Part of the chapter I want to start in is in verse 13 where the Bible reads,
enter ye in at the straight gate. And the word straight there, notice,
he doesn't mean straight as in the opposite of crooked. He means straight as in narrow.
That's why it's spelled S-T-R-A-I-T. He says enter ye in at the straight gate.
What's the opposite of straight? Wide. He says for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there act because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto light and few there be that find it.
And that's what I want to preach on this morning is this subject. Narrow is the way. The right way
is the narrow way. The wrong way is the way that's wide and broad. The way that's broad is wrong.
The way that's narrow is the right way. Are most people on the right path? No. Are most people
saved? No, they're not. The Bible's clear that it's few that are saved and that's what I'm going
to get into this morning. But if you would, jump down to verse 21 and while you're turning there,
think for a moment. What does the Bible say that we must do to be saved? The Bible's really clear.
Just believe. The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
eternal life. And the Bible asks the question one time, what must I do to be saved? And they said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Remember, the Ethiopian eunuch wanted
to be baptized and he was told by Philip, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest. And
he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You see, believing on Jesus
Christ is what salvation is. So right away, we can say that those who do not believe in Jesus
Christ are not saved. Because the Bible says he that believeth on him is not condemned. But he
that believeth not is condemned already because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. The Bible's really clear. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,
but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him. If you
don't believe in the Son of God, if you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible's
clear you're not saved. It's that simple. Now, right away, if we look at the world that we live
in, we can say there's a one billion Muslims in this world. They're not saved because they believe
that God has no son. That's one of the key tenets of their belief is that there's only one God and
that God, they call him Allah, and they say he has no son and that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God,
that Jesus Christ was not God in the flesh as the Bible teaches, but that he's just a good prophet
or a good teacher and so forth. That right there shows they don't believe in the Son. They're not
saved. That's one billion people that are on their way to hell this morning. You say that's hard to
believe, but yet it's what the Bible says, whether it's hard for you to believe or not. You can look
at other religions of the world, Hinduism, maybe a billion practitioners of that, and does that
confess the Lord Jesus Christ as savior, that religion? Absolutely not. Does the religion of
Buddhism that encompasses millions and millions of people, does it confess that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the savior of the world? As Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. Is that what Buddhism believes? No. So these are large masses
of people. That right there, I just encompass half the world's population that's either Buddhist or
Hindu or Daoist or Shintoist or Muslim that just flat out said, I don't believe in Jesus Christ.
But then there's atheism. There's those who believe that there is no God. And by the way,
the Bible says the fool has said this heart, there is no God. But the Bible's really clear about that.
They're not saved. The Bible is clear that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are not saved.
And look, the majority of the world doesn't even claim to believe in Jesus Christ. If you took the
7 billion people on this planet, most of them will not even try to say that they believe Jesus is the
Son of God. The majority will flat out tell you they don't. But not only that, it gets even worse
than that. Because if you go down to verse 21, the Bible says, Not everyone that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. So right there, even among those who call Jesus Lord, are they all going to heaven? No.
So first of all, you have most of the world's population that's not even claiming to believe
in Jesus. Then he says, even amongst those who claim the name of Christ, who claim to believe
in Jesus, who call Jesus the Lord, they're not all saved. They're not all going to heaven.
Why is that? He explains it in verse 22. He says, Many will say to me in that day.
So is this just a couple of people who claim the name of Christ but aren't really saved?
No, he said this is many. This is a large group. He said, Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? So are there going to be people who preached in
the name of Jesus Christ who are not getting into heaven? Absolutely. He said right there,
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
of cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works. What are these people relying
on to get them into heaven? Works. They're saying, Wait a minute, God, aren't you going to
let me into heaven? I've done all these wonderful works. That proves right there that their faith
is not really in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in their own works, in what they've done. That's
what they think is going to get them in. Imagine for a moment, of course, this would never happen
because God cannot lie and the promises of the Bible are true. So let's pretend for a moment.
Now, obviously, I'm speaking to people, maybe there's somebody here who's not saved this morning,
but the vast majority of the people I'm talking to are saved. That's what the church is. It's
a gathering of saved believers, those who do believe on Jesus Christ. But let's say for a
moment that you were standing before God right now. And let's say you got there and he says,
You're not coming in. Now, wouldn't that shock you? Of course, because I mean, you know what
the Bible says about how to be saved. And so if you got there and God said, Sorry, you're not
making it in here. Now, if God said that to me, you know what I'd say? I'd say, But wait a minute,
God, you said in John 3 16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I believed in you.
You said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me has everlasting life.
I believe on you. I believed on you. What's going on? But is that what these people are saying?
No way. I mean, if God told me, I wouldn't say, But God, look at all the wonderful works I did.
Because I know it's not works that saved, but see these people, they thought it was works that saved
them. And the Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast, boasting like,
Haven't we prophesied in your name? Haven't we cast out devils? Haven't we done many? And I like
how they don't just say we've done many works. We've done many wonderful works. Well, you're
really proud of those works, aren't you? But yet the Bible says, All right, we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rats. But see, these people thought their
works were so wonderful because they were so good and they did so many good things. No, the
Bible says, As it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. And so these people are relying on their works to get in.
