Sermon on the Mount XI

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Sermon on the Mount (XI)

• Enter Through the Narrow GateMt 712-27

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The Narrowness of the Gate
Mt 713-14 Enter through the narrow gate for
the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads
to destruction, and there are many who enter
through it. For the gate is small and the way is
narrow that leads to life, and there are few who
find it.
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The Narrowness of the Gate

• Few who find it
• Gate suggests decision
• A gate must be entered

Acts 236-38 Therefore let all the house of
Israel know for certain that God has made Him
both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you
crucified. Now when they heard this, they were
pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the
rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we
do? Peter said to them, Repent, and each of you
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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The Narrowness of the Gate

• Few who find it
• Gate suggests decision
• Narrow suggests unpopular, difficult.
• Way suggests a course, a life to be led.

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Beware of the Wide Gate of Religious Error

• False prophets or false teachers who come in
  sheeps clothing

Matthew 715-20 Beware of the false prophets,
who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their
fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes
nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good
tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad
fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor
can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree
that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them
by their fruits.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Religious Error

• False prophets or false teachers who come in
  sheeps clothing
• A great falling away was to come

1 Tim 41-4 But the Spirit explicitly says that
in later times some will fall away from the
faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and
doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of
liars seared in their own conscience as with a
branding iron, men who forbid marriage and
advocate abstaining from foods which God has
created to be gratefully shared in by those who
believe and know the truth. For everything
created by God is good, and nothing is to be
rejected if it is received with gratitude
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Religious Error

• False prophets or false teachers who come in
  sheeps clothing
• A great falling away was to come
• Already started in the NT

Acts 2028-30 Be on guard for yourselves and for
all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God
which He purchased with His own blood. I know
that after my departure savage wolves will come
in among you, not sparing the flock and from
among your own selves men will arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away the disciples after
them.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Superficiality
Mt 721-23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord,
Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he
who does the will of My Father who is in heaven
will enter. Many will say to Me on that day,
Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name,
and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your
name perform many miracles? And then I will
declare to them, I never knew you DEPART FROM
ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Superficiality

• Outward profession not enough, even if apparently
  sincere.
• Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord

John 830-31 As He spoke these things, many came
to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those
Jews who had believed Him, If you continue in My
word, then you are truly disciples of Mine
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Superficiality

• Outward profession not enough, even if apparently
  sincere.
• Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord

John 223-24 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the
Passover, during the feast, many believed in His
name, observing His signs which He was doing. But
Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to
them, for He knew all men
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Superficiality

• Signs of Gods power are not even enough
• Have we not in your name performed?
• Were they real?

Mark 939 But Jesus said, Do not hinder him,
for there is no one who will perform a miracle in
My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil
of Me.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Superficiality

• Signs of Gods power are not even enough
• Have we not in your name performed
• Were they real?

2 Thess 29 that is, the one whose coming is in
accord with the activity of Satan, with all power
and signs and false wonders, and with all the
deception of wickedness for those who perish,
because they did not receive the love of the
truth so as to be saved.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Superficiality

• Must do Gods will
• vs. Zeal without knowledge
• or, Knowledge without zeal

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Beware of the Wide Gate of Foolish Foundations
Mt 724-27 Therefore everyone who hears these
words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared
to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the
winds blew and slammed against that house and
yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on
the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine
and does not act on them, will be like a foolish
man who built his house on the sand. The rain
fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and
slammed against that house and it fell and
great was its fall.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Foolish Foundations

• Two kinds of builders Wise and foolish
• Based on the kind of foundation
• Which is revealed in times of trouble

Prov 1025 When the whirlwind passes, the wicked
is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting
foundation.
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Foolish Foundations
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Beware of the Wide Gate of Foolish Foundations

• The Wise Mans Foundation
• These words of mine
• And acts upon them

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