Steady Perseverance in the Faith

Thank you for being with me again today. A great week. We're going to have a great week together. And thank you for being my wonderful family. I really mean that. Thank you for being my wonderful partner. Today I want to continue and finish my teaching on the narrow way.

I began last week and I want to finish this teaching today, Monday, and then some new teachings that begin tomorrow. If you missed last week, the first and second teaching, I would really recommend you watch them because I believe it's time to understand what the Lord meant in Matthew 7, that you and I need to find the narrow way and walk in it.

Dear Jesus, I thank you for your word. I really thank you, Lord, for your word. Open our hearts, Lord, that we might receive your precious word. To you be all the glory, all the honor and praise and majesty. Bless your people, Lord. Minister to your people today. Meet every need in their life, I pray, today.

And let this word Lord touch their hearts today in Jesus name that every one of us will be pleasing unto you, accepted in your sight for your glorious name sake. And God's people said amen and amen. Look, we must finish well and we will finish well. And we will finish stronger than when we began this life of faith.

Let's go to Matthew 7 one more time quickly. And I'm going to read for you verse 13 and 14. And these are very powerful words spoken by the Lord and a command from the Lord when he said, "Enter ye at the straight gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at.

Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadth unto life, and few there be that find it. Now, I shared much about this already that I'd like you to go back and listen to and watch. I'd like to remind you of what the Lord said in Luke 13 to us.

Let's go together to Luke 13. And I'd like you to look at verse 24. I want you to think with me on why the Lord said that. Verse 24 said, "Strive to enter in at the straight gate." Why would he say strive? Because he was letting us know there would be obstacles to overcome.

It's a war. Yeah, we have to fight. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. That's a powerful statement. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in.

Many want to go to heaven. Many want to find life and shall not be able. Lift your hands with me, dear Jesus. We pray that we will be the ones who will be able to for your glorious name's sake that we will strive and win victoriously in Jesus wonderful name.

That word strive also means to labor fervently. Labor fervently. I'd like you to look at uh first Timothy. We see that same word uh in uh 1 Corinthians 9:25 where Paul uses it. But I like you to look at the one in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 12 because Paul said fight the good fight of faith.

That same word fight is the same word the Lord uses in Luke 13 for strive. Fight. And Paul says, "Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Lay hold on eternal life." And this is our our our duty to fight the good fight of faith.

And you remember what I said. And if you do not, I want to remind you in second Timothy chapter 2 verse 5 it says that he who fights or strives must do it lawfully. It says and if a man also strive same word used by the Lord in Luke 13 for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.

And lawfully means you you know you have to pray you have to be to be diligent and seek deliverance from the flesh and so on. So look unless we overcome the world the world will overcome us. We need to overcome the world and our faith overcomes the world.

So I want to talk to you today about the narrow way again. And I showed you in Matthew 5 what the Lord said because he was explaining the narrow way in Matthew 5. Really now entering the narrow way uh shows the heart's acceptance of the Lord's holy teachings.

So the minute we say yes Lord, I will enter into the narrow way. And I'm going to explain it to you one more time. What is it? It's denying self and the pleasures of the world. It's carrying our cross and following Jesus. So when we say yes to that life of denial, dying to self, dying to the things of the world, denying the pleasures of the world, and we enter into the narrow way.

What we are showing the Lord is we are accepting his teachings. Our hearts are accepting his teachings. Because now we're walking the narrow way means that our hearts are in fellowship with him. Because we've chosen his way. Remember Christianity was called the way in the early church. The way, what is the way?

The narrow way. The only way really is the narrow way to heaven. So when we choose the not way, we are declaring our fellowship with the Lord. We we're we're saying yes to his law and commandments and and and walking the narrow way is also uh showing our perseverance that we are steadying our perseverance in our faith. our obedience to the Lord we love, to the Lord we adore.

It's so important. And and please never forget what I shared days ago and I want to maybe repeat just a little bit right now to you because I think it's so important. Self must be rejected. Let's go one more time because it's good to repeat it even though we know it.

Luke chapter 9 verse 23 right through 25. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life will lose it. Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

For what is a man advantaged if he gains the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and his fathers and of the holy angels.

And then you look at uh Luke 14. Look, look, this is such an important teaching to remind every believer what the Christian life is really all about. Today people magnify self. And I'm going to say a little more too that I think you need to hear. But first, let's just look at Luke 14.

I'm going to read verse 26 and 27. And he said, "If any man come to me and hate not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brethren, his sisters, yeah, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."

