Alright, we're here in Matthew chapter 7, and of course we're going verse by verse through the book of Matthew.
And, you know, we're not doing one sermon per chapter, we're kind of doing it by topics,
and there's a lot of topics that come up in the Sermon on the Mount,
and we're only going to be looking at two verses here today,
and it's the straight gate versus the wide gate, Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read these verses,
I'm going to give you a quick explanation of what they mean in about five minutes,
and then we're going to have four points that go more in depth on what this is referring to.
And it says here in Matthew 7 verse 13,
Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Now, in verse number 13, it mentions wide is the gate, and broad is the way.
And in the Bible, and just in grammar in general,
sometimes the word and is not connecting different statements,
it's actually connecting synonyms to add more emphasis.
So when it's saying wide and broad, Maluwang at Malapad is what it's saying,
it's adding extra emphasis.
It's basically saying the same thing twice, but it would be kind of weird to say,
wide is the gate, wide is the way, right?
It doesn't really flow off the tongue, so you say, you know, wide, and then you say broad, okay?
And so that's pretty understandable, wide and broad,
I don't think people really just have a problem with that.
But then people get very confused when it says,
straight is the gate, and narrow is the way.
And the reason why they get confused is this word straight is not derecho,
like straight, s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.
It's not spelled that way, right?
It's s-t-r-a-i-t, because I've heard plenty of preachers through the years saying,
well, you've got to stay on the straight and narrow, right?
You've got to make sure you enter in, and it's a straight path,
but if you stumble, whoops, you fell off the path,
and now you're on your way to hell.
It's not what it's saying here when it says straight and narrow.
When it's saying straight and narrow, it's once again synonyms,
because it wouldn't make sense to say wide and broad,
and then say, you know, narrow and straight.
It's going to make sense to make it connecting,
so wide and broad, straight and narrow,
and this word s-t-r-a-i-t, it is a homophone to the word s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.
And homophones are two words that sound the same,
and they mean different things.
They can be spelled the same,
but usually you're thinking of words that are spelled differently.
And so s-t-r-a-i-t is a very different word than s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.
So what you're basically saying is makitit at masikit or makiput.
Those are kind of the words that it's referring to, right?
So when you say, well, what does this word mean, s-t-r-a-i-t,
it means narrow.
And to give you the popular usage in today's world,
think of the Strait of Magellan.
That's not s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.
What a strait is is a narrow passageway that connects two bodies of water.
So here in Luzon, we have the Luzon Strait, which connects us to Taiwan.
But there's also the Cebu Strait, there's the Mactan Strait, the Iloilo Strait.
I mean, I learned a lot about, you know, the straits in the Philippines,
you know, over the last week as I was looking up this sermon.
But there's the Bering Strait, it gets its name for being very narrow.
That's what the word actually means.
So it's not saying the straight and narrow.
It's saying the straight and narrow.
It's re-emphasizing the same statement as broad and wide, straight and narrow.
Okay?
Now, here's the thing.
In other Bible versions, though, they completely change the verse.
And it means something completely different.
Because here's the thing.
If straight we're referring to this, straight and narrow,
that's sort of implying it's really hard to make it, right?
You've got to stay on the straight and narrow.
It's so hard to make it to heaven.
But see, that's what other Bible versions teach.
Here's what it says in the NLT.
It says,
You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate.
The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.
But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult.
And only a few ever find it.
Now, I mean, here's the thing.
Not only is straight not saying derecho, it's certainly not saying mahirah, right?
In fact, it's very madali to get to heaven.
It's not hard to get to heaven.
But they completely change it in other versions.
And I don't know whether it's just complete ignorance or it's intentional or whatever,
but it completely changes the meaning when you're saying,
Well, you know, it's narrow and it's very difficult,
because it's such a straight path that if you just step to the side one inch,
you're off the straight and narrow, right?
That's the way that people preach it oftentimes.
That's the way they imply it.
It's a completely different word, though.
You can look it up online.
You're welcome to.
S-T-R-A-I-T is a completely different word than derecho or straight with a G-H.
The English language is just strange.
It's just strange.
I mean, there's a lot of words that are spelled completely differently,
and you're going to look at that.
It's like, Well, how does that get pronounced straight with their G-H?
That's just the English language.
That's all I can say, right?
Now, turn in your Bible to John 6.
So what are these verses saying?
Here's what these verses are saying.
It's saying straight and narrow,
and what it's using is symbolism to show you that, you know what,
very few people actually enter in the correct way.
But when you enter in the correct way, the door is shut behind you.
It's eternal life.
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God,
neither life nor death, nor things present, nor things that come.
When you have eternal life, you have everlasting life.
It never ends.
It's forever, no matter how badly you screw up your life.
So what the Bible is saying is very few people go to heaven,
and the vast majority go to hell, but not because it's hard to get to heaven.
In fact, point number one is this.
It's very easy to get to heaven.
Salvation's very easy.
Now, there's three examples that Jesus gives
that I like to bring up about how easy it is to go to heaven,
and one of the examples is found in John 6
when he describes himself as bread.
