The Gate on Broadway

The Bible is full of stories about moving. Of all things, moving. You know, when God created the very first man, the first thing we read in Bible that happened to him was God moved him. He took the atom that he had made and put him into the garden. In other words, he took him from wherever he was, he brought him to himself, and he put him in his place with him.

We think of other people that God moved. Noah. He had Noah build an ark, and then he and his family were moved to Ararat. Abraham, as a child, moved to Haran, then God had him moved to Canaan, then to Egypt, then back to Canaan. He took the sons of Israel and ultimately moved them down to Egypt. He took the captives in Egypt and ultimately moved them up to the land of Canaan, to a promised land. But just because God was leading them in each case, drawing them, wanting to move them, did they always follow him?

Were they always successful in the move that God was trying to make with them? Even with Jesus, God moved him from a youth, from actually a fertilized egg, all the way through the stages of human development, as a child. And then on up to age 12, he developed him. He moved him out of Bethlehem to Nazareth, moved him away from Nazareth to do a work.

Saul, who became Paul, was moved and taken to Damascus and then used in an international, constantly moving ministry. And so God has indicated to us through the Scriptures that you and I are to be in motion. Not static, not stable, and not necessarily physically moving, but spiritually moving. Jesus indicates that all humans are actually moving in some sort of mental development, mental progression, whether good or bad.

Let's look at Matthew, for instance, chapter 7 and verse 13. And Jesus here says, enter, move, enter by the narrow gate. And therefore, why it is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. So some humans are on a way, a path towards destruction. And he says, there are many who go in by it. Don't think for a moment that only some people are moving.

We're all moving. We're not always moving exactly the way we should. But we have a God, we have a father, an elder brother, we have their spirit, their power to help us move in the right direction. To, in one sense, fight a good fight or to walk a very narrow and difficult path, to grow, to develop, to be mentally, spiritually in motion.

But he says in verse 14, because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. So this gate is hidden. Few find this gate. And it's a very narrow, difficult way which leads to life. If we're going to have life, we have to be moving. Just as Israel moved out of Egypt for six days and came to the edge of the Red Sea.

So we need to be moving throughout our life with God. Following Him, Him leading us to the place where eternal life ultimately will be our next step. We are to follow Jesus Christ, even the commission in Matthew 28, verses 18-20 says, Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That's a physical go-out and do the work of making disciples.

That's spiritual change from who we are to becoming like the teacher, like the Master, a copy as it were. He said that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

So He developed through His lifetime from a stage of pre-birth all the way to an adult that embodied the spiritual mindset of His Father. If you see me, you see a reflection. You see what the Father does, how He thinks, how He acts. Now He says, you're my disciples if you do whatever I command you. Then they will say, oh, by this we know that you're His disciples because you're like Him.

You have moved mentally, spiritually to a place like He is. So He says here in this Great Commission, in there to be baptized, baptism actually isn't the end of anything other than a life of sin. It's the picking up of the tools of the Holy Spirit. They will receive the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. All things that Christ has commanded is what we will then begin to do, how we will begin to think and live. And will we do that on our own?

No, He says, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. I'm going to be there helping you in this process, just like my Father helped me. So we're moving, not on our own, not on our own works, not on our own mind, not on our own power, not because we're smart, not because we are somehow better than others. No, we have been given the gifts of God calling us, favoring us at this time, with a call to move, call to change, call to grow, call to move forward.

The challenge where humanity is concerned, and it would affect us as well, is there's another way, as Jesus said, wide, broad is the way and wide is the gate. And many go down that path to destruction. It's easy for you and me to sort of put one foot on each path, say, I'll do it God's way, part of the way. He warns many times in His parables, the foolish virgins, the wheat, the tares, the sheep, the goats, that some will be like kind of a type of, sort of imitating Him, but at the same time not be fully there. We have to be careful with that because broad is the way, wide is the gate.

You see, you can go that way on your own. You don't need God. And that's why it's so easy. That's why there's such a pull for it. Oh, I don't need to do all of this.

I can just fly through on my own. And that's, of course, what Eve was told. Oh, you don't need to do that. Well, if you just eat this fruit you're not supposed to eat, you'll have it. You can do it on your own. You will know good and evil. You'll be as God's. You'll live forever. You won't die. You can do this without God. Just think of religion today. Oh, all you need to know is that Jesus died for you and you've got some version of grace and you're in.

