NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - There Will Be Far More People In Heaven, Than In Hell
Aired: 2025-02-10
Duration: 01:06:46


=== Two Commandments Summarized (08:20) ===

[00:00:00]  Leave us a five star review on your favorite podcast platform.
[00:00:04]  I get it.
[00:00:04]  It's annoying.
[00:00:05]  Everybody asks, but I'm going to tell you why.
[00:00:07]  When you give us a positive review, what that does is it triggers the algorithm so that our podcast shows up on more people's news feeds.
[00:00:16]  You and I both know that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries aren't.
[00:00:21]  We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.
[00:00:27]  Amen.
[00:00:28]  Please join me in standing for the reading of God's word.
[00:00:30]  This morning we continue our series.
[00:00:33]  Through the Gospel according to Matthew.
[00:00:34]  Our text for today is Matthew chapter 7, verses 12, 13, and 14.
[00:00:40]  Again, our text for today is Matthew chapter 7, verses 12, 13, and 14.
[00:00:44]  I'll read our text for us in its entirety.
[00:00:46]  When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say, This is the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
[00:00:54]  One final time, our text for today is the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 7, verses 12, 13, and 14.
[00:01:01]  The Bible says this.
[00:01:03]  So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.
[00:01:07]  For this is the law and the prophets.
[00:01:10]  Enter by the narrow gate.
[00:01:12]  For the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction.
[00:01:17]  And those who enter by it are many.
[00:01:19]  For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life.
[00:01:24]  And those who find it are few.
[00:01:27]  This is the word of the Lord.
[00:01:30]  All right, please be seated.
[00:01:31]  Let's begin.
[00:01:33]  As quickly as possible, I'd like to address the first verse of our text, verse 12.
[00:01:38]  And then the second point of the sermon today, we'll deal with the last two verses, namely verse 13 and 14.
[00:01:46]  Verse 12, once more, the Bible says this So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
[00:01:57]  What's being said by Jesus in verse 12 of our text, at the very end there, for this is the law and the prophets.
[00:02:04]  What Jesus is essentially saying is that this is the law and the prophets summarized.
[00:02:09]  This is the summary of the law and the prophets.
[00:02:14]  It's very reminiscent of what Jesus says elsewhere.
[00:02:18]  And he says that there are two great commandments.
[00:02:21]  The first and greatest commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.
[00:02:28]  Elsewhere, he says, strength.
[00:02:30]  This is the first and greatest commandment.
[00:02:32]  And the second, then, is like it that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.
[00:02:38]  And then he continues.
[00:02:39]  This is Matthew chapter 22, verses 37, 38, 39, and 40.
[00:02:47]  He then continues and says, All the law and the prophets rest or hinge upon these two commandments.
[00:02:56]  What Jesus is saying in that context is that loving God and loving neighbor, loving God and loving neighbor is the summary of all the law and all the prophets.
[00:03:09]  Now, the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments that we have.
[00:03:12]  Set forth in Exodus chapter 20 also serve as summary law.
[00:03:17]  So we could say, in a sense, that the first and second greatest commandments given to us by Jesus are a summary of a summary.
[00:03:27]  It's taking the summary and making it even more concise.
[00:03:31]  More concise.
[00:03:34]  That all of the law and the prophets, that is, all of the Old Testament, all of the Old Testament scripture is the law word of God.
[00:03:43]  And all of it can be summarized.
[00:03:46]  It contains within it hundreds of commandments, but all of it can be summarized in the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20.
[00:03:55]  And those Ten Commandments can be even further summarized by two commandments Love God, love your neighbor.
[00:04:03]  The Ten Commandments, there are ten of them, as Connor has already said.
[00:04:07]  The first table of the Ten Commandments, namely Commandment 1 through 4, love the Lord your God.
[00:04:13]  Also, do not make any graven images, do not take the Lord's name in vain, and remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
[00:04:21]  These first four of the Ten Commandments are summed up in the first and greatest commandment that Jesus gives us.
[00:04:27]  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength or all your mind.
[00:04:33]  Okay, then the next six of the Ten Commandments honor your father and mother, do not commit murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and do not covet.
[00:04:44]  These next six of the Ten Commandments are summed up in the second greatest commandment that Jesus provides, which is to love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:04:54]  That's what Jesus is addressing in verse 12.
[00:04:56]  He's simply addressing what he says elsewhere in Matthew chapter 22.
[00:05:01]  Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself is a summary of all the law and the prophets because it's the summary of the Ten Commandments, which also is a summary of all the law and the prophets.
[00:05:13]  Here in our text today, Matthew chapter 7, verse 12, Jesus is simply providing for us that same principle, that same concept, but just in relation to the second greatest commandment instead of the first and second.
[00:05:26]  And again, namely, to love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:05:29]  So once more, Jesus says, So whatever you wish that others would do to you, Do also to them.
[00:05:36]  In other words, love others the way that you want to be loved.
[00:05:41]  Or to put it another way, love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:05:45]  For this is the law and the prophets.
[00:05:48]  That is to say, this is the summary of the law and the prophets as they speak to the second table of the law, which is love for neighbor.
[00:05:58]  Okay, that's the point.
[00:05:59]  That's verse 12 of our text.
[00:06:00]  One more point on that.
[00:06:02]  It's noteworthy.
[00:06:05]  That the first portion of this verse, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.
[00:06:13]  That this is providing for us one prescription and one description.
[00:06:21]  If we're not careful, there are modern, more liberal, progressive theologians who simply put their finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and then, you know, kind of tweak and twist and pervert the scripture in order to fit the culture.
[00:06:40]  There are theologians and pastors like that that have tried to work into this text two prescriptions, meaning something being prescribed, something being commanded, two commandments, instead of one prescription, one commandment, and one description, that is, one assumption.
[00:07:02]  The two prescriptions that the modern, more liberal theologian and pastor would try to force, eisege, read into the text, rather than exege, read out of the text, are as follows.
[00:07:14]  They would say Jesus is commanding two things love for neighbor and love for self.
[00:07:22]  Jesus is commanding love for your fellow man.
[00:07:26]  That's true.
[00:07:27]  That is in the text.
[00:07:28]  But he's also commanding pedicures.
[00:07:33]  Treat yourself, right?
[00:07:35]  He's commanding a little self care, some me time, right?
[00:07:40]  That's the second commandment.
[00:07:42]  It's not.
[00:07:43]  It's not.
[00:07:44]  The summary of all the law and the prophets, as Jesus says elsewhere in Matthew chapter 22, is two commandments, but it's to love God and love your fellow man.
[00:07:54]  It is not to love your fellow man and to really work hard on loving yourself.
[00:07:59]  That portion of the text is not a prescription, love for self, but rather a description.
[00:08:06]  The prescription is love your neighbor as you love yourself.
[00:08:11]  Love your neighbor, prescription, that is, commandment.
[00:08:15]  As you love yourself, description.
[00:08:18]  That is assumed.

