The Narrow Way
by Richard St.James
The Narrow Way
Bible 1611.Com / Sluice Box Adventures.com / Old Paths Bible Ministries © 2008The road to heaven is advertised by the religions of this world as being BROAD. Yet God has stated a very different opinion about man’s inventions of how a person can go to heaven. The road map is included with in this message.
• What Is The Door?
• The Two Ways
• The First Way Is A Narrow Way!
• The Command
• Believe The BOOK
• Obey The BOOK
• The Second Way IS A Broad Way!
• The Consequences!
• Will You Come TO Jesus Christ?
"The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." [Proverbs 16:31]
Now I have a daughter, my oldest girl that presented a gift to me not too long ago. It was one of those pullover shirts with a message on it. It reads: "Genuine Antique Person --- Been There, Done That, Can't Remember."
Now she really must have given this in jest, for she was betrayed by the gleam in her eyes. "Like Dad, I really am having fun reminding you that you are near a half century old!" I could tell it all was in fun. She was letting her dad know that she had arrived, and that in her eyes ... her dad was getting old. Listen, my friend, the hoary head is taking hold! It has a good mix of salt and pepper! I am forty-eight years old now, and I was born of God twenty-five years ago when I was twenty-three.
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." [John 1:12-13]
Born of God! Oh, bless God for the hoary head, for it is a crown of glory for a man who is Jesus Christ! Now let me I say this.
Looking back over those twenty-five years, I have no regret in turning to Jesus Christ. I can see that but by great grace of God I have been given a full cup. I have thoroughly enjoyed being hidden in the cleft of The ROCK ... Jesus Christ. My heart greatly rejoices in this "so great salvation" of Hebrews 2. I have not once ever regretted that decision I made to go through the "DOOR” to obtain eternal life. "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." [Philippians 3:8]
What Is This DOOR?
And what is that door you ask? It is Jesus Christ, my friend. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."Wow! Saved by the blood of the Lamb of God for 25 years, and ever ... more enjoying the pasture of The LORD of Glory.
The Two Ways
The First Way Is A Narrow Way!
I have a warning to give to you! It is a narrow way, and if you do not go in by this door, God will himself declare you a thief, and a robber! "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber" [John 10:1]. In 1973, Rick St.James entered through that DOOR that God declared was the only way to salvation. It was a door I went through without ever looking back! What about you, my friend? "And Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" [Luke 9:62].The Command
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."Believe The BOOK!
This is God's Holy Word to you and I! Do you believe it? These words of Matthew chapter seven are from the Authorized Version of 1611. The AV1611 (or The King James Bible) is God's word PRESERVED in the English language for you and I. It came from the English Reformation. This Bible declares that: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." [II Timothy 3:16] God's inspired word is preserved in the AV1611. The word "preserved" means maintained inspiration. "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." [Psalm 12:6-7] “PRESERVE.” You see what God is saying here? GOD promises that no matter what man does, even with his corrupting influence in all these Madison Avenue money-making productions, which have resulted in over 200 "new" English translations of the Bible in the last 100 plus years, HE WILL (in spite of the scholars) "PRESERVE THEM FROM THIS GENERATION FOR EVER!" Stick with the Book! Amen! Amen! AMEN!Obey The BOOK!
We are to take heed to what God says! When God commands "all men everywhere to repent" [Acts 17:30], He is revealing His Will through HIS WORD to man. His WORD is perfectly preserved without error to this very day to the English speaking people. It is the AV1611 Bible (any of its editions)! It is critically important for you and I to understand this. Listen to this, my friend. "Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him (Jesus Christ) from the dead" [Acts 17:31]. Enter ye in at the strait gate!Do you hear His command? Many there will be that will mock at these words, and not obey them. Please, my friend, let this not be so with you. Do not respond to this command of God, like the Athenians did to the Apostle Paul, by mocking God, or by putting God off. "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter." [Acts 17:32]
Maybe one day God will mock you! If you ignore the Almighty God of "The Old Black Book", and think that you will get away with it YOU ARE A FOOL. You will be with those who "imagine a vain thing." Look at Psalm Two. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?"
You will be joining hard ... hand to hand with that crowd that is setting themselves up against God because they don't like His Narrow Way.
"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
You can spell MAN like this! R-E-B-E-L! Read Genesis 1-3. You say: "Where is the PROOF TEXT?" How about this one? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." [Isaiah 53:6]
The Bible has this judgment of us. We are REBELS! And someday if you stay with this bunch, you will be found out as being a member of the wrong crowd. Furthermore, someday God will mock you! He will laugh at you with scorn!
