You're listening to Heat the Word with our pastor and teacher Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study the Gospel of Luke verse by verse.

See, you need Jesus, but you know, you better be able to speak in tongues, brother, because if you can't speak in tongues, well then hey, I don't know. Or you you better believe in Jesus, and you know, in addition to that, you better be baptized, you know, in the name of Jesus or by full immersion or brother. You know, we want to put a lot of conditions on the different keys there are to that gate. But you know what my Bible says? My Bible says that if you believe in your heart and if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you shall be saved. Period. That's it.

The Gospel of Luke is the third account in the Gospels of the life and teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As believers, there are few studies that will benefit us more spiritually than studying the life and teachings of the Master. There seems to be no limit to what churchianity has added to the process of salvation. Some say you must be baptized, while others say that you must speak in tongues. But what does the Bible say needs to take place in order to be saved? Well, it's quite simple. Repent and confess the Lord Jesus. And once that's happened, simply live a life based upon that confession. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Heed the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, as we join Pastor Kent.

You see, guys, there are many people today who have a general interest in the things of God. They like to be associated with the things of God. Maybe they go to Christian concerts, maybe they wear Christian t-shirts, maybe they attend religious services on a regular basis. Maybe they even call themselves by the name of Christian. But it is a general association that they have with the things of Christ, rather than a true relationship with him. They're tares among wheat. For when once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us. And he will answer and say to you, I do not know you. I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know you where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. You see, he identifies who they are. They're workers of iniquity. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and yourselves thrust out. He's saying, Listen, you've asked me, will there be many that are saved? And I'm telling you something, there are many who think that they are saved who are not. Because their trust and their faith and their hope is not in the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, but is on some distorted idea of their own self-righteousness, is related in some way to their own good works or their good deeds or their keeping of the law by which no man can be saved. And Jesus says, look, salvation is a limited time offer. There's going to come a point in time where the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door. And when that door is shut, no man can enter it. We stand in the day of the open door. And we have both the opportunity, the privilege, and the responsibility to draw people in with us. I read this verse and I can't help but think of the days of Noah, when Noah was there for over a hundred years building the ark, preaching repentance to the people that heard him, and yet none would hear it. And then on that day when the rains began, as he entered into the ark, and God shut the door. And the rains began to fall, and the people that were there realized their error and said, We were wrong. Judgment is coming. Now the scripture doesn't tell us, but I cannot imagine that there was not a pounding on that door and screams saying, Noah, let us in. We're sorry, you were right, let us in. But Noah did not have the ability to open that door for them. Because it was a door that Noah didn't close. God had closed the door. And when that time comes, when the door of salvation closes, no matter how much we might want to see it opened, it will not be. Today is the day of salvation. Now, this man had been told by Jesus that if he would be saved, he should strive to enter the narrow gate. Well, if we're going to strive to enter something, we ought to know what that something is. In Matthew 7, 13 and 14, we learn a little more about this narrow gate. We find that there are two paths that we can choose. And these paths have very, very different destinations. Matthew 7, 13 and 14 says this enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. So when people say to you, hey, why don't you become a Christian? Because when I became a Christian, everything in my life turned around for the better. Everything just went one time. All my problems were solved, man. My marriage was great. My wife, she just transformed overnight into the most lovely person. And I never have any problems with my temper anymore. I just, hey, walk on by. I'm good. And you know, every time I put$10 in the offering plate, a hundred more shows up in my wallet. Praise God. Just bam, like that. Isn't that awesome? And you know what? Hey, I'm never sick. I'm never sick. I don't suffer at all. Everything's great for me. Life is peachy. That is not a difficult way. Man, if it were like that, that'd be easy, wouldn't it? Man, everybody'd be lining up to become Christians. And if you look at some of the televangelists, you'd think everybody is. And yet when tribulation comes, when trials