And look what Jesus says under them in verse 23. And then will I profess unto them, I used to know
you. Is that what he said? No. He said, Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. See,
once you're saved, you can't lose your salvation. It's eternal life. It's everlasting life. He
didn't say, I used to know you. He said, I never knew you. Even though you preached in my name,
even though you did all these wonderful works in my name, even though you cast out devils in my
name, I never, never knew you. It's not that you say, Oh, these people lost their salvation. No,
you can't lose your salvation. They never had it. They never knew them. It never means never.
And so not only do we see that the majority of this world doesn't even claim the name of Christ,
but amongst those that do claim the name of Christ, the majority are trusting in their
works to save them. And they're not even going. That's getting pretty narrow, my friend. You see,
the Roman Catholic religion encompasses about a billion people. And if you look at what the Roman
Catholic Church teaches and believes, they clearly teach that in order to be saved, you got to be
baptized. You got to go to church. You're going to get saved through the sacraments, according to
them. You got to confess your sins to the priest. You got to take communion. You got to do many
wonderful works. You got to work your way to heaven. That's a false rule. That is going to be
the many years. That's part of it. But many other denominations will tell you the same thing. Go
out slowly, go out knocking doors, and you'll talk to person after person after person after person.
Even many Baptists, and this is a Baptist church, but you'll talk to Baptists after Baptists that
will tell you, Oh yeah, I think I'm going to heaven. I'm a pretty good person. You'll talk
to Methodists. They'll tell you that all day long. Presbyterians, non-denominational, Pentecostal.
You'll get that over and over again. People trusting their works, trusting their works.
Now, thank God when you go out soul winning, you run into a lot of people who will tell you that
it's by faith. When I was out soul winning on Monday, I was in a particular neighborhood
where we were talking to just, we ran into a lot of people that were saved. We talked to a lot of
people. We asked them, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? And they said, I know for sure.
And it's by faith in Christ. And I said, do you think you'd ever lose your salvation? They said,
nope. Jesus died for all my sins. It's all forgiven. It's all paid for. And we got the
right answer for a lot of people. But guess what? It still wasn't the majority. It was the majority
that was giving us the wrong answer. Now you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson. It says there
in verse 21, now what were these people trusting? Clearly their works. They didn't even mention the
fact that they put all their faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It's all about what they
did. We prophesied. We did the works. We cast out death. Look what it says in verse 21. Not everyone
that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will
of my father, which is in heaven. Now a lot of people will misunderstand that. And this is what
they'll say. Well, when it says do the will of the father, that means you keep all his commandments.
Okay. Well, first of all, if you got to keep all the commandments to go to heaven,
nobody's going. It's going to be like a cricket chirping. The father, the son,
and the Holy Ghost up there and nobody else is going to be there. Because there's not a just man
upon the earth that doeth good as sin had done. Nobody would make it if that were the case. You
say, oh, you got to do God's will with your life. But hold on. Let's compare scripture with
scripture. What is he talking about when he says you got to do the will of the father? It's
definitely not talking about doing a bunch of works. That's what these people were wrong about.
Go to Matthew chapter 21. Same book. Just go forward a little bit. Let Jesus define it for
you. Because there are a couple of times in the Bible where Jesus talks about what the will of
the father was for him while he was on this earth. And this is one of them. Go to Matthew 21. What
did he mean by that when he said, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father which is in him. What did he mean by
doing the will of his father which was in heaven? Look at Matthew chapter 21 verse 28. The Bible
says this, but what think ye? A certain man had two sons. Now this is a parable. Now here's how
a lot of people misunderstand parables is that when he tells a parable, it's not literal. It's
a parable. So for example, when he says, hey, the kingdom of heaven is like being born again,
and that's a parable that he uses. Nicodemus made the mistake of taking it literally and saying,
oh, okay, so does a man have to enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Is a mom going to give birth to an adult? Now obviously that's ridiculous because being saved
is symbolized by being born again, but it's a spiritual birth. It's not a physical birth.
And when the Bible says, follow me and I'll make you to become fishers of men, he's not saying
you're going to get a fishing pole, you're going to put a Twinkie on the end of it, somebody's
going to reach over and put it in their mouth. That's not what it's saying. And so there are
things in the Bible that symbolize salvation. They symbolize spiritual truths, but they are not those
literal truths themselves. For example, when the Old Testament saints would offer an animal
sacrifice, that lamb that they offered pictured Jesus, but was that lamb really Jesus? No,
it was the lamb, it was them, but it pictured Jesus. Did sacrificing that lamb really save
them? No, their faith saved them. It was just all symbolic. And that's what this is right here.
