God Loves… Himself

Mat 7:13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. 4 “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. 5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?

Notice how far these people went in the ways of religion. Their religion, at least in appearance, seems to have gone beyond just the mere externals. Their religion appeared to be focused on God in many ways and to have been a way of seeking Him in some form of truth. Their religion was based (in many regards) on the ways that God had commanded. They were Israelites and were of the house of Jacob. If we read the things of Isaiah 58 in our day about a local church we would think that these people were a group of true believers.

God commanded Isaiah to raise his voice like a trumpet and declare to His people (the Israelites) their transgressions and their sins. Yet, what were the things that they were doing? They were seeking Him day by day and they even delighted to know His ways. They were a nation that had been involved in righteous things and they had not forsaken the ordinance of God. They prayed to Him for just decisions and they delighted in the nearness of God. They fasted and they humbled themselves. But again, if we found a local church where the people were doing these things we would think that we had found a true group of people truly seeking the living God with all of their hearts. We would think that we had found a group of true believers who had hearts for God.

Regardless of how far they went in their religious practices, however, their hearts were not right before God and they were not converted people. It is possible for people to seek God every day, but if they are not seeking Him from a new heart and a heart that loves Him they are seeking Him for selfish reasons and as such they are not seeking God for Himself. This is a point that must be made and people must come to see. Seeking God for selfish reasons or reasons that are self-centered (even if for religious reasons) is idolatry. It boils down to seeking God for a greater purpose and is the worship of self and loving self with all of our hearts rather than God.

These people sought God daily and they delighted to know His ways. People can have a delight in religious things that is not a delight in God Himself. People can love the external things of religious morality and delight in those things without a true delight in God. In fact, religious morality apart from a true love for God is a wicked thing. It is living in a moral way and doing it for self rather than for God. It is not truly living to please God, but instead it is living in a way to the delight of moral self and is a form or self-righteousness. It is self-centered and as such it is pride and self being religious in the sight of God but not doing what it does for the glory of God and out of love for Him. Even morality can be a way for self to seek self in the name of religion and have it to be idolatry.

The heart of man is so deceitful and so wicked that it blinds men and it keeps them from seeing true holiness and the true Gospel. The heart of man is so wicked that it can and it does take the very things of God and uses them as a way to serve self and love self rather than seek the Lord in the ways that He intended. The proud heart of man will take preaching and evangelism and use them as ways to seek the glory and honor of self rather than the glory and honor of God. God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace, yet proud preachers and proud evangelists do what they do using His name and yet do it to the praise and glory of self. This is vile and wicked and is the height of pride, yet these people think that they are close to God. How far men can go in the things of religion and yet be utterly lost in their deception.

Mat 7:13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell– and great was its fall.”

There are very many in the world who are almost and yet but almost Christians…A second proof of it is that of the parable of the virgins in St. Matthew. See what a progress they make, how far they go in a profession of Christ.

The reason that people must go through the narrow gate is because of three things. One, the gate is wide that leads to destruction. Two, the way is broad that leads to destruction. Three, there are many who enter through that broad gate (from Sobering Thoughts 10)

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

It is hard to overstate the issue at hand when you have the very Lord of the universe telling us to enter through the narrow gate. When the Lord of the universe who knows all things and that includes all things in the future and He says that many enter through the broad gate, it should give us pause and cause us to reflect on why this is the case. If we take the words of Scripture carefully and see them as they are and that as the very Word of God, this is vitally serious. We must deal with these words and we must deal with our hearts and live sin light of these words.

Mat 7:13 “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.
14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life,
and there are few who find it.

Note the language and structure of the text. We are to enter through the narrow gate for the gate and the way that leads to destruction are wide and broad and there are many who enter through it. On the other hand, however, we are to enter through the narrow gate for the gate is small (as opposed to wide) and the way is narrow (as opposed to broad) that leads to life. There are few who find it.