John 6, verse 32.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven,
but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Oftentimes there's this symbolism.
They have trouble understanding.
Jesus clarifies more, and Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life.
Now, is Jesus saying, I am, t'not by?
Is that what he's saying?
Obviously that's not what he's saying.
He's being symbolic.
Now, of course, if you grow up in the Catholic Church,
it's like, put this bread in your mouth,
and it's going to turn into the body of Jesus,
and they get that from John 6,
and it's like, do you not understand symbolism?
When he's saying, I'm the bread of life,
he's not being literal, because then he says,
he that cometh to me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst,
and in another place we're going to see,
he compares himself to water.
Is he literally water?
No, there's a lot of symbolism in the Bible.
But then it says, but I said unto you
that ye also have seen me, and believe not.
So notice how the bread of life is linked toward believing.
Okay? Drop down to verse number 47.
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I am that bread of life.
So notice, the last word in verse 47 is life.
The last word in verse 48 is life.
You see how there's a connection made
between being the bread and believing?
What's the Bible saying?
Well, believing on Christ is as easy
as eating a slice of bread.
And here's the thing.
You know, we're celebrating Mother's Day today,
and look, if you've raised kids at a very young age,
can they not eat bread on their own?
I mean, sometimes we're looking around,
like, where'd all the bread go?
And then Ezra's like...
It's inside his mouth.
I mean, before the age of one,
probably before the age of six months,
and obviously people have different opinions
on when to wean their children
or completely on solids or partial or whatever.
We let our kids at a very early age,
once they start trying to steal our food,
we let them start eating something
besides just eating milk, drinking milk.
And I'm telling you, before the age of six months,
Ezra is oftentimes just feeding himself.
Why? Because it's very easy to eat bread.
Just as it's very easy to be saved,
all it comes down to is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Go to John 4.
John 4.
Now, if he said,
I am the rice of life,
that'd be a little bit harder,
because you're probably going to need a fork or a spoon,
or, you know, with rice, it's going to make a mess, right?
He says bread, right?
So one example he gives is bread.
Another example he gives is water.
John 4, verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her,
If thou knewest the gift of God,
what is the gift of God?
Eternal life.
And who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink.
Who is it saying to this woman?
Jesus.
So if you understand what the gift is and who's giving it,
thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water.
And we talked about that last week for people that,
you know, when they hear the Gospel,
they understand it, they believe it,
they call on the name of the Lord, right?
The woman saith unto them,
Sir, thou is nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep.
From whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than her father Jacob,
which gave us the well and drank thereof himself,
and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again,
but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst,
but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life.
So Jesus uses an example that's right in front of her face
because she can relate to it.
He's saying you drink this water
and you're going to thirst again,
but if you drink the water that I give you,
it's going to be a well of life flowing up in you,
and you're never going to get thirsty.
Let me ask you a question.
How difficult is it to drink a glass of water?
Once again, this is something kids master
before the age of one.
Obviously kids are different.
Maybe it's past one,
but it's not like it takes until 20 years old.
I finally figured out how to hold a cup and drink water.
No, kids can figure it out at a very young age.
Eating bread, very easy.
Drinking water, very easy.
Being saved, very easy.
Go to John 10.
John 10.
And Jesus gives one other example
I'm going to highlight here
about how easy it is to be saved.
He says in John 10, verse 7,
Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out and find pasture.
Salvation is like opening a door.
It's pretty easy to open a door.
When we were growing up, my sister had a cat,
and the cat would put its paws on the knob
and try to turn it.
You say, why?
Because even a dumb animal can figure it out.
It's not hard to open a door
unless you've got like 500 locks on it, right?
It's pretty easy.
You just turn the knob, you open it.
And look, getting saved is like eating a slice of bread.
Getting saved is like drinking a glass of water.
Getting saved is like opening a door.
And guess what?
It's pretty easy to be saved.
Why?
Because Christ did all the work.
Let me ask you a question.
Is it easy to never lose your temper,
always be patient, never worldly, never prideful,
never bitter, never envious, never covetousness?
I mean, when you wake up first thing in the morning,
I can't wait to read the Bible for one and a half hours
and then memorize the Bible for an hour
and then spend 30 minutes in prayer.
And every waking second, no foolish thoughts enter
because the thought of foolishness is sin.
And all you do is meditate on God 24-7.
Is that easy?
That's not easy at all.
Yeah, that's impossible.
I mean, didn't they say with men this is impossible?
And it is.
It's impossible for us to live a perfect and sinless life.
We're not even close to being on the line.
And so for people to say,
well, if you live a good life, you go to heaven,
it's like, well, your standard of good
is certainly not the same standard as God.
Because God is holy.
God is righteous.
God demands perfection.
And there is no sin that is going to enter into heaven.
So you better be perfect
if that's the way you're trying to get to heaven.
Go to Galatians 3.
Galatians 3.
I mean, I've asked people this out so many before
if they're struggling to understand salvation
and they're trying to attach their good works.