come, when difficulties come, when situations come into the lives of these people, and they say, hey, this isn't what I signed up for. What happens to their walk? You see, Jesus said that narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way. I didn't say it. He said it. Argue with him if you don't like it. Narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way. Now there's another path you can take. And it is a much easier path. It's a wide road. And it's a wide gate. And there are a lot of people who are going that way. You know, I must confess that this verse probably has caused in my life something that brings a great deal of consternation to some people. I am cynically suspicious of anything that is too popular. Be it a book or a prayer or a video or a church. If it's just so popular that just everybody loves this thing, then I am very cynical and very suspicious of it. Because the Bible tells me that broad is the way. Broad. So when I see a whole crowd of people going after something, I stand back and I say, hmm. What's this really about? What are these people really getting out of what is being said here? Is the way difficult? Is the gate narrow? Are they talking about my Jesus there? Or are they talking about some other gospel? Now I am not trying to condemn something just because it makes the bestseller list. I'm not saying that. Fact of the matter is, guys, this is the bestseller of all time. But neither will I buy something just because it's on the bestseller list. I look with great suspicion over things that the crowds run after. And I hope you'll forgive me if that has frustrated some of you. Turn to John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, Jesus, our good shepherd, is telling us something very important. He said, Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of a stranger. Jesus used this to illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy, but I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. In John 14, 6, Jesus said to, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I'm telling you guys, there is a very narrow gate. The gate into the kingdom of God, the gate into heaven is Jesus Christ. There is no other way to enter that gate. If somebody tells you that there's another way to enter in, then Jesus just told you he's a liar and he's a thief. Don't believe him. Don't listen to his voice. Don't listen to the one who tells you you need Jesus, but you also need this and this and this. You see, you need Jesus, but you know, you better be able to speak in tongues, brother, because if you can't speak in tongues, well then hey, I don't know. You know, or you you you better believe in Jesus. And, you know, in addition to that, you better be baptized, you know, in the name of Jesus or by full immersion or by the. You know, we want to put a lot of conditions on the different keys there are to that gate. But you know what my Bible says? My Bible says that if you believe in your heart and if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you shall be saved. Period. That's it. Now I will tell you this: you don't enter in that gate haphazardly. You don't enter in that gate accidentally. You don't enter in that gate by walking up and hanging around the gate. You don't enter the gate by associating with people who've gone through the gate. You don't enter the gate by deciding to go your own way and figure you'll make it around to the gate eventually. You go through the gate by taking the difficult way. Now it's extremely narrow. And how many of us as Christians haven't been accused of being very narrow? Very narrow-minded, right? Yes, praise God. I am very narrow-minded. And I believe in a very narrow way. Because the bottom line is, guys, look, two plus two is four. No matter how many different ways you want to line it up. You can put two plus two is four, or two plus two is four, or do it on your calculator. Two plus two is four. Two plus two is always gonna be four. How narrow-minded of you. Why can't it be five? Because it's not, it's four. And in the same way, I might really like for there to be some other way to be saved, but the bottom line is there isn't. It's Jesus, and that's it. That is narrow. And for so many people, it is difficult because it requires admitting that we can't do it ourselves. That we need him. We don't like to admit it when we need something, do we? We want everybody to think we've got it all under control. We're doing just fine, praise God. Oh, but we need Jesus. We start on that difficult way into the kingdom by doing a very unpopular thing. We start by denying ourselves. In Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. You see, the difficult way is the way of the cross. It's the way of self-denial. It's the way of saying, This situation in my life may not be any fun. It may be difficult, but it is the way that God has chosen for me. And I will not leave this path. You know, it isn't easy to keep the flesh under control, is it? We struggle with the flesh. And many of us would prefer that broader way. We want to believe that all paths lead to God, right? We want to be able to look at that mountain, which is the kingdom of God, the pinnacle of which is heaven. And we want to say, hey, here I stand at the bottom of the mountain, and I see a path here, and I see a path there, and I see a path there, and I see a path there, and it really doesn't matter which path I