You go to heaven when you die. See? You don't have to do anything. It's easy. You don't have to have God's assistant. You don't need anybody to direct you. It's sort of a do-it-yourself. Salvation. So let's ask the question today. How are we to move? Where are we going? How do we get there? What is our goal? And are we achieving that goal? The title of the sermon today is The Gate on Broadway.

The Gate on Broadway. Because, you see, the Gate on Broadway is what most people find. In fact, if we go by what Jesus describes, 50% of those in the church find it as well. And end up with weeping and gnashing of teeth, maybe going, Argh! I should have done it! You know?

We can deceive ourselves. Others can deceive us. We can actually have a different desire than God is. If we don't really want to move, we really don't want to go with Him. Jesus was one who was very careful in saying, Teach him to observe everything I commanded you. Some people are easy to write off God's Word. His commandments by saying, Oh, that's fair say-icle. Oh, you're just fair say-icle. You're just going after the mint and the anise and the coming and going to tithe on that.

That's stupid. Jesus said, Do that. He said, You do that, but do the other also. And then He said, Well, you know, He said, The Pharisees say this. Oh, that's fair say-icle. No? Jesus said, You do what they said. Just don't do what they do.

Don't do it the way that they don't be hypocrites. See, God is in the details. He wants us to obey everything He has told us to. We should have a heart of obedience, just like Jesus Christ never sinned in any way. We should want to do the very same thing for the right reason. Holy, fully following God doesn't mean coming up with something that's right in our own eyes.

We say, Oh, I think it's this way. I'll do it this way. It'll be just as good. We need to do it God's way. God's way. Jesus said, I am the way. That tells us something about moving, doesn't it? He didn't say, I am the chair. I am the couch, the bed, the sofa. I said, I'm the way.

I'm the truth. I am the life. How many times we were told to follow Him? Paul even said, follow me as I follow God. We are to move. So God's way isn't what anyone says it is. It's what God says it is. And we have to be careful about who we're going to listen to that tells us what God's way is.

There's a lot of people out there that came in Jesus' name, saying that He's the Christ and are deceiving many. Do we listen to them? Do we listen to false teachers in the church that Jesus warned us about? Who do we listen to? Let's go to 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15. We would all do well to hear these words. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15.

From childhood, you, Timothy, have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. So the basis of knowledge and truth is the Logos of God. Jesus said in John 17, your Logos, your Word is truth. He was the truth. The written Logos of God is the truth. So that's where it comes from.

A true minister, a true teacher of the Word will base it on God's Word. Not on some popular book, some popular notion, not on some kind of explanation that appeases to human logic, that lets us slide and sort of keep the spirit of things, but not actually observe the real things. It's not understanding that the letter of the Law written in the covenant that God gave on Sinai is restricted to doing what is written. And the Spirit of the Law, which comes in the new covenant with God's Holy Spirit infusing us, has that Law written on our hearts and in our minds.

So we are to keep God's Law with the Spirit, God's Holy Spirit leading us, leading us in every thought, bringing every word captive, and really reflecting the light that comes from God's mindset as he puts that in us. God guides us through his Word. Notice here it says, all inspiration, verse 16, is given of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

This is what needs to be our driving information about the narrow way. It comes from God. That the man of God or the woman of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped, for what? For every good word. The term good work or good works in Scripture is talking about a deed, an action, a word that comes from God's Holy Spirit being in us, that agape mindset of God. It's not just talking about giving somebody a nice cold cup of coffee or hot cup of coffee or doing some nice charitable deed.

A good work here is actually a spiritual term. It is an actual fruit of God's Holy Spirit that comes out and it is done by a person being led by God. So that is the point here of the Scripture. We're infused, we're inspired, we're corrected, so that that which we do now reflects God. But it reflects His mindset. We then have moved, haven't we? We've moved to where we are Christ-like. Jesus said, Be like your Father in heaven. Be perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect.

We need to fully move with Him. Of course, Satan is also very dynamic in our lives. As Paul explains to us, we wrestle against principalities and powers in heavenly places. And we don't want to be moved that direction. But there is a lot of pull in that direction through temptation, through just our human nature, the wants and desires that we have as humans.

