In 2nd Corinthians, in chapter 13, we read
a question that the Apostle Paul asks the
Corinthians.
And it's a good question for us to
ask ourselves.
See, these Corinthians were not unbelievers.
These are the Christians in Corinth where Paul
had spent one and a half years teaching
them.
You read about that in Acts 18.
And he built them up.
And then he wrote one Corinthians to them
where he said, you know, God's going to
confirm you and all that in Christ.
But now he says in 2nd Corinthians 13
and verse 5, test yourselves to see if
you are in the faith.
Examine yourselves.
Or do you not recognize this about yourselves
that Jesus Christ is in you unless, indeed,
you fail the test?
Do you think those words could possibly apply
to you?
Or when you read Scriptures like that, you
say, oh, well, that doesn't apply to me.
Well, I think that a lot of Christians
in Corinth felt exactly like that, and that's
why they were lost.
Now, if there's a word in Scripture written
for unbelievers, that's another thing.
We may say, well, I'm not sure whether
that applies to me.
But here is a question, a command, rather,
to test yourself to see if you are
in the faith.
Examine yourselves.
It's quite likely that some of us who
have read through the Bible many times haven't
even noticed this verse.
I'm sure the devil doesn't want you to
notice it.
And the possibility of failing the test when
we test ourselves, that's really something.
So, let me show you another verse where
Jesus answered a question once when somebody asked
Him in Luke's Gospel chapter 13.
Luke 13 and verse 22.
Jesus was passing from one city and village
to another, teaching, proceeding on His way to
Jerusalem.
Someone said to Him, now, let's read slowly,
Lord, are there only a few who are
going to be saved?
What would you say is the answer to
that question?
Are there only a few who will be
saved finally?
Who will be with the Lord for eternity?
And His reply was...
He didn't even answer that question.
He didn't answer it the way they expected.
Whether it's going to be few or many.
He said, don't worry.
I mean, if I were to paraphrase, don't
worry whether there are a few or many.
You make sure that you yourself are there.
And that's what I'd say.
Don't worry about the number of people who
will be saved, but you make sure you
yourself are there.
And that's certainly my responsibility when I stand
up in this pulpit or any pulpit.
As one who seeks to represent the Lord
Jesus Christ and to proclaim His word accurately,
I believe my responsibility is to give those
who hear me, who have years to hear,
as far as possible an accurate diagnosis of
their spiritual condition.
You know, like a doctor.
A good doctor.
A good preacher is like a good doctor.
He doesn't work for money.
He's really interested in the patients.
To make sure that everybody is healed and
that people know exactly what their sickness is.
Is it enough to say, well, I'm 95
% sure I'm saved.
Supposing a doctor, you went to a doctor
and he told you, you know, you've got
a 5% chance of having cancer.
There's a 5% possibility that you already
have cancer.
Well, you say, oh, that's okay.
95% there's no possibility.
So, you ignore it.
And it may be true that you did
have cancer.
But he couldn't rule it out completely.
A healthy person would go to the same
doctor and he'd say, you don't have cancer
at all.
Zero.
You ask yourself this question.
Supposing you went to a doctor because you
had some pain somewhere and he takes a
scan and he says, I can't say for
sure, but I think there's a 5%
possibility you've got cancer.
You need to do some further tests.
What would you say?
Say, oh, it's too expensive.
Further tests, I'm not worried.
Well, if you've got a wife and small
children to look after, you better do something
about your health instead of leaving them as
fatherless and widows.
See, that is the test which proves to
us that we fear cancer more than we
fear eternal separation from God.
It's true.
So many people, I feel that a lot
of people come to CFC here and imagine
that because we're listening to good messages and
fellowship with good people, we're going to be
okay.
I just want to shake you out of
your comfort and ask you to think.
Look at Jesus' reply.
Verse 24, Luke 13, 24.
Strive to enter through the narrow door.
For many, I tell you, will seek to
enter and will not be able.
Many will want to enter and not be
able?
Is that right?
That there are people who want to be
with the Lord forever and won't be there?
We thought it's only those who reject Christ,
who don't want Him.
Now here it says there are people who
want to enter and won't be able.
And then one day the head of the
house gets up and shuts the door.
And they stand outside saying, Hey, open, Lord.
And he'll answer, I don't know where you're
from.
And you'll begin to say, but we broke
bread every Sunday.
We took part in the cup.
That's the meaning of that.
We ate and drank in your presence.
Lord, you were there and we broke bread
and we drank the cup.
We were there every Sunday.
We missed many of the other meetings, but
we didn't miss the breaking of bread.
We were there.
And you'll say, I don't know where you're
from.