This should strike us like a bolt of lightening as we see these two verses in contrast to each other. There are many who enter and go on the way to destruction, but there are few who find the way that leads to life. Among those who think that they are on the road to heaven, only a few are on the road to life while the vast majority is on the way to destruction. It appears that so many have deceived themselves and/or have been deceived by ministers of the Deceiver himself. There are many ways and many approaches on the road to destruction, but the road to life is very narrow. The narrowness is not a way of strict moralism, of strict doctrinal precision, or even of being in a certain denomination. The way is narrow because the very self must be denied in order to have Christ alone by grace alone.

Mat 7:13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell– and great was its fall.”

There are very many in the world who are almost and yet but almost Christians…A second proof of it is that of the parable of the virgins in St. Matthew. See what a progress they make, how far they go in a profession of Christ.

The reason that people must go through the narrow gate is because of three things. One, the gate is wide that leads to destruction. Two, the way is broad that leads to destruction. Three, there are many who enter through that broad gate (from Sobering Thoughts 10)

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

The words of Christ should land with all the force of a freight train upon our souls. “There are many who enter through it” (the broad gate). Not only does the broad gate appear very deceptive for those who think that they are entering the narrow gate, there are many false prophets around only too eager to help those around them enter the broad gate. These false prophets may be the nicest people and the best spoken, but that is nothing but sheep’s clothing for them. In reality they are pawns of the devil who is using them to hide his own ravenous nature of the wolf who longs to devour eternal souls. The nicest and most well-spoken of ministers may indeed be nothing but a mean for the devil to deceive souls.

“There are many who enter through it” (the broad gate). How many people read their Bibles and just assume that s/he is safe? How many people hear someone read that passage and just assume that s/he is safe? How many people hear someone preach on that subject and the preacher just assumes that all the people who gathered to hear him are safe? When Jesus tells us that many think that they are okay and yet are not, this should become a driving concern for us. Is this an assertion that people lose their salvation? No, but it is an assertion that Jesus taught that many will think that they have entered through the narrow gate and yet have entered the wide one.

“There are many who enter through it” (the broad gate). The Pharisees thought that they were no the narrow road and even seemed to be proud that they were on such a narrow path. However, Jesus reserved His hardest words for them. Assuredly those very stringent men had entered a wide gate when they thought that they had entered the narrow gate. Assuredly those very stringent men were on a broad road when they thought they were on a narrow road. The way of free-grace is the narrow gate and the narrow path. Sinners must not look to themselves and their own works as a way of peace with God, but instead they must not just trust in grace alone they must have that free-grace. They must live by that free-grace and all of their works must come from that free-grace. There is nothing we can do that is spiritual or good unless we receive it from Christ first and that is by free-grace. Oh how men and women hate free-grace while they give lip service to the doctrines of grace!

Mat 7:13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell– and great was its fall.”

There are very many in the world who are almost and yet but almost Christians…A second proof of it is that of the parable of the virgins in St. Matthew. See what a progress they make, how far they go in a profession of Christ.

The reason that people must go through the narrow gate is because of three things. One, the gate is wide that leads to destruction. Two, the way is broad that leads to destruction. Three, there are many who enter through that broad gate (from Sobering Thoughts 10)

It bears repeating, to our own souls and to that of others, that of all the people on either road all of them think that they are on the way to heaven. All those on either of the two roads think that they are on the road that is the way to heaven. No one really thinks that s/he is on the road that leads to destruction. The broad gate is not thought all that broad by those who go through it. The broad gate may even be thought of as extremely narrow by those who go through it. This should so strike our souls as to make us to turn from self with all of our own strength and then seek the Lord for strength to turn from self. That self is so sticky and is such a chameleon that most people have no idea that they are full of self and in the control of self. This is true of religious people and even very religious people.