We can be deceived if we allow ourselves, if we want, if we don't have pleasure in righteousness. But we really do want to be self-centered and not worry about hurting others, including God. So we have that as well. Satan wants to weary us, distract us, get us to coast, get us to decline. It's like a car going up a hill. It's going, it has motion, it has movement. Yes, we're going, we're going right past.

It's difficult, yes, but we're making it. And we decide to shift into neutral. And guess what? We're still going forward for a while. But we're slowing down, right? And at some point, you stop, but you're never quite stopped, are you? Now you're going backward. You see, Satan would love to have that effect on us. Paul encourages us over and over not to quit, not to give up. Jesus said he endures in this progression of moving forward to the end. The same will be saved.

There are important things that we as humans receive as gifts. Number one, in order to receive the gift of even faith or the understanding of God, we have to be called by God. Jesus said, none can come to me unless the Father draw him. That is a special invitation. That falls under the category of divine favor. Just as the Israelites in Egypt were slaves, they had divine favor and they were the people of God. At some point in time, there was a group of people before the foundation of the world that God said, I'm going to give these a special divine favor and let them be candidates for the first fruits in our family. That's a special opportunity. You and I can't buy that one. We can't earn it. Nobody even can get it. It has to come from the Father. But along with that favor comes other gifts, other things that enable us to find the road, repent, faith, baptism, forgiveness of sin, holy spirit, overcoming forgiveness on a regular basis, and the spiritual development of God's character. Continual gifts that we are given and favored by. And only by those can we move. Only by those can we walk forward. But they don't do it for us. Once again, it comes back to asking the question, do I want to be on this journey? Would I like to step over to the easy path? Would I like to slip on over and say, nah, somebody told me, you know what? I don't have to run this marathon. I can hop on the motorbike. Same distance, same destination. You know? And it sounds so easy. There are things that if we really don't want this journey, we can talk ourselves out of them. I'd like to go to Ephesians 2 and verse 8. Something that the Apostle Paul said, and let's remember that the Apostle Paul said many things that have been twisted to mean the broad way. And the easy gate.

We need to recognize that the Apostle Paul was a brother. He was inspired by God's Holy Spirit. What he said was accurate and true. However, the way he said it, the audiences he spoke to, and the languages that were used back in that day, have been altered over time. And were even altered back in that day, as Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 3. That Paul, our beloved brother Paul, his words have been twisted. Some have twisted them to their own destruction.

Why? Well, they sound kind of religious, and if you use them in a certain term, you can say, we don't have to do all of this. It's all been done for us. I'm back to Adam and Eve. Paul just gave me a piece of fruit and said, just eat this one thing. And you got it. You don't have to do anything else. People really like to pile on that one. Notice Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. For by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Boom. And on that verse, the bloodiest battle of Europe was fought. The bloodiest battle Europe has ever fought in the number of percentage of the loss of life. This was a battle that rages really even today and is still fought. It was fought between members of the Holy Roman Church, the Holy Roman Empire. There were deeds done, and I'm not going to walk through and try to make anybody look bad. There's God's way and then there's other ways. But you know, the deeds back in the 11th and the 12th centuries got pretty dark.

And there were those who could not abide by the loss of land, the abuse of power, the lack of opportunity for similar entitlements that certain elevated people in the Roman religion were receiving. And when those began to impact the countries of Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, France, England, there was pushback. And there was an attempt to reform and dethrone the Pope and to share those privileges and those lands and those monies and those offices with a different aristocracy in other countries.

And their response was a few things, including the Jesuits becoming enforcers and reinforcers. When one treaty failed, inquisitions started in, and the Thirty Years' War, the bloodiest battle of Europe, sometimes taking 50% of populations out simply by starvation, as the armies grabbed the food and fought it out. It was duped out, and the excuse was that the Roman Church with the papal liturgy required a person to obey the commandments, have God assist with the Holy Ghost, it was called, and then perform acts of love.

Obey the commandments with God's assistance and perform acts of love. How do you knock that one out? Well, you use the Scripture right here and you say, no. Salvation, you are already saved by grace through faith. That's not of yourself, it's the gift of God. Therefore, we don't need the papacy. We don't need these other levels of religion. We can have our own liturgy. And so, the wars fought and the Protestant Reformation ended up in a Protestant Revolution, I would call it.