And I'll ask them, like,
well, what do you think God wants more from you,
to read the Bible or spend time on social media?
And they always say, read the Bible.
I said, do you spend more time reading the Bible
or on social media?
I have never once here in the Philippines
had anybody ever come back and say
I spend more time reading the Bible.
If they ever do and there's other people around,
I'm just going to look at their friends and say,
you know, did you believe that?
I mean, there's no way,
especially for an unsafe person,
because it's hard enough as a safe person
when we understand the Bible
to be motivated to read it every single day
because we have so many other interests
and things going on in our lives
that we allow to take us away from the focus of God.
And so, look, none of us are close.
It's not even like,
it's not like, well, you know, I'm kind of close.
No, no, no, nobody's even close.
And what happens is
they bring the bar down on righteousness
in order to be just good enough to crawl over.
It really doesn't matter how wicked somebody is.
They will bring the bar down so low
so they can crawl over.
If someone's a murderer, well, I'm not a serial killer.
I'm telling you, if you were to talk to a murderer,
that is probably what they'd say.
Yeah, I think I'm going to heaven
because I asked for forgiveness,
and I haven't killed a bunch of people.
I'm not Jeffrey Dahmer.
That's what they would say.
Everybody just lowers the bar just low enough
so they can just barely make it over.
The problem is we don't get to set the bar.
And let me show you what the bar is in God's eyes.
Galatians 3, verse 10.
For as many as are of the works of the law
are under the curse.
This is the person trying to work their way to heaven.
They are under the curse.
You say, why?
For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things.
It doesn't say most things.
It doesn't say some things.
It says in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them.
Meaning you better pray without ceasing.
You better read the Bible every single day
for a lot of time.
You better memorize the Bible.
You better never break any of the Ten Commandments.
Never have a covetous thought enter your head.
Always honor your parents 100% perfectly from the womb.
Good luck with that.
And the Bible says it's a curse.
You know why it's a curse?
Because there's not a single person
who could actually follow it.
And there's not a single person
that's even close to following it.
But what the Bible says is in verse 13,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us.
He redeemed us from that curse.
And the Bible said in verse 11,
But then no man is justified by the law
and the sight of God.
It is evident for the just to live by faith.
No one is justified by their actions,
by their works.
The law is going to declare you guilty
because you've broken the law.
You've done bad before.
And look, you might not be as bad as somebody else.
That doesn't make you innocent.
I mean, imagine if I go to court,
I get like a parking ticket
or a speeding ticket or something,
and my defense is,
but I've never robbed a store before.
I've never killed anybody before.
Is that a good defense in a courtroom?
No, I'm going to be guilty.
Now, it might be true that other people
have done worse than me,
but does that make you innocent
because other people have done worse than you?
It doesn't make you innocent at all.
You're still guilty.
And see, God's standard is perfection.
So if you don't continue in all things perfectly,
you need a Savior, right?
Go in your Bible to 2 Kings 5.
But you know, the sad thing is
that when people want to be judged by their works,
guess what?
They're going to get just what they ask for.
See, God wants to judge us
by us putting our faith in Christ.
But that's the vast minority of people.
Most people want to work their way to heaven,
and guess what?
God gives them what they want.
It's like, you want to be judged by your actions?
Okay, let's look at your actions.
When you were six years old and you were in school,
you know, you pulled a chair out from underneath,
you know, a girl, and she hit the ground.
It's like, oh, I forgot about that one.
Right?
You stole a piece of candy from, you know,
a gas station when you were eight years old.
Oh, I forgot about that one.
Here's all your bad thoughts
you've had throughout your head.
Here's all the lies you've told.
Here's all the times you've been covetous.
I mean, honestly, you know,
if we were to actually look at everything
we do wrong in a day,
because the Bible says if our heart condemn us,
God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things.
So the thing is, if you know you're guilty
and have a guilty conscience,
how much more does God know?
Because he knows all things.
Because when you feel like you're perfectly right with God,
you're not.
So if your heart condemns you,
God is greater than your heart.
He knoweth all things the Bible says.
Right?
So point number one,
the way of salvation is easy
because it's like eating a slice of bread.
It's like drinking a glass of water.
It's like opening a door.
It's very easy to be saved
because we don't have to do any good work to be saved.
But if you're trying to work your way to heaven,
not only is it difficult,
actually it's impossible.
It is not possible to work your way to heaven.
It's not possible to be close.
So point number one,
the way of salvation is easy.
Point two,
the majority of people go to hell.
The natural assumption people have
is that if most people go to hell,
it must be hard to get to heaven.
That is the wrong interpretation of the evidence.
That's what people think.
That's not true.
It's very easy to get to heaven.
But it is true,
the vast majority of people go to hell.
Broad is the way,
wide is the gate that leadeth the destruction,
and many there be which go in their act,
because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth on the life,
and few there be that find it.
The vast majority of people in this world
are going to die and go to hell.
And it's always been that way
because 2,000 years ago,
Jesus said,
straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way.
Well, nothing's changed.
It's always been straight and narrow.