Depart from me.
What is the reason for departing?
That is sin in your life.
That's the only reason why anybody will be
kept out of God's kingdom.
Evil doers means those who do evil.
In other words, those who commit sin.
The only reason why God will keep anybody
out of his kingdom is because of a
wrong attitude to sin.
Either open indulgence in it, and it doesn't
matter whether you're young or old, or a
casual attitude towards it.
It's like if you play the fool with
electricity, you're going to die one day.
I mean, you may escape a few times,
but one day you're careless and that's the
end of you.
So, we're careful in these areas.
In this area too.
If I play the fool with sin, you
may think, okay, okay, okay, one of these
days I'll repent.
Let me tell you something about sin.
Every time you sin, it becomes more difficult
to repent.
I sin twice, it's a little more difficult.
I sin ten times, it's a little more
difficult.
I sin a hundred times, I can repent,
but it's going to be more difficult.
And particularly after I've known the truth.
If I didn't know the truth, then of
course I don't even know it's sin.
You see, I don't have an understanding.
But once, I mean, all of you who
come here, you know the truth pretty well.
You sin and you take it lightly.
And that's the reason why after so many
years, we find some brothers and sisters here
don't seem to have light on their true
spiritual condition.
That's really sad.
And I don't know their private life, but
I can tell you one thing when I
look at their...
See, I've known folks here more than 20
years ago, 25 years ago.
And I can fairly accurately gauge their spiritual
states just by talking with them and even
looking at them, looking at their eyes.
And I find that many of them have
not grown.
They're slidden back or in the same condition.
And the reason is in their life they're
not taking sin seriously.
That's the main, one would say, the only
reason.
So, I want to encourage you to listen
to what Jesus said.
Are there only few going to be saved?
Strive to enter.
Where have you heard an evangelist who is
preaching the gospel, telling people how to be
saved and telling them, Dear friends, strive to
enter in through this door.
Because there are many here who will want
to enter and will not be able to
enter.
I've never heard in my life an evangelist
preach the gospel like that.
They always say, It's so easy.
Just raise your hand, sign this card, say,
Jesus, come into my heart.
And look at these fellows, how they live
after they've done that.
That's a false gospel.
I'd rather believe what Jesus said than what
all the evangelists in the world put together
say.
Let every man be a liar, it says
in Romans 3, 3, but let God be
true.
I'll tell you another thing.
Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away.
But this word will not pass away.
And like you've heard me say often, when
the rich man went to hell, do you
think he got a surprise?
The story of the rich man and Lazarus,
a true story.
I think he got the biggest surprise of
his life because he never missed a Sabbath
at the synagogue.
The chief priest told him he was okay
because he was rich.
And everybody else flattered him and made him
feel okay.
And the moment he dies, he discovers he's
in the flames.
And he said, How did I get here?
The bishop was wrong.
The priest was wrong.
All the preachers were wrong.
They fooled me.
They didn't tell me the truth.
And then all of a sudden, he's concerned.
You read all that in Luke 16.
Oh, I've got five brothers.
They're rich too.
And they've been listening to this rubbish that
the bishops and the priests are telling them.
Abraham, would you please send somebody to go
and tell them?
Because I know why I came here now.
Listen to the confession of a man in
hell.
It's not a parable.
It's a true story.
Jesus never used names in parables.
You read all the 40 parables that Jesus
gave and you'll never find him using a
name like Abraham, Lazarus.
Never.
Abraham was a real person.
Lazarus was a real person.
Rich man was a real person.
There's a real man in hell and was
there even today.
And this is what he told Abraham.
Luke 16.30 If someone goes to them
from the dead, they will repent.
Repent means they will turn from sin.
He knows that the only reason why he
went there was not because he didn't read
the whole Bible.
It's not because he didn't go to the
synagogue every Saturday.
It's because he did not turn from sin
in his life.
It's an awareness that hits a person as
soon as you reach hell.
A lot of big people, rich people, scientists,
famous people on earth who are very famous
and popular, great politicians and leaders and respected
everywhere, when they die, they're immediately in hell.
In a moment, they know why they're there.
It doesn't take long.
In a moment.
My attitude to sin was wrong.
I played the fool.
It's not only old people.
There are young people who cross the road
and die in an accident or get some
sickness.
They suddenly go to hell.
They thought, I thought I had a long
life ahead of me.
And now, eternally, I'm here.
And yet, I heard the message so many
times.
God gave me so many chances to repent.
And I'll tell you, you'll care for your
brothers who are still on earth.
Say, please send someone to warn them.
And Abraham says, They don't need a Lazarus
to go back from the dead.