This is a parable. He's giving a story just to help illustrate a truth here. So watch what he
says. This is really clear. Look at verse 28. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons,
so he's given this parable. And he said, he came to the first and said,
Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not. But afterward he repented
and went. And he came to the second and said likewise, and he answered and said, I go sir,
and went not. Okay, so we have two children. The man goes to his children, he says to the
first child, he said, go work in the vineyard, and he says, no. But then afterward he repented
and he decides, okay, I'll go. Maybe a few spankings later or whatever. Anyway,
he changed his mind. Repented means he first was not going to go, then he repented,
now he's going to go. He changed his mind, now he's going to go do what he's told.
Now the other son, the father goes to him and says,
Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he says, okay, sure. And then he doesn't do it.
So which one, this is what Jesus is asking, whether of them twain, verse 31, which of the two
did the will of his father? So that's a question. He says, which one did the will? The one that
said he was going to and didn't do it? Or the one that said he was not going to and then he
actually did it? Well, the answer is obvious. The one who said that he wasn't going to,
but then he actually did it? Well, he did it. He did the will. He said the wrong thing initially,
but then he changed his mind. He got right and did the right thing. The other guy just
was all talk, okay? Now look how Jesus ties this in. He said, whether of them twain did
the will of his father. And remember what Jesus said? You got to do the will of his father,
watch what the will of the father is. They say unto him the first. Jesus saith unto them.
Now he's going to explain the parable to what he wants to apply it to spiritually.
He says, the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
For John, talking about John the Baptist, came unto you in the way of righteousness,
and you believed him not. So when John preached to the Pharisees, did they believe him? No,
he said they believed him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed him.
And he, when he had seen it, repented not afterward that you might believe him. So he's
tying in this story about the two boys who were told to go to work by their dad and do it.
He's tying it into the Pharisees. When they heard the gospel preached by John the Baptist,
they rejected it. The publicans and the harlots believed the truth. Now, did the publicans and
the harlots believe the gospel before John the Baptist came along? No. But when John the Baptist
preached, they changed their mind and they turned to Jesus Christ, believed on him, and put their
faith in him. The Pharisees did not do that. So he's saying that by believing on Christ,
when the publicans and the harlots, even though they had initially not believed, once they heard
that preaching, and when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, they're the ones who
did the will of the Father, when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, you know what,
you did not. You had all the talk. I mean, did the Pharisees claim to believe in God?
Did the Pharisees claim to believe the Old Testament? Did they claim to believe in Moses?
Absolutely. But Jesus said that they didn't believe in Moses. Jesus said, no. He said,
if you believe Moses, you believe in me, for he spake of me. And he said, but if you believe not
his writings, how can you believe my words? He said, if you don't believe me, you don't believe
Moses. The Bible also says in 1 John, it says, who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ. He's anti-Christ that denieth the Father and the Son. It says, he that denieth the
Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
So because the Pharisees denied the Son, he said, they didn't believe in the Father. You don't
believe in Moses. You don't believe in the Old Testament. He said, if you believe in the Old
Testament, you believe in me, because the Old Testament was pointing unto me. So the Pharisees
were all talk. They're the ones saying that they believed, but they didn't really believe.
The publicans and the harlots, they weren't going around saying they believed anything.
They were going around being a publican and a harlot. But when they heard the truth,
they believed it. And he said, you know what, they're the ones who did the will of the Father
by believing on Christ. And he said, you did not do the will of the Father, because you did not
believe on Jesus Christ. He said, you should have, when you saw the publicans and the harlots
believing and getting saved, you should have repented and believed on Christ, but you didn't.
Turn, if you would, to John chapter number six. So that's one place where Jesus talks about doing
the will of the Father, and he equates it to believing on Christ. That's what he deals with.
But here's another place, John chapter six, verse 40. The Bible says, and this is the will of him
that sent me. So right now, Jesus, he just finished telling him that he was sent by the Father.
And he's about to tell us now what is the will of the Father. And Jesus said, in verse 40 of
John six, this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. So look, the Bible's
really clear on this. What is the will of the Father? That those who see Jesus and believe on
him would have everlasting life and be raised at the last day. You see, the problem with those
people in Matthew seven, it wasn't that they didn't go to church enough. It wasn't that,
because look, we know they were in church. They talked about prophesying, casting out devils,
doing a bunch of wonderful things. They went to church. They were religious. They followed
what their religion taught. But wait a minute, they didn't do the will of the Father. They didn't
believe on Jesus Christ. They believed on their own works. And Jesus said, I never knew you.