Whether it's like,
whether fewer people are going now than in the past,
I don't really know,
but it's always been the minority
that end up going to heaven.
Now, let me give you some statistics
to help you understand how narrow it actually is.
Because when I first got saved,
before I got saved,
I naturally assumed,
probably like you did before you were saved,
most people go to heaven
as long as they don't do something really bad.
And then when I got saved,
I realized, whoa, wait a minute.
Most people don't even claim to be Christian.
Most people are not going to heaven.
And I knew these verses early on
after I got saved.
I was like, wow,
most people are going to hell.
But then you start realizing
how narrow the pathway is
that leads to life.
You start realizing,
no, wait a minute,
I thought like 15% of people were saved
and on their way to heaven.
Now I'm thinking it's 10.
You know, six months later,
oh, actually it's lower than that.
And then you start realizing
it is actually very, very narrow.
Very few people go to heaven percentage-wise.
Now here's some statistics from 2020.
In 2020,
there were 2.382 billion professing Christians.
2.382 billion professing Christians.
This includes the Catholic Church,
the Orthodox,
every Protestant, every Baptist.
It includes INC.
It includes Angad Ting Da An.
It includes Mormon.
It includes Jehovah's Witness,
Seventh-day Adventist.
I mean, it might even include
Apollo Kibbeloy.
I'm not sure, right?
So it's not that strict, okay?
When they're saying Christian,
it's like it's very accepting
of anything under the sun
that would say that they're Christian, right?
So to make this easier,
let's round the 2.382 billion
up to 2.4 billion.
And that's being generous
because that would result
in more actual saved people, okay?
Let's round the 31.11% up to 32%.
I want to make the math
a lot easier to deal with.
So 2.4 billion, 32% of the world,
according to 2020, are Christians.
So best case scenario pretty much
is 32% of the world is saved, right?
We've already narrowed it down to that.
Now there is a small exception to that,
and I want to show this to you
in 2 Kings 5.
Notice what the Bible says
in 2 Kings 5, verse 17.
2 Kings 5, verse 17.
And Naaman said,
and by the way,
let me say this with these statistics.
I'm not including those
that have not reached
the age of accountability.
Obviously babies get aborted.
Obviously people die at a young age.
Obviously babies and very young children
are safe.
They're not saved,
but they are safe.
But I'm talking about people
that have reached
the age of accountability, okay?
2 Kings 5, verse 17.
And Naaman said,
Naaman said,
Naaman says,
I believe in the true Lord now.
I realize I was wrong.
I got saved.
I believe this.
But notice verse 18.
In this thing,
the Lord pardoned thy servant,
that when my master goeth
into the house of Reman
to worship there,
and he leaneth on my hand,
and I bow myself in the house of Reman,
when I bow down myself
in the house of Reman,
the Lord pardoned thy servant
in this thing.
And it's kind of interesting
in verse 18,
because when people try
to justify their actions,
they usually use a lot of words.
And if you notice in verse 18,
he's being very wordy
with how he describes it.
What he's saying, though,
is forgive me,
because I've got a boss.
I've got a master,
and my master worships another god.
So I'm going to be in the house
of that god with him,
and then he's going to put his hand
on Mon to say,
it's time to worship Reman.
And then I'm going to bow down,
but in my heart,
in my heart,
I'm completely devoted
to the true God.
And I'm sure Elisha's dealt
with this a lot of times.
He's kind of like,
okay, do whatever you want, right?
But here's the thing.
I believe that Naaman was saved.
And I would say that
a modern-day application
would be kind of like,
let's say, in a Muslim country.
Do you really think that
every person that says,
I mean, do you think that
there's not a single person
in a Muslim country
that is secretly saved
but will not admit it publicly?
I promise you there's people
in Muslim countries that,
even in a poll, it's like,
well, what's your religion?
Muslim, right?
They're going to be afraid.
And I'm not saying I blame them.
I didn't grow up in a Muslim country.
I'd say, just pray you get out
of a country like that, you know?
But I'm sure there's a small percentage
of people in Muslim countries
that are saved and are not admitting it.
I'm sure there's a small percentage
in North Korea that maybe
they're afraid to admit it.
I believe that we get Catholics safe
sometimes, and because of their family,
they don't want to separate
from their Catholic relatives,
and they're afraid to admit it.
They're afraid to offend,
and they might even go to Catholic church,
and they just kind of
go through the motions,
but in their heart,
they don't really believe it.
Now, I would say this.
If you get a relative saved,
and a year later,
they're a hardcore Catholic,
and they're holding on
to their rosary beads and everything,
you want to double-check
that salvation, okay?
But I am saying that it is possible
for someone to get saved,
and for whatever reason,
they're afraid to admit it publicly.
They're afraid to admit it publicly
because of peer pressure,
or the government, or whatever.
The Bible speaks in the book of John
about Pharisees getting saved,
but they're afraid of getting
put out of the synagogue,
so they weren't openly confessing
that Jesus Christ was what they believed.
But it says they believed.
So is that what Naaman is?