take, because every one of those paths is gonna lead me to the top of the mountain, right? Wrong. Any of you who've ever done any hiking or mountain biking or any type of traveling in the mountains, understand that not every one of those paths leads up the mountain. In fact, some of those paths probably lead to a pretty dangerous place. Who can best know which path leads to the top of the mountain? The one who himself came down from there. The one who came down from heaven is the only one who has the right to say how to get back there again. And that one is Jesus Christ. Now, Proverbs tells us in chapter 14, verse 12, that there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And when we choose our own way, however good, however broad, however easy the path may seem, we need to understand that the bridge is out. And if we travel that path, we will find destruction. Don't ever let anybody tell you that it's easy. It's a struggle. Paul told us it was a struggle in Galatians 15, verses 16 and 17, where he tells us, I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. There is a constant struggle going on in the life of a believer. And if in a time of weakness we succumb to the desires of the flesh, have we lost our salvation? No. But is that the way we're to walk? No. We're to be led by the Spirit. Paul talks about this in great length in Romans chapter five. Let's go there. Really, Romans chapter six is where we want to be, but I want to give you a little background in five as we head into six. Just a couple of verses. Romans five, twelve. Paul is talking about Adam and how sin entered the world through Adam, and about how Jesus, the last Adam, actually brought righteousness as opposed to sin and freed us from our sins. Verse 12, therefore, justice through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, he's talking about Adam there, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. Now switch over here to verse 17. And he says, For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, that is through Adam, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gifts of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that offense might abound. The law came so that we could see our need for a Savior. The law came to show us our sin. Moreover, the law entered that offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And here's where I'm wanting to get. So since I'm forgiven, I'm gonna go out and do whatever I want to do because I know that God will forgive me. Oh, I know that what I'm doing is wrong. I know it's wrong, but you know I'm happier this way. I am enjoying my life like this. I'm going to have my fun now, and if there are consequences, I'll pay them, but I know that God will forgive me. You'd be surprised. That is the attitude of some. And if we're honest, we'll admit that that's been our attitude too. There have been moments when we have said, I want to do this thing, and I know it's wrong, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I know I'll feel bad for it later, but you know, I know that God will forgive me. And so we presume upon the grace of God. That is a dangerous place to be. Paul says, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that many of us, as we're baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Moving on to verse 11, Paul says, Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness. Guys, the Bible tells us very clearly that you are a slave to he whom you serve. You are either going to serve sin by serving yourself, or you are going to serve righteousness by serving the Lord. You will either be a slave to your own flesh and its lusts and desires, or you will be a slave to the holiness and the love of God. Either way, you're a slave. You need to choose your master. We all do. You say, Ken, you're talking about works. Man, you're bumming me out. Yeah, you know, faith without works is death. We're saved by faith, don't get me wrong. We're saved by free.

Truly, these are some of the most difficult times that many of us have ever seen. The economy is bad, work is sparse, and there's no shortage of strife throughout the world. But as believers in Jesus, we've been given many great and precious promises. For instance, listen to this verse, taken from our current study. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. You see, it doesn't matter how bad things get, God has promised to take care of us. Today's teaching was only part of a full-length message taught by Pastor Ken Davis on a Sunday morning at Calvary Chapel, Southwest Metro, Burleson, Texas. To hear this message in its entirety, log on to heatheword.org. That's heatheword.org. Once you're there, select the Listen Online page. Or if computers aren't your thing, that's okay, you can always call us. That number to call is 817-447-5675. That's 817-447-5675. Even if you're not ordering a copy of today's study, we'd love to hear from you. Knowing that God is using He, the Word for His glory, and to encourage His saints is one of our greatest joys. So call us today. This study through the Gospel of Luke has been a real eye-opener. Maybe you've been challenged in some merit in your walk with Jesus. Well, we want to exhort you not to just hear God's word, but to do it. Begin to walk in obedience to the things you're learning. From all of us here at Heather Word, we want to say thank you for tuning in, and may God richly bless you as you seek his face.