Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1915 — The Straight Gate [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Straight Gate

By REV. JAMES M. CRAY. D. D

TXXT—Strive to enter In at the straight gate; for many, Z say unto you. will seek* to enter In, and shall not be able. —LukeUdMu The occasion for this warning of 1 Jesus was a question asked him by

one of his followers ms he went through the cities and villages teaching and Journeying toward Jerusalem. The question was, “Are there few that be saved?” As Matthew Henry says, it may have been a serious Question, a curious one, or a captious one, but nevertheless it was one of deep and momen-

tons importance to us. As another says, if one needs to know the number of the saved in this dispensation he has only to look around him and; compare the ways of many with the word of God. He will Boon come to the conclusion, if he is an honest man, that the saved are few. It is an awful conclusion, and our souls naturally turn away from It, but Scripture as well as fact shut ns up to it. Salvation is offered to all, but few are willing to comply with its terms. The Need of Effort.

Our Lord answers the question in an indirect way by a solemn exhortation to this duty, “Strive to enter In at the straight gate.” Whatever others may think about It, he would have us feel the need for exertion. This need is not because salvation is so difficult In itself, for it is written that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). But the striving Is necessitated (1) by the power of the counteracting influences of the world, whoso gate is “wide,” as we see from Matthew 7:13 and (2) because of the subtlety of false teachers, as we see' in the same Scripture; and finally (3), because of the urgency of the times, Inasmuch as the day is coming, and perhaps sooner than we pect, when “The Master of the shall “shut the door.” The Self-Deceived Ones. Our Lord enforces his exhortation by describing that day, adding: "For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able.” The long-suffering of God towards men will some day have an end. It will be the day when our Lord shall come again, and we know not how soon it may be. The throne of grace will be removed then and the throne of judgment set up in its place. But the most astounding part of it Is that so many in that day will find themselves to have been self-deceived. In this place in Luke, and in the parallel place in Matthew’s Gospel, Christ calls attention to four kinds of self-deception. He speaks of those who have been his guests, so to speak, eating and drinking in his presence; he speaks of those who have listened to his teachings; of those who have taught his word, and of those who have wrought his signs. None of these on that account merely have any claim upon his blessing in the life to come. What need there is for solemn selfexamination here. The Meaning of the Gate. Of course when our Lord speaks of the “gate" he really means himself, and he said at another time, “I am the door; by me If any man enter in, he Bhall he saved and shall go In and out and find pasture. (John 10:9);” We enter in by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and confessing him as our Lord. Have you yet definitely done this? If so, why not do it now as yon think upon these words? The distinguishing mark that we are saved, that we are his disciples, and that eternal glory is before us, is the fruit that we bear. Christ makes this very plain, in this same discourse, but blessed be his name, when we receive him as our Savior he gives ns his Holy Spirit so that we are enabled to bring forth this fruit* indeed he himself produces it in us.. Who would not trust himself to such; a friend? Let me urge you to do it as the first and most important of all things for your well-being in time and 1 eternity. I know there are other things, other allurements, holding you back, but what are they In comparIson with this? Thera was a shipwreck on the Par dfle one or two winters ago, when a certain vessel went to pieces, on, which there was a passenger who had with him a bag containing $1,600 in gold. Survivors said that be frantically offered that bag of gold to anyone who would place him on shore bat bis gold lay on the broken deck, kicked under foot, no one stopping to pick it up. How this impresses us with the importance of salvation and life above all things which this world can offer, and the importance of our striving to "enter in at the straight-gats” while the opportenity