A Sermon preached on January 11, 2009, by the Rev. Dr. S. Randall Toms
At St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
In this very familiar passage of Scripture, which almost no one believes, our Lord presents to us two gates and two roads. One gate and one road lead to everlasting life; the other gate and the other road lead to everlasting destruction. When our Lord describes the gate and the road that leads to life, he says, “Few there be that find it.” Yet, when we look at the statistics concerning the populations of Christians throughout the world, it seems that our Lord must have been wrong. There are 2.1 billion people in our world who claim to be Christians. Even if the population of the world is a little over 6 billion, that is still a 1/3 of the whole globe professing faith in Christ. If that is true, then surely our Lord should have said, “Few there be that miss it.” Think of it! There are 2.1 billion Christians in the world. There are over one billion Roman Catholics, 250 million Eastern Orthodox, 105 million Pentecostals, 75 million Presbyterians and other Calvinists, 70 million Anglicans, 70 million Baptists, 70 million Methodists, and 64 million Lutherans on this planet.
And yet, when we look at Scripture and see what a Christian is, what one should believe, and how one should live, it’s obvious that something is very wrong. If there are truly this many Christians in the world, where is the impact, and where is the influence? We often hear about the great spiritual awakening that is happening in Africa, and yet, is in Africa, in those Africans nations that are predominantly Christian, in those nations where we find the most evangelicals and Pentecostals, where we see the highest rates of the spread of AIDS. While we are seeing many so-called conversions, the moral change that is supposed to attend Christianity does not seem to be happening.
In the United States, the statistics give us an even more puzzling picture.
In 2001, there were 159 million Christians in the United States, or 76.5% of the population, composed of 52% Protestant and 24% Roman Catholic. There are over 331,000 churches in the U.S. In 2007, over 96 billion dollars was given to religious bodies. If you search the internet and look at the wide array of services and ministries offered by the various churches, you find singles groups, recovery groups, music ministries, worship teams, men’s ministries, women’s ministries, Bible studies, Sunday Schools, day care, senior citizens ministries, nursing home ministries, and prison ministries. With this many people, this many churches, this much money, this many ministries, you would think that this land of ours would be a moral and spiritual paradise. But what is the real condition of our nation?
We find that 38.5% of all births in the U.S. are to unwed mothers. There are well over one million abortions every year in our country. From 2001 to 2006 (just five years) there were 81,000 murders, and 104,000 people killed by drunk drivers. In 2006 there were over 2 million burglaries, over 6 million cases of larceny, over 1 million auto thefts. Statistics show that 95% of Americans engage in premarital sex, and almost all of those would be Christians. And though the statistics show that there are over 159 million professing Christians in the United States, we find that only a small portion of those even attend church regularly.
It is usually assumed that around 40% of the people attend church regularly, but more recent studies have shown that this figure is highly exaggerated. The more reasonable and reliable figure is somewhere around 20 to 30 per cent. Only 40% of these Christians read the Bible at least once a week. Most puzzling of all is a recent survey that showed that 83% of mainline Protestants believe that many religions can lead to eternal life. Even 57% of those who call themselves evangelical Christians believe that other religions may lead to God.
Though the statistics show billions of Christians worldwide, though the statistics show that Christians make up the vast majority of the population in the United States, I would have say that the condition of the world, the condition of our country, and a sober look at the beliefs and practices of those who call themselves Christians, prove our Lord’s point when he said, “Not every one 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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). Billions of people call him Lord, but very, very few actually know him as Lord.