I believe Naaman was saved,
but he's like,
well, I got a job,
and I don't want to lose my job, right?
I remember I got somebody saved
in Sacramento, California,
and I got this woman saved,
and then we had a church van route
where we would pick people up on the route,
and she said she wanted to come to church,
and so I showed up to church.
She came to church.
She said she really liked the church,
and then when I called her
later on during the week,
she said, oh, you know,
I can't go to church this Sunday
because she worked for a company
that was owned by the Mormons,
and for the job,
she had to go to Mormon Church.
So basically, she went to Baptist Church
one time.
She didn't want to lose her job,
so guess what?
She's just regularly going
to the LDS church,
and so there's certainly people
that would do that.
They're more worried about their job
or their circumstances or whatever,
so in the other 68%,
I'm sure there's a small percentage
of people that are actually saved,
and they're not going to admit it,
but to make things easier,
let's just assume we've got 32%, okay?
Go to John 14.
John 14.
So I remember when I first got saved,
and I saw the statistics,
and it's like roughly one-third
of the world is Christian,
and I'm like, man, that's narrow.
I mean, only a third of people
are going to heaven,
and then you start learning more,
and it's like, man,
because I knew you had to believe
in eternal security to be saved,
and it's like so many people
don't believe in eternal security.
I'm like, man,
because I was in these Christian groups
on campus,
and I started realizing
all these people I've been doing
Bible study with are not even saved.
I mean, I was shocked,
because I was like,
but it's eternal life.
How could you lose it?
And then I found out
all these people are trusting
in their works to go to heaven.
The Bible says in John 14, verse 6,
Jesus saith unto them,
I am the way, the truth,
and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
Jesus is the only way to heaven,
and so if you try to substitute in
Muhammad, Shiva, Buddha,
whomever, not good enough.
If you try to substitute in your works
or your baptism or your repentance of sins
or whatever, your lifestyle,
not good enough,
because the only way to go to heaven
is through Jesus Christ.
That is the only way.
There is no exception.
The only thing you could look at
is someone that has not reached
the age of accountability,
but when you are old enough to comprehend,
you are held accountable.
Well, what if someone's never heard
the name of Jesus before?
Well, look,
if people got a free pass to heaven
if they had never heard
the name of Jesus,
we've got a new strategy for soul winning.
Never mention the name Jesus ever again.
I command you,
never let that name come out of your mouth.
I mean, you do a prayer,
and it's like we pray to God in name, right?
And just, you know,
ignore that part or whatever
instead of saying in Jesus' name.
I mean, but here's the thing.
Throughout the Bible,
Romans 1 tells us
that they're without excuse.
Because here's the thing.
If you were to visit a country,
and I don't try to use logic
to prove my points,
but let me just show you
how simple this is
when you think about it.
If I were to visit a country
and I were to break the law in that country
without realizing that was the law,
I'm still held accountable.
When in reality,
people have a conscience,
so they already know
in most cases
that what they're doing is wrong,
whether or not it's the government's law
or whatever.
There's a case in the U.S.
of this, you know,
tomboy basketball player Brittany Greiner.
And if you hear this person's voice,
this is probably more famous in the U.S.
I mean, she sounds like a man.
She kind of looks like a man.
She sounds like a man.
And it was like in Russia,
she had like marijuana or something,
and she got put in jail for several years.
And like all throughout America,
people are like,
how could they do that?
That's horrible.
It's like you broke the law in that country.
It doesn't matter if in America
they let you smoke
as much weed as you want.
It's just like, you know what,
you broke the law in that country.
You broke the law in that country.
You deserve to get arrested.
You deserve to be held accountable.
And so here's the thing.
Whether or not people in a Hindu country
know what the Bible says,
it doesn't negate the fact
they've broken God's law
and they're held accountable.
That's the way it works.
Go to Acts chapter 4.
Acts 4.
Acts 4, verse 12.
Neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved.
People say this is unfair,
but let me explain to you
why it's not unfair.
Everybody knows who Jesus is in the world.
But you know what?
When you look at other religions,
people don't know the names
of all these other religious leaders.
Like, I never knew who Apollo Kibiloy was
before my wife and I got married.
I'd never heard of him before.
I'd never heard of Felix Manalo.
I'd never heard of Elie Soriano
or anyone famous in the Philippines
because they might be famous here.
That doesn't make them famous worldwide,
but the name you must believe on
is Jesus Christ.
And guess what?
People know the name of Jesus
all throughout the world.
Now, of the 32% Christian,
of the 2.4 billion,
50.1% are Catholic.
For ease of math, let's say 50%.
So let's just divide by two.
You say, well, why would you divide by two?
Because many of you were raised Catholic,
and what were you trusting in to go to heaven?
Not faith in Jesus Christ,
the seven sacraments,
your idolatry, last rites,
confession, baptism.
You name it, the Eucharist.
You weren't trusting in Jesus alone
because the Catholic Church
adds many steps and many works
to the process of salvation.
But there's no process of salvation.
It happens in an instant.
