Narrow Is The Way Which Leads Unto Life

The United Church of God presents Victor Kubik with a sermon titled, Narrow is the Way which Leads Unto Life. It was recorded in Cincinnati, East, Ohio. The way to eternal life is a very narrow way. Jesus Christ said this Himself. It's not an easy way and it's a very narrow way. He asked us to be narrow-minded, not broad-minded, about eternal life. Let's turn to Matthew 7, verse 13. This is in the well-known Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus Christ talks about the way to eternity for salvation and to eternal life. Matthew 7, verse 13. He says, 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. Most people can't find this way. They try to find the way to eternity, to eternal life, through philosophies, through different views, through different methods, through different interpretations of God. And they can't find it. The portal, the way, is not available. Verse 14. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. That's a fact. And that's the fact of our time, of our society, of the people around us, of Claremont County, of the state of Ohio, the United States, the world. There are very, very few who find that way. Hopefully I'm speaking to people who understand this passage, who appreciate this passage, and have found that little portal that leads to eternal life. Now, how narrow is that way? How can we be more specific as to what it is that we're talking about, or what Christ would have said, which he actually answers in another passage? Turn with me to John 6, verse 41. John 6, verse 41, where he talks about that narrow path, and that straight gate, as is another translation, like the Bering Straits or the Malacca Straits, it's a very straight, it's through a very narrow opening. This is when Jesus Christ speaks about himself as the Passover. John 6, verse 41, the Jews then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it that he says, I have come down from heaven? Some may say, if we just knew Jesus Christ, if we would just be around him, that we would believe. Well, Jesus Christ was known as the son of Joseph. He was known as a builder, 30-year-old man, young man. And here he is saying, I am the bread which came down from heaven. He said this in the synagogue. And they said, who in the world are you? What are you saying? Great disbelief among people, partially because of knowing who Jesus was. He was a wonderful person, but certainly he was common. He worked with Joseph. Certainly if he was to be the Messiah of the world, he'd probably find some other occupation other than construction. But that's what he was. Isn't this the son of Joseph? And we know his mom and dad. And certainly it was a positive experience. Certainly Mary and Joseph were wonderful people. But we know them. How can he say that? He's come from heaven. Verse 43, Jesus therefore answered them and said, do not murmur among yourself. Jesus Christ wasn't backing off. He knew who he was. He knew his mission. And he knew that his mission was to be completed over a certain period of time. He knew that there were 44 prophecies about the Messiah that he would fulfill. He knew that there were over 300 messianic references in the Old Testament. He knew who he was. He knew his place.

He said, don't murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. He makes the gate even narrower here. It's not just he who eats my body, who eats my flesh. I am the bread of life. But you can't even get there unless you have an invitation from my Father in heaven. You think that would have been easy to believe in Jesus Christ back then? How many of us, how would we have reacted to this 30-year-old man who says, you can't even come to me unless my Father in heaven calls you, and you've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood? That's what makes it difficult. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him, but I will raise him up at the last day. I'll raise him up. I'll give him eternal life. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father, obviously speaking of himself. You think it would have been easy to believe in Christ back then? I don't think it was any easier than for us and for the rest of the world, in truly understanding all the elements that constitute true Christianity, true belief, and doing the right things, and entering into that straight path, entering into that narrow way. Verse 47, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. Jesus Christ said this with the greatest of authority, you've got to believe in me. I am the bread of life. You can't even come to me unless the Father calls him. These are very dramatic words that are spoken. I am, verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. Just typical in the Old Testament of manna that sustained the life of a nation for a number of years. That was temporary. I am the real thing. I am the one who will give life everlasting. I am the living bread, verse 51, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Not just a human lifetime, as Israelites did. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Ostentatious. Pretentious. In the eyes of many. The truth for those who believe. The truth for us today, who believe these words. Words that to the vast majority of this world are nonsense, foolishness to the Greeks. But to us, they are truth and life. It's the only way. It's the only way out of this life. The Jews, verse 52, quarrel among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They kind of got off together in small groups and said, What's he talking about? Perhaps some had honest questions about this. How can he give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