Depart from me. And it's funny, because I've actually had people tell me that in Matthew
seven, that proves you can lose your salvation. What? He said, I never knew you. But go to Luke
chapter 13, because I've heard some people say, well, when the Bible says narrow is the way,
it's not really talking about salvation. It's just talking about something else. Well,
I'll make it really clear to you here from Luke 13 that this is talking about salvation,
because he deals with the same story in Luke 13, verse 23. Then said one unto him,
Lord, are there few that be saved? Now, that's a good question. Somebody walked up to Jesus
and just asked him a question, because Jesus is preaching all this doctrine. And they asked him,
well, okay, are most people going to heaven? Or are there few that be saved? Now, what does Jesus
tell them? No, no, most people are going to make it. I got a little tract on my door from
the Jehovah's false witnesses, the JFW. And they left this little track on my door. And you can
always tell when the track is from them, because it always shows kids gathering apples into a
basket and everything. It has a search. You know how the artwork looks? So I got this tract from
Jehovah's Witnesses, and it said right in there. It said, you know what? It said literally that
like 90% of people in the world are saved. That's what it said. It said God is just this really
loving, merciful God. And over 90% of people are going to be resurrected and live in paradise and
whatever and make it into the kingdom of heaven. They said it was about 90%. And then only the
really bad people, and they don't even believe in hell. They just believe that they're going to be
annihilated, meaning that they're basically going to cease to exist. They're just going to be burned
up, just gone. But they said 90% are saved. They said the majority is saved. They said that it's
few that are damned. They didn't say it's few that are saved. But somebody asked Jesus, you know,
maybe they got that tract on their door or whatever, and they came to Jesus and they said,
you know, I got this tract on the door. Are there few that be saved? And He said unto them,
strive to enter in at the straight gate. What does straight mean from Matthew 7? S-T-R-A-I-T.
You see, it's not G-H-T. Here's a little spelling lesson. A lot of people are like,
you've got to stay on that straight and narrow path. You know, don't turn to the right or left.
No. Straight does not mean not crooked. That has a G-H. Everybody know what I'm talking about?
S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T. Totally different word. Straight without the G-H is a very narrow
area like the straits of Ormus. You know, it's a really narrow passage or the straits of Gibraltar,
right? See this little narrow part where ships have to go through? That is what a straight is.
So they asked Him, are there few that be saved? Now remember Matthew, he said it's a straight way.
Wide is the gate and broad is the way which lead it to destruction. And He said when it comes to
salvation, few there be that find it. He used the exact same wording here. He says strive to enter
in at the straight gate. What was the question? Are there few that be saved? He said enter the
straight gate. And watch this. He said for many I say unto you will seek to enter in
and shall not be able. You say what? If they want to go in, if they want to enter in at the straight
gate, what's the problem? Why can't we make it? Here's the problem because it will be too late
for them. They looked for the straight gate too late because look what he says. When? What is
when to know? Time. He says people are going to try to get in and they're not going to make it. Why?
When once the master of the house is risen up and has shut through the door. Once the door is shut
our salvation is too late. And so he says here strive to enter at the straight gate for many
I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master of the house
is risen up and has shut to the door and ye begin to stand without him to knock at the door saying
Lord Lord open to us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not once you are.
Then shall you begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou has taught in
our streets but he shall say I tell you I know not once you are. Depart from me all ye workers
of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye when ye. So it's the people some
of the people he's talking to are the ones that are not saved. He says when ye shall see Abraham
and Jacob and all Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves
thrust out and they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the
south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God and behold there are last which shall be first
and there are first which shall be last. He says you are going to want to be saved someday and
you're going to want to go through the straight gate but it'll be too late once the door is shut
the door is shut it's too late for you. And he says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
when you're cast out and all these other people from all these other nations will come in. You see
he's talking to the Jews and he said a similar thing in Matthew chapter 8 when he said and I
say unto you that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom talk about children
of the kingdom of Israel shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth and they're all God we're the chosen ones we're the children. It reminds me I've
knocked on um the state one of our state representatives um I what was his name David
Shapiro because I live in Tempe and he's one of our assemblymen or one of the one of the members
of not the United States congress but actually just the state congress I knocked on the United
States congressman's door too I sold him but the just the state senator or state congress I forget
which his name is David Shapiro he's he's uh the representative from my area in Tempe well I was
out knocking doors preaching the gospel I knocked on David Shapiro's door you tell by his name his
nationality that he's Jewish and so I knocked on his door and I asked him I said hey do you know
for sure if you died today you'd go to heaven and you know what he told me he said well yeah we you
know I'm Jewish and we believe that we're all going to go back to Abraham's bosom so he thinks
that just because he descends from Abraham thousands and thousands of years ago that that
is his ticket into heaven God is not a respecter of persons right no God doesn't look down to see
what nationality you are and oh you're descended from Abraham thousands of years ago come on in
no and and John the Baptist warned of this he said think not to say within yourselves we have
Abraham to our father David Shapiro for I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up
children of Abraham and now also the axe is laid under the root of the tree every tree therefore
bringing that good fruit is tuned down and cast into the fire and that's where David Shapiro is
