city, town, village, with the glaring white lights that lure to destruction.
“the narrow gate” This type of proverbial truth has traditionally been known as “the two ways” (cf. Deu_30:15; Deu_30:19; Psalms 1; Pro_4:10-19; Isa_1:19-20 and Jer_21:8). It is hard to identify to whom Jesus was speaking:
(1) to disciples,
(2) to Pharisees, or
(3) to the crowd.
The general context would imply that the verse relates to Mat_5:20 and Mat_5:48. If so, then this would imply that the restricted nature of the gate was not rules, like Pharisaic legalism, but lifestyle love flowing out of a relationship with Christ. Christ does have rules (cf. Mat_11:29-30), but they flow from a changed heart! If we place this verse in relation to a Jewish-Gentile context (cf. Mat_6:7; Mat_6:32), then it relates to belief in Jesus as Savior (gate) and Lord (way).
Starting with Mat_7:13-27 there is a series of contrasts related to religious people.
- the two ways of performing religious duties (Mat_7:13-14)
- the two types of religious leaders (Mat_7:15-23)
- the two foundations of a religious life (Mat_7:24-27)
The question is not to which group of religious people Jesus referred, but to how religious people respond to their understanding of God’s will.
Some use religion as a guise to gain immediate praise and rewards from men. It is a " me" and “now” focused lifestyle (cf. Isa_29:13; Col_2:16-23). True disciples order their lives in light of Jesus’ words about the present and coming Kingdom of God.
“for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction” “Way” can be (1) a metaphor for lifestyle and (2) the earliest title of the church (cf. Act_9:2; Act_19:9; Act_19:23; Act_22:4; Act_24:14; Act_24:22; Act_18:25-26). This verse implies that salvation is not an easy decision which fits in with the mainstream of culture, but a decisive change of life which issues in obedience to the principles of God. The fact that one way leads to destruction shows the ultimate outcome of those who live lives independent of God. Often they seem very religious (cf. Isa_29:13; Mat_7:21-23; Col_2:23)!
This phrase has a typical Greek manuscript variable. In the first of the verse it says, “enter by the narrow gate,” but in the second half “the gate” is omitted in the uncial manuscript א*, some old Latin manuscripts, some Vulgate manuscripts, the Diatessaron, and the Greek texts used by Clement and Eusebius. It is present in the uncials אcf8 i1, B, C, L, W, and some old Latin, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic manuscripts. So the question is, “Was it inserted for balance” or “fell out by accident?” The UBS4 gives the longer text (i.e., its inclusion) a “B” rating (almost certain). However, its inclusion or exclusion does not change the meaning of the text. This is true of the vast majority of the NT variations in the 5,300 Greek New Testaments in existence today! See Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, p. 19.
Mat_7:14 In a day of “easy-believeism” this is a needed balance!
This is not saying that Christianity is dependent on human effort, but rather that the life of faith will be filled with persecution. “Narrow” in this verse shares the same root word as “tribulation” or “persecution” in other NT passages. This emphasis is the exact opposite of Mat_11:29-30. These two verses could be characterized as the “gate” and the “way.” We come to God through Jesus as a free gift of God (cf. Rom_3:24; Rom_5:15-17; Rom_6:23; Eph_2:8-9), but once we know Him, it is the pearl of great price for which we sell all that we have to follow Him. Salvation is absolutely free, but it costs everything that we are and have.
The phrase “few they are that find it” should be compared with Mat_7:13 and Luk_13:23-24. The question is “are more going to be lost than saved?” Is the verse teaching this numerical distinction?
J.
Easy believism is a somewhat derogatory term used against the idea that salvation is by faith alone to the extent that those who trust in Christ are under no obligation to live transformed lives. Easy believism is not just holding to sola fide (“faith alone”). Rather, easy believism is a rejection of any degree of repentance or change as a necessary aspect of saving faith.
The Bible is clear that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The essence of this doctrine is found in Ephesians 2:8–9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV). Faith, given as a gift by God, is what saves us. Ephesians 2:10, then, in contradistinction to easy believism, tells of the results of that salvation: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (ESV). Rather than being saved by some act of our own wills, we are saved by the hand of God Almighty, by His will and for His purposes. We are His servants, and from the moment of salvation, we embark on a journey of pre-ordained good works that are the evidence of, and result of, that salvation. If there is never any evidence of growth and good works, there is good reason to doubt that salvation ever took place.
The problem with easy believism is that, in its desire to defend salvation by faith alone (a vitally needed effort), it severs the biblical ties between faith and repentance and between faith and the results of salvation.
Repentance is a change of mind from an embrace of sin and a rejection of Christ to a rejection of sin and an embrace of Christ (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; 3:18). Repentance is not a work that earns salvation. Repentance, just like faith, is something that God grants to those He has drawn to salvation (Acts 11:18). Repentance and belief/trust are the two ingredients of biblical saving faith.
Faith in Christ, according to the Bible, has an impact on the lives of those who believe. Second Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” The idea that the new creation could permanently look exactly like the old creation is foreign to the Bible. How could the creation be new if it is the same as the old? How could the old have passed away if it is still entirely in control? How could the new have come if there is absolutely no evidence of it? When people come to faith in Christ, they progressively go from producing the acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19–21) to the Holy Spirit producing in them His fruit (Galatians 5:22–23).