They've got the Bible.
Verse 31.
They have the Bible.
Those days, the only Bible was the first
39 books called Moses and the Prophets.
And if they don't listen to the Bible,
they're not even going to believe if somebody
gets up and says, I came back from
heaven or I came back from hell.
You know, there are all types of stories
floating around the Internet of people who came
back from heaven, who imagined they came back
from heaven, who imagined they came back from
hell.
And there are a lot of foolish believers
circulating those stories, thinking, hey, this will scare
people.
Listen to the Word of God.
If these fellows don't believe the Bible, they're
not going to believe these stories.
And if you have more faith in these
stories on the Internet of people who say
they came back from heaven or hell more
than the words of Jesus Christ, oh, brother,
you really need to be saved.
Imagine putting the word of some unknown guy
who lives in some part of the world
you never even heard of.
Most of it is fiction.
More than the words of Jesus Christ, I
wouldn't do that.
Well, they've got the Bible.
That's why I say to all of you,
if you've got a Bible in your own
language and you've got a copy of it,
you have no excuse.
It's there.
All you've got to do is read the
Gospels.
That's all.
Are there few who are going to be
saved?
The Lord says, strive to enter in through
the narrow door because many will seek to
enter and will not be able.
And you ask yourself, why will they not
be able?
You know, Jesus once said, you know that
statement that he made when the rich ruler
turned away and went away from the Lord.
Jesus said in Mark chapter 10, when
the man went away, it says in verse
22, Jesus said to him, you lack one
thing.
Essentially, he was saying, you love your money.
I want to say one thing here.
Jesus never tells everyone to sell all that
they possess.
This man, he said in verse 21, Jesus
felt a love for him, a tremendous love
for him and say, hey, listen, I love
you.
And you can be saved.
But you got to sell all you possess
and give to the poor.
Now, I don't have time to show you,
but if you read in Luke 19, there
was a man called Zacchaeus who was equally
rich and who said, I'll give half my
goods to the poor.
And Jesus said, that's fine.
You're saved.
So how is it Zacchaeus had to give
only half?
This man had to give 100%.
And some of the others probably gave less
than half.
That's okay.
You don't get salvation by giving money to
the poor.
No, or to God or in the offering
box.
It's like cancer.
You know, sometimes you have cancer in an
organ, in the stomach or some other part
of the organ, some other organ in the
body.
The doctor may examine and say, well, in
your case, I think I got a cut
off part of the stomach, a part of
that organ and you'll be all right.
Another person comes, oh, yours is worse.
I've got to cut off at least half
of it.
Half your stomach has to go.
Another person comes whose cancer has spread much
more.
He says, I'm sorry.
I've got to remove the whole organ.
Otherwise you'll die.
See, that's it.
The people gripped to different extents by the
love of money, which is like a cancer.
And to some, the Lord says, yeah, it's
okay.
You don't have to give up everything because
it doesn't have a hold on you.
But this guy, he had the money at
such a hold on him, he said, you'll
never be saved if you don't break that
hold completely.
Your cancer has spread so much.
Imagine he was a young man and by
the time he was already enslaved to the
love of money.
Usually people get enslaved by the time they're
old.
This fellow was enslaved when he was young.
And then Jesus looked around at his disciples.
But remember these words, Jesus loved him.
It's only somebody who loves you who will
tell you the whole truth about yourself.
A doctor who only wants your money, wants
to keep you happy, will not tell you
the truth about yourself.
And a preacher who's only interested in your
money will not tell you the truth about
yourself.
Because he may hurt you and then you
won't give him enough money.
That's why you must never listen to a
preacher who's interested in your money.
Listen to people like Jesus and Paul.
They'll tell you the truth.
And when this rich man heard these words,
he was sad.
And he went away grieving for he was
one who owned a lot of property.
And Jesus looking around said to his disciples,
how hard it'll be for those who are
wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.
It's not because of their wealth.
I think there are going to be a
lot of rich people in God's kingdom.
It's because the wealth that got a hold
of them.
The wealth was on their head, not under
their feet.
That's the point.
He didn't say it's impossible.
He said it's hard.
It's hard because generally speaking, wealth tends to
sit on our head.
Very difficult to bring it under our feet.
But by the power of the Spirit it
can be.
The disciples were amazed because a lot of
Jewish people around them were rich.
He says then there's no hope for them.
But Jesus answered, it's not just the wealthy.
Listen to this.
Those of you who are quite happy that
you don't fall in that category.
Jesus answered again and said to them, children,
how hard it is for anybody to enter
the kingdom of God.
Had you fit in?
How hard it is for anyone to enter
the kingdom of God.