"Come on now. Why are you saying all this to me? Certainly God will do no such thing to me!"
Friend, what I am telling you is based in the authority of God's Book. God will laugh at you with a derisive laughter. And GOD will throw you in Hell's Fire, unless you "Kiss The SON". Kiss the SON by entering in at the strait gate! "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."
God sums it this way, and this is real NARROW. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him". [Psalm 2]
The Second Way Is A Broad Way!
For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:The Broad Way is a wide way, which offers no restrictions whatsoever. It is an easy road ... where there are NO restraints, where there is no list of DO NOTS. All the signs posted along this Broad Way tell you to go UNBRIDLED, and UNFETTERED. One of them even boldly paints this! BE NOT CONTROLLED BY ANY AUTHORITY! And especially NOT the Bible, or the GOD Of The BIBLE!
The heart of man just loves it this way! Now, do you want to know God's opinion of all this? In Jeremiah 4:18, the Holy Ghost through the prophet gives it like this! "Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee: this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart."
Thy way leads you down the Broad Way. The mass of humanity is on this broad highway that is paved with all the comforts of the pleasures of sin for a season. Yea! ... The signs do tell us on the Broad Way: "YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS!" Now, if you love that message, then God has a label for you! You are a REBEL! And rebels are guilty of VEXING the Spirit of God, and provoking Him to be their enemy. In Isaiah 63:10, the Holy Writ gives it this way concerning Israel. "But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." Being on the Broad Way and getting all you can get … of all that the world can offer you in the way of wealth, fame, and fun-filled pleasures … has a very terrible end.
The Consequences!
Please always ... always ... think of the consequences that are waiting for you at the end the road ... before you GO. The Broad Way leads to YOUR DESTRUCTION! Your LIFE is too short to burn it up on THE BROAD WAY when it is certain you will LOOSE YOUR OWN SOUL AT THE END.It is far BETTER FOR YOU TO KISS THE SON OF GOD NOW AND BEND THE STUBBORN KNEE TO JESUS WHILE YET THERE IS OPPORTUNITY!
The opportunity for you to escape Hell is flying away. Hell is a terrifying place! In Revelation 20, it is shown that Hell ITSELF will be cast into The Lake Of Fire, which will be primarily "prepared for the Devil and his angels." [Matthew 25:41] This will be your home also ... forever ... if you refuse to TRUST AND OBEY THE COMMAND TO GO THROUGH Jesus Christ. The thought just horrifies me to think of men and woman who are dead set to remain on this Broad Way to Hell.
It has been years now, but I can still recall a particular man. Vividly I see in my mind’s eye, the time I spent with this man. I was fishing for the souls of men! Remember, Matthew 4:19 "And he (Jesus) saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.") This is my recollection. In 1982, I worked at a Georgia Pacific paper mill in Gilman, Vermont, and a Reliance Electric Field Engineer came to our plant to perform an equipment startup on our paper machine. Ron was his name, and he was much older than I at the time (maybe about my present age - 48). As he and I went through the startup procedures together, there was plenty of time for me to get to know Ron. (I wanted to get to know him as much as possible. I was fishing for the soul of a man). I learned that he traveled all over the world performing these services for the clients of his company. He had no wife, and he had no children.
I learned furthermore, that as a child, he would attend church where he heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He confessed that he never really believed it, and that he was not a Christian. Oh! How I hungered to see him trust The Son of God ... The Lamb of God ... and put his faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ ... who died on the cross of Mt. Calvary, and who was raised from the grave, AMEN AMEN, and thereby conquering death. Oh, how I cried inside for him to receive Christ as his Savior who would cleanse him in an instant from all sin, and for Ron to receive the gift of eternal life. I remember this, too, his hesitation, and his groping for the words in a series of excuses. He just would not open the door of his heart! I was grieving over his "NO!" I will not go though the GATE. NO! I am comfortable in my present path ... ON THE BROAD WAY!
Several months later, my supervisor related the bad news! Ron, while on a Reliance Electric drive startup in Mexico had keeled over DEAD with a heart attack. Ron Webster was GONE! And now it was too late for him to come through THE GATE ... WHOSE DOOR IS JESUS CHRIST! It just was too late! Ron's last opportunity had come and gone, and now he was gone. A sick feeling went through my heart. I had wanted Ron to be saved. Now I will never see him again.
Few Go The Narrow Way!