The way to destruction is often (apparently by the vast majority) thought to be the way to life. How can one stress this with the appropriate words? How can one overly stress the importance of such a teaching? If we look out on the world today, it would appear that few people (percentage or real numbers) are even concerned about the road that they are on. However, of the few people who are concerned about the road that they are on, it would appear that the vast majority of those people are on the broad road that leads to destruction. Speaking of the way of destruction, Scripture tells us that “there are many who enter through it.” When Jesus speaks in such a way, it would behoove all to listen and then search his or her own heart.

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

The very next verse after Matthew 7:13-14 which tells us of the narrow gate and the broad gate and then the broad road and the narrow road, we have the words of Jesus telling us about false prophets. Not only are people deceived by their own hearts, by the deceitfulness of sin, by the Deceiver himself, and perhaps God is hardening their hearts as well; but people are deceived by those who are supposed to be preaching the Gospel. Each and every soul must beware of what s/he hears. There are people who mean well (in a humanistic way) in the pulpits and take the name of “pastor” who are lost and clueless as to the Gospel. The very words of these men (and women in our day) may be charming and sound so wonderful, but these men are ravenous wolves of souls on the inside. These people only care about themselves and not the truth. They are the blind leading the blind and indeed both will fall into the pit of eternal destruction. How we must know that only the free-grace of Christ can take a poor soul and enlighten its eyes and grant it a new heart. All the ways of these false teachers, who may indeed be quite orthodox in many ways, are simply part of the broad road. Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Our souls must learn that.

Mat 7:13 “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. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell– and great was its fall.”

There are very many in the world who are almost and yet but almost Christians…A second proof of it is that of the parable of the virgins in St. Matthew. See what a progress they make, how far they go in a profession of Christ.

The reason that people must go through the narrow gate is because of three things. One, the gate is wide that leads to destruction. Two, the way is broad that leads to destruction. Three, there are many who enter through that wide gate. (from Sobering Thoughts 10)

The way to life is through a narrow gate, even a very narrow gate. There is no room for a person to enter that gate with pride and self, or with love of the world hidden in that heart. This does not mean that a person is perfect, but simply that God has broken that heart until it wants nothing of self, pride, and the world when it enters that narrow gate. Later on, however, the person will fight those things as God shows the heart deeper levels of pride and self, but that inwardly taught heart will fight and claw against those things as the Lord humbles it more and more.

Not only does the heart have many sinful and deceitful things standing against it to deceive it, the heart has many religious things that are deceitful as well. There are many pastors, theologians, and apparently well-meaning people who are so willing to stretch the gate as wide as needed for others to enter (they think). Not only are they willing to stretch the gate wide to allow more and more people to enter, they are also willing to make the narrow path that Jesus speaks about very wide. As one man said about various psychologists and theories of psychology, if you keep looking you will find one that you like. This is what appears to be true in the modern United States of America. Not only are people deluded enough to think that there is freedom of religion in the States, they believe that they are free before God to sincerely practice the theology and religion of their own choice. In other words, there are many, many broad roads out there for people to be deceived by.

There are broad roads that are filled with legalism and very strict moralists, but those people have yet to understand that they have broadened the road to make room for their self-efforts. The broad roads are filled with those who have made it through the wide gate (even if they think it was narrow and costly) with their pride and self still intact. Oh yes, the self is like a chameleon and will change itself and take on the glittering colors of various theologies and various moralities, but that ole self is still there and it has adapted to the theology and the morality of those around it. Oh how beautiful it looks in its own sight, but the devil appears as an angel of light as well.

The true gate and the true road that lead to life is a narrow one. It is not narrow according to the dimensions (so to speak) that men measure with, it is narrow in precisely the way God has measured. Many want to broaden the path to allow for worldly pleasures, but many want to make the path very narrow in their own way of measuring with their theology and their morality. Jesus spoke with clarity when He said that those who were poor in spirit were those who were blessed. The narrow gate and the narrow path are for those without any righteousness of their own and yet at the same time they are not living in open sin and are not pursuing sin. The narrow path has many ways to broaden it on either side. Christ alone and His free-grace alone is the narrow gate and the narrow path.