And in the end, the justification for it was, we don't have to go through the Latin liturgy of the Catholic Church. We can have our own liturgy. So you have the Church of England, the Church of Luther in Germany, various other religions that have their own similar services, their own similar liturgy, actually. But they were unable to unhook from papal Rome.

And one of the tools that was used was this, the printing of the Bible. And to translate almost every word of the Greek charese into the word grace, to reinforce that concept, you see, that it was done for you, it was done for you, it was done for you. You don't have to do anything else. It was one of the concepts that came out of that. And so it was the Latin word gratia that actually became our word grace.

It wasn't from charese at all. It was from the Latin word gratia. Now, if we look at this verse right here, and if we come to understand what the word charese means, we are actually being saved by something that God is giving to us. That is by divine favor that enables us then to understand God and to have the tools necessary to get on this difficult road and go down a path, become the children of God, and obtain salvation. It's a wonderful word. In fact, charese has many different meanings, as we will see. But rather than having been saved by grace, we are being saved by this grace, which in a proper sense means a lot more than what it has been made to mean down through time by others.

As it says here, that not of yourself. See, that's something God gives us. Those tools, that understanding, the open mind, the faith, the repentance, the baptism, the Holy Spirit. And God walking with us and us following Christ are all wrapped into that one word, charese.

That not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of works, not my personal works, but the works of God. Notice, lest anyone should both, for we are His workmanship. Oh yes, it's about works, but they are His works. His works being done in us. His worksmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. This is a wonderful journey that we're on, but we need to be aware of some false associations that get mixed up with this word.

Churchmen's monthly magazine said, The word grace is formed from the Latin gratia, in which language after the Romans became Christians, it was used to denote inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Our Saxon ancestors were converted to Christianity by a Roman monk and furnished by him with a Latin liturgy in which the word gratia occurs very often. There was no word in the Saxon language, and therefore the word grace was formed from gratia and a French word, and comes to us as the word grace. Now, there were many meanings in the common usage of gratia back in those days. They could almost fill a book, it seems, with how many different ways that gratia used to be able to be used.

However, let's notice a few things about this word. From Miriam Webster, Grace is first known from the 12th century. Origin is Latin gratia. The English meaning is a way of moving that is smooth and attractive. It's controlled, it's polite, it's a pleasant way of behaving.

So that's one form of grace, or gracious. From grace, a mistranslated word and a misunderstood concept, Protestant Reformation Christianity is famous for seeing grace, or charese, as being the opposite of human effort. These concepts have heavily influenced many Christians' understanding of grace today, but they have nothing to do with the actual meaning of charis, charese, in the Greek. The translation grace, according to this document, is not a good one. It is not free without requirements, and it is an opposite to the human effort. A multitude of sins, isogesus, and bad theology can be built on a misunderstanding of this word.

Now, why do I take the time here to single out this word? As you've seen, and as I've mentioned, you can study into the fight, the wars that have taken place, the big separation in Catholicism with Protestantism, the confusion that has come down today, and the direction that humanity takes to more and more lawlessness gets built more and more on this word.

However, it goes on. Among classic scholars, there is no debate as to what this word means, or I will say, what it meant in ancient Greek. Surviving documents from the ancient world contain hundreds of passages that give us great clarity about their understanding of the word charis and its role.

Charis was the key word in what scholars call the reciprocity system. This system operated according to time delay exchanges where goods were given, and then at a later time goods of relatively equal value were returned to the giver. We might say modern, it's like if you want a house, you see this beautiful house, you go to the bank, guess what they do?

They give you the money, don't they? They didn't take your child, they didn't put you in slave labor camp. No, they gave you the money for the house. But over time they expect something back, don't they? They expect about two or three times as much as they gave you in a thirty-year period. Let's look at this reciprocity system. Reciprocity we can find in the Bible. We think that this is a little different than what we normally might think, but actually Luke 19 and verse 12.