That's Christianity. That's our faith. And I'm sorry, but you know to you don't hear that today. It's so sad. No, no one talks about this hardly. Now, I want to I want I want to show you something. The narrow way that I've been talking about. It shows uh overcoming all opposition.

When you choose the narrow way, you're saying, "Lord, I will overcome. I will overcome everything the enemy throws at me and the world throws at me. I will overcome temptations." That's why it's called the narrow way. The narrow way is the way of overcoming oppositions. The narrow way is saying no to temptations.

The narrow way shuts out all self-pleasing. The The narrow way shuts out all self seeking. That's right. When we choose the narrow way the Lord said we ought to choose in Matthew 7 and Luke he was saying that we are to shut out shut out all self pleasing all self-seeking.

In Genesis 18:19 it was called the way of the Lord. The Lord said about Abraham that he knows the way of the Lord. You know, we need to find the way of the Lord just like Abraham did. Genesis 18. Let's go to it. I want to read that for you.

You know, there's such so much about this in the Bible. Old and New Testament. A lot of scriptures about the way of the Lord. For I know him and he will command. This is verse 19, Genesis 18. For I know him, and he will command his children, his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.

The way of the Lord is to do justice, to do judgment, the way of the Lord. So, Christianity was called the way. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and life." And and through the narrow way we find life. And sadly the Lord said only few will walk in it because there is no easy way to heaven.

There is no easy way to heaven because we have to deny self. We we have to take up our cross every day. Every day. We have to follow the Lord every day. Look, a faith which does not teach submission, complete submission to Jesus Christ is the faith of demons.

I'm I'm going to say it again. Any faith that does not teach complete submission and complete obedience to Christ Jesus is the faith of demons because that is rebellion. So true faith, true Christian faith teaches submission to Christ Jesus, obedience to Christ Jesus. He is savior and lord and lord.

The Lord said, "Don't call me Lord and not do what I what I tell you." You see, a lot of people want him as savior, but some don't want him as lord. Because Lord means I have to obey. I have to do what he says. Everyone wants to have Jesus as savior but he's savior and lord and lord.

And I think the reason so few will enter life is because they're not seeking God's way. They're not seeking God's way. And that's why the Lord said very few will find it. Many will try. He said many will try but won't be able to. Now notice very carefully something.

Let's go back to Matthew chapter 7. I want to I want to show you something. It's quite amazing. And let's go back to verse 134 and then we go on to verse 15. Very enlightening. So he says, the Lord says to us, "Enter ye in at the straight gate."

Wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate, narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. Now the the next verse is quite a an amazing verse.

And why is it here in this portion? There's an answer for it. Beware of false prophets. Why would the Lord say it right after he just said that the gate is narrow? Why would he say beware of false prophets when he just talked about that narrow is the gate that leads to life and few there'll be that'll find it and so on and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there'll be that'll go that way. mean says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves you shall know them by their fruits not by their gifts by the fruits.

Now what does he mean? Look what comes next. Okay. Right after he tells us about the narrow way, he says, "Beware of false prophets." Why? Who are these false prophets? So, who are these people that we are to be so careful uh against which a serious soul needs to be on his guard?

There are those who teach, hear me now, there are those who teach that heaven may be reached without walking the narrow way. There are those who insist that obtaining eternal life is easy. Is easy. They magnify God's grace. They magnify God's grace but do not preach repentance. Listen to me now.

They magnify the grace of God but they don't teach and preach repentance. They don't insist on repentance. Jesus calls them false prophets. This has nothing to do with prophecy. Prophecy. Somebody can prophesy and see through a glass darkly and miss it. Yeah, we all do that. We all have done that.

But a false prophet is one who is not teaching the gospel properly and preaching the gospel properly. Who's not saying repent? was not teaching you must have a holy life, a righteous life. You must surrender to Jesus totally and completely because what they what what they do is they magnify grace and never insist on repentance.

They don't talk about the cross. They don't talk about the blood of Jesus. They just talk about how God is good, how good God is, and how you can make it by yourself. No, that's not Bible. They they fail to tell their hearers that nothing but a broken heart which hates sin can truly believe in Christ Jesus.

You can't believe in Christ without having a broken heart. You cannot believe in Christ without hating sin. I'm not talking about believing that. You know, a lot of people believe that. No, it's believing in Jesus. There's a big difference between believing that and believing him in. Let me explain.

So, they say, "Well, I believe that Jesus came. So does the devil. I believe that Jesus died on the cross. So does the devil. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. So does the devil. I believe that Jesus ascended to heaven. So does the devil. And I believe that Jesus is coming again.