going unless you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because being Abraham's child is going to get you
nowhere because that means nothing to God and he said they'll come from the east west north south
red and yellow black and white from all nations every kindred every tongue every people every
nation but then the children of Israel most of them are going to be cast into hell why because
they don't believe in Jesus Christ that's why and it's few that are saved it's few but it's
from every nation the bible says in revelation five and revelation chapter seven it's few but
every tongue will be there every every language will be represented it's few but they'll be of
all families and kindreds of the earth but it's not the majority it's the minority because most
are not saved most Jews will give an answer like Shapiro gave or else they believe that in their
just an atheist or whatever but the bible is pretty clear are there a few that be saved
Jesus's answer was yes yes it's the straight gate yes it's the narrow way yes you there be that
found it yes the broadway leads to destruction I find it funny that the entertainment industry
talks about broadway don't they you know the entertainment industry you've got Madison Avenue
is the advertising and you got Hollywood representing you know the movie industry and
then what do you think of when you think of a lot of the entertainment industry and the musicals
and the plays what do you think of on broadway you know you can go to hell on broadway you know
look we have a street right here a mile away called broadway avenue I'm glad I don't live there
but anyway you know I'm just keeping it I'm gonna live on narrow way you know if I were
naming that street I would have called it narrow way straight gate narrow way baptist not broadway
baptist because the broadway leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at the bible
is really clear go to Romans chapter 11 Romans 11 now it's hard to believe because your your
your instinct is going to want to tell you oh god's going to let most people in
he's a really merciful god but that is completely contrary to what the bible teaches I was given the
gospel unto a Mormon on the airplane when I was flying a few years ago and I gave the gospel unto
this Mormon and and she said that the majority is saved the majority is on their way to heaven of
the people on this earth and that's what Mormons believe they said the majority is not going to
hell the majority is saved there's just going to be different levels of heaven but that the vast
majority is on their way and I and I I showed her mark Matthew 7 where it said that few there be
the fight and I said isn't that contradicting what your religion teaches and you know I said
that's something you need to think about she said well I'll think about it you know it makes it I
see what you're saying it makes sense but I need to think about it but the problem is when anyone
hears the word of the kingdom and understand it that not then come with that wicked one and catch
it the way that which was sown in their heart this is he that received seed among the the by
the wayside you see many times people hear the gospel and they're going to think about it later
and then they just kind of don't think about it because everything else comes in and takes it away
from them and so I hope that lady gets saved but you know what she was just flat out saying most
people are saved the Jehovah's Witness will fly out there most people with it it's a lie no they're
not and the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are definitely not saved they don't believe that Jesus
is the way to have they believe in their own works their own sacraments and their own good
life and whatever they call it you know it's it's all about what they do and keeping the
commandments and whatever they do but look at Romans 11 verse 1 because we kind of touched
upon the the nation of Israel and the Jews and and their fact most of them reject Jesus Christ
it says in Romans 11 1 I say then have God cast away his people so in light of the fact that we
see that they don't believe in Christ and in Romans chapter 10 Paul is saying how he wishes
that they would get saved they're not saved they don't believe he says in Romans 11 okay well has
God cast away his people God forbid now a lot of people will stop reading right there and just say
see right there you know the Jews are still his people he hasn't cast them away but that's not
true because guess what he has cast away most of them but what he's going to explain here he says
has God cast away his people God forbid why is he not cast away because some of them are saved
that's why he says this for I also am an Israelite he's saying well he must not have cast away all
his people because I'm an Israelite yeah he hasn't cast me away I'm saved that's the apostle Paul
speaking for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin God have not
cast away his people which he foreknew want ye not that the scripture saith of Elias
how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying Lord oh he's against Israel uh Lord they
have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life but what
saith the answer of God unto him I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed
the knee to the image of Baal even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to
the election of grace so is he saying all of the Jews are still God's people no he's saying they
haven't been cast away because there's a remnant a small group that believes on Jesus Christ
they are still his people so has he completely rejected the nation of Israel no he has rejected
unbelieving Israel unbelieving Israel is the majority of Israel and he's rejected unbelieving
Israel but there is a remnant that believes according to the election of grace I love
verse six and if say this 10 times fast and if by grace then is it no more of works otherwise
grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work
I mean can you be any clearer than that can you figure it out that grace and work are not
compatible it's either salvation by grace or is salvation by work it's not well it's mainly grace
a little bit of work you got to do a little work and it's not grace he said there's any work it's
not grace and if there's any grace it's not work pick which one it's going to be look at verse seven
what then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and
the rest were blinded so the majority of Israel is blinded and rejected and not his people the
minority the righteous remnant the seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal
so to speak they are saved they are God's people they are the chosen ones they are going to heaven
why because they're Jews no because they're saved just like I'm saved just like you're saved Jew or
Gentile bond or free it doesn't matter male or female if you're in Christ you're Abraham seed
and heirs according to the promise so notice how many in Elijah's day verse four said what then
say at the answer of God and him I have reserved myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the