He continues with that same theme. Says it over again. In fact, he says it several times in this passage in John, chapter 6. He, whoever, whoever, verse 54, eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Just in case somebody missed what he said, he repeats it again. And obviously he's talking about the symbolism of the Passover that Christians understand. It's interesting that people, as they come into the church, they come to our belief structure, and it's important to them. The most important service of the year is a Passover. Bar none. That is the most important service. You find people come in wheelchairs. You find people who can't attend a service throughout the rest of the year. You find people who are shut-ins, oftentimes make it to the Passover. They've got to be there. They've got to be there, and fulfilling this passage is important to them. Verse 56, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, verse 57, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. Very straight, very powerful words. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the man, and he goes through the story once again, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. That is salvation. I don't know how else you can call salvation other than the fact that you will live forever. That's what I want. That's what you want. That's why you're here. We're all trying to get through that narrow path that will take us to life eternal.

Verse 59, These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Those of you who have been to the north side of the Sea of Galilee know the town of Capernaum, and there's even a synagogue there, where, well, very likely where Jesus Christ taught. I think there's some dispute about the actual location, but nonetheless, we know where Capernaum is. And that's what he said there at this place. Verse 60, Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying. This is not the public now. These are his disciples. These are people who thought and saw Christ and heard him speak on Sabbath before, became his disciples, his followers, and just took notes, perhaps mentally, about things that he said. Said, Now this is a tough one. This is not an easy saying. This is perhaps a little different, and a cut above some of the more plain teachings. Who can understand it? It's a hard saying. When Jesus, verse 61, knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, and his own followers, he said to them, Does this offend you? What then, if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? They had to have a lot of belief now. This isn't just a wonderful teacher. This isn't one who is precocious. This isn't one who has extra sensory knowledge. This is the very Son of God. He is talking about his Father. He's talking about his origins. He's talking about where he came from, and this brings it up to another level. So the disciples, in a sense, through the separation between those that thought of him as a good teacher, to those who believed in him, as the source of eternal life, as the only one who could provide it for them.

Verse 63, It is a spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. He goes on and explains a few more elements in this process of granting eternal life. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. So you better listen up very carefully, because that's the only way to life eternal. But there are some, verse 64, of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and that they would betray him. And he said, Therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. He repeats the same thought they already said before. So he identifies the Father, identifies as a Father as the one from whom he proceeded. He speaks about his pre-existence, and he speaks about the way to eternal life, and him ascending back to be with the Father.

Result of this special service here in Capernaum, verse 66, From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Not talking about the public, talking about his disciples, people who thought that Christ was a great teacher. Perhaps some of the people that were at some of those open-air meetings where Christ fed them with loaves and fishes, and followed him around the Sea of Galilee and so forth. And when he told them these words, these hard sayings, I'm not going there. I don't know what he means about eating his flesh, drinking his blood. I don't know what he's really talking about as far as proceeding from the Father and going back to the Father. I'm out, and many were at this point. Then Jesus said to the twelve, to those who he had picked, handpicked, Do you also want to go away? I mean, there's a lot of people who were leaving Christ. This was not a Sabbath where it was a membership builder. This was one that he lost a lot of people. And he's going to his own disciples and says, Are you going to go too? This is a dividing line between truth, between who some think I am, some who think that they know who I am, and some who really know that I am God. I have proceeded from my Father, and it's only through me that you can have eternal life.

Simon Peter, the first one to answer, usually was, Lord, to whom shall we go? Basically saying, I guess there is no other way. We can only go through that straight and narrow way. You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter made this declaration. The whole story that's in this book is a story about God giving man eternal life. It's a story which begins with redemption, repentance, transformation, eternal life.

