Matthew 7:14-23

John Piper, Paul Washer, Leonard Ravenhill, Tim Conway
Matthew 7:14
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Conway​​
Lots of people in that day will say “Lord, Lord” and He says: I never knew you”
Ravenhill
Well, I want to tell you tonight. I believe the same thing happens in our churches every Sunday, people are choking, we are trying to pull the water of life into them and the poor souls they're damned and lost and they can't take it. They've listened to the same preaching year after year saying the same things in the same way. He hasn't shed a tear since he'd left his mother's womb. He went to a seminary, and got a big fat head and a shrunken skull. There is no hope. This generation will fill hell quicker than any other generation. We are so corrupt, unless God in His mercy fills us.

Piper
There is a holiness without which we will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). I really believe that. There is a practical daily lived out righteousness without which nobody gets into heaven. Which means: that Jesus will say to some professing Christians on the judgment day: "I never knew you, depart from me you workers of iniquity".
Even though they said: Lord Lord, we did many mighty works in your name, and went to church every Sunday. He dismisses them as evildoers because they did not have the holiness without which nobody will see the Lord. It also means that there are many church going people who believe that they are saved because they once prayed to receive Jesus not realizing that the proof of the genuineness of that prayer is perseverance in faith and holiness.
He who endures to the end will be saved, not those who endure half way to the end, and then abort. I believe my ministry would be a failure if you came to this church 5 years,10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and then went to hell for all eternity, because you never learned to fight the fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life. I might succeed in persuading you that there is a holiness without which you cannot see the Lord, only to have you throw yourself into pursuing it in a way that backfires on you, and destroys you. The bible makes it very clear that there is a way to pursue righteousness that leads to hell.

Paul Washer:
When He speaks about the few finding eternal life, He's talking about those who profess His name. Among those who call Jesus Lord, few of them will find Eternal life.

Conway:
Nobody purposes to go to hell, they all think to get right with God before the end. And most men make shipwreck. Few there’ll be that find it. You mean all those many people they just lived the life hell bent, like they wanted to go to hell? Men don't expect to go to hell, and most go.

Paul Washer:
Because we already know these people that considered themselves disciples and they call Jesus “Lord Lord”, but their life is not marked by the will of God. And so to sum this up, this is what is being said: “Depart from me, those of you who considered yourself my disciples and even emphatically declared me to be Lord, but you did not commune with me and you lived as though I never gave you a law to obey. I just described American Christianity. The 60/70% of people in this country believe that they are converted because one time in their life they've prayed a prayer

Ravenhill
I'm astounded, bewildered confused, baffled when people tell me in America we've 75 million people filled with the Holy Ghost and we're the rottenest nation on earth... come on!

Conway
Let me tell you something: Lost men, lost women, which is most of the people. Remember: “Few there be that find it” Oh ya theirs lots of religious people, lots of people think they're going to heaven, lots of people in that day will say: “Lord, Lord, and He says: “I never knew you”

Paul Washer
What He's saying is “Not everyone who emphatically declares me to be Lord will enter in to the kingdom of Heaven. This is not some secret discipleship here, this is not some hidden thing, this is a person who will emphatically say: “Yes, I'm a Christian.” He says not everyone who says this will enter in to the kingdom of heaven, which is synonymous with: “Not everyone who says this, is truly Christian.”

Ravenhill
My question is: Does anybody care? Do we really care that the world is going to hell?
Leiter
You think about Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at how horrible were the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were, but He says: “It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for young people that have sat in meetings and heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and not believed on Him.” That is wickedness beyond imagination. And we need to have our minds renewed in this to realize, we have gotten a glimpse of what was infinitely love, God has come in to the world, and lived among men! And if you want to talk about sin, and convict men of sin: exalt the Lord Jesus Christ!
Ravenhill
The greatest miracle that God can do is to take an unholy person out of an unholy world, make that unholy person holy, put them back in an unholy world and keep them holy. In the midst of a crooked and perverted and perverse generation!
Leiter
He's worthy of worship whether you are or not going to hell. In the end, He's still worthy of worship because of what He's done! If you look at what He did at the cross, if you look at the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, He owns no-one anything! He doesn't need to save anybody! Everybody in this world ought to bow down before Him and worship Him just because of what He's done, whether you get anything out of it or not! He's worthy of worship.
Ravenhill
You know, we are preaching an acceptable Gospel today, making it as painless as we can. And all we do is give people a shot to put them to sleep so they get to hell quicker.
Washer
Do you want to know what your profession of faith in Jesus Christ is worth? You confession of faith in Him, what is worth? The answer is this: It's worth absolutely nothing. No matter how emphatically someone declares himself to be Christian. It is not the test of whether their Christianity is true. What is the test? We go on and see this: “But he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter.” Now. He is in no way teaching a works salvation, not at all.
He is not teaching that men enter the kingdom of heaven by their ability to perform the will of God. That is not what He is teaching. If you think that, you're putting the cart before the horse. What He's teaching is simply this: Those who have truly believed, do so by the power of the Holy Spirit by which they've been regenerated, and made new creatures, through this miraculous work of salvation, and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in their life, their lives and manner of living are changed, and so that the true Christian is Christian by believing in Jesus, but you know he truly believes in Jesus because of the changes in his life, and those changes are marked by conformity to the will of God.
Ravenhill
I believe we're going into the darkest days that humanity has ever known. So dark they'll make the dark ages look like mid day.

Strive to enter through the narrow doow. For many, i tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. (luke 13:24)

Few there be that find it... Are you one of the few?

Matei Capitolul 7
21 Nu oricine-Mi zice: ‘Doamne* , Doamne!’ va intra în Împărăţia cerurilor, ci cel ce face voia Tatălui Meu, care este în ceruri.
* Osea 8:2 Mat 25:11 Mat 25:12 Luca 6:46 Luca 13:25 Fapte 19:13 Rom 2:13 Iac 1:22
22 Mulţi Îmi vor zice în ziua aceea: ‘Doamne, Doamne! N-am* prorocit noi în Numele Tău? N-am scos noi draci în Numele Tău? Şi n-am făcut noi multe minuni în Numele Tău?’
* Num 24:4 Ioan 11:51 1 Cor 13:2
23 Atunci* , le voi spune curat: ‘Niciodată nu v-am cunoscut; depărtaţi-vă** de la Mine, voi toţi care lucraţi fărădelege.’
Jun 18, 2009