You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Think of the analogies of eating bread,
drinking water, or opening a door.
It's like after 25 minutes,
I'm still in the process of drinking the water.
I'm still opening the door.
Now, it happens in an instant, right?
So we divide by two,
and we are left with 1.2 billion of the world.
16% possibly might be saved.
Well, of that 16% of the world's population,
1.2 billion people,
of the remaining 50% so-called Christians,
13.2% are Orthodox.
The Orthodox is very similar to the Catholic Church.
In my opinion, they're more extreme.
They are certainly not trusting faith alone for salvation.
You can remove them from the list as well.
Now we're down to 36.7%.
Now, there's a lot of non-denominational churches
that are out there, but let me just make this simple.
There's 100 million Baptists in the world.
100 million people would say that they're Baptists.
I grew up Methodist.
Guess what they taught?
Work salvation.
That's what the Protestants teach.
And when we say 36.7% is Protestant of the remaining amount,
that's including every new religion
that popped up in the last couple hundred years.
It's including Pentecostal.
It's including everything that is even remotely non-Catholic or Orthodox.
Right?
100 million Baptists in the world.
Well, the population is roughly 8 billion people,
so that is 1 out of 80 people,
1.25% of the world's population.
Now, of the other 98.75% of the world's population,
of course you're going to have some non-denominational people
that are saved, that are sprinkled in,
some non-denom churches that are either correct on salvation
or they're not really dogmatic against the right salvation.
You're going to have people that get their kids saved growing up
that are saved that maybe they aren't lining up with Baptists.
So there's going to be a small percentage of the other 98.75% that are saved.
Of the 1.25% of Baptists,
what percentage of those Baptists are saved?
Less than 50%.
I think that's pretty clear.
It's less than 50%.
I want to be optimistic also.
I hope they're all saved,
but I know that's not the case because you've got repentance of sins.
The vast majority of the time I run into Baptists here in the Philippines,
they will tell me they do not know for sure they're going to heaven.
Let me help you out.
If you don't know for sure you're going to heaven,
you know why you're not sure? Because you're not.
The Bible says if you believe,
ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and if you don't know, you're not saved.
Here's the thing.
If you do know or you say you know,
that doesn't guarantee you're saved either.
Most Baptists here tell me they do not know for sure they're going to heaven,
and even if they say they know,
it doesn't mean they're saved.
There's a lot of people in this room that got baptized by me.
Even though you've been baptized for a long time before,
why would I baptize you if you've already been baptized for a long time?
Because you didn't believe the right salvation,
or you weren't sure because it was unclear in your church.
You're like, maybe I was saved, maybe I wasn't.
It's hard to tell.
I get it.
It's hardier because if you become a Baptist,
you feel like, man, I know the Catholic Church is wrong.
I've left the Catholic Church.
I must be in the right religion.
That's the way that people feel that if they're at CCF and victory as well,
because they realize, hey, I've learned the Catholic Church is wrong.
It's the false way,
and they feel like they've found the true way
and oftentimes they still don't believe on Christ.
So of the 1.25%, what percentage are saved?
I think it's less than half.
I hope there's a lot of other people that are saved
sprinkled in the other 98.75%.
Here's what I would say.
It is definitely less than 5% of the world's population that is saved.
It's definitely less than 5%.
You have to realize this country is going to have
one of the highest percentage of saved people in the world
because there's a lot of Baptists.
You realize there's a lot of countries that really don't have any Baptists.
In my opinion, the United States probably has the highest percentage
of saved people of any country.
Maybe there's other countries that have a lot of smaller population countries
that are largely Baptists.
I'm not really sure.
But here's what I would say.
When you go to so many in the U.S.,
most people don't know for sure they're going to heaven.
How much more if you're going so many in a Muslim country
or a North Korea or a country like that?
My opinion is between 1 to 2% of people are saved.
And I think that's being optimistic, to be honest.
I'll say this.
When we go soul winning and people give bad answers,
I hope that they're actually saved
and they just never learn good doctrine
and they say a lot of bad things.
I think we all hope that.
We can't know because it's like you give the wrong answer.
We've got to be like,
I hope they're saved, but it doesn't sound like it.
But it is definitely less than 5% of the world's population is saved.
I think it's less than 2% of the world's population is saved.
You know what that teaches us?
The way is narrow.
And it seems like we're getting so many people saved
and we are getting a lot of people saved,
but in reality it is a small drop in the bucket, my friend.
We need good churches all over the world.
Even here in the Philippines, 120 million people.
We're only reaching a small percentage.
Metro Manila, 13, 14 million people are reaching a small percentage.
And it's not like most people are going soul winning.
There is a very, very, very small percentage of people in this world
that are actually saved.
Turn your Bible to Proverbs 14.
Proverbs 14.
At the birth of Jesus, if I remember correctly,
Judaism was the fifth biggest religion in the world.
Bigger religions were Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
While, of course, if you're Buddhist, Taoist, Confucianist, or Hindu,
you're not saved.
So the fifth biggest religion in the world was Judaism.