=== The Narrow Way to Salvation (15:59) ===

[00:08:20]  It's assumed.
[00:08:22]  It is assumed that we love ourselves.
[00:08:25]  Therefore, simply try to love others the way that you already love yourself.
[00:08:33]  That's verse 12.
[00:08:35]  Now, verse 13 and 14.
[00:08:37]  Let me read them once more so that they're fresh in our minds, and then I'll provide a couple of quotes.
[00:08:43]  Beginning in verse 13 Enter by the narrow gate, Jesus says.
[00:08:49]  For the gate is wide, and the way, the path, is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
[00:09:00]  For the gate is narrow, verse 14 now, and the way is difficult, hard to traverse, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
[00:09:14]  Now, if we're not careful, these two verses have been used time and time and time again.
[00:09:20]  In order to assert and definitively conclude that the population, in the final analysis, at the end of the age, that the population of hell will far exceed the population of heaven.
[00:09:36]  And I assume, and I don't blame you for this, it's not an indictment, but I assume that for many of you, this has probably been your position.
[00:09:46]  And not necessarily your position because you've done all the exegetical research and.
[00:09:53]  And that you've written some dissertation on this topic, but it's probably just been your position by default.
[00:10:00]  You've probably heard these verses or read these verses yourselves, and on its face, it seems to be what Jesus is communicating.
[00:10:08]  It is a logical conclusion on its face with a surface level reading.
[00:10:17]  And more than just your own study, which has probably been brief on this topic, you've probably also heard this very confidently.
[00:10:26]  Asserted by others, namely theologians and preachers.
[00:10:31]  And so I assume that today there are many of you present that likely just by default believe that when this age, this church age has ended, and when Christ finally and physically returns, that the final results, when the numbers come in, hell and its population will dwarf the population of heaven.
[00:10:58]  And maybe you don't have a number, but I think it's probably safe to assume that many of us think that hell will overpopulate heaven, not just by a simple majority, but by some high multiples.
[00:11:19]  That perhaps even, you know, a 10 to 1 ratio.
[00:11:24]  Or it's possible, perhaps some of us may even go as far as to think that.
[00:11:30]  That it would be a hundred to one ratio.
[00:11:33]  That for every one person in heaven, there would be a hundred souls eternally in hell.
[00:11:41]  That has been not necessarily historically, but certainly recently, and there have been time periods in history as well.
[00:11:49]  I don't want to say that there hasn't.
[00:11:51]  That has been a dominant position, and I don't want to mislead you.
[00:11:55]  That has been a dominant position, but it's certainly the dominant position by most Christians today in recent modern history.
[00:12:06]  But I don't believe that that's what Jesus is teaching in verse 13 and 14 of our text.
[00:12:14]  Let me use a quote by B.B. Warfield, and then I'm also going to provide some more context from the scripture.
[00:12:25]  Okay, so in our text, in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus makes this statement, and then he moves on in the Sermon on the Mount.
[00:12:33]  But if we are to cross reference from the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 7 over to the Gospel according to Luke chapter 12, Namely, verses 18 all the way through verse 30, and even further, verse 34 and 35, and find these words of Jesus about the gate being narrow and the way being difficult that leads to life,
[00:13:03]  and that the gate is wide and the path is easy that leads to destruction.
[00:13:08]  When we find these same words, because these same words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7, verse 12, Or 13 and 14, the same words appear in Luke's Gospel, chapter 12, and when we look, or chapter 13 rather, when we look over in Luke's Gospel, we find more context surrounding this teaching of Jesus that I think provides insight into what he's really getting at,
[00:13:37]  his actual meaning.
[00:13:39]  So we'll look at more scripture to provide the context, but first let's look at a quote again from B.B. Warfield.
[00:13:46]  He says the following.
[00:13:48]  A scrutiny of these passages will make it sufficiently apparent that they do not form an adequate basis for the tremendous conclusion which has been founded on them namely, that at the end of the age there will be less souls in heaven than in hell.
[00:14:07]  Spoken out of the immediate circumstances of the time to the immediate needs of those about him, Christ's words supply valid motives.
[00:14:18]  To action, to all who find themselves with similar needs.
[00:14:23]  But they cannot be read as assurances that the circumstances intimated or implied are necessarily constant and must remain forever unchanged.
[00:14:36]  What Jesus says is directed to inciting his immediate hearers to strenuous effort to make their calling and election sure.
[00:14:48]  Rather, Than to revealing to them the final issue of his saving work in the world.
[00:14:55]  When we read his words in the latter sense, we therefore do certain violence to them.
[00:15:01]  In deflecting them from their purpose, we distort also their meaning and confuse their implications.
[00:15:09]  We can learn from these passages that salvation is difficult and that it is our duty to address ourselves to obtaining it with diligence and earnest effort.
[00:15:22]  We can never learn from them how many are to be saved.
[00:15:28]  Let me read a portion of that once more.
[00:15:33]  Christ's words supply valid motives to action to all who find themselves with similar needs.
[00:15:39]  Namely, the need to be saved, the need to not go down the easy path and to enter through the wide gate, the need to not be deceived, the need to listen to the words of Jesus and not the words of false prophets and false teachers.
[00:15:59]  What Jesus is doing, in other words, B.B. Warfield is saying, Is that Jesus is speaking to an immediate human audience?
[00:16:09]  Right?
[00:16:09]  All scripture is for us.
[00:16:11]  You've heard me say this before.
[00:16:13]  All scripture is for us.
[00:16:14]  It's all inspired, it's all infallible, and it is all pertinent and relevant and useful for training and rebuking that the man of God might be equipped for every good work.
[00:16:26]  The scripture itself testifies to this fact.
[00:16:29]  So all scripture is relevant, all scripture is infallible, all scripture is useful.
[00:16:37]  All scripture, therefore, we can say, is for us.
[00:16:41]  It's for us.
[00:16:43]  Not all scripture is to us.
[00:16:46]  All scripture is for us.
[00:16:48]  Not all scripture is to us.
[00:16:49]  And what I mean by to us is that every single biblical passage has an immediate audience that those words are being addressed to.
[00:17:00]  It also has a universal and timeless audience, namely, you and I.
[00:17:06]  That those scriptures are for.
[00:17:08]  So, all scripture is for all people in all ages, but not all scripture is to all people.
[00:17:16]  Jesus is speaking literally, directly to an immediate audience, and his point, we must conclude, his point is not to inform those people who are standing in front of his face, listening to his words.
[00:17:31]  His primary point is not to indicate to them the final number of salvation.
[00:17:39]  That's not what he's doing.
[00:17:40]  He's not saying, Gather round.
[00:17:43]  I want to inform you about the ratio between the reprobate and the elect.
[00:17:52]  I want you to be properly educated in regards to how many people at the end of the age will be in heaven and how many people will be in hell.
[00:18:04]  That's not his primary point.
[00:18:06]  In fact, I would argue that that's not his point.
[00:18:09]  At all.
[00:18:10]  His point rather is to say to, it's for us, but to them, that immediate audience standing before him as he's teaching, it is to say to them that for them, for them, few will ever find this narrow gate.
[00:18:29]  That for them, few will be willing to traverse this difficult and hard path.
[00:18:38]  And that for them, many will, in fact, enter by the wide.
[00:18:43]  Gate and choose opt for the easy path that ultimately leads towards destruction.
[00:18:53]  His primary point, in other words, to his immediate audience is to spur them on to vigilance, to spiritual vigilance.
[00:19:04]  He's saying, Wake up!
[00:19:07]  He's not getting out spreadsheets to talk about the final numbers of heaven and hell.
[00:19:13]  Instead, he's seeking to motivate his immediate audience, saying, For you, for you, you are living in a place and a time where many will ultimately go to destruction.
[00:19:30]  And few, in fact, will be saved.
[00:19:34]  So, therefore, pay close attention.
[00:19:38]  Be vigilant.
[00:19:40]  Do not have itching ears.
[00:19:43]  Do not opt for the easy way.
[00:19:46]  Do not enter through the wide gates, but rather go through the narrow gate and traverse the difficult way, because this is the only path to life.
[00:19:59]  Elsewhere, Jesus describes himself, he does this many times by saying, I am the good shepherd, for instance.
[00:20:06]  But he also describes himself as the door.
[00:20:10]  Or another word that we could use would be the gate, that he is the narrow gate.
[00:20:17]  When Jesus says that the gate is narrow, his primary point is not to say because it's narrow, only a fraction of humanity will be able to enter it.
[00:20:27]  That's not his primary point.
[00:20:29]  His primary point is about the supremacy and, more particularly, the exclusivity of Christ as the only way of salvation.
[00:20:40]  His primary point is describing the way to salvation, he's saying the way is narrow.
[00:20:47]  There will be many who will come to you and say that all roads lead to Rome.
[00:20:53]  That there are many paths to eternal life.
[00:20:56]  There are many ways, many gates, or a wide gate that includes multiple different options.
[00:21:04]  But that is not true.
[00:21:07]  The gate that leads to life is narrow, it is a singular gate, a narrow gate, one entrance.
[00:21:16]  And I, Jesus speaking, I am the gate, or I am the door.
[00:21:22]  So there's only one way in through Christ.
[00:21:25]  And upon entering, the way is hard.
[00:21:30]  You cannot enter by the narrow gate, but then take the easy path.
[00:21:37]  It is a narrow gate that gains entrance, gives you entrance to a difficult path, a cost to discipleship.
[00:21:48]  Likewise, you can't take the wide gate.
[00:21:51]  But then hop over to the difficult path.
[00:21:55]  Wide gate, easy path.
[00:21:58]  Narrow gate, difficult path.
[00:22:00]  Jesus is not instructing them about the final numbers of salvation, He is instructing them about the nature and the way of salvation.
[00:22:10]  That's His point.
[00:22:12]  And in terms of the few moments in our text where He does actually speak in a way that would indicate numbers, few ever find it, or many.
[00:22:23]  Will go on this path of destruction.
[00:22:26]  There is numerical language in the text, but I believe that the numerical language that we find in the text was true for the audience that this text is to, not the universal and timeless audience, which includes all the saints, you and I as well, that this text is for.
[00:22:47]  All scripture is for all people in all places and all ages, but not all scripture is to all people in all places and all ages.
[00:22:58]  This scripture is for us, but it was to them.
[00:23:02]  And in reference to them, it was true that many would be destroyed.
[00:23:09]  That many would be destroyed.
[00:23:13]  He came to his own, but they received him not.
[00:23:18]  And in the larger context, again, when you cross reference from Matthew chapter 7, verses 12 through 14, over to Luke's gospel, chapter 13, Jesus goes on.
[00:23:30]  He says these same things, gives the same instruction about the narrow gate versus the wide gate, the difficult path versus the easy path.
[00:23:39]  And he uses the same numerical language of.
[00:23:42]  Few ever finding the path that leads to life, and many going on the path that leads to destruction.
[00:23:48]  He says all these same things.
[00:23:51]  But then he continues in Luke's Gospel, chapter 13, and he adds to it a little bit more context that illustrates the exact point that I've been making thus far, which is that this scripture is for us, but it's not to us.
[00:24:09]  It was to them, the immediate human audience that he's speaking to.
[00:24:13]  Let's look at that now.
[00:24:15]  This is Luke's Gospel, chapter 13, verses 22 through 30.