Is that the message you've heard in the
gospel you heard?
That it's very hard to enter God's kingdom?
That's what Jesus said.
But that's not what the preacher told you,
right?
He said it was very easy.
Jesus said it's very hard.
Whom are you going to believe?
I like to quote scripture.
I remember a brother sending an email.
You know, we get lots of emails in
response to our Internet messages.
And one brother said, I appreciate what Brother
Zach preaches because for everything he quotes a
scripture.
Then I know that it's not his ideas,
but what God has said.
And that's why I make you turn to
your Bible so often.
Because I don't want your faith to rest
upon my cleverness.
I want it to rest upon God's word,
what Jesus said.
So listen to this.
It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God.
Why can't a camel go through the eye
of a needle?
You know how small the eye of a
needle is.
I mean, you can't even put your finger
through, leave alone a camel.
Jesus had a great way of exaggerating.
You know, make something as huge as a
camel.
He didn't even say a dog.
And going through the eye of a needle,
the camel says, boy, I can't get anywhere.
I can't even get my nose through that.
And then you look at a, you know,
one of the smallest creatures is a thing
called an amoeba.
So small you're going to need a microscope
to see it.
And the amoeba says, hey, that's no problem
for me.
I go in and out of the eye
of a needle so easily.
To an amoeba, that eye of a needle
is bigger than this door.
It's just going in and out easily.
You find it difficult to go through this
door?
Not at all.
Neither does the amoeba.
What's the difference between the camel and this
little amoeba?
One is so big.
The other is so small.
That's the thing.
You have to be small in your own
eyes to enter into God's kingdom.
The trouble with man is most human beings
are big in their own eyes.
The cleverer they are, the richer they are,
the better they are than others, the more
they think of themselves.
And you know, our children are trained in
that right from school.
The prize goes always to those who come
first on the athletics field or in the
academic field.
It's competition.
Competition.
Who's going to come first?
Every school in the world.
I'm not saying that's wrong.
But at the end of it, if your
children do come first in school or on
the athletic field, I hope you tell them
to humble themselves.
Give the glory to God.
Otherwise, if you also boast about it, you're
going to ruin your children.
I'm not preaching what I haven't practiced.
I remember when my own children would come
home after a prize-giving day, I would
say, Don't ever tell anybody about this, what
you got, and don't ever show it to
anyone.
Don't ever show your report card to anyone.
And don't ever think that you're more acceptable
to God just because you got a prize
today.
There are 800 students sitting there who couldn't
get prizes, but who may be better boys
than you are.
They may be more unselfish than you.
They may be humbler than you.
I used to tell them that every year.
Do you tell your children not to glory
in their achievements, accomplishments?
Do you want to save your children?
Let them be small in their own eyes.
Very, very important.
You keep praising a pretty girl and saying
how pretty you are, you're going to ruin
her.
You've got to be careful.
I mean, it's alright when they're very little
children, I can understand, but as they grow
up, be careful.
You who admire people's dresses.
Oh, what a lovely sari you've got.
In other words, you're not one of those
poor people in the slums, you know.
You're one of the rich guys, right?
You've got a sari.
You can afford to buy this type of
stuff.
What all things believers talk about.
It's amazing.
And how does it help that person to
be saved?
It doesn't help that person to be saved
at all.
It helps that person to be a little
more proud that I'm not poor like the
people in the slums.
I can afford this rich sari.
You've just pushed him or her a little
further towards hell.
I don't want to do that.
I don't want to be responsible in the
final day for one single soul going to
hell.
Maybe a lot of people who listen to
me for many years will finally go to
hell, but it won't be because they didn't
hear the truth.
I believe what Jesus said.
It's easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a
rich man.
Or rich in many ways.
We can be rich.
Many people think riches is only money.
It's not money.
You can be proud of your intelligence.
You can be rich in intelligence.
You can be rich in capabilities.
A man can be a plumber, a first
class plumber, and he can be proud of
that.
It's basically pride.
You know what Abraham said, that there's a
big gulf, he told the rich man, between
you and me.
Those who are there can't come here.
Those who are here can't come there.
And that gulf, I believe, is pride.
This man was proud.
There's a big gulf between him and God.
And he can never get to God's kingdom.
I want you to turn now to Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 7.
See, this morning as I was praying about
what I should share here, this is what
was laid on my heart, and that is
why I'm sharing what I am sharing.
I was concerned that there could be many
people, young and old, who are coming to
CFC regularly who may not enter the kingdom
of God.
And I said, Lord, I don't want anybody's
blood on my hands.
I mean, it should not be because they
didn't hear the truth.