The story begins about drinking blood and eating flesh. Sacrifice, way back in the early chapters of the book of Genesis. The story about the sacrifices, even in how they were instituted, the burnt offerings, the killing of animals, and so forth, were precursors to give understanding that eternal life comes through a sacrifice. And it would later point to Jesus Christ, and about the high value of his sacrifice that was above all other sacrifices and the importance of it. The Passover itself, in the very first Passover, was about a sacrifice of an animal that provided life, even though it was for a particular event, a particular moment in history, that became a model and a type for the greater Passover who is Christ, who is our Passover, who prevents death from coming into our lives, and walks us through that narrow path, that portal to eternal life.

The story of this transformation begins with the sacrifices that were given, or offerings, by Abel and Cain, way back in Genesis, chapter 4. Because the point about this sacrifice was commented on by the Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews. But this story about the first offerings that were given to God, and we don't know how they were instituted or exactly which offerings were instituted, but nonetheless, they knew, the two brothers, the two sons of Adam and Eve, knew that they were to bring offerings before the Lord.

And we don't know if they were thank offerings. We don't know exactly what offerings they were, but nonetheless, there were offerings that were instructed, no doubt. Genesis, chapter 4, verse 3. In the process of time, and the explanation of this is that there was some type of process of time, whether it was a season, whether maybe even there was some inkling made to days that would commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. That's good. Abel also, in addition to the fruit of the ground, brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. So it's an offering where he had to kill the animal.

Fat had to be removed and placed in the proper place in the offering. So his offering included a sacrificial experience of an animal. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, no doubt, because instructions were given to have these types of offerings, not just to have grain, not just to have fruit, but to also have an animal. Now, in the five offerings that are listed in the book of Leviticus, there's the first of all, of course, the burnt offering, Chapter 1.

And Chapter 2 talks about the grain offering, which was not involved with any kind of animal sacrifice. But the next three offerings have to do with animal sacrifice as well, the peace offering, the sin and the trespass offering.

But we're not sure exactly what the motive for Cain was. Maybe it was because it was cheaper that way. He didn't have to sacrifice a whole animal. He could just get away with some apples and fruit and so forth, brought that before the Lord, says, here, I'm thankful, God, for my life and everything else.

But Abel also brought an animal that he sacrificed, brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. Obviously, the firstborn of the flock, he must have been instructed, he must have been taught that a firstborn was to be brought in a particular way for a particular purpose. The Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell, and as we know, he killed his brother.

That was enough to justify in his mind murdering his brother. In Hebrews 11 and verse 4, this particular incident is referred to. Hebrews 11 and verse 4, by faith, Abel offered God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. What made it more excellent is that there was the killing of an animal. There was the sacrifice of an animal, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks.

There are a number of stories that speak of sacrifice and the importance of having to give up. We need to realize that in order for us to have eternal life, somebody had to give up something very, very important. And to have God give up his only son is a very, very high payment for us to enter into eternal life.

But that is what is required. Every year, every year, I think of the Passover and all that's involved in it, and say, what am I learning new? Is there anything that is more profound? Last year, the Passover was extremely profound because I wasn't planning to be here, and I kept it as a layperson in a way because I was just sat in the audience and sat there with my brothers and sisters to my right and left, and kept it as part of the body of Christ. But what makes it so hard is a hard saying is just exactly what Jesus Christ did, what he's requiring. Not only what he asks us to do is to believe in those symbols and to eat his flesh and drink his blood, but what God the Father allowed and what Jesus Christ God the Father planned to redeem mankind for a greater purpose, to have mankind be able to attain to eternal life, because that is the only way in God's mind that we can have eternal life.

He can't just snap his fingers. He can't just give it to us. It has to come through a sacrifice. It has to come through a redemption. And it has to come through responsible, accountable living on our part and through a resurrection. That is hard. That is hard to envision all that is required and what we are required to do in this lifetime right now, what our responsibility is.

Another moment of great sacrifice, which was in one sense a premonition, maybe that isn't a proper word, but a precursor to Jesus Christ's death, was the story in Genesis 22. Genesis 22 is a story about God granting Abraham a son. A son that was promised when Abraham was about 75 years old. A son that didn't come. I mean, Abraham was already old. It didn't come, it didn't come, it didn't come.