Let's see what Jesus is teaching us here, that God and He expect from us. Once they give us their divine favor and they give us their tools, is that it? Are we saved because we have received His favorable inspiration and the gifts of repentance and the gift of the removal of our sins to the death of His Son? Did they do it all for us? Let's see. Luke 19 and verse 12. Here's a story about the kingdom of God. A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

He's talking about Jesus Christ. He died, He went to heaven to receive a kingdom, and then He was going to return. What did He do? He called ten of His servants and delivered to them ten menas. Did He charge them for the money? No. Did He sell them the money? No. He gave them the money, didn't He? Now, when He comes back, so it was verse 15. Having received the kingdom, He commanded these servants to whom He had given the money to be called to Him that He might know how much every man had gained by trading.

They had to move. They had to do something. They had to grow. They had to develop with that gift. Then the first came, Master Yermina has earned ten menas. He said, Well done, good servant, for you are faithful, and have very little authority over ten cities.

Did the man buy his ten-city commission? No. Something very small. He did something very small. But He took what He was given, and He developed it. He moved tenfold with it. Now we see the same happened with the second, with five. Then verse 20, another man says, Here's Yermina. Here, you gave it to me.

I'm giving it back. Just like you gave it. It's special. I wrapped it in maybe a silk handkerchief. I thought, wow, this is a special gift I've been given. I better put this in a silver gift, put it in a wood chest, put it in a glass case, and keep it sealed and away from harm, locked. That's how special it might be.

Why? Because, verse 21, I feared, because you are an austere man, notice, you collect what you did not deposit.

The reciprocity system, or what God gives us, He collects something He didn't deposit. What is that? Something He cannot make. Holy, righteous character. Choices, in other words, to choose, to obey everything that He commands. And to put that in our hearts, He can do, but to actually do it, and want to do it, and love it, and then become a gape, loving God with our heart, soul, and mind, loving our neighbor as ourself.

Having that form of expression, following the deep faith that God is growing in us, God needs you and I to develop that. And that is what God has created this entire universe for. That's why He sent His Son here. That's why His Son died a horrible death. God has invested in you everything so that He can receive something that He Himself has not done to reap what He does not sow. And Jesus did not argue with Him. He said, out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant.

It's not good to take what I've given you and not develop. That's called wickedness. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did not you put my money in the bank, and when I came I might have collected it with interest. And to this man, He said, take the meaner from Him. Verse 26, for I say to you, everyone who has, has developed, has walked this path, who has gone the path to Him will be given.

And from Him who does not have, even what He has, His own life, will be taken away from Him. So, this is something very important for you and I to understand, and not get trapped up in the trappings of the fight of someone else's religious ideas and concepts. That really and truly, I would argue, weren't even about religion. They were about power and land. And it was a technical argument of how to get rid of this layer of bureaucracy so that those of us who are also entitled can have our layer of bureaucracy.

If you go back and look at the lives and the times of Tyndale and the others who translated the first Bibles, and you see what they were up against, physically, up against society, what the drivers were, what the Council of Trent and others, and then the ebb and flow and the backlash of some of those decisions. You see, there's a whole lot more going on there than theology.

Just a whole lot more that was going on. It involves kingdoms and kings and money and power and land and who could have the sway. Let's take a look at Titus 2, verse 11, another book of the Apostle Paul to Pastor Titus. Titus 2, verses 11-14 says, This is for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. So, this godliness, this mindset of God, this power of God, which will bring salvation, has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.

We should walk down a different road. This is a difficult path. We should live soberly. Notice, righteously. That means right doing right as God defines right in his word. And godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. Special. These people have been given a divine opportunity, a special calling at this time.

Zealous for good works. Zealous, in other words, to be Christ-like, God the Father-like, agape-like, of that mindset, to be part of the first fruits harvest, to stand with Christ on the Mount of Olives at his return. This is a wonderful opportunity that we've been given. It's an opportunity, though. We haven't been saved as a dandil at all. We have been saved from the death penalty because our sins are forgiven every time we say, I'm sorry. And thus, we are not under the penalty of the law, which is the Lake of Fire, as long as we continue to repent and grow. And that's a wonderful thing.

So we have been saved from the flames in that sense, but we have not yet been fully saved in the sense that it's a done deal at all. That's our goal, though. God gives us help. He moves us. Jesus said that, I am the vine, you are the branches. My Father prunes every branch, doesn't he? I'm going to help move you along. We're there to get you down this path, to move you forward, to bear more fruit, fruit for the harvest. It's my Father's desire that you bear much fruit and that your fruit remains. We give you the seed. You are to grow it and produce fruit with our help, through our spirit.