Well, when Jesus came, did every Jewish person by faith believe on Christ?
Because if they were saved, they would have.
Because some people did.
They saw Jesus, they immediately believed.
That was the fifth biggest religion of its day.
And guess what?
A large amount of the people did not believe on Christ.
Now, a lot of them did.
I don't really know the exact percentage.
A lot of them did believe on Christ, but a lot did not believe on Christ.
And that was the fifth biggest religion of its day.
And so what were you seeing?
Well, you were seeing that in the days of Jesus, the way was very narrow.
And it's still narrow.
It's still the minority.
The way of salvation is easy, point number one.
Point number two, the majority of people go to hell.
Point number three, people have a tendency to follow a crowd.
And this is the way it takes place in this world.
You grow up, and you hear people make statements all the time such as this,
where it's like, well, you know what?
Nothing in life is free, right?
And it's like, man, if you're good, you go to heaven.
If you're bad, you go to hell.
I mean, I probably heard that a million times before I was saved.
Just people say that in passing or whatever.
You hear it on TV shows and music or whatever.
Just subtly teaching you a work of salvation.
And guess what?
It's really hard to humble yourself and admit,
I've been wrong for all my life.
That was hard for me to do.
And you know what?
Since everybody believes this, guess what?
We have a tendency to just follow this.
Because it can't be that 98% of the world is wrong.
There's no way.
Actually, there is a way.
See, the Bible says in Proverbs 14, verse 12,
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
When I heard the Gospel, you know what seemed right to me before I got saved?
I thought that if you're a good person and say you're sorry,
then that's what gets you to heaven.
It made sense to me.
What made sense to me is that as long as you're not a really, really, really bad person,
you go to heaven.
So I think I was probably like 80 to 90% sure.
I mean, there was a part of me where I had this,
because you can never have that full assurance if you're not saved.
So I had this when I would go to bed.
We're just like, man, I hope God's going to forgive me.
It's like, of course He's going to forgive me.
I've never killed anyone, right?
But then inside of me, I'm still like, I hope so.
But how can you really know if you're basing it on works
and you're not the one setting the standard?
You cannot know.
That's why the Bible says those that believe know they have eternal life.
But people have a tendency to follow a crowd.
Everybody's believing this.
It seems right because you're thinking,
well, I mean, you've got to work for everything in life, right?
And so guess what?
Most people are unsaved and they stay unsaved.
And statistics show us that if you reach a certain age,
you're very, very, very unlikely to end up changing your belief
and getting saved.
The vast majority of people that we get saved out soul winning
are less than 30 years old.
Isn't that true?
I mean, isn't it true?
We go soul winning and you see teens walking down the street,
you're thinking, yes, I got a chance, right?
If you're soul winning in a park
and you see a group of young people like 20 years old
and then you see a group of old people,
which group are you going to approach with the Gospel?
The young people.
Because as you reach a certain age, you just get set in your ways
and you just don't want to change what you believe.
And I get that because it was hard for me at the age of 18
to just think that everything I've learned my whole life was wrong.
It's hard.
It's hard to change your belief.
I mean, it's difficult to realize you've been lied to
because it requires humility.
But in reality, it's really that easy.
Now, go in your Bible to Luke 8.
We'll look at two more places.
Luke 8.
Luke chapter 8.
You know, the Bible says the simple things of the world
confound the wise.
And really, when you just think about it very simply,
it makes complete sense,
salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.
One example I give sometimes out soul winning
when people are struggling,
I'll say, well, do you believe that God loves you?
Yes.
Everybody thinks God loves them.
Yes, God loves me.
If God loves you, does He want you to go to heaven?
Yes.
If He wants you to go to heaven,
does He want to make it difficult or easy to get there?
Easy.
And then it's like, well, is living a good life
and reading the Bible an hour every day and never being angry,
is that easy?
It's like, oh, that's hard.
Right?
Common sense would tell us that, yeah, you know what,
it's actually easy, you know,
because obviously God loves us.
He wants us in heaven.
It's that simple.
But people just naturally think their works
are going to justify them.
Point number one, the way of salvation is easy.
Point two, the majority of people go to hell.
Point three, people have a tendency to follow the crowd.
Point four, very little soul winning is actually done
because the only way anybody gets saved
is they change their belief, right?
Well, how does somebody change their belief?
How should they believe in whom they have not heard?
And how should they hear without a preacher?
See, if nobody gives the gospel to unsaved people,
it's impossible for them to change their belief.
It is impossible for someone to get saved on their own.
Nobody got saved on their own.
Every single person in this room,
you got saved because somebody gave you the gospel.
Now, a preacher does not mean it has to be a pastor.
I mean, it could be a man or a woman.
It could be a young boy or a young girl.
But some saved person, some soul winner,
had to open up the Word of God and explain it to you.
Like the Ethiopian eunuch, it's like,
hey, how can I understand except some men guide me?
And that's what I thought about the Bible before I was saved.
I tried to read a few times.
I was just like, I don't get it.
It doesn't make any sense. I don't understand it.
And how can you understand unless you're saved?