=== Few Saved, Many Destroyed (05:34) ===

[00:24:20]  It says this Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.
[00:24:27]  Someone asked him.
[00:24:28]  So, someone here explicitly asked him.
[00:24:31]  We don't have this in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 7, but we do have it in Luke's.
[00:24:35]  This shows us where this teaching came about, how it rose up.
[00:24:40]  Well, Jesus, he teaches this about the narrow gate and the wide gate, and few.
[00:24:45]  Being saved and many being destroyed, he teaches it actually as a response to someone's direct questioning.
[00:24:53]  Someone directly asked him, and what do they ask?
[00:24:57]  Someone asked him, Lord, are only few people going to be saved?
[00:25:02]  And Jesus said to them, Yes, throughout all times and all ages and all places, only one person for every ten that go to hell will be saved.
[00:25:13]  No, that's not what it says.
[00:25:16]  He said to them, verse 24, make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
[00:25:27]  Verse 25, once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading.
[00:25:38]  Sir, open the door to us.
[00:25:41]  But he will answer, I don't know you or where you come from.
[00:25:45]  Verse 26 now.
[00:25:47]  Then you will say, but we ate and drank with you and taught when you taught in our streets.
[00:25:54]  Now take that for a moment.
[00:25:56]  Now go back to the principle that I've provided thus far.
[00:25:59]  All scripture is for us, but not all scripture is to us.
[00:26:03]  Is that scripture right there, namely verse 26, is that true of you?
[00:26:09]  Then you will say, we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets.
[00:26:17]  And has that been your personal experience?
[00:26:20]  Has Jesus in the flesh come to your town in your lifetime?
[00:26:25]  Did you eat with him literally?
[00:26:27]  Did you drink with him literally?
[00:26:29]  Did he teach and preach sermons in Georgetown on the street corner and you were sitting there?
[00:26:36]  No.
[00:26:38]  That's not you.
[00:26:40]  See, it's for you.
[00:26:41]  All scripture is for you.
[00:26:43]  But it's not immediately to you.
[00:26:45]  But you know who that is true of?
[00:26:47]  It's not true of you, but it was true of them.
[00:26:50]  Jesus is speaking to the Jews.
[00:26:54]  In his time, he's saying, I ate with you guys, I drank with you guys, I healed you, I cast out demons, and I preached.
[00:27:05]  Most importantly, Jesus came as a preacher.
[00:27:09]  I preached to you.
[00:27:09]  Remember all the multiple times in the gospel narratives where Jesus would cast out a demon or he would heal a paralytic or someone who was blind?
[00:27:17]  And he would specifically tell them, do not tell anyone.
[00:27:20]  Do not tell anyone.
[00:27:21]  Why?
[00:27:22]  Because it would hinder his preaching.
[00:27:25]  Because the moment that someone would go and spread the word like wildfire that Jesus was healing, or especially that Jesus was giving out free lunches and multiplying food, then all of a sudden the crowds would come and with the crowds would come.
[00:27:40]  A bunch of people who were not interested in his message, but just interested in the temporal immediate benefits.
[00:27:47]  Also, even worse than those people, that's just uninterested people, people trying to game the system.
[00:27:53]  But far worse than that would come bad faith actors.
[00:27:57]  They would catch, oh, he's in this town, he's doing these things.
[00:28:01]  And then they would come and they would attempt to trap him, to arrest him, to kill him.
[00:28:09]  And because Jesus did not want his preaching, as any preacher doesn't want his time, Cut short, wants to preach as long as he can get away with.
[00:28:18]  Jesus didn't want his sermons cut short.
[00:28:21]  He wanted to stay in certain towns for a week, but sometimes could only stay for three days.
[00:28:26]  Why?
[00:28:27]  Because the word, the message of his miracles would spread, it would draw crowds.
[00:28:34]  With the crowds would come antagonists and opposition.
[00:28:38]  And then because it was not yet his time, he did come for the purpose of dying.
[00:28:43]  Behold, the Lamb of God.
[00:28:44]  Who comes to take away the sins of the world, but only at the Father's proper time.
[00:28:49]  And if it was not yet His time, then when the crowds would gather because the news of His miracles spread, with the crowds would come bad faith actors, and Jesus would therefore have to leave.
[00:29:01]  And what He maybe intended, according to His human will, as a seven day preaching tour would get cut short to a three day preaching tour.
[00:29:10]  Jesus came to preach, He's the preacher.
[00:29:15]  More than the miracles was the preaching.
[00:29:19]  The preaching of Jesus.
[00:29:21]  Now, all that being said, what Jesus is saying here of his immediate human audience that he's directly speaking to, not you and I 2,000 years removed, but for them, he's saying, I ate with you, I drank with you, I walked your streets, and I preached sermons directly to you, and you were physically sitting in the crowd.
[00:29:44]  And for you, that group of people, namely Jews, In the first century, who were eye and ear witnesses to the earthly ministry of Christ.