Finally, when Abraham was 100 years old, a son did arrive. And he called his name Isaac. Genesis 22. Through this son, there would be greatness given to Abraham's seed. Many nations would flow out of Abraham. Also, through this son, there would be grace and life eternal given to the human race. It was a great promise. Abraham believed in that promise. He already had proved his faithfulness in a number of ways. He moved from his people, he moved down to the area that is Palestine today, he was a person that was a God-fearing individual.

Genesis 22 came to pass, verse 1, after these things that God tested Abraham. Actually, another test, because there were other tests before this. There were tests with Sarah, there was a test already of even Isaac being born. There was the test of saying you've got to move from the land of Haran on down to Palestine, which was kind of a pioneering area at that time. Abraham said, God tested him and said to him, Abraham! He replied, Here I am.

Then he said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. You've got to be kidding. Offer my son. I waited 25 years for him. Now you're asking me to sacrifice him as a burnt offering? So Abraham rose early in the morning.

Abraham was pretty consistent in his response. When God says, Move, it says Abraham went. He said, Sacrifice your son. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

It wasn't just, Okay, you're asking me to do it, so I'm going to just take him up to where you tell me to. No, he had Adam, Abraham, split the wood, saddle a donkey, and travel some distance to where this sacrifice was to take place, which was on Mount Moriah. On a third day, one day one, he's walking this donkey and these other two fellows, and Isaac, day two.

On a third day, then, verse four, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, the lad, and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So he's going to do this privately now with Isaac.

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, a knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire, the wood. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Good question. Abraham said, My God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Abraham was so convinced that God would grant him life, national greatness, the spirit of grace, and life eternal through Isaac his son, that he knew that God would work it out. This is belief that I don't know how many of us would be able to manage. I have one son. I don't know I could manage that.

What is a lesson of all this? God the Father himself had to face this. He was going to face this with giving up his son as an offering. Then he came to the place which God had told him, and Abraham built an altar and placed his wood in order and bound Isaac his son. I mean, this story is just stretched out here, even biblically. There's some historical moments that are glossed over. Not this one. This one here is in real time. Talks about the wood, the splitting of the wood, taking it over there, the three-day walk, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Laid Isaac out, who was obviously cooperative.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

This was looking forward to the time of the killing of Jesus Christ, the only son of God. God is teaching us in this lesson what it took, the horror, the fear, the magnitude of taking a life for the salvation of the world.

This is what I think of when I think of this story. It's not just the story of the surface story of just testing to see what he would do. It's a story about God's giving his son, as Abraham was willing to give his son in listening to the commands and orders of God. And knowing that, as he told Isaac just maybe minutes or hours before, God will provide. He knew that God would either resurrect Isaac, he knew that God would provide something else, but he was following and obeying God because he knew what God had promised. He knew what God would fulfill. And at the last second, the angel had stepped in and said, no, I don't really want you to do that.

Again, this is a hard saying. There are some things, biblically, that are hard sayings. Just like the people in the synagogue, as they were listening to Jesus Christ, he says, hard things, these are hard sayings. Well, this is a very hard story to listen to, to understand.

There's a story of faith, confirmation of Abraham's faith. It showed value of what it takes for salvation, which is a life and a precious life at that, your only son, and also that God will provide. God will provide a way for this. What happened then is that Aram was caught in a thicket, and Abraham then offered this as a sacrifice to God. Still, a sacrifice was offered, but not his son, not his actual son. The story of the Passover itself in Exodus 12 is a story about salvation through a sacrificed animal.

Of course, this is the main part, and we've gone through this many, many times, but just turn to Exodus 12 again, please, about the first Passover. Verse 6, Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day, this is the Lamb that was to be selected on the tenth day, Exodus 12 and verse 6, until the fourteenth day of the same month. So the same process of the animal being chosen in Christ's time as a Passover, the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

And they shall take some of the blood and put it on a two-door post, in a lintel of the houses, where they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Verse 12, For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, with man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. But the blood from the slain lamb shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on to you, to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

So there was salvation and life granted as a result of the slain Passover lambs. And this Passover then became the beginning of the formal keeping of the Passover, year after year after year. The Passover. Now the Passover, it's not on Passover, but the lamb itself was called the Passover. Now I grew up in the Russian-Ukrainian community, and interestingly enough, the word Easter was not used.