It should be because they rejected the truth.
Or it should be because they said, oh,
Zach's a fanatic.
Forget about him.
That's okay.
But it should not be because they didn't
hear the truth.
No, we're going to make the truth plain
and clear in the words of Jesus.
Matthew chapter 7.
At the end of the Sermon on the
Mount, and I would say the whole Sermon
on the Mount can be summed up in
two sentences.
You know, two sentences.
The whole Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5,
6, and 7.
Love God with all your heart, soul, strength,
and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
That's it.
And everything that's taught there fits into that.
And it's the second part which he mentions
in verse 12, Matthew 7, 12.
In everything, treat people the same way you
want them to treat you, for this is
the message of the whole Bible.
Treat people the way you want them to
treat you.
Do you like people yelling at you?
How many of you like your boss yelling
at you at work?
I mean, is there any crazy person who
says, I just love when my boss yells
at me at work?
No.
Then don't yell at your wife then.
Treat others the way you want other people
to treat you.
Do you want some shopkeeper to cheat you?
No.
Don't ever cheat anybody else.
Don't sell secondhand stuff without telling them what's
wrong with it.
Little, little things.
It's one word which can answer many, many
questions.
Treat other people the way you want God
to treat you.
We had a little girl working in our
home for some time, sent by her parents
because she was very sick and her sister
had died and they were afraid she would
die too.
Anyway, we took care of her and she's
grown up now and married.
I remember the years she was at home
helping my wife.
I felt God would treat me the way
I treated her because she was a servant,
you know.
I never called her a servant, never in
my life.
I called her a helper.
Same title as for the Holy Spirit.
I said the way I behave to her
is going to be the way God behaves
to me.
I want to tell you this.
The way you treat those maidservants who work
in your home is going to be the
way God treats you.
I know she's at a lower level than
you.
You are at a much lower level than
God.
So treat other people the way you want
to be treated yourself.
It's good logic.
And I'll tell you, you'll even be healthy
if you do that.
And then at the end, Jesus said in
verse 13, verse 13 onwards to the end
of the chapter, He's saying the possibility of
two ways in which we can go or
two types of trees in which we can
become or two types of houses we can
build.
He's summing up the Sermon on the Mount
and says, now you guys have to make
a choice.
Are you going to go this way that
I've spoken of in the last three chapters
or are you going to go the easy
way which religious people are going to tell
you?
My advice to you, Jesus says in verse
13, is enter through the narrow gate.
You remember, we read that just now when
Jesus, they asked him, are there few to
be saved?
And he said, strive to enter through the
narrow gate.
Here it is.
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate
is wide.
The way is broad that leads to destruction.
In other words, the easy way is the
road to hell.
You know, some people think the road to
hell is full of cliffs and potholes.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
The road to hell is paved beautifully.
It's much better than all the Indian roads.
It's paved beautifully.
And it's not a steep, you know, downward
thing to hell.
It's very gentle.
You won't even know that your elevation is
dropping.
You won't even know it.
It's a gentle, easy way.
And after a few years, you realize you've
dropped 10,000 feet already.
I didn't even know it.
That's it.
That's how the road to hell is like
that.
Nicely paved and very small gradient so that
you don't even know that you're going downward
slowly.
Now, just stop a moment and ask yourself,
many a few years ago, you asked Christ
to come into your life.
Think of that day when you decided to
give up certain sins in your life, like
watching certain types of movies or watching certain
programs on television or anything that would stimulate
sexual lust.
You decided to be absolutely honest and money
matters.
I think people are really converted.
Take some of those that are converted.
They ask forgiveness from others whom they have
hurt and there's joy in their heart when
they're saved.
The first week or so after they're saved,
it's almost like heaven.
Or if somebody had an experience of being
filled with the Holy Spirit, it's like that
too.
For one week, you think you're in heaven.
Now, compare your present condition today with that
day.
Do you feel you've gone a little upward?
The way to heaven is also very slow
gradient, but it's going upward.
Small gradient.
Do you feel today you permit in yourself
certain things that you would not permit then?
And, of course, you explain it away saying,
Oh, I was very legalistic.
That's exactly what the devil wants you to
say.
I'm not so legalistic like those people who
are so fanatic about all these things.
I've learned to be like Jesus.
I'll tell you, it's another Jesus.
You're just fooling yourself.
You ask yourself, I don't know your life.
I don't know your private lives of anybody
sitting here.
Do you allow in your life things that
you would never have allowed the day you
were converted?
Then you know whether you're up or down
from that position.
The day you were converted, you take sin
very seriously.
How is it since then?
Why is it so many people go down
so much?