That's what the Bible says.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Very little soul winning is done.
And notice what it says in Luke 8, verse 15.
But that on the good ground are they,
which in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word,
keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
In the parable of the sower,
it's only the last group that becomes a soul winner.
Now, the percentage of saved people in this world is very low.
The percentage of saved people that go soul winning is also very low.
I don't know what the percentage is there,
but it is very, very low.
Because here's the thing.
If everybody was going soul winning every week,
like the Bible commands us,
if everybody went soul winning on a weekly basis for one hour per week,
well, and then everybody's getting a lot of people saved then
over the course of time.
Well, guess what?
I mean, obviously people can reject the gospel.
We get that.
But I'm just saying you would just see this massive increase
in people being Christian.
It's like the news.
It's like, man, half of Saudi Arabia has converted to Christ, right?
You know what that shows you?
Very, very few people are actually going soul winning.
Go to Luke 17.
We'll close up.
Luke 17.
And we have to realize a lot of people are going to reject the gospel if they hear it.
Here's a good rule of thumb.
If somebody doesn't want to listen to the gospel,
then they would probably reject it if they heard it.
And a lot of young people want to listen to the gospel,
but you know what?
Most people in this world are not interested in hearing the gospel.
It's a pretty high percentage in the Philippines compared to other countries.
I can say in the U.S., you go soul winning and soul winning.
I mean, in a normal situation, soul winning on a Saturday in Sacramento,
you go out soul winning for more than an hour,
nobody talks to you.
Nobody is interested.
I mean, you're lucky.
I mean, that's why you're so excited to get a verse out.
Can I just give you one verse?
Because you haven't given a single verse.
And oftentimes you get no verses out of your mouth when you go out soul winning,
because nobody's interested.
It's a pretty high percentage of people in this country
that are willing to listen compared to other countries,
but there's still the majority of people in this country who would reject hearing the gospel.
Those that are young listen.
Those that are older certainly would not listen, though, in general, right?
And so it's easy for us to have this attitude,
well, I've already done a lot of soul winning.
I can retire.
I've done more than most people.
Well, notice what it says in Luke 17, verse 10.
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you,
say, We are unprofitable servants.
We have done that which was our duty to do.
Look, if you've got a job,
and your boss gives you 100 assignments,
and you finish every single one,
all you did was your duty.
Let's say you work a job, there's 100 employees,
and 99 of them are just sitting around smoking all day long,
because the cat's away, the mice will play,
the boss is gone.
And you just stay at your desk,
and you're working and working the entire time.
It would be easy to have this attitude.
I'm doing more than anybody else.
In reality, you're just doing what you're supposed to do, though.
It's your duty.
And here's what the Bible's saying,
and I'll tell you what,
when I understood this verse,
I was like, man, this hits really hard.
Because literally, if you did everything perfectly today,
you woke up, you prayed, you memorized the Bible,
you go soul-winning, you fully meditate upon God,
100% just meditating on the things of God,
all you did was your duty.
Now, you'll get rewarded for it, we understand that,
but don't have this attitude,
well, you know, I did something so impressive.
Actually, you just did what you're commanded to do.
And the thing is,
if we allow ourselves to compare ourselves to other people,
we're not going to do much for God.
You know why?
Because most people aren't doing much for God.
I mean, all of us could just retire, right?
I've already done my job,
I've gotten lots of people, saved my life,
I can just quit.
But in reality, you know,
as much as you do for God,
as much as you do the rest of your life,
you just did your duty.
No matter who you are,
no matter how much you do,
in reality, you're just doing what you're commanded.
And here's the thing,
God commands us to be a living sacrifice.
Here's the thing,
I haven't made myself a living sacrifice
where every single waking second I'm devoted to God.
I'm just always laying down my life for other people
and caring about others more than myself.
No, all of us have a lot of work to do.
So look, it is very narrow the way that leads to life.
Very few people are saved.
But let us never develop the attitude that we've done enough.
We have not done enough.
We are doing our duty,
and if you get 100 people saved this week,
you just did your duty, just going soul winning.
We're just doing our duty,
just going out, preaching the gospel, reading the Bible.
That's what we're commanded to do.
You say, why?
Because we have a boss.
And when you have a boss, guess what?
You do what your boss says.
And God says, give your entire life to me.
Now, that's not about salvation
because salvation is just believing the Lord Jesus Christ.
And nobody's given their entire life to God.
But we are commanded as saved people,
hey, give your life to God.
Just 100% devoted to the things of God.
Now, none of us have reached that,
but that's what we're commanded to do.
So even if we did everything that we're supposed to,
it would still just be our duty.
But here's the thing.
We haven't done everything we're supposed to.
We're not even close to that point.
Let's close in word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today
and ask you to help us to meditate upon these things,
help us to apply this to our lives,
help us to be people that are just devoted to you
and serving you and not worldly
and have the right attitude
and reading the Bible and memorizing, going soul winning,
but help us never develop this attitude that we've done enough, God,
but help us just always be striving to do more and more for you.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.