The word Easter didn't exist. The word was Pascha, Passover. We always grew up keeping Easter, calling it Passover. It still is to this very day. And the Passover was the actual items that comprise the Easter basket, so to speak, and was mainly focused on the bread. And they said, this is the Passover. I remember every year the priest would bless the Passover. But why am I bringing this up? Well, it's because the lamb itself was the Passover. The lamb, Jesus Christ, is our Passover.

Jesus Christ wasn't necessarily killed on Passover. He was the Passover. He was that salvation. In 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6, 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6, Christ, speaking to a Gentile audience in the city of Corinth, talks to them about the Passover. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Here he is speaking about language that goes back to the Old Testament, to the Scriptures, to a Greek crowd. He tells them about purging out the old leaven, verse 7, that you may be a new lump since you are truly unleavened.

For indeed Christ, our Passover, Christ is the Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The central focus and the most important portal to understanding Christianity is understanding Christ being our Passover. Him being the way, Him being the narrow way, not the broad-minded way. Hey, there's different ways you can come to Christ. No, there isn't. You have to go through this way and reach the goal that God wants us to reach. That's why there are so few people. That's why there are so few people here. And that's why people are tested on this over and over again throughout history. And even when we were still ten times larger, why so many people have left who couldn't continue that journey through that narrow path?

I'm not a judge of what other ways that they may have taken that still lead in this same path, but many people have quit. Many people have not wanted to continue in that way through that narrow portal to eternal life.

1 Corinthians 2, just a few chapters back, where he talks about the importance of Christ's sacrifice and about the central theme of the evangelistic message that Paul wrote. Paul came with to Corinth. He didn't come with a message of health and wealth. He didn't talk about how we could be so blessed by God as he's becoming a Christian, and we could be blessed and rich and so forth.

None of that is important. The central teaching of Christianity is right here. And I, brethren, verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 2, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. I didn't come as a fancy, slick-speaking evangelist with excellence of speech or wisdom. But here's what he did come with. Verse 2, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

This was a point. This was the message. This was a central core of my evangelistic message, to teach Christ and him crucified as him being the only way to eternal life. That is the gospel of salvation. Does that mean that's all he taught, was Christ and him crucified? Well, we looked at 1 Corinthians, the whole book. There's a lot in the book of Corinthians. Other things. He talks about spiritual gifts. He talks about love.

He talks about not judging people. He talks about all kinds of things. But he said, when I came to you, the most important thing that I came to you with was Jesus Christ and him crucified. You've got to get that straight first. Everything else is less important. Yes, it is less important, other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. And that's why this service that we'll be observing a week from tomorrow night is so vital and so important, because that is that little doorway.

That is that narrow doorway to eternal life. It's not something magical. It's a representation of something that we believe in, something that we accept, something that we won't compromise on, something that we look upon with absolute reverence, worship, and expectation of receiving the results of what God promises.

Hebrews 9, verse 21, talking about the greatness of Christ's sacrifice. And the book of Hebrews has a number of themes. The priesthood of Jesus Christ talks about the temple and so forth. But it has a number of likenesses and comparisons to life, to Jesus Christ, when he was here, to the priesthood itself, the Levitical priesthood, and to the more superior priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9, verse 21, then likewise he sprinkled with blood, talking about annually when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

And according, verse 22, to the law almost all things were purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. That's the central theme of the Old Testament, and really of temple observance and worship in the Old Testament. The sacrifices, the sprinkling of blood, redemption coming through blood, and whether the remission of sins, whether they were the sin offerings, trespass offerings, whatever, that was through blood. All looking to the greatness of Christ's sacrifice.