Back in the 19th century Bishop J. C. Ryle wrote:
I invite any intelligent reader of these pages to imagine himself in any parish in Protestant England or Scotland at this day. Choose which you please, a town parish, or a country parish—a great parish or a small one. Let us take our New Testaments in our hands. Let us sift the Christianity of the inhabitants of this parish, family by family, and man by man. Let us put on one side anyone who does not possess the New Testament evidence of being a true Christian. Let us deal honestly and fairly in the investigation, and not allow that anyone is a true Christian, who does not come up to the New Testament standard of faith and practice. Let us count every man a saved soul in whom we see something of Christ—some evidence of true repentance—some evidence of saving faith in Jesus, some evidence of real evangelical holiness. Let us reject every man in whom, on the most charitable construction, we cannot see these evidences, as one “weighed in the balances, and found lacking.” Let us apply this sifting process to any parish in this land, and see what the result would be…. How many, after sifting a parish thoroughly and honestly—how many men and women will remain who are in a way to be saved? How many true penitents—how many real believers in Christ, how many truly holy people will there be found? I put it to the conscience of every reader of this volume to give an honest answer, as in the sight of God. I ask you whether, after sifting a parish with the Bible in the fashion described, you can come to any conclusion but this, that few people—sadly few people, are in a way to be saved? It is a painful conclusion to arrive at—but I know not how it can be avoided. It is a fearful and tremendous thought, that there should be so many churchmen in England, and so many dissenters, so many seat-holders, and so many pew-renters, so many hearers, and so many communicants—and yet, after all, so few in a way to be saved! But the only question is, Is it not true? It is vain to shut our eyes against facts. It is useless to pretend not to see what is going on around us. The statements of the Bible and the facts of the world we live in will lead us to the same conclusion—Many are being lost, and few being saved!
If Bishop Ryle’s description of nineteenth century Britain was true, how much more is it true in 21st century America! It is still true, “Few there be that find it.”
Now, was our Lord saying that there are going to be only a few people in heaven? No, for the Scripture tells us of a large number of the redeemed multitude in heaven: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘ Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb’ ” (Rev. 7:9-10). We have this description that heaven will be composed of a great multitude of people from all over the world. Is there a contradiction here? How can there be a great multitude in heaven and yet our Lord say, “Few there be that find it”?
There are a number of ways to make up this great multitude in heaven, and I don’t have time to go into all of the ways this can happen today, but if we look at the number of people from the beginning of time to the end of the world, there will be enough people saved during these thousands of years to compose a great multitude. Plus, I think Scripture speaks of a time near the end of the world when we will see a great harvest of souls. There will be a great multitude in heaven. When our Lord says, “Few there be that find it,” he is merely saying that if you compare, at any given point in time, the number of people who have entered the gate that leads to life with those who enter the gate the leads to destruction, the number of those who enter the gate that leads to life will always be few in comparison with those who enter the gate that leads to destruction.
The number of the saved compared to the number of the lost has always been few. We remember that at the time of Noah when the world was destroyed, one man, one man out of the entire population of the world was a righteous man:
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (Gen. 6:5-9)
In the whole world there was only one man who walked with God. There was only one righteous man on the face of the earth, and that was Noah. Peter tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness: “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (II Peter 2:5). All during the time Noah was building the ark, he was preaching righteousness. For 120 years he preached righteousness and no one, no one listened to him. I can imagine how all the people laughed at old crazy Noah, living a godly life and building a boat in the middle of nowhere. I wonder if his wife ever came to him and said, “Do you honestly believe that you are right and the rest of the whole world is wrong?” But in the end, only eight souls were saved, and the rest were drowned. Few there be that find it.
When God told Abraham how he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded with him to spare the city if he could find 10 righteous people; but in the end, there was only one righteous man there, and that was Lot. Few there be that find it.
Among the children of Israel, was there ever a time when the faithful were in the great majority? The wilderness wanderings and the book of Judges show how the vast majority of the people of Israel were unfaithful to God. In the days of the kings, was it any different? You remember how Elijah was complaining that the whole nation had turned against God, and he alone was the only righteous man left. But God reminded him that there were 7,000 people in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Well, 7000 is better than just one; but on the other hand, if you look at the population of Israel at that time, it was at least 700,000 and maybe closer to 2 million. If that is the case, then over 99% of the population had bowed the knee to Baal. Less than one per cent were still worshiping the true and living God.