Therein is a sad truth. God's BOOK reveals to us that the vast majority of humanity will pass through life, and pass up the opportunity to receive the free gift of salvation that God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ."And many there be which go in thereat"
THE BROAD WAY!
In Contrast To:
"And few there be that find it."
THE NARROW WAY!
OH! Why? Why? It is for this reason. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world (THE DEVIL) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." [II Corinthians 4:3]
Most people sadly, will go through life, and never respond to God's Book IN THE AFFIRMATIVE! "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Will You Come TO Jesus Christ?
Do you believe this scripture, my friend? Do you sense from within your heart ... the tugging and pulling of the Spirit of God? The Holy Spirit "will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." He will do this for you! In John Bunyan’s The Pilgrims Progress there is seen an illustration of a man sitting at a table. He is under tremendous conviction of sin, and is mulling over within his heart the TWO WAYS in life that lie before him. He must make a decision. It is a matter of whether or not to go to THE STRAIT GATE, or to stay there on The BROAD WAY!Where are you, my friend? What will you do with Jesus Christ? Will you flee from the wrath of God, and go to THE DOOR, and Knock? If you go through this DOOR you will be on location at Mount Calvary which place is where the weight of your sin will drop off your back at the sight of the ONE who died for you, and WHO shed His BLOOD for you. You ... my friend ... will then ... be on THE NARROW WAY TO HEAVEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
There Are
Two Ways In Life!
The Broad Way!
And The Narrow Way!
Ones Leads To Destruction ...
One Leads To Eternal Life! One Leads To Hell ...
One Leads To Heaven!
Which Way Are You On?
End of The Age Messages
Return To Home
[THE BIBLE] This is God's Holy WORD to you and I!
Do you believe it?
The A.V.1611 (or The King James Bible) is God's word
PRESERVED in
the English language for you and me.
It came from the English Reformation.
This Bible declares that: "All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness." [2 Timothy 3:16]
God's inspired word is preserved in the A.V.1611.
The word
"preserved" means maintained inspiration.
"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in the
furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O
LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."
[Psalm 12:6-7]
[PRESERVE]
You see what God is saying here? GOD promises that no matter what
man does, even with his corrupting influence in all these Madison
Avenue money-making productions, which have resulted in over 200
"new" English translations of the Bible in the last 100 plus years, HE WILL (in spite of the scholars)
"PRESERVE THEM FROM THIS
GENERATION FOR EVER!" Stick with the Book! Amen! Amen! AMEN!
I simply have in child-likeness believed THE BOOK
... no matter how
hard things got ... for it has BURNED in my heart for these last
thirty-four years.
I have by GRACE not gotten off course either ... for He has held me
to Himself.
God is faithful, and I (literally) have taken God at His word
concerning 1 Peter 1:5.
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready
to be revealed in the last time."
And while I have seen the Lord hold me to Himself, I have with
sadness watched as many people, churches, Bible colleges and even
our nation, are slowly slipping ... degree by degree ... away from
THE GOD of THE BIBLE.
Why has this happened?
Could it be, that we can, through unholy alliances, lose something
that we never intended to give up?
For me, Rick St.James,
I am to approach THE BOOK, as like a child, with a trusting heart
through faith.
I want to line out with that BOOK!
I want this said of me, as also was said of the believers at
Thessalonica,
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye
received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God which
effectually worketh also in you that believe." [1
Thessalonians 2:13]
What about you?
"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the
LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him
with the whole heart" [Psalm 119:2]
They who keep his testimonies have a whole heart.
Their heart will approach God and His Book with total joy and
expecting to commune with the Holy God who is infinite, for this
purpose:
"Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have
I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the
way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in
thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself
in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word" [Psalm
119:12-16]
Will You Come TO Jesus Christ?
Do you believe this scripture, my friend?
Do you sense from within your heart ... the tugging and pulling of
the Spirit of God?
The Holy Spirit "will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment."
Are you under tremendous conviction of sin, and are you mulling over
within your heart the TWO WAYS in life that lie before you?
You must make a decision.
It is a matter of whether or not to go to
THE STRAIT GATE, or to stay on THE BROAD WAY!
Where are you, my
friend?
What will you do with Jesus Christ?
Will you flee from the wrath of God, and go to THE DOOR, and Knock?
If you go through this DOOR you will be on location at Mount Calvary
which place is where the weight of your sin will drop off your back
at the sight of the ONE who died for you, and
WHO shed His BLOOD for
you.
You ... my friend ... will then ... be on THE NARROW WAY TO
HEAVEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!