Verse 23, This is the real thing. This is the anti-type. Not that he should offer himself often, that means on an annual basis or daily basis. And you know, in the temple there was the morning sacrifice where a lamb was sacrificed about 9 a.m. There was the evening sacrifice where the lamb was sacrificed at 3 p.m. This was not something that was a redundant or a repetitious experience. As the high priest enters the holy place every year with the blood of another, or even annually.

He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. Christ has not gone through this experience 2,000 times. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. In that event, the most important event in the history of the entirety of the universe, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God becoming flesh, for redemption of us, the payment of our sins, was only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son, the one and only Son of the living God of the universe.

Do we understand that? Do we know that? Does it have greater impact year in and year out?

Again, to most of the world, it's either nonsense, or they don't get it, or they don't know what the reason for it is, or they see it in a fog. Do we see it for what it really is?

As it is appointed, verse 27, for men to die once, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. All the story of salvation, the story of redemption, is simple and is hard. The yoke is easy and the yoke is hard. Let's pray that we really truly understand all the things that have to be done. Well, the Passover, I believe that we had a very wonderful presentation by Gary Petty, which was number four in the series of preparing for the Passover. I really did appreciate it. In fact, I, on a flight here a couple weeks ago, listened to it over again because it was really extremely well done. I talked about the sacrifice of the Lamb at Exodus 12, then He went to Deuteronomy 16, where it was more formalized as an event. Of course, it's also spoken of in Numbers 9, Leviticus 23, and so forth, which I won't go into, but you can read 1 Corinthians 16, 1-8, how the Passover was an annual event.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is one that ultimately leads to eternal life. And now is presented to us, and a responsibility is given to us. That way, that narrow path, still continues with certain instructions and certain responsibilities and accountability in our part. And my question is, what is our responsibility? What is our obligation? And what is our commitment? I know this is another different topic, but it really leads in from Passover right to the Days of Unleavened Bread. Jesus Christ, the words that He spoke as the keynote address of the beginning of His ministry, were almost exactly the words, or the keynote words of the Apostle Peter at the commencement of the New Testament Church. Let's take a look at Mark 1 and verse 14. Mark 1 and verse 14. Now, after John, Mark 1, 14, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying to a crowd of people who obviously were interested, in order to engage them, said, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The first action word about what we are required to do is to repent, then to believe in the gospel. But repentance is required in our part. Well, entry into eternal life is also spoken of in Acts chapter 2 and verse 36. This is another new beginning. We have one beginning here in Mark 1, the beginning of Christ's ministry. Acts chapter 2, we have the beginnings of the New Testament Church. This is Peter's Pentecost address, verse 36. Acts chapter 2 and verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He sang to the crowd, you killed Christ.

Again, these words are nonsense to most people, or they don't understand what that really means. I know that when I counseled people for baptism, I don't do that very much now. One thing that I wanted to make clear to an individual is that if you were the only person that was to be saved, you would have to take responsibility as the one who killed Christ. You were just as much a person there with a Roman with a spear, who killed Christ and ran the church. And Jesus and Peter were telling the crowd, you have killed Christ. Many of these people were very much involved in the killing of Christ, since they were probably part of the mob. They said, kill him, crucify him, crucify him, and they wouldn't stop the chant. Even they're told to settle down, settle down, let's talk this through. Crucify him! And when he talks, when Peter talks to him, to the crowd, that this is the one that is God and Christ, and he is ascended to heaven. And they said, what in the... what were we thinking? What have we done? Verse 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Now these are people to whom the message did get into their skull, that they did kill Christ. They were responsible for his death. Yes, they were doing it collectively, but certainly they were responsible for the death of Christ. They were part of that conspiracy, so to speak. You know, how they put people into prison, not just the one who murders, but one who's part of the conspiracy or part of the group or just around. They're just as guilty.