It's because the road to hell is a
slow, small gradient downwards.
It's a wide way, broad that leads to
destruction and many enter through it.
You know, today we're in the day of
lots of what they call mega churches where
you have 30,000 people sometimes sitting in
one church building.
Does that mean they've got the truth?
I would seriously question.
Sometimes people ask me, Brother Jack, how many
people in your church?
I say we have 400 chairs and most
of them are full on a Sunday.
But how many disciples?
I don't know.
Because I don't know their private lives.
Why would we preach discipleship?
Supposing an angel were to ask Jesus, Lord,
how many disciples in CFC?
I'd like to hear that answer.
Supposing the Lord says 20.
That's the strength of the church.
20 disciples like those first 11?
Oh, we could turn the world upside down
then.
11 of them turn the world upside down.
Radical, wholehearted against sin, really determining to live
for Jesus every single day, turning from sin
constantly every day because we're discovering new areas
of sin which we did not know previously.
Boy, I wish we had a number like
that.
I want to be like that myself.
I've come to know the Lord more and
more, not by studying the Bible alone, but
because the Bible has shown me what sin
is and how much Christ hates it.
And it's made me turn from sin.
I don't seek for the gifts of healing
and miracles.
I want to turn from sin because that's
the thing that God hates.
And I would advise you to do the
same.
And there's nothing that can make us turn
from sin like seeing what Jesus did for
us on the cross or how He suffered
in Gethsemane.
One of the little bits of a hymn
I sing to myself very often is that
whenever I'm tempted, Lord, help me to see
my God alone, outstretched and bruised on the
cross, bleeding on the earth that He had
created.
Help me to see that, Lord.
And help me to see that it was
my sin and nobody else's.
And that was to Him such a load
that He who could bear the world on
His shoulders could not bear it.
When you see sin like that, I keep
singing that to myself many times just to
remind myself, ever when tempted, make me see.
Beneath the olive's moon-pierced shade, my God
alone, outstretched and bruised and bleeding on the
earth He made.
And make me feel it was my sin
as though no other sins were there.
That was to Him who bears the world
a load that He could scarcely bear.
Have you seen it like that?
There's nothing that will make you hate sin.
Every sermon telling you to hate sin and
hate the world will not help you as
much as seeing what Jesus had to go
through in order to save us from our
sin.
I'll tell you my case.
That's the only thing that's really made me
hate it.
To say if you sin, you'll go to
hell.
These are all frightening methods of trying to
save people.
If you sin, you'll go to hell.
I don't preach like that.
I say if you sin, just think of
what Jesus had to go through in order
to save you from your sin.
That has turned me more from sin than
the fear of going to hell.
The fear that God may hurt me does
not trouble me as much as the fear
that I may hurt God.
Have you thought of that?
I'm not afraid God will hurt me, but
I'm terribly afraid that I may hurt God
by something I do or say.
That's why whenever I sense in conversation or
an email or anything that somebody feels hurt
or a little disturbed by what I said,
I apologize immediately.
I say I'm sorry.
I want to clear my conscience because I
know that if it hurt somebody, it hurt
Jesus Christ.
And I don't want to beat around the
bush like so many believers who never know
how to say I am sorry, brother, sister.
I'm sorry.
I would say that to anybody because I
know the price Jesus paid for sin.
It's easy to go in one sense, if
you're willing, but it's so hard because it's
so difficult to break our pride.
Have you ever wondered why it's so difficult
even to get a little child to say
I'm sorry once he or she understands what
that means?
It's very difficult.
They'll say any other sentence under the sun.
They'll repeat a whole poem, but three words,
I'm sorry.
So difficult, it doesn't come out of their
mouth.
It's there rooted in children.
The pride of Lucifer that came into Adam,
that came into the entire human race and
as we have grown, we have developed in
it.
It's because we take sin lightly.
I want to tell you something.
It's only when Zacchaeus restored and made restitution,
gave back the money he had stolen from
others that Jesus said salvation has come.
And if you have not apologized to somebody
you hurt even with a small sentence and
you know you hurt him and you just
sort of acted friendly with him thereafter without
saying those difficult words, I'm sorry for what
I said.
I want to say I seriously question whether
you're forgiven by God.
I doubt it.
How could he do it?
Now that man may be so gracious that
he ignores it.
Supposing I've stolen a thousand rupees from somebody.
He knows it.
He just ignores it.
He says, okay, it's alright.
I'm not going to take it seriously.
Does that mean I don't have to return
it?
How can my conscience be clear just because
he ignores it?
He's large-hearted enough.