The overcomers, it says in Revelation 21.7. Those who overcome will inherit the kingdom. We've got to move. Let's take a look at Strong's Exhaustive Concordance definition for the word carris. It's a G5485 as the number. Graciousness of manner or act. Is that what saves you? No. Obviously, that meaning is not the one. How about this one? It comes from the Latin gracia of the graciousness of manner or act. Gracia. Gracie in Italian.

Gracias in Spanish. What do those words mean? Thank you. Are we saved by thanks? Gracie or gratie. All of those forms have many different aspects that have been used in society down through time. But as we've seen, the original one had to do with reciprocity in that God gives us something and where to develop something from that. Now you can begin to build other things. Another thing that was in ancient Greek right after that was power. Power came to be probably one of the second most terms of carris in Greek.

After reciprocity, you can't do that on your own, can you? God has to help you develop those ten means. Power came in. Then appreciation or thankfulness came in. So many other aspects of that came on, including especially the divine influence on the heart.

God's divine influence on our mind. We can't do anything that God wants without His help. Also came to mean acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thankful, etc. So the word can take on many things. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia from page 1290 says these various meanings naturally tend to blend into each other. In certain cases, it is difficult to fix the precise meaning that the writer meant the word to convey. A confusion that is common to both New Testament and secular Greek. I'm telling you, in all the research I've done, carris has so many different meanings. And yet, some people will even expand those meanings, pick one, and when they see it in the Bible, it always means that one thing.

The book Systematic Theology by Berkhoff states, In most of the passages in which the word carris is used in the New Testament, it signifies the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man through the agency of the Holy Spirit. He's there to help us. Help develop. Grow the fruit. Develop us into something that we cannot on our own be. Grace is, in reality, the active communication of divine blessings by the in-working of the Holy Spirit.

That's why we can't do it ourselves. It's not of our own works, but it's of works. It's of God's works. God working in us. And us reciprocating, and us working with God. From the book Moral Transformation, The Original Christian Paradigm of Salvation. The original Christian, going back to the first century now. The early Christians believed God's final judgment is made on the basis of character and conduct. We see that throughout Scripture, don't we?

They believed that by following Jesus and transforming their lives morally, they would obtain positive judgment and resurrection. This part shows how the early Christians' ideas of faith, justification, forgiveness, and carise, or grace, all fit into this paradigm. From Thayer's New Testament Greek lexicon, carise, of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon lives, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, love, and kindles them to the exercise of good works.

Or he says, Christian virtues. See, when we see that term grace, it means a lot, doesn't it? And it involves God. It involves all of the aspects. In fact, one writer says, when you see the word carise, it just really means Christianity. I mean, the real true Christianity. I mean, being called, converted, repenting, going forward, God's Spirit helping you, becoming a child of God, and ultimately being in his kingdom. It's very difficult, however, to see that the way it's used today. Let's see this in action in Romans 6. We'll begin in verse 1. Romans 6, another word of the Apostle Paul's writings.

The Apostle Paul's writings are very good. But you see, sometimes when we have the verbology and also kind of the mindset of the wars that were fought in the past, we begin to come up with even a modern concept of what people have come to reject any notion of doing what God says and replace it with that term. Romans 6.1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Depends on what your meaning of grace is. Shall we continue in sin that God's gifts, that God's assistance, that God's repentance, and that the forgiveness of Christ can abound?

Is that what God wants? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? We're supposed to have progressed beyond that. We now have these tools and we are no longer of sin. We have a different mindset. As this whole chapter, we've moved from lawlessness to following Christ. We're now walking in a new way of life.

And we ultimately, at the end of verse 5, we also will be in the likeness of His resurrection. Let's drop down to the end. Verse 20. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. We weren't living, we weren't walking the way of right, as God defines it.

What fruit? What byproducts? What results did you have in the things of which you are now ashamed? Notice, for the end of those things is death. Forgiveness, the end of sin and the way of sin, is not sort of been written off. It is still death. The soul that sins will die. And it will either be our own death or someone who died for us because we repented and were forgiven. But now, having been set free from slavery to sin, which is the topic here, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit.