Verse 38, then Peter said to them, in response to the question, what shall we do? The same operative action word that Christ said in Mark chapter 1. Repent, and then let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The beginnings of Christianity fall to repentance, acceptance of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for the remission of your sins, because he died for you. And his promise is to you and to your children, and all who are far off, as many of the Lord our God will call. So repentance began the process, and that's what the Days of Love and Bread are about. Building righteous character. Oh yes, I believe, it works! Yes, yes, yes, yes! There are things that we must do. There are things that we must commit ourselves to. There are actions that we must take. We are forgiven, and I'm thankful to God for forgiveness. I need forgiveness. But you know, repentance is not something that is just a one-off experience, where we just repent once and that's it. Repentance is an ongoing way of life. In fact, repentance is spoken of as a gift. As a gift that comes from God. Let's take a look at the story in Acts 11, verse 16. This is a story about Christianity expanding beyond just the Jewish community, as it expanded now to the Gentiles. Namely here to a Roman centurion. In Acts 11, verse 16, Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

This is Peter giving his report to the other apostles. If therefore God has given them the same gift as he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? See, before in chapter 10, he had the vision of the sheet being lowered with unclean animals, symbolizing that all these unclean are to be purified. And it wasn't about meat being made clean to eat. It was talking about how God should call no man common or unclean, including the occupying Romans. That was probably the furthest thought in the minds of the Jews, that an actual occupied soldier of the Roman army could become converted. How unthinkable! How terrible! Only God's people can be God's people. But here's Romans? I don't get it. And yet the Romans, the Roman centurion, and his household were baptized. Now, when he talked about the experience, which we could read about, how they were all baptized, and they had the same experiences they did on the first day of Pentecost, when the apostles heard this in verse 18, they became silent, and they glorified God, saying, here's their response, and God also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.

That's how they understood the process of salvation, repentance to life. They accepted Jesus Christ as the one who redeemed them from their sins, but also how God also granted them repentance to life as a way of life, as a way of conduct, as a way of behavior.

In our lives, after we have come to conversion, so to speak, which is a one-off thing, but it isn't, it's a lifelong experience. As we come to repentance, which is not just a one-off experience, but a lifelong experience, this is our obligation and commitment as to how we live. That's what the Days of Unleavened Bread are about. We talk about building righteous character. What's wrong about that? People sometimes complain about us being works-oriented. Well, we're not doing works to be saved. We're doing works because that is our commitment and our responsibility. Repentance is a gift from God. Repentance is good. Repentance from those things that put us into bondage, to addictions, to behaviors, to nastiness, to unkindness towards others. That's all bad. We want to be good. And that's what we should be doing.

The greatest gift from God is, and the greatest miracle, is the miracle of conversion.

Turning water into wine, all these other things that are miracles, nothing compared to a changed and transformed life. And how many people are there that are really converted and transformed? I'm hoping that everybody I'm looking at right now has come to conversion, has come to see himself for what he is, and is changing his life. He's learning to become like Jesus Christ, that he's forgiving others, he's changing the way he thinks and looks at others. He's no longer trapped in the habits that he had been trapped before. The greatest miracle of all is a sustained change of heart. Not a one-off. Not just, oh, I feel so good, I repented. And then you slip back to a former way of life. God will test us on our journey in life over and over again. And it's a journey that we must sustain. I'll conclude with Romans 12 and verse 1, because this is what the Apostle Paul says is Christian responsibility. Romans 12 and verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. See, Christ gave his life as a sacrifice for he died for us. We are to continue also in a sacrificial mode, but to be a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, which is your spiritual service, as one translation has it, which is your obligation in what you ought to be doing. Verse 2, do not be conformed to this world. There's nothing in this world that we want, its values. We have values that have been given to us in this book, through the law of God, the teachings of Jesus Christ, through the value system that we are being taught by week in and week out, why we come here for services, to learn more of that way. What we learned from Richard Kennabec this morning about trying harder is just one more principle in how we're to live our lives. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is the way to eternal life. It's a very narrow way, and there are few that go into it. Very few get it. And even many who get some of it fall off at the first trials. And there are those who have the weeds of the world, grow over them and lose it. Let's not lose it. Let's look to this Passover as a recommitment to that narrow way that we will be going through.