Supposing you've hurt somebody and he's large-hearted
enough to ignore it and you find you
have a good fellowship with him, but you
haven't set right that matter.
You know very well that you did something
wrong.
Maybe your wife or your husband or a
brother or sister and you never went to
him and said, I'm sorry for what I
said.
I want to say to you, you're not
forgiven.
Not by God.
You can forgive yourself.
You're fooling yourself.
When you sin against another person, it's not
enough to confess it to God.
You have to confess to that person.
What is hindering you?
Only one thing.
The size of a camel.
Your pride.
The moment you humble yourself, the camel becomes
an amoeba.
Isn't that wonderful news?
The moment I humble myself, the big camel
in me becomes an amoeba and I can
run through the eye of a needle up
and down a hundred times easily.
What appeared so difficult becomes so easy.
A needle's eye is difficult for a camel,
easy for an amoeba.
And so, he said another thing in verse
14 which he said earlier also and here
he answers the question whether few will be
saved.
Matthew 7, 14 The gate is small and
the way is narrow that leads to life
and there are few who find it.
Now listen, let me expand on it.
The way to life is narrow and there
are many who understand it but few who
find it.
Many will understand it.
I think a lot of you sitting here
today I'm not speaking in a language that
you don't understand and I'm not even speaking
in a with words that go over your
heads.
I speak at your level.
I believe even if there are eight-year
-old children here they'd understand.
You understood it but whether you find it
or not that's up to you.
I can't find it for you.
Each one of us is to go one
by one.
It's so narrow that you can't even take
your wife with you.
Two people can't walk along this way.
It's a steep cliff this side, steep cliff
this side.
Room only for one person to go through.
Your wife is welcome to come but she's
got to follow you.
She'll make a choice herself.
So also your children.
Everyone is to choose them to find that
way.
In one sense it's easy to find it
if you're willing to humble yourself.
That's why I say take this matter of
asking forgiveness from those whom you've hurt seriously.
When I've hurt somebody though I know clearly
you've heard it many times that I must
ask forgiveness but do I find it?
No.
I have seen with most believers they don't
find it.
Do you know I mean I work with
a lot of elder brothers in different parts
of the country and elsewhere.
I have found even among elder brothers it's
very difficult for them to say I'm sorry.
I was wrong.
I was mistaken.
I'm really sorry for what I said or
did.
Most of them want to justify themselves because
you know an elder brother can't afford to
look wrong.
I've been wrong many times.
Many, many times.
And I presume that I will still not
be perfect tomorrow.
And if I slip up somewhere I'm going
to say I'm sorry.
I slipped up there.
You know the Apostle Paul he lost his
temper once when he was around 60 years
old before a high priest.
As soon as he was aware of it
he said it right.
That's the man of God.
See, we don't walk through this world saying
a thorn will never come on my foot.
Okay, you wear shoes.
You say a thorn will never come on
your foot.
What about a mosquito sitting on your hand?
You say a mosquito will never sit on
my hand.
You can't say that.
But if you watch the mosquito sucking your
blood and say okay go ahead then there's
something wrong with you.
That mosquito may have malaria.
You wipe it off immediately.
So a godly man is not one who
says sin will not come.
He says I knock it off as soon
as I'm aware of it.
And I'll tell you something.
Sin, you'll feel it in your conscience just
like a mosquito bite.
Do you feel mosquito bites?
Unless you've got leprosy, you feel it.
It's not like a stab.
God doesn't ever stab you in your conscience.
No.
If your conscience tells you it's a little
prick what do you do?
Wipe it off.
Which means go and ask forgiveness.
Set it right.
Otherwise you'll get something worse than malaria.
That's what it means by finding the way.
In a difficult situation in your office when
you know that speaking the truth may even
cost you your job.
You may lose your job.
You've got to find the way there.
The narrow way is I shall honor God.
I know situations when I was in the
Navy where standing up for my conscience could
have meant a court-martial, disobedience to senior
officers, and court-martial can even put you
in jail.
Even for small things.
In the military you're not sent to jail
for murder and theft.
It's disobedience to a superior officer.
Which could be something he told you to
do and you didn't do it.
I think of a few times when I
stood up before at attention to senior officers
and said, I'm sorry, sir.
My conscience doesn't permit me to do that.
I'm a Christian.
And I was taken up to one step
below court-martial and then the Lord set
me free.
But I tell you, I was only 22,
23, 24 years old.
But those are the days when God gave
me a spiritual backbone so that I could
stand upright.
Dear brothers and sisters, those are the situations
where you find the way.
There's a broad way.
Everybody goes.
There's a narrow way.
And you make a choice.
And all of us are making choices every
day.