=== Jesus Answers the Question (04:50) ===

[00:29:55]  For you, many will be destroyed and few will be saved.
[00:30:02]  For you, many will opt for the wide gate rather than the narrow.
[00:30:10]  And what is the narrow gate?
[00:30:11]  I am the door.
[00:30:12]  It's the exclusivity of Christ.
[00:30:14]  Meaning, many will take the wide gate rather than the narrow one, which speaks to Jesus, the exclusivity of Jesus.
[00:30:20]  No one knows the Father but Jesus, the Son.
[00:30:22]  He's saying, many will reject me.
[00:30:25]  I am the narrow gate.
[00:30:26]  For you, in this time, in this place, many of you will reject me, the door, the narrow gate.
[00:30:34]  And you will choose rather to go through the wide gates and take the easy path.
[00:30:41]  And many will ultimately be destroyed.
[00:30:45]  And few will ever find the salvation that comes only by entering the narrow gate and taking the difficult path, the cost of being my disciple.
[00:30:58]  This is what Jesus is saying.
[00:31:01]  Going back to our text now in Luke chapter 13, verse 26, then you will say, We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.
[00:31:12]  Now, okay, so far we already have a little bit more context.
[00:31:17]  Verse 22, we found out where this saying of Jesus came, you know, what it came out of in the first place.
[00:31:25]  He was directly asked a question.
[00:31:27]  What was the question?
[00:31:28]  Somebody directly asked him, explicitly asked him, Will few be saved?
[00:31:33]  So, somebody actually did ask about numbers.
[00:31:36]  And the question was about numbers.
[00:31:38]  But then Jesus gives an answer, and it includes numbers for those people at that time.
[00:31:45]  But what it timelessly includes for us is not the numbers, the final numbers of salvation, but rather the nature of salvation.
[00:31:57]  It's narrow, exclusivity of Christ, and it's not easy.
[00:32:02]  It comes by grace, which is free.
[00:32:05]  But with that free grace comes a cross that we must take up to follow him.
[00:32:11]  A cost of discipleship.
[00:32:14]  A forsaking of the world and all that it has to offer.
[00:32:21]  The foregoing of the praise of men.
[00:32:24]  A loss of relationships.
[00:32:26]  There's a cost, it's difficult.
[00:32:29]  So, in terms of for us, the timeless teaching here, timeless principle, is that salvation is always narrow.
[00:32:38]  It's always exclusive.
[00:32:40]  There is always only one way.
[00:32:43]  Oh, but the culture has changed and we don't think in those dogmatic terms anymore.
[00:32:47]  Tough.
[00:32:49]  That's timeless.
[00:32:51]  That was not just to them, that's for us.
[00:32:53]  It's for all people in all places.
[00:32:55]  The nature, not the numbers, but the nature of salvation is always exclusive and narrow.
[00:33:02]  Jesus is the only way.
[00:33:05]  And the nature of following Christ always comes freely by grace.
[00:33:11]  But also, in a practical sense, costly.
[00:33:16]  The cost of discipleship.
[00:33:18]  And in that sense, the path is difficult.
[00:33:22]  There will include certain difficulties.
[00:33:26]  That's true for all people in all times and all places.
[00:33:30]  But what was only particularly true, or at least as far as Jesus is applying it, is that for those people in that time, in that place, the numerical aspect, That few would find salvation and that many would be destroyed.
[00:33:46]  So, where did the question come from?
[00:33:47]  What's the larger context?
[00:33:48]  Someone asked, Will few be saved?
[00:33:50]  Jesus answers the question by saying, Yes.
[00:33:54]  Yes.
[00:33:55]  Here and now, yes.
[00:33:57]  But also, let's get away from you're asking a very timely question about these people today.
[00:34:06]  In regards to that question, I admit, few.
[00:34:10]  However, in regards to The nature, not numbers, but nature of salvation for all people.
[00:34:17]  Let me teach on that now some timeless, not timely, timely answer to the numbers question.
[00:34:24]  Timeless principles to the nature of salvation question.
[00:34:29]  Narrow, difficult.
[00:34:32]  Narrow, difficult.
[00:34:34]  So that's where the question came about.
[00:34:36]  That's where this saying comes about.
[00:34:37]  Jesus is directly responding to a question Will few of these people here in Israel.