The result of that is holiness. That means to be holy is God is in it. God's Holy Spirit is in it. God's mind is in it. God's presence is in it. The holiness and the end is everlasting life. We don't have everlasting life yet, but we are in this process. For the wages of sin is still death. But the gift, the gift of God, guess what the word gift is? It's charisma. It's another one of those divine endowments, we might say. Charisma can be translated endowment.

It is a gift, but it's an endowment. It is an installment. It is a contribution that God has made. Of His calling, of His faith, of repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit. God the Father and Christ now living in you and me. They make their abode in us.

They help us move forward. And as long as they are with us, who can be against us? And so, because this endowment of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Salvation is certainly a gift we can't earn. But at the same time, God is the author and He's the finisher of that salvation. He's the one who engineers it. He's the one who helps it. He's the one who helps you and I go all the way to the end. Obedience and good works through His Holy Spirit. Those are following conditions of His gifts.

Scripture is overwhelming. It says in Acts 5.32, The Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey Him. It's a condition even to have the Holy Spirit of God. He said in Matthew 19.17, if you want to enter life, if you want to, not a done deal, keep the commandments. You know, Jesus Christ was on earth. He developed fully. He set a great example. When He turned 30, He began His ministry for three and a half years. And when you saw Him, when you heard Him, when you were around Him, you saw a member of the family of God. How about you and me? How are we doing on that path? Are we reflecting more and more of that light? Are we associated with the God family as people get to know us more?

That was His intention when He said, you are the light of the world. I'm leaving. You now are the light of the world. And yet, the Broadway Gate is still attractive and always has been. Let's look at some of the do-it-yourself false theology, false doctrine that invades the Church. Which Church? God's Church. Yes, God's Church. About 60 years after Christ died, He came back again. And He walked among the churches. And He gave seven lessons to the Church in Revelation 2 and 3. I'd just like to show you some of the things He found. Revelation 2, verse 2, He says to the first church at Ephesus, and He's saying to you and me, watch out for this. If you have ears to hear, hear Me. He says, I know your works, your labor, your perseverance, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. Does that describe you and me? I think. We're working, we're doing a work, we're trying to endure, have the truth. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not. Sometimes within the Church, He's talking, there are individuals who say, I am a teacher or I am sent. And He says, not everyone is. And you have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake, and you've not become weary. Wonderful. Close the book. Right? Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left agape as primary, is one way of reading this. Left your first love, the word first here refers to primary. Love means agape. Looks like we got busy doing something else. Persevering, laboring, working, testing others. But we got sidetracked from developing that holy, righteous character of love, agape love, humbling the self and serving and loving others. Has that ever happened to us? Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the primary works. See, other things can come in, and we might think, oh, I can do this. I can give money. I can give bigger ties and get my way in. I can do work over here and not actually take the difficult path. It's much harder to deflate the self, to focus on God and focus on fellow man and serve and sacrifice for others.

So many things. Verse 9, Church of Smyrna, I know your works, your tribulation, your poverty. I know the blasphemy of those who say they are spiritual Jews, I'm sure is what he meant, and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. In the Church, we've got a synagogue of Satan as part of it, people masquerading as spiritual Jews, the spiritual called ones. Verse 13, I know your works and where you dwell where Satan's throne is. Wow! We think our life and our environment is so clean. In verse 14, I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam. In verse 15, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. There's other ideas, you see, that come in. And each of these were ways that are very appealing to human nature, but still flew under religion, true church, body of Christ. And he's saying, you know what? This, this you've got to watch out for. Chapter 3, verse 4, you have a few names, even in Sardis, a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. Wow! Not many. Verse 9, indeed, I will make to the Church of Philadelphia, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are spiritual Jews and are not, but lie, I will make them to come and worship before your feet. See, we have challenges, and these challenges come and they sort of get cleaned up and they come back and they get cleaned up. You know, what happened in 31 AD, everything really fell apart. There was a crush against the true church. But then, starting with the day of Pentecost, things got bold and strong, but you move about 30 years after that. James, John, Jude, 1 Peter, everything's collapsing, other religions are coming in, other Gnosticism, Judaism, various other splinters have taken people away. Maybe it got strong because of what they wrote. We've just read 30 years after that, Jesus came and looked what he found in the church. These things will come and go, but you and I always need to be strong. Theological drift is like an ocean tide. It kind of comes in and then it ebbs. There's an article from christianfaith.com called Radical Grace. There is a teaching becoming popular in Christinum today presented as a message of liberation from all the horrible legalistic bondage that religious Christians get caught up in when they struggle to overcome sin. Our salvation is assured by what Christ has done for us on the cross and has nothing to do with how we live at all.