In the time of the prophets, what percentage of the people were truly serving God? Isaiah said in Isaiah 1:9, “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” When God called Isaiah, he told him to go preach to the people, but he also told him that no one was going to listen to him. Now remember, we are not talking about the pagan world here. We are talking about the Jews, God’s covenant people. They are not going to listen. God told Jeremiah, “ Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And though they say, ‘ The LORD liveth’ ; surely they swear falsely.” (Jer. 5:1-2). Here are a people who are professing that they are God’s people. They swear, “The Lord liveth,” but they were hypocrites. Jeremiah could not find, even among God’s covenant people, a just man that was seeking the truth. God told Ezekiel much the same thing:
And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. And he said unto me, ‘ Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them’ (Ezek. 2:2-5).
This is God’s assessment of his own people—that they and their fathers had lived in continual rebellion against him. He doesn’t mean that out of all the people Israel there had been none who were sincere and devoted, but he means that the people as a whole were impudent and stiffhearted. Read Nehemiah 9, and you will see how the whole history of the nation of Israel is one that can be summarized by the fact that though God delivered them and was good to them, they rebelled and refused to obey God. Few there be that find it.
If we come to the time of Christ, how many of the Jews were serving God? Most of the nation was wrapped up in a legalistic heresy that had completely misinterpreted the Law and the Prophets. When Jesus looked at Jerusalem, the holy city, he said,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matt. 23:29-38).
Again, our Lord is not talking about the pagan world. He’s talking to the Jews. He’s talking to the people who tried so hard to keep the Law, to keep the Sabbath day holy, to remain ritually clean, who went to the temple and prayed and offered sacrifices, and yet they were wrong, condemned, and doomed. According to Jesus, Jerusalem had never been a place where the vast majority had worshiped in spirit and in truth—Jerusalem was the place that murdered prophets. Few there be that find it.
Even when our Lord Jesus Christ was among them preaching and teaching the most powerful words the world had ever heard, healing all kinds of sicknesses and doing many signs and wonders, did most of the people believe in him? No, they said that he was doing miracles through the power of the devil. John says he came unto his own and his own received him not. Even after his great miracles and wonderful teaching, at the time of his death, he had a small band of followers.
As we look at the history of the church for nearly 2,000 years, I think we could use that penitential prayer of Nehemiah and the one that Daniel prays in Daniel 9 and summarize our history in the same way. We are the covenant people of God now. The Church has been given the kingdom, but as I look back over 2000 years of Church history, and as I look at the condition of the Church now, I think we can pray the prayer of Daniel in a New Testament sense:
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him” (Daniel 9:5-11).
Just replace “Judah” and “Jerusalem” with the word “Church,” and replace “Moses” with “Jesus,” and this prayer would fit the Church of the last 2000 years perfectly. Can we honestly believe that the Church of the 21st century fares any better in the all-searching eye of God than the Jews did at the time of Daniel and at the time of Christ. Though there have been many Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals who have entered the strait gate and walked the narrow way, it has been nevertheless true, they have been few. Few there be that find it.
This week we began the Epiphany season, that time of year when we celebrate how Christ appeared, when he revealed himself to the world, even to the Gentile peoples beginning with the wise men from the east. The word for “epiphany” is found in Titus 2:11-12: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” The word translated “appeared” is the word for “epiphany.” Grace has appeared in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what does this grace teach us? It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Grace appears to teach us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this midst of this evil world.
But 2,000 years after this epiphany, 2,000 years after Christ has been born, do we see the people who call themselves by his name living in this manner? Rather, isn’t it the case that there is very little difference between us and the rest of the world? Do people look at us and see the difference and say, “They live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world. No matter what the rest of the world is doing, they are distinctive—they stay away from ungodliness and worldly lusts”? Instead we find that the people who call themselves Christians leading the way and setting the example of how to live a worldly, disobedient lifestyle, and then excusing themselves for their wicked behavior by claiming that they have been saved by grace. Two thousand years after that first epiphany, “Few there be that find it.”