=== Nature Over Numbers in Salvation (04:42) ===

[00:34:45]  Will few be saved?
[00:34:46]  Jesus gives the answer.
[00:34:48]  But then, now we're ready for verse 27, 28, 29, and 30.
[00:34:53]  Now, this provides some really helpful context, okay?
[00:34:57]  So now, starting Luke chapter 13 with verse 27.
[00:35:01]  But he will reply, this is the owner, right?
[00:35:04]  So Jesus says, the owner eventually will come back, the owner of the house.
[00:35:08]  And you'll knock on the door and say, please, sir, open the door and let us in.
[00:35:12]  But he will answer, I don't know you.
[00:35:15]  And then you will say, but you do know us.
[00:35:17]  You ate with us.
[00:35:18]  You drank with us.
[00:35:18]  You taught in our streets.
[00:35:20]  But he, the owner of the house, that is God, he will reply, I don't know you or where you come from.
[00:35:27]  Away from me, you evildoers.
[00:35:29]  There will be weeping there and gnashing of teeth.
[00:35:32]  And look at this.
[00:35:34]  When you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, they'll be at the banqueting table of the Lamb.
[00:35:43]  They'll be here in the house, in the feast, in the king's great hall.
[00:35:49]  But you'll be on the outside saying, We knew you.
[00:35:51]  We did know you.
[00:35:52]  What do you mean you don't know us?
[00:35:53]  You were in my house.
[00:35:54]  You were on my street corner.
[00:35:56]  I was sitting in the crowd when you were preaching.
[00:35:58]  I ate the five loaves and the fish.
[00:36:01]  And came back the next day for another free lunch.
[00:36:04]  You know me, Jesus.
[00:36:05]  You know me.
[00:36:07]  I was signed up for Jesus' welfare.
[00:36:09]  I'm your guy.
[00:36:10]  I love a free lunch.
[00:36:13]  No, I don't know you, you evildoer.
[00:36:17]  You will be cast out where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[00:36:20]  I do know your fathers, the ones you claim to be in their lineage.
[00:36:26]  And you may be in their lineage in a physical sense, but spiritually, You have no resemblance to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
[00:36:36]  You're not their sons according to the promise.
[00:36:40]  Perhaps according to the flesh, but not according to the promise, not by the Spirit.
[00:36:45]  Abraham, as Jesus says elsewhere in John chapter 10, looked ahead through the eyes of faith prophetically and saw my day coming, and he welcomed it and welcomed me with gladness.
[00:36:58]  But you didn't do that.
[00:37:01]  You weren't glad to see me, you used me.
[00:37:07]  And many of you even conspired to entrap me.
[00:37:13]  You heard my words, but you did not believe them.
[00:37:17]  Depart from me.
[00:37:18]  I don't know you.
[00:37:21]  You'll see from the outside where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, you will be on the outside looking in and you'll see those that you claimed as your spiritual fathers, but they were not.
[00:37:33]  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out.
[00:37:40]  And then I love this, verse 29.
[00:37:43]  People will come, however.
[00:37:46]  It won't just be Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets.
[00:37:51]  It won't just be them.
[00:37:53]  There will be.
[00:37:54]  So he just said, few, not for all times and all peoples and all places, but for them, his immediate audience.
[00:38:02]  But now he actually is speaking in a future oriented sense.
[00:38:07]  So he gives the immediate answer.
[00:38:09]  Will few be saved?
[00:38:10]  Well, for you, here, now, yes.
[00:38:15]  But will few be saved ultimately in all places with all peoples in all time periods?
[00:38:23]  Now he starts to indicate what he thinks about that.
[00:38:26]  Verse 29.
[00:38:27]  But people will, will be something that has not yet happened, but will, a future sense.
[00:38:33]  So he answered presently for them.
[00:38:35]  Now he is prophesying in a future sense for everyone.
[00:38:40]  But people will come.
[00:38:41]  It won't just be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets.
[00:38:44]  People will be seated with them.
[00:38:46]  And they will come from where?
[00:38:48]  From Jerusalem, from Israel, no.
[00:38:54]  They will come from east and west and north and south, and they will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
[00:39:01]  Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.
[00:39:09]  Jesus is saying that the wedding banquet will be filled.
[00:39:13]  And as we see elsewhere in the scripture, I'll read it for you right now what the apostle John says from the revelation that he received when he was in exile.
[00:39:23]  On the island Patmos, and he was caught up on the Lord's day by the Spirit.