Even Protestant theology is aghast at some of the concepts that get associated with grace out there. It's been done for you, so go out and sin all you want because there's no such thing anymore. But does God change? No. Let's look at Matthew 13, verse 41. Here's what we might call the bottom line of God's investment in you and me. Matthew 13, verse 41. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend all those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them in the furnace of fire. Verse 43. Then the righteous, righteous not as some self-righteous people who earn thou salvation, people who do right with the help of God, according to the definition of God, will shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. What is translated grace? This word carise is a wonderful word. And grace itself, if you can somehow remember the great power and involvement that is in it, and the God that is in whatever term you want to use there. The development, the motion spiritually, the growth that is to take place is a fabulous opportunity. And the end result is a huge blessing of being first fruits in the family of God. The modern church, this article goes on to say, the modern-day church is really antinomian, no law at all. What they're saying is, we won't require anything of you if you come to us. This is an escape tactic for people who are running.

You know, Broadway exists, and Broadway is theological, or it's anti-theology. It's just my way. I'm just going to not even believe in a God, or I'll make up my own religion, or I'll take the words of Paul and I'll twist them into something.

Let's go, in conclusion, to 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 9-12. I'd like to read another passage of the Apostle Paul, a beautiful passage, one that can give us great confidence as we proceed down the difficult path of Jesus Christ, inspired and led by God the Father guiding and directing us through His Son. It is through Charis, this Greek word, and what it means, and faith, that our salvation is made complete. 2 Thessalonians 2 begins in verse 9. The coming of the lawless one. See, in the end times, there's one who will be the lawless one, an antichrist. But lawlessness, he says, in verse 7, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Lawlessness is everywhere. What is lawlessness? It's those who disregard God's law. They don't do right in God's eyes. They come up with their own good and evil. And they make up their own version of the future. Salvation, usually ends in heaven, with doing very little or nothing that God is asking of us. But the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. Note, because they did not receive the love of the truth. Do you have the love of the truth? Is God directing your way? Do you really love every word that's here? If so, you're on the difficult path. You're headed for a gate that no one can see, even you. Most few will even find it, he said. We have to be led there by God. Just as the Israelites traveled six days through Egypt, they couldn't find the way out. It was a miraculous way out, right through the ocean. So you and I have been given this really, really precious opportunity with divine favor to be called now, and then loaded up with the gifts and the help and the direction of God himself and his Son. So as we look at this, let's appreciate that there are those who don't have the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them or allow them to have a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Simply because they want the broad way, and they want the wide gate.

Is that what you and I want? If so, we'll get it. We'll find a way one way or another to get it. And for that reason that they didn't receive the love of the truth, then they will believe the lie. Verse 12, that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. That's what we really wanted. But we are bound to give thanks to God. Always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation. You have this divine favor, and from the beginning of time, He chose you through sanctification by the Spirit, the power of His Spirit, and belief, His faith in the truth, to which He called you by our Gospel, a calling, a special calling, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast. Do not be moved off of this path. Hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father who has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation. Consolation from the Greek means everlasting, imploring, and exhorting. He's there to move us. He's there to exhort us. He's there to implore us. He's not only cheering us on, He's pushing us. He's pulling us. He's drawing us.

And good hope, the word hope means confidence. He's given us the push, the pull, and the confidence by, there's the word, grace. By grace. By carise. By all that's involved. But it's all Him that is motivating and calling and developing you and me into that ultimate destination. And He's the symbol of His character. Verse 17. The word comfort is a translation of paracleo, to call, to beseech, to implore, to exhort you. So He's got this good confidence in us, and He is beseeching us and calling and imploring us in our hearts and establishing you in every good word and work. That's what we're for. Good words out of the heart. Good work from the heart. The children of God. The developed children of God. The final product that He is looking for. You have been called to follow Jesus Christ on a humanly impossible journey to the Kingdom of God. And God is there before you ever knew it. He is there every step of the way with you, and He will finish that journey with you as long as you continue to love the truth and endure in His way.