In your office, in your place of work,
when you travel in a bus or a
train, surrounded by selfish people who are only
interested in themselves.
From the ordinary-looking person sitting there to
the pickpocket, they're only interested in themselves.
And in the midst of it, you, a
child of God, gets into that bus or
train.
You're not going to behave like the others.
You're not going to fight for a seat
like the others.
You find the way there in different situations.
The broad way that everybody's going in and
the narrow way that leads to life.
And that's the way we've got to teach
our children also.
When they go to school and they find
that all the other children are talking about
the latest movie stars and the movies and
various things concerning which...
Do your children know all about it?
Do you young people know more about India's
and Hollywood's movie stars than you know about
what Habakkuk and Zephaniah said?
Habakkuk and Zephaniah, who are they?
Are they from Bollywood or Hollywood?
Do you know?
I fear that many young people know more
about film stars and cricketers than they know
about people in the Bible.
Do you know who Nathaniel was?
Bartholomew?
I don't mean the one in CFC.
The other one.
Find that narrow way, dear brothers and sisters.
And it's easy if you start when you're
young because I'll tell you something about this
narrow way that I've discovered through the years.
In the beginning, it was tough.
It was really tough.
I was converted when I was 19 and
a half and I'll tell you a little
story.
I'm close.
And I used to go regularly to the
movies before that with others.
I used to invite them.
And then one day I got converted.
And I was sitting in my cabin in
the naval base in Cochin and some of
my fellow naval officers came up to me
and said, Hey, Zack, let's go to this
movie.
We had a cinema theater right inside the
naval base.
For all naval staff.
And I didn't want to go.
Because I was born again now and a
new life had come in which wanted to
stay away from all this.
But I didn't have the courage to say
no to these two officers, my colleagues.
How could I say no to them?
They'll think I'm some crazy nut or what
happened?
Should I be sent to a mental hospital?
I didn't have the courage to say no.
So I just got up quietly and walked
along with them with an inward cry to
God.
Oh, God, save me out of this situation.
I didn't know how God would do it.
But that was a cry all the way.
We walked up about half a mile to
the naval base cinema theater.
There was a notice there saying the film
reel did not arrive in time.
So the cinema is canceled today.
I was the only one who said, Praise
the Lord.
They were disappointed.
It's a struggle in the beginning to find
that narrow way.
I came back to my room very happy.
I felt the Lord say to my heart,
I won't do that next time.
You've got to say no yourself the next
time.
Otherwise, you'll never be strong.
But that encouraged me so much that one
time God did a miracle for me almost
a week after I was converted that I
said, Lord, I'll live for you.
If you'll do things like that for me,
cancel a whole movie so that the entire
naval base goes without a movie just because
there's one child of His who wants to
be protected from it, what a God you
are.
I'll do anything for you.
And the next time they came to me,
I said, sorry, I'm not going.
Find that narrow way.
It becomes easier.
It becomes easier now.
Today, it's so easy for me to tell
somebody, I don't want to come to the
movies.
I'm sorry, I'm not interested in watching that
television program.
It's so easy.
It's not difficult.
In the beginning, it's like learning swimming.
Have you seen these fellows who enjoy swimming?
Who can swim for a long time in
the pool?
It wasn't like that when they started.
They started, they would stand at the edge
of the pool scared to jump in.
It's like that, the Christian life.
In the beginning, it's tough.
How long it took.
It's like learning the piano.
Ask people to learn the piano.
How long it takes.
And finally, you see them playing.
Boy, they seem to enjoy it.
The Christian life is like that.
The godly man's life is exciting.
Proverbs 14, 14, Living Bible.
I can say my life is exciting every
day.
I don't have a day without excitement.
That's the honest truth.
I'm not trying to sell something.
I'm not a salesman for Jesus Christ.
I'm a witness to tell you the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, seek that narrow way
and seek it when you're young, you young
people.
Have the guts and the moral courage to
stand against your friends and say no.
I don't want to do that.
Let's pray.
While our heads are bowed in prayer, perhaps
there are some little decisions you need to
take right now.
Matters that you need to confess to God.
Matters that you need to confess to some
other human beings.
Say, Lord, give me grace.
I'm going to do it.
Help me.
I really mean it, Lord.
I want to take my Christian life seriously.
Test yourselves.
Examine yourself, whether you're in the faith that
Jesus proclaimed or the faith that some hollow,
empty preacher taught you.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word
you give us from your scriptures, clear as
crystal, for those who want to read it
the way you spoke it 2,000 years
ago.
Help us to take it seriously.
We do want to not only understand the
way, but find it in the different situations
of life.
Pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.