=== Christ Wins the Great Harvest (08:45) ===

[00:39:28]  And he sees the host again, this is a numerical description.
[00:39:32]  This actually is getting at numbers a numerical description of the host of heaven, not just angels, but souls, people.
[00:39:40]  Revelation chapter 7, verse 9 and 10.
[00:39:44]  John says, After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples, and languages standing before the throne.
[00:39:57]  And before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
[00:40:11]  Now, using that text, let's now look at the words of Charles Spurgeon in regards to that text and our text today, Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, in regards to this question of the final, tallied up numbers of heaven and hell.
[00:40:31]  The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, he said this It is my firm belief that the number of the saved will be far greater than that of the damned.
[00:40:43]  It is written that in all things Jesus shall have the preeminence.
[00:40:48]  And why is this to be left out?
[00:40:51]  Can we think that Satan will have more followers than Jesus?
[00:40:55]  Oh no.
[00:40:56]  For while it is written that the redeemed are a number that no man can count, It is not recorded that the lost are beyond numeration.
[00:41:08]  There's no verse in the Bible that says, Behold, I looked to hell and saw a number that no man can count.
[00:41:14]  It's never said of hell, not in scripture, but it is said of heaven.
[00:41:20]  That heaven would contain a number beyond man's ability to count.
[00:41:25]  Spurgeon continues True, we know that the visible elect, okay, at any given moment, In a particular place, at a particular time, that the visible elect, that is the visible church, that those people, comparatively in their place, in their town, in their state, in their country, that they may comparatively be small.
[00:41:54]  At that place, at that time.
[00:41:57]  Spurgeon, he acknowledges this.
[00:41:59]  He's not crazy.
[00:42:01]  He acknowledges this.
[00:42:02]  True, we know that the visible elect are always a remnant.
[00:42:07]  Now, there, I disagree with his word always.
[00:42:09]  Just for the record, I'll come back to that if I remember.
[00:42:12]  But then there are others to be added.
[00:42:15]  Now, this I love and absolutely agree with.
[00:42:18]  Okay, so he's saying, well, the visible elect in any given place at any given time, right?
[00:42:24]  In Georgetown, Texas, there might actually be less people this Lord's Day in church than those who are not in church.
[00:42:33]  That's probably the case.
[00:42:35]  And Georgetown, Texas is probably doing comparatively pretty well compared to San Francisco, right?
[00:42:42]  Which, for the Christians of San Francisco, I don't know what to tell you.
[00:42:45]  I've said it before.
[00:42:46]  Leave, please, leave.
[00:42:47]  Okay, that said, comparatively, right now, saints in church on this Lord's Day in Georgetown, Texas, probably less than those who chose to stay home.
[00:43:02]  That's true.
[00:43:04]  Spurgeon acknowledges it.
[00:43:05]  He's being fair here, he's making a fair argument.
[00:43:08]  True, we know that the visible elect are always a remnant.
[00:43:13]  I disagree with always, but then there are others to be added.
[00:43:17]  So think about this.
[00:43:18]  Think for a moment of the army of infant souls who are now in heaven.
[00:43:23]  These all fell in Adam, but being all elect, that's his view, it's mine as well, were all redeemed and all regenerated, and were privileged to fly straight from their mother's breast or the womb, those who died in utero, straight from their mother's womb or breast to glory.
[00:43:44]  Happy lot, Spurgeon says, which we, who are spared, might well envy.
[00:43:50]  Nor let it be forgotten that the multitudes of converts in the millennial age.
[00:43:55]  I would obviously have some disclaimers here and how I would describe that, but I do think in principle the point still stands that Spurgeon's making.
[00:44:03]  So think of all the children, elect children that die in infancy.
[00:44:08]  I mean, think about that for a moment, just in America, in the last 50 years alone.
[00:44:12]  Well, it's like we've gotten further and further from God.
[00:44:14]  Uh huh.
[00:44:15]  And although God hates abortion and it's an abomination and we must do everything we can to end it, It is also true that in God's sovereign will, not his moral will, his revealed will in Scripture, which is that he hates murder and we must work to end it.
[00:44:34]  That's his moral will.
[00:44:36]  But in his, that's the will of God that's revealed to us.
[00:44:38]  But the secret things that have not been revealed to us, namely his sovereign will, belong to the Lord.
[00:44:45]  In his sovereign will, God has allowed, and I would argue, ordained all which comes to pass has been ordained by God, including sin, including suffering, including death.
[00:44:56]  Ordained by God for good, holy, and righteous purposes, God has ordained that as America apostatizes and there are fewer converts, simultaneously in his sovereignty, although in the one hand, according to his moral will,
[00:45:11]  he hates it, namely abortion, at the very same time, according to his sovereign will, God has seen fit that at least, and this is a low number, 70 million children have died through abortion in the mother's womb.
[00:45:27]  In this nation alone, just over the last 50 years.
[00:45:30]  This does not include abortions through pills and potions.
[00:45:36]  This also does not include all the children who were not aborted but died by natural causes, sickness and disease in infancy after having been born.
[00:45:47]  Imagine all the children that have died in infancy, all the children that have died in utero, even apart from abortion, just through miscarriages.
[00:45:58]  And then add to it the abortion numbers, the numbers that have been counted, 70 million.
[00:46:04]  Then add to that, I would say, easily perhaps double.
[00:46:08]  Jacob, you think that's fair?
[00:46:10]  Double those numbers, now 140 million with the pill.
[00:46:15]  That's not the miscarriage.
[00:46:16]  Add the miscarriages, 200 million.
[00:46:19]  Add all the children that died in infancy that were born, but died in that first year or two of life before they could even speak.
[00:46:27]  And Spurgeon is saying, depending on your view, his and mine, is that.
[00:46:32]  These children were elect.
[00:46:34]  So now you're looking at 250 million, quarter of a billion, close to the current size of our total population in heaven, just over the last half century, just in this country alone.
[00:46:48]  So when he's talking about the numbers of heaven and hell, he's like, well, make sure that you count the numbers accurately.
[00:46:56]  Let's include the army of infant saints.
[00:47:00]  Okay?
[00:47:00]  Let's further include, so that's one big category.
[00:47:03]  He then says, let's also include.
[00:47:06]  Not only those who died in infancy, but the multitudes of converts in the millennial age will very much turn the scale.