knee to the image of Baal how many was it seven thousand now let's get into some actual numbers
here of the bible go back if you would to first kings chapter 19 first king chapter number 19
you know because we were speaking in broad generalities before we're saying you know the
majority you know or the minority or the the broad way versus the narrow way and the straight gate
versus the wide gate and many being not saved and few being saved here's where the bible even gives
us a couple of numbers and he tells us in romans 11 that there were 7 000 men who had not bowed the
knee to the image of Baal now if you get the context here he's basically referring to the the
soldiers the troops because these seven thousand troops are later going to be led into battle by
Ahab and God is only going to use the men who've not bowed the knee to the image of Baal the rest
of the soldiers he doesn't want to use them he doesn't count them so in first kings 1918 this
is where Elijah is told in verse 18 yet I have left me seven thousand men in seven thousand in
Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth mouth I'm sorry every mouth
which had not kissed him so in the new testament he said it as I've reserved myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal here he says which have not bowed unto Baal
and every mouth which have not kissed him and the bible talks about kissing the calves in other
places in the old testament now Baal is a term that's always given to a false god and many times
they have multiple false gods you call that Baalim multiple false gods and there are different
veils there was you know Baal Zebub and Baal Ekron that's where you know where Beelzebub
and Bell and all these different uh bales if you will these false gods
I mean these people were literally kissing a statue of an animal kissing a golden calf
or kissing an image of Baal or bowing down their knee to idols of Baal seven thousand of the troops
had not done it seven thousand of these men had not done it now you say well pastor Anderson how
many how many men were there that did bow the knee to the image of Baal or that did kiss his
lips well I don't know the exact number at that time but let's say we were to back up in time to
where we do have a clear number if we were to just go back to the days of David toward the end of
David's reign David numbered the troops remember he was not supposed to and God judged him for
doing it he numbered the northern kingdom of Israel and he numbered the southern kingdom
of Judah at that time they were united in one kingdom but the bible does give us a separate
number and turn if you would to first chronicles chapter 21 first chronicles chapter 21 now in
second samuel 24 gives a slightly different number probably because they're counting different types
of troops maybe there are some that are reserve troops maybe some are not or a different type of
trip because when you send when you send people to war you have some people that are more like
medics and more like reserve troops maybe there are people that are active duty like in today's
military you got the active duty you got the reserves you know you count all different
categories of troops and so forth and so these men that are counted here is the larger number
in first chronicles so it's the more inclusive number including all the troops
he says in first chronicles 21 5 and Joab gave the sum of the number of the people into David
and all day of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword
now what's a thousand thousand what do we call that a million right so he says there's a
thousand thousand and a hundred thousand so basically there's 1.1 million 1 million 100
000 men that drew sword and Judah that's the southern kingdom was 400 three score and 10 000
men that drew sword but Levi and Jacob counted he not among them for the king's word was
abominable to Joab so the bible is real clear about what he's counting here just the northern
troops just of Israel not counting Judah not counting Levi and Benjamin because when you look
at Elijah's day he wouldn't have been counting Levi Benjamin and Judah either because they were
part of another nation after the split took place after the civil war took place so here just the
northern troops alone are 1.1 million or 1 million and a hundred thousand now how many troops were
there in Ahab's day probably a similar number i mean i can't see the population being just
dramatically less at that time we don't know but i mean we're talking about a million people right
here probably a similar who knows maybe you say well it wasn't that many well it had to be hundreds
of thousands of people yeah and so you know what that tells me that tells me there weren't seven
thousand men in that army total they didn't go from 1.1 million troops to seven thousand
okay what happened was hundreds and hundreds of thousands of troops kissed bail's lips on that
statue because they're just following orders you know they're just doing what they're told
the majority is worshiping bail the majority is bowing down to the image of bail the majority is
kissing the image of bail and only a very few you say well seven thousand sounds like a lot
now when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people when you're talking about
hundreds of thousands or 1.1 million people seven thousand isn't much that was the few
that was the narrow way that was the one that represented and pictured the remnant today he
said there were seven thousand that are not about to need a bail even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace similar proportion similar numbers few
that are saved few not many few when when looking at the big picture it's few now it's many if you
have them all together seven thousand's many if you want to look at it that way but when you put
it next to 1.1 million guess what's few and when you put all the people that are safe are there
many people that are safe yeah there are millions of people that are safe but when you put it next
to the seven billion on this planet it's few that are saved it's the minority that are safe
you say well i just can't believe it that's that's what the bible is saying over and over again you
gotta believe it's the truth it's what jesus preached but not only that so we got that
established there are definitely few that are safe but go to matthew chapter number nine
it's definitely the narrow way that leads on the life and view there be divided life eternal life
life in heaven but the broad way is heading for destruction or health or damnation that's where
the majority is heading but not only that jesus said that there's something else that's few it's
not just few that are saved we already established that we established that in chapter seven of
matthew now in chapter nine of matthew we have another few and i bet these two are kind of related
look at verse 37 then say at the end of his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but
the laborers are what you view the laborers are few pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest
that he will send for laborers into his harvest go to luke chapter 10 luke chapter number 10
you see the bible is telling us that not only is it few that are saved not only are few there be
that find the way that leads on the life and many go to destruction but then out of all those that
are saved you take everybody who's saved and he says the laborers are few so you look at the
millions of people in this world i'm sure that there are millions of people in this world that
are saved millions of them but next to the seven billion it's a very small number but there are
millions that are saved today across the world but then when you look at those millions that are saved
few are the laborers now you say well what's a laborer well a laborer is somebody who works hard
i mean when you when you think of doing labor if you say yeah we're going to hire a couple of
laborers they're probably not going to show up in like a pink tie and they're going to you know
they're going to sit in a cubicle right you know when you think of a laborer you expect a guy to
show up in some car hearts he's going to show up with work boots on and he's showing up in in a
little bit dirty clothes and he's got a shovel and he's ready to work hard he's going to labor
you know when you think of a woman being in labor that's hard work that's a lot of pain that's a lot
of strenuous activity that is what the bible means we'll use the word labor not a light form of work
but a hard work you know when you're out doing hard work out in the sun that's labor and jesus
said you know what the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few look what he says in luke
chapter 10 verse 1 after these things the lord appointed other 70 also first he sent him out
first he sent out the 12 disciples two by two but then afterward he sent out other 70 also
so now he sent out basically 82 in the same category and he sent them two and two before
his face into every city and place whether he himself would come therefore said he unto them
the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest
that he would send forth laborers into his harvest so first he sends out 12 and then he says man we
need to pray for more laborers the laborers are few we only got 12 then he prays and they pray
and they go out and now they're up to what 12 plus 70 now they got 70 more and he said it's still too
few 82 people i mean this is a big world out there it's a big nation you know at that time they were
just preaching to the nation of israel while jesus was on this earth and then later they're
going to expand to the whole world but at first he wanted to just try to really reach that area
he wanted to go first to israel he's going to preach to the whole world of course it's preached
to the whole world throughout the old testament as well but as far as the new testament gospel of
jesus christ he wanted to preach that the name of christ and that the kingdom of god was at hand
they preached that first to the nation of israel one nation 82 guys they're not going to get it
done it's not going to be enough he said the harvest is more plenteous than we have laborers
we need to pray for more laborers and that's exactly what we're looking at today in this world
we've got a whole world out there a whole united states of america with 300 million people and oh
yeah you say well i know a lot of people that are saved i know a lot of people that go to a
bible believing church i know a lot of people that believe on the lord jesus christ they're
savior and trusting my faith yeah but how many laborers do you know how many people do you know
that are actually out there doing the work that are actually going as these did two by two and
preaching the gospel to every preacher and going out in the highways and hey just compelling the
command that his house may be filled how many people do you know that are actually a laborer
the answer is few few see in phoenix arizona we run into all kinds of people that are saved
knock their door oh yeah i'm safe i believe on jesus christ i know for sure but do you see them
going out preaching the gospel do you see them getting people safe do you see them out knocking
the doors and pounding the pavement do you see them giving the gospel to their co-workers at
work do you see them preaching under their neighbors and friends and family and preaching
the gospel to every creature do you see them doing any labor no they're doing nothing now
a lot of it is what the bible says in uh romans chapter 10 13 when he said for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him and who did not
believe and how should they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how should they hear
without a preacher and after they preach except they be sent and a lot of people aren't being sent
to labor they go to a church that's not sending them they go to a church that pats them on the
back and tells them you know good sin cold hell good devil you know to have a good week or whatever
love thy neighbor as thyself see you next week and they're not really sending them out to do any
work yep it's just a place where they go and maybe they watch entertainment of a rock band
you say oh man the worship the worship group just rules down at that church i mean it's so
so sweet dude you know turn on this worship team but is that really what it's all about to you
just musicians that are that are skilled musicians hey look i'm all for uh skilled musicians i'm not
into all this this you know contemporary style jam for jesus style music obviously we sing the hymns
here but let me tell you something it's not a show that we're putting on here that's right
you know hey i want to have the best piano player and the best organ player we can the best singer
leading the scene as possible you know which you know we're still waiting for that but
on the singer that is but you know wait a minute wait a minute is that really what it's all about
and did you know that most of these big churches that have these really awesome worship bands
really good you know really jamming up there you know they they advertise just to unsafe musicians
you know that right yeah do you really think that all these churches just happen to have that much
talent in their church no they're putting advertisements on craigslist they're putting
advertisements in the newspaper on the internet just for any guitar player drummer bass player
and i've known us i knew an unsaved musician who played in a punk band and they said that you know
what their venue that they really wanted to play in in that town was at a non-denominational church
that was the best venue they wanted to play at just but they were just told no cussing in the
songs while you're there and just play your normal punk songs play your normal music
nothing to do with jesus nothing to do with the bible and that was the place that the local bands
they wanted to play at that church that was the venue that was the cool place to play in that
youth group because there was a huge church and other people are doing other guys same thing it