So does the devil. It's believing in Christ. Because believing in means you surrender to him. You surrender to him. So if I said to you, do you believe that I exist? You say, of course. But to believe in me, you have to give me your soul to keep, right?

And nobody would do that cuz I can't keep your soul anyways. It would be foolish to trust a man or a human being with your soul and your life. Only God can be trusted with your life and your soul and your eternity. So we believe in Christ. Abraham believed in God and God declared him righteous.

So you got to understand they fail to tell their hearers that only a broken heart which hates sin can truly believe in Christ. Now some will say, "Well, I believe that that that that." Well, so does the devil. And the those who believe that that that that that don't don't have a broken heart.

Don't even think about it. And they hate and they love their sin. Unbelievers believe that only true Christians believe in Jesus. In Jesus is true surrender. The word in Christianity is yield. yield your members as instruments of righteousness. Paul said you give your life to Jesus. That's true Christianity.

You let him live his life in and through you. He said without me you can do nothing. We simply give him our life. He is the vine. We're the branches. It's quite simple. Our life is connected to the vine. He flows through the branches. The fruit comes through the vine and the branches.

So, so all they teach is a religion. These false prophets that Jesus talked about, beware of false prophets in verse 15 of Matthew 7, they teach a religion that pleases the flesh. That's a false prophet. Not they they don't teach about pleasing the Lord. They teach about pleasing the flesh.

They teach the broad way. The broad way that has gone beyond the scriptures has gone beyond the bound of scriptures. Now, we have the answer in Titus of what truly is the narrow way. What is the narrow way? Let's go to Titus chapter 2. Let's look at verse 11 and verse 12.

It says, "For the grace," let's go with, come on, you you go with me to that to that precious verse or it's on the screen for you anyways. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us what? That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.

That's the narrow way. The narrow way is that God wants us to deny ungodliness. Because it says that God's grace, real grace that brings salvation that has appeared to all men is teaching what it teaches that you have to deny ungodliness. It teaches repentance. That's real grace. Denying worldliness, lust, and so forth.

That we should live soberly. We should live righteously. We should live a godly life in this present world. Wow. So this is the real test. This is the real test. This is what that narrow way really is right here. So this is the way of God. and and and I would like to keep reading for you verse 13 and 14 because it says looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people. a people, his own special people, zealous of good works.

And finally, Paul the Apostle tells us something that I think is absolutely wonderful. So wonderful. And that's what uh I pray for. That's what I want you to pray for. For the love of Christ constrains us. I'm going to read verse 14 and 15 of 2 Corinthians 5.

As I close and I want to pray with you. For the love of Christ constrainth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead. and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.

That's what I want. That's really what I want to die to myself. that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves to live for him. Wow. That's the Christian life because we love him. The love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if one died for all and were all dead and that he died for all, then they which live should not henceforth live for themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.

Wow. Wonderful Jesus. Wonderful Jesus. To you be the glory. And Lord, bring us to that place in our life. Just like Paul said in this beautiful portion, Lord, that we will no longer live for ourselves, but only for you, Lord. Only for you, dear Jesus. only for you.

Lift your hands and tell them that only for you, Lord. Not for myself, but for you. Give you all the praise and glory. And God's people said, "Amen and amen." Well, thank you for being with me today. You know, I've been serving the Lord over 50 years, and truly, the longer I serve him, the sweeter he grows.

You love him more and more and more. And I want you to love him more and more and more and serve him with all your heart. It's Jesus and only Jesus saints. There's no one else. No one else. No one ever cares for me like Jesus. Wow. Well, I'll see you tomorrow for another great, beautiful program.

Share this program uh this teaching with your friends. Let them let them hear what the Bible has to say about the narrow way because we need to to be reminded. We all need to be reminded of what the Bible teaches. I want you in heaven. I want myself in heaven.

I want to be there too. I have to remind myself only then the other way. It's really the only way to get to heaven. Hallelujah. to follow the Lord. Well, thank you for your love and your support. Information is on the screen for those who want to support the ministry and help me go to the world.

And I'm on my way, by the way, in May to uh Ivory Coast and then go from there to Ghana. Then I come back only home for like two weeks. I go to Guatemala, come back, then I go a few weeks later to Uganda. So, it's going to be a busy time.

And thank you for your support and love and kindness. Much love to all of you. I'll see you tomorrow. Bless you. >> These are the last days. If you are a Christian, you must stay alert. And if you do not know Jesus as your savior, now is the time to receive him and understand Bible prophecy.

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