Why is it that that so few find it? The answer to that question is contained in our text. So few find it, because the gate is strait and the way is narrow. You may think that I am being unkind, too strict, too uncharitable, but next week, I am going to describe for you in some detail this strait gate and this narrow way, and after I do so, I think you will be compelled to say, “Yes, few there be that find it.”
But there is a more important question we must face this morning rather than the question of whether only a few are saved. On another occasion, a man asked Jesus a question on this very point that we are considering today:
Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait 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 hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out (Luke 13:23-28).
Notice again, that these people are shocked that they are cast out. Jesus tells them that he doesn’t know them. Get the picture now. These are not atheists. These are not Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. These are people who say they believe in Jesus. These are people who are certain that they are going to be admitted into heaven. These are people who are certain that Jesus does know them. So, they say, “You taught in our streets. We ate and drank in your presence.” What a picture of the Christian worship service, for here we have preaching and the sacraments! So many Christians are going to get to the judgment and be shocked by his refusal to grant them admittance to heaven, and they are going to say, “Lord, you know us. I was in church every Sunday. I heard you teach us through your ministers. And I ate and drank in your presence. I took the bread and the wine.” And the Lord is going to say, “I don’t know you. Depart from me.” Few there be that find it, even among those who think they have found it.
So, the most important question is not whether few enter in, but rather, whether I have entered in. This man asks our Lord this question point blank: “Are there few that be saved?” Maybe this man was just asking this question out of idle curiosity, like many people who like to distract a preacher with a question does not really bear on their own conscience. But Jesus seems to answer by saying, “Whether or not there will be few saved or many saved is not the most important issue at hand. The important thing is for you to strive to enter through that narrow gate.”
The word our Lord uses here for “strive” is “agonize.” Agonize to enter through this narrow gate. Don’t worry about whether few or many are going to get through that gate. You strive, you agonize, to get through it, because many are going to try and not be able.
These are sober words for us to consider, but these words should be an encouragement to our church this year and in the years ahead. I know that we are few in number, but remember how our Lord said, “Few there be that find it.” We should not be surprised that we are few in number. We ask that people take the worship of Almighty God seriously. We make no effort to entertain. We study God’s word rather than offer games and skits. We give ourselves to prayer. We preach that people must take up the cross and follow Christ. We preach the strait gate and the narrow way.
With such an unappealing message, we should not be surprised that we are few in number. We should be shocked that anyone is here at all. Are we happy that we are few in number? No. But we are not sad merely because we do not have large numbers in comparison with other churches. We are not sad because we don’t have the money and resources to have a beautiful building of our own. The only reason the fewness of the numbers makes us sad is because it means that very few souls are being saved, and if we love the souls of men, it is always going to make us sad that so few are coming.
But though we are sad that so few souls are being saved, we can take comfort in the knowledge that we have not compromised the gospel message for the sake of numbers. We can take comfort in the fact that, comparatively speaking, the flock of Christ has always been a little flock. To quote Bishop Ryle again:
We have no reason to be discouraged and cast down if the religion we profess is not popular and few agree with us. We must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in this passage: “small is the gate.” Repentance, faith in Christ and holiness of life have never been fashionable. The true flock of Christ has always been small. We must not mind if we are thought singular and peculiar and bigoted and narrow-minded. This is the “narrow road.” Surely it is better to enter into life eternal with a few, than to go to “destruction” with a great company.
If we are small, it is not because of any failure on our part. Make no mistake about it. We are not small because we don’t have a nice building of our own. We are not small because we don’t have enough youth activities. We are not small because people don’t know about us. We are not small because we use old English in our liturgy. We are small because this church is a church of the strait gate and the narrow way, and few there be that find it. Let us continue to preach and teach the strait gate and the narrow way. Let us continue to live as those who are in this narrow way, for though we may be ridiculed, and though we may be few in number, it is this path that leads to life.
Amen.