[00:47:15]  For then the world will be exceedingly populous.
[00:47:19]  So he's arguing that the cultural mandate will continue to be fulfilled despite wicked men trying to thwart God's will that we be fruitful and multiply.
[00:47:30]  That overall, that Christ will win out, that we will, in fact, be fruitful and multiply, especially Christians.
[00:47:38]  And that this will continue throughout this church age, so that the latter years of history, closer to Christ's final return, will have overall a greater population than those earlier years.
[00:47:51]  And in those earlier years, when the gospel was far less spread out over the earth, when fewer had heard the gospel and the reign of Christ, the mustard seed had been planted but had not yet come into its fruition as a tree that covered the whole face of the earth, as the yeast had been.

=== Nineveh's Innocent Children Judged (05:44) ===

[00:48:13]  Introduced to the batch of dough, but had not thoroughly been worked through the whole lump, leavening the whole lump.
[00:48:20]  During those earlier years of the Gospel Age, and even before the Gospel Age, pre Christ, in very dark times, when the world was filled with demons and false gods, and I would argue even giants, hybrid, Nephilim, got to work that in there.
[00:48:37]  Maybe mermaids, I'm just saying.
[00:48:38]  I'm just saying.
[00:48:39]  It's not a definitive position.
[00:48:41]  It's just fun, guys.
[00:48:42]  It's fun.
[00:48:43]  But definitely mermaids.
[00:48:46]  But during those times, yeah, a lot of people went to hell.
[00:48:50]  A lot of people went to hell.
[00:48:52]  But even in those times, pre Christ, before the mustard seed is planted, before the leaven enters into the lump of dough, even in those times, there are moments, time, and place.
[00:49:07]  For instance, Nineveh, capital city of Assyria.
[00:49:11]  Remember what happens to Nineveh in the time of Jonah?
[00:49:14]  The whole city repents.
[00:49:16]  And if you think it's just outward moralistic behavior, but not really faith, well, Jesus literally says when he comes on the scene in his earthly ministry that the men of Nineveh on the final day would rise up with him and judge these Jewish cities.
[00:49:33]  So Jesus actually affirms that the revival that happened in Nineveh was not just a Christless conservatism, but it actually was a Christian revival.
[00:49:45]  And in Nineveh, at minimum, you could only argue, minimum 120,000.
[00:49:50]  We know that because that number is literally in Jonah chapter 4.
[00:49:55]  But in Jonah chapter 4, Jonah is speaking of children that do not know their right hand from their left.
[00:50:03]  He says, Are there not?
[00:50:04]  This is God actually speaking to Jonah.
[00:50:06]  He says, But you're upset because I sent a worm to kill a plant that was providing shade for you, and you're sitting here saying, Oh, it was an innocent plant, didn't do anything wrong.
[00:50:16]  No, no, you're not concerned for the plant.
[00:50:18]  You're just concerned for you, Jonah.
[00:50:20]  Because if you were concerned for the plant, because it's an inanimate object and therefore not guilty of sin, and you think I was unjust to destroy it, well, if that was really your operating principle, then you know what you would also be concerned about?
[00:50:35]  120,000 souls in Nineveh that do not even know the difference between their right and left hand.
[00:50:41]  Do you know what God's talking about?
[00:50:42]  He's not talking about the overall population of Nineveh, He's talking about the population of the very small children in Nineveh who weren't guilty.
[00:50:51]  Their parents had done incredible crimes to Israel, but the children hadn't.
[00:50:57]  And this is why God includes right next to it, if you're wondering, well, how do you know that that's what he's talking about?
[00:51:02]  Because right next to it, he says, there are 120,000 that do not know the difference between their right and left hand and very much cattle.
[00:51:13]  Why?
[00:51:14]  It seems random.
[00:51:15]  It's right there at the very end of the book of Jonah.
[00:51:17]  And there's a lot of cows.
[00:51:19]  Well, God has compassion on all he has made, the psalm said.
[00:51:23]  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the scripture says.
[00:51:27]  But the reason why he includes cattle, or some translations say, and I think it's better, livestock, is he's saying the children who aren't guilty of crimes against Israel and the animals.
[00:51:40]  You want me to send fire and brimstone from heaven and destroy them all.
[00:51:44]  But that would include the children who are not guilty of these crimes and the livestock, the animals that aren't guilty either.
[00:51:50]  He's making the argument, including the animals, because he's saying, Jonah, you're a liar.
[00:51:54]  You're pretending to be justifiably, righteously indignant that I killed a plant.
[00:52:03]  And you're saying, well, the plant didn't do anything wrong.
[00:52:05]  No, you don't care about the plant.
[00:52:06]  You just care about your shade.
[00:52:08]  Because if you actually cared about the plant and you actually thought I was being unjust for sending a worm to kill a plant because plants aren't guilty, they're inanimate objects, well, then you would also care about cattle.
[00:52:20]  But you want me to kill thousands of cattle in Nineveh.
[00:52:24]  So why are you mad about me killing one plant over here outside of Nineveh?
[00:52:28]  And not only do you want me to kill thousands of livestock, animals that aren't guilty, just like the plant in Nineveh, you also want me to kill children, human children made in my image, who are also not guilty.
[00:52:41]  Not of these crimes that you're mad about that Assyria and Nineveh have committed against Israel.
[00:52:47]  The adults have done that, yes, true, but not the children.
[00:52:50]  So, all that being back to the main point here 120,000 who don't know the difference between the right and left hand, that's the population not of Nineveh, that's the population of the children of Nineveh.
[00:53:01]  You can make an argument that there were 500,000 or perhaps even a million people in Nineveh.
[00:53:06]  And as far as we know from the narrative provided for us in Scripture in Jonah, and then Jesus later affirming it by saying, these men, the men of Nineveh, not just some of them, but they'll rise up and join me in the judgment of Israel.
[00:53:20]  Meaning, they actually, this was a Christian revival.
[00:53:22]  According to that, we've got a million people, 500,000 to a million people saved in a fortnight in Nineveh pre-Christ.
[00:53:33]  This is before the seed, the mustard seed, is even planted, much less after it's planted, but we're still waiting for it to grow into fruition to a full earth-encompassing tree.
[00:53:43]  So, even in the darkest times, here's the point: even in the darkest times of human history, there were still times and places where God moved mightily and saved more people than you and I are aware of.