The teaching of God’s Word, discipleship by another believer, regular Christian fellowship, and many other factors have a tremendous impact on how much fruit a believer produces. To say that salvation results in change is not to say that the change always happens automatically or easily or quickly. No, of course, discipleship plays a huge role in spiritual growth and maturity. At the same time, a new creation necessitates change. It is impossible for the life of a believer to continually resemble the life of an unbeliever.
Again, the goal of many of those accused of teaching easy believism is a good one. Salvation by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone must be defended. As with many doctrines of the Christian faith, though, biblical truths can be overemphasized to unbiblical extremes. The idea that God instills a desire to turn from sin and follow Christ in those He is drawing to salvation does not contradict salvation by faith alone. The idea that salvation results in a transformed life that will produce fruit does not contradict salvation by faith alone.
Salvation is “easy” in the sense that God does all the work and simply calls on us to receive the salvation He has provided (John 1:12; 3:16; Acts 16:31). Believing unto salvation is “easy” in that there is not a long or complicated series of actions to perform before salvation will be granted. Believing is not easy in that it is not possible unless God does a work in our hearts (John 6:44). Salvation is not easy in the sense that it has a powerful and progressive impact, utterly transforming the lives of those who receive it.
J.
What is EASY BELIEVISM?
Let me share with you three reason why this blief is un-scriptural.
(1) NEO-EVANGELISM produces false converts.
(2) NEO-EVANGELISM tells people what they want to hear instead of what God wants them to hear.
(3) NEO-EVANGELISM is dangerous because it convinces a person he is saved when IN REALITY HE IS ETERNALLY DAMNED. He is damned and does not even know it!
Look at verse 25 we read, “And there went great multitudes with him…”
Notice the words, “…great multitudes…”
But Jesus was not impressed with numbers as we are today. He knew you could have a great multitude of people and not have any among them there for the right reasons.
Listen, what makes a church a great church is a church where it is filled with Christians that have truly been born-again.
You do not have to:
• Beg them to attend church,
• Pray,
• Attend Sunday school!
Why? Because they have that new nature want to do these things.
Illus: But many churches across America are having difficulty today because their membership is built on people who HAVE NEVER TRULY BEEN CONVERTED. Because of this you will find some of the meanest, most spiteful, jealous, hateful, etc., people in churches because they were allowed to join when they were not even saved.
Had Jesus been like many pastors today, He would have looked at that great multitude and said, “Who would like to be the first to join?”
But notice what the Lord did. Verse 25 says, “…and he turned, and said unto them.” He spoke to them about the cost of discipleship. He let them know that God would not put up with having just ANY PLACE in the lives of those who follow Him. He is to have FIRST PLACE IN OUR LIVES!
That does not set well with some people. They want to hear a gospel that teaches nothing and requires nothing from them except what “self” want to give.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger had a man who was a very affluent man to attend his church for about six weeks. Dr. Belger was talking to him one day and he said he would be attending another church because he felt that he preached the Word of God to strict. He went on to say, “You preach the Word of God, but I can not live up to it, so I am going to find me a church that preaches in a way that will fit my life-style. ”At least the man was honest!!!”
Jesus did not practice the neo-evangelism that is being preached today. He turned to that crowd and told them exactly what they should expect.
I. THE CONDITIONS OF DISCIPLESHIP
Look at Luke 14:26-27.
Jesus told that “great multitude” of two conditions THEY HAD TO MEET TO BE HIS DISCIPLES.
A. Domestic conditions –
Look at verse 26, we read, “If any m an come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.”
In this verse He touched on the two groups of people who we love dearly.
(1) Our family.
Many people have interpreted wrongly the meaning of this verse. We see He told His disciples that anyone who came to Him could not be His disciple unless he hated his father, mother, children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own self.
Illus: A Sunday school teacher was reading verse 26 to his class when a little boy raised his hand. He said, “Teacher, I am a Christian because I hate my brothers and sisters.”
Well, with more study we find that was not exactly what Jesus was teaching. It is the will of God that family members love each other, not hate each other!
And it is because He knows that our family members mean more to us than anyone else that He turned to that crowd and said, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters…he cannot be my disciple.”
Was the Lord teaching hate in the home? Was that what He was teaching? Of course not!
But listen, sometime a christian man might be married to a un-christian woman and she will do everything she can to keep him out of church and serving the Lord. BUT IF IT COMES TO PLEASING A WIFE OR A HUSAND OVER THE LORD JESUS WE MUST PUT THE LORD ABOUT THEM.
J.
Its not really that easy. Satan is ruling this system like this-2Cor 4:4-2Cor 11:12-15) he makes things off the table of demons look good to the mortal heart. Most are told they are saved, yet barely ever open their bible to learn what Jesus actually taught, thus they cannot obey. Plus he has many false religions misleading the majority.
Obeying is how ones gets saved. Obeying-Every utterance from God as Jesus teaches, man must live by Every utterance=OT-NT, carefully studied over and over it never stops. Few bother. Why? Isn’t eternal life worth more than all the combined wealth on Earth? It doesn’t seem so to the majority. Todays world = 2Timothy 3:1-7)–The biggest problem is they believe one who tells them-you are saved or born again or osas, or get grace free no matter what, etc– Those do not teach truth. Yet the many believe them.