was like you know he had no problem he's looking for a band to play it he was open to playing in
a christian band he's not a christian he didn't believe the bible he didn't care it's a gig dude
you know it's like you know it's a place it's a place to play in front of thousands of people
you got the screen up there you know you're rocking out cool dude so what if it's about
jesus praise the lord amen let's do it it's true it's about the entertainment but is it a labor
place is it labor baptist or is it just put on a show baptist is it feel good baptist is it rock
on my brother baptist or is it just go there and just watch a show i mean is that what preaching
is to you you just kind of watch the show watch the show you know what do you want me to do up
here yeah i'm preaching i'm preaching the bible to you so that we can go out and labor and do
something with our lives amen not to just get together and look at it i like what jacob said
you know we're just gonna sit around look at each other all day are you gonna go get us some food
as jacob said unto his children it's the same thing you know is that what church is just gonna
sit around look at each other yeah we just like to get together three times a week and hang out no
it's because we want to be a laborer it's because we're the local church and jesus said upon the
sparkle bill my church and the gates of hell should not prevail against it he said that we
labor whether absent or present that we may be accepted of him we come here to learn how to work
we come here to get our marching orders to do work to work the works that jesus did to do the
works that god had before a day that we should walk in them and i'm here to be a laborer i hope
you're here to be a laborer but unfortunately across america the laborers are few first of all
the churches that are sending them a few and if you're not in a church that's sending you you're
not going there are so many people today and they sit there and they oh yeah i know king james
version soul-winning baptist you know but they don't go to church
they don't go to church or else they go to some church that is not a soul-winning church
they're probably not and i'll tell you right now people who don't go to church they're not doing
much soul-winning i do my soul-winning on facebook that's not so winning i do my soul-winning in the
chat room i need my soul-winning on the internet i do my soul-winning on youtube that's not that's
not so winning amen now look if you're a paraplegic do your soul-winning on on youtube and on the
internet on facebook but i'm going to tell you something god told you to have your feet shot
not your modem shot he said have your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace
your feet shot he didn't say barefoot behind your computer in your living room with a cup of hot
cocoa and fuzzy slippers on he said if your feet shot with some shoes that are actually going to
be walking shoes to walk you somewhere to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
preacher you better have your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace and not think
that oh it's just you know i i'm just gonna do it from home you know i got this thing today this
advertisement about tracks you know from the fellowship track league and i'm just saying i
told my wife i said you know what you know they're talking about oh yeah we're they said we're
dedicated to the great commission every single day 365 days a year are they also winning every
day are the offerings in the gospel no but they you know they're they're pretty you know they
it's like this is really cool because we can sit in front of a machine all day and we can print all
these pieces of paper and mail them out to everybody and we can and we can kind of get on
the computer and that no it's time for you to go out and open your mouth boldly and make you know
the mystery of the gospel like ephesians chapter six taught you open your mouth for the dumb and
the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction that are on that broad path that
leads up to destruction open your mouth to make known the mystery of the gospel you see we need
more laborers we need more churches that will send people out yeah we've got a lot of great
churches around here but where are the laborers well i hope that our church is chock full of
laborers i hope we're filled with laborers i hope for birth of the sea with labor but we need more
churches like this across america with laborers and laborers and look we're going to be out there
this afternoon we're going to knock doors we're going to talk to strangers we're going to go and
find people that aren't safe we're going to open our bible and give them the gospel and we did it
earlier in the week and we did it last week and we'll do it next week and we'll do it tomorrow
and the day after that and daily in the temple and in every house they cease not to teach and
preach jesus christ that's what faithful word baptist church is but churches like faithful
word baptists are becoming few and far between yep few there be that are a soul-winning church
few there be that are laborers few there be that are even saved why because there are a few
laborers now it's always going to be few that are saved but maybe if we get more laborers maybe we
get more saved in fact i know we would yeah amen and so there's few today so not only is
salvation a narrow way first of all it's narrow it gets narrow let's start out with very wide
seven billion people on the planet well let's narrow in just on those who say they believe
in christ that's already less than half then let's narrow in further on those who believe
in salvation by faith not by works now we're even smaller when we get to the group that's actually
saved then once we're at the group that's actually saved let's narrow in on the one who's actually a
laborer few but my question to you is this will you be one of the few now most of you are already
one of the few in regard to salvation and guess what you know you can never lose your salvation
because you have an everlasting life eternal life he'll never leave you nor forsake you
but decide today hey i'm going to be one of the few that's a laborer i'm going to get into the one
of the few that's really following christ with my life that's going to be a fisher of men let's
prioritize and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word dear god and we
thank you so much for the opportunity to go to a church that does send us out a church that doesn't
just talk about it and and say that we're going to go work in the vineyard but we actually do it
and father i just prayed that you would help other churches across america to to uh you know get off
their little tract machine or whatever they're doing or their their other little uh bogus
ministry and actually do the ministry that you ordained which is uh opening your mouth and
preaching the gospel help us to do that and help there to be more laborers in this world
that would actually go out and serve god with their life and and work hard roll up the sleeves
break a sweat serving you and in jesus name we pray amen