=== Faithful Opportunity Remains (12:48) ===

[00:53:58]  He did that when the world was infested with demons and mermaids, guys.
[00:54:03]  He did that.
[00:54:05]  How many more times has he done it since Christ?
[00:54:09]  Since the seed has been planted?
[00:54:10]  Since the tree begins to sprout?
[00:54:13]  You know another time period?
[00:54:15]  The Dark Ages.
[00:54:17]  Those terrible, terrible dark ages.
[00:54:20]  Now, the true dark ages is the enlightenment and everything that's come since.
[00:54:23]  But during the dark ages, as far as we know, the average person in the known world at the time was a Christ exalting, God fearing Christian.
[00:54:40]  For all we know, the vast majority of people were regenerate.
[00:54:45]  And then back to the saints who die in infancy.
[00:54:50]  Not only do we have many who meet that because of abortion, which is an abomination, it must be stopped, but think about before modern medicine.
[00:54:58]  It was normative, not because of abortion necessarily, but it was normative that children would die in infancy.
[00:55:06]  That's happened, again, even pre Christ.
[00:55:10]  Even pre Christ, you could argue that half the population for the first 4,000 years of human history before Christ even appeared died in infancy, in which case the population of heaven and hell would be tied.
[00:55:24]  Post Christ, still many dying in infancy.
[00:55:27]  But then, oh, Joe, but modern medicine, now less dying in infancy.
[00:55:30]  Yeah, but we made up for it by intentionally killing them.
[00:55:36]  And that doesn't include certain time periods in entire continents such as Europe and America with great Christian revivals where I believe in just a couple centuries ago, even less than that, that the majority of adults, not just infants dying, elect infants, but the majority of adults were Bible believing Christians.
[00:55:57]  And I would further argue that we haven't seen anything yet.
[00:56:02]  That we're just getting started.
[00:56:04]  And that the scripture will prevail and prove to be true in the final analysis that the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the whole earth, even as the waters cover the sea, and that there will be great Christian revivals all over the earth.
[00:56:18]  And that Christendom has fallen in many ways, but not forever.
[00:56:24]  That she will rise again.
[00:56:27]  And that all the plans of the enemies of God will ultimately be thwarted.
[00:56:31]  And that there will be great time periods of true light.
[00:56:37]  Not the enlightenment, not a dark enchantment, a demonic enchantment over the world, but true Christian light that it will fill the earth once more.
[00:56:47]  And that all will know him, from the least to the greatest.
[00:56:52]  Like we see even in Isaiah chapter 65 that no longer will the youth die in infancy, but even the youth will live to be a hundred.
[00:57:02]  That the leopard and the lamb would lie down together.
[00:57:05]  That the nations would no longer know war, right?
[00:57:08]  No more Zionism.
[00:57:12]  A leading cause of war.
[00:57:14]  It is.
[00:57:16]  It is.
[00:57:17]  Zionism will be done.
[00:57:20]  And so, I mean, that cuts out 90% of wars right there.
[00:57:24]  So, false doctrine will ultimately fail.
[00:57:26]  Dispensationalism will fail.
[00:57:28]  Zionism will fail.
[00:57:29]  There will be less war.
[00:57:31]  In fact, Isaiah 65, and this is pre Christ, this isn't, oh, we're in the eschaton.
[00:57:36]  No, this is leading up to the final return of Christ.
[00:57:38]  Meaning, there's still earthly families, husbands, wives, children being born.
[00:57:42]  There's still sin.
[00:57:43]  There's still death, but death doesn't happen like it used to.
[00:57:48]  When someone dies at 100 years old, you say, he was but a youth.
[00:57:52]  And the nations will no longer know war.
[00:57:54]  They'll take their swords and beat them into plowshares.
[00:57:58]  And the Christian gospel will reign supreme.
[00:58:01]  Many will know him.
[00:58:02]  The majority, I could argue, from Isaiah 65, will know him from the least to the greatest, and at a time period where the overall population of the world would be at its highest.
[00:58:15]  So, this is not just a wishful argument.
[00:58:19]  Add all these things together from infancy to Nineveh revivals of half a million to a million people, even pre Christ, to the Dark Ages and Christendom in places and times prior, and a reigning Christendom once more with the largest population on the earth that we've ever seen because of the cultural mandate continuing to be fulfilled.
[00:58:44]  To be fruitful, multiply.
[00:58:46]  And when you think of all these things, it is not only biblical, but it is logical to say that Christ will get the preeminence in all things, including even the number of the redeemed.
[00:59:02]  You could say it like this We win.
[00:59:06]  We win down here.
[00:59:08]  We do.
[00:59:08]  We really do.
[00:59:10]  We really do.
[00:59:11]  Final thing I'll say, we've got to wrap it up.
[00:59:15]  The words of Jesus for us is not about the number of salvation, but the nature of salvation.
[00:59:21]  It's always narrow, exclusive, Christ alone.
[00:59:24]  It's always difficult.
[00:59:26]  There is always a cost to discipleship.
[00:59:29]  In terms of the numbers, that was not for us, but to them.
[00:59:33]  However, to be fair, this argument cuts both ways.
[00:59:38]  What I'm arguing is that those words about the numbers being few, which was not for us, but to them, That I'm saying that that doesn't have to be true of all people in all places.
[00:59:49]  It was true of them in their place in their time.
[00:59:51]  It's not necessarily true of all people in all places.
[00:59:54]  However, that argument cuts both ways.
[00:59:56]  It means it doesn't have to be true of all people in all places in all times, but it may be true of all, not all people, but some people in some places and sometimes.
[01:00:05]  In the same way that Jesus goes to these people and he says, For you, things are bleak.
[01:00:13]  There can be other places, other peoples, and other time periods where likewise things can be bleak.
[01:00:19]  That's an entirely possible scenario.
[01:00:22]  And this is precisely what we need to consider as we seek to do the work of an evangelist.
[01:00:28]  We need to be, in any time period, never writing anyone off entirely.
[01:00:33]  I believe that that is immoral, unbiblical, and wrong.
[01:00:38]  Okay?
[01:00:39]  So don't think I'm saying that.
[01:00:40]  But we can, I think, with wisdom and prudence, recognize that at any given time, there are some peoples and some places where God is saving from more.
[01:00:52]  And other peoples and other places where God is saving less.
[01:00:58]  That's always been historically true.
[01:01:00]  Always.
[01:01:02]  And so we should recognize in our place, in our time, one, who are my people, and whether they're particularly obstinate to the gospel or not, I do have an obligation, a unique obligation to them.
[01:01:14]  Secondly, whether these are my people or not, who are the people in this moment that God seems to be doing a work with?
[01:01:27]  Where are the fields white with a harvest?
[01:01:31]  Just for the record, that's literally the words of Jesus white.
[01:01:34]  I mean, they're ready, ripe.
[01:01:37]  It's not, where are the white people?
[01:01:39]  That's not what Jesus was saying.
[01:01:41]  He's saying, where are the ripe fields ready to be harvested?
[01:01:46]  And we should be thinking strategically.
[01:01:49]  Jesus even condemns his own followers and says, the sons of darkness are more shrewd than you, the children of light.
[01:01:58]  We should be shrewd.
[01:01:59]  Like the parable of the servants with the talents.
[01:02:02]  We are commanded, with whatever talent, whatever resources, whatever giftings that God gives to us, to return a prophet.
[01:02:11]  To return a prophet.
[01:02:12]  It is not hateful.
[01:02:13]  It is not animus.
[01:02:16]  You can have animus, and if so, repent.
[01:02:18]  But not by necessity.
[01:02:20]  It is not necessarily hateful to say, I'm going to minister in this place primarily, or among this demographic primarily, in this nation primarily.
[01:02:33]  Because, not for all times and all places, not as a universal, timeless truth, but in this moment, God seems to be doing a work here.
[01:02:42]  And I want to strike where the iron's hot.
[01:02:45]  Because the master demands that I give him the highest return on his investment.
[01:02:52]  That's just faithful stewardship.
[01:02:53]  That's faithful Christianity.
[01:02:55]  And I'll give you one application there's a harvest on the right, not on the left.
[01:03:02]  I'm speaking culturally and politically now.
[01:03:05]  The harvest is on the right.
[01:03:06]  If you haven't figured that out, you are dense.
[01:03:09]  And you need to repent of being ignorant and biased because you can only come to the alternative conclusion by being biased, by willfully being blind.
[01:03:18]  For the last 30 years, our evangelical elites sold conservatives, sold them out, so that they could take the widow's mites and go and build their ministries in Manhattan, New York, and San Francisco, all over the West and East Coast, doing ministry with all the liberal elites, making sure that they had an opportunity to go and speak at Google, to speak at Apple, to speak here, to speak there.
[01:03:45]  There was never a harvest on the left.
[01:03:47]  The left hates God.
[01:03:49]  Can they be saved?
[01:03:50]  Yes.
[01:03:52]  Of course, you never write anyone off.
[01:03:53]  I'm not saying that.
[01:03:55]  But what I am saying is you can look at the providence of God and say, he's blessing this, and currently he's not blessing that.
[01:04:03]  And then you can utilize, optimize, monopolize on God's blessing, not with sinful favoritism, not with hateful animus, but out of proper stewardship, saying the master demands a return, and I want to get the biggest return possible.
[01:04:20]  You want to lead a lot of people to Jesus?
[01:04:22]  Find cowboy hats.
[01:04:26]  You want to lead a lot of people to Jesus?
[01:04:29]  Be in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, not New York.
[01:04:35]  Is that true for all times?
[01:04:37]  No.
[01:04:38]  It's not a timeless principle.
[01:04:40]  This is a timely principle.
[01:04:42]  It's a timely principle.
[01:04:44]  God is always saving fewer or more among a particular people in a particular place.
[01:04:51]  And we need to have eyes to see that and get behind what the Lord is doing.
[01:04:57]  Where are the fields white?
[01:04:59]  With a harvest, and where can we be faithful to go and get as big of a harvest as we possibly can?
[01:05:06]  Right now, Christians have an opportunity.
[01:05:09]  Is Trump a Christian?
[01:05:10]  I don't think so.
[01:05:12]  He had my vote, I'd vote for him again and again and again.
[01:05:17]  I'm so glad he's our president.
[01:05:19]  So glad.
[01:05:20]  Is he a Christian?
[01:05:21]  I don't think so.
[01:05:24]  But does his election create an opportunity for Christians?
[01:05:30]  To have more prominence and more influence and more opportunity than we would have otherwise.
[01:05:36]  Yes.
[01:05:37]  Yes.
[01:05:39]  So seize the carp.
[01:05:42]  Carpe diem.
[01:05:43]  Right?
[01:05:43]  Seize it.
[01:05:44]  Take advantage of what the Lord is doing providentially in this moment.
[01:05:49]  And go and find those Christless conservatives, of which there are many, would never say otherwise, and give them Christ.
[01:05:58]  And some, not all, but I believe more of those Christ's conservatives will, in the providence of God, choose to receive Christ than the leftists who hate him and promote the killing of children and sodomy.
[01:06:15]  I don't think that's a crazy argument.
[01:06:20]  The homesteading conservative guy over here, who's not a Christian but has traditional values, might be more open to the gospel.
[01:06:29]  Than the guy who's a part of the World Economic Forum and trying to end the human population.
[01:06:35]  I don't think that's like, oh, Joel's just trying to be hyperbolic.
[01:06:38]  I think that's a fairly safe argument.
[01:06:41]  All right, let's pray.
[01:06:42]  Father, bless your word to your people.
[01:06:44]  Bring yourself great glory.
[01:06:45]  In Jesus' name, amen.