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The scripture reading this morning
is in the 13th chapter of Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 13, beginning
at verse 22. He went on his way through towns
and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone
said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few And he said
to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I
tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once
the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin
to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, Lord, open
up to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you
come from. Then you will begin to say, we
ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets.
But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come
from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. In that place,
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God,
but you yourselves cast out. People will come from east and
west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom
of God. And behold, some are last who
will be first, and some are first who will be last. There are the
sobering words of the Lord Jesus Christ that we must heed seriously. This morning, I want to do something
that I've been wanting to do for some time. Now, you may have
heard this sermon by J.C. Ryle before because it might
be one of the ones that Mac has read before. And like most of
Ryle's sermons, it's worth hearing again. And we'll see how far
we get. But initially, I plan to read
the first part of it this morning, and then to conclude next week. There are numbers of his sermons
that we really need to hear. And I don't, how shall I say
this? was an eminent pastor and preacher. And very few pastors today, including
myself, can rise up to that level, I want you to be able to hear
what he has to say from God's word and to have it directly
then from him. And so that's what we're going
to be doing this morning. Let's ask the Lord's blessing
then on the ministry of his word. Father, we pray that as we hear
your servant, J.C. Ryle, Preach from your word this
morning, though he lived so long ago, yet we have the privilege
of having his sermon here, but we pray, Father, that you would
give us ears to hear and eyes to see and minds to understand,
that we would believe your word, that we would listen soberly
and in faith And we pray, Father, that if there be anyone here
or listening this morning that is still dead in their sins,
perhaps they believe that they're saved when they're in fact not,
then, Father, we pray that you would show them mercy by your
Spirit, convict them of their deadness of soul and their need
for Christ. And we pray this all in Christ's
name, amen. This sermon he just entitled,
Few Saved. And it's taken from his book
called Old Paths. Many of you probably have that
book at home. If not, you can find his sermons
online. There are some other of his sermons,
as I said, that I would like to deliver to you over time,
either here or in the worship service or in the Sunday school
hour. Numbers of others, one called
Formal Religion or Formalism, and there's still another one
concerning our souls. I don't remember if that's the
exact title that he gives that sermon, but he says things like,
only Christ can save our soul, but we can lose it ourselves,
and sobering statements. This is a wonderful, powerful
sermon, so give heed to it. He opens with these scriptures.
Luke 13, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? He
said to them, make every effort to enter through the narrow door,
because I tell you, many will try to enter it and won't be
able. And then again in Matthew 7,
enter in by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad
is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter
in by it. How narrow is the gate, and restricted
is the way that leads to life. Few are those who find it. I take it for granted, says Ryle,
that every reader of this paper calls himself a Christian. You would not like to be reckoned
a deist. A deist is a person that says
there's a God but he just kind of is divorced from everything
that's happening down here. You would not like to be reckoned
a deist or an infidel. You profess to believe the Bible
to be true. The birth of Christ the Savior,
the death of Christ the Savior, the salvation provided by Christ
the Savior, all these are facts which you probably never doubted.
But after all, Will Christianity like this profit you anything
at last? Will it do your soul any good
when you die? In one word, shall you be saved? It may be that you are now young
and healthy and strong. Perhaps you never had a day's
illness in your life and scarcely know what it is to feel weakness
and pain. You scheme and plan for future years and feel as
if death was far away and out of sight. Yet remember, death
sometimes cuts off young people in the flower of their days.
The strong and healthy of the family do not always live the
longest. Your son may go down before your
life has reached its midday, yet a little while, and you may
be lying in a narrow, silent home. Your coffin is what he
means. And the daisies may be growing
over your grave, and then consider, shall you be saved? It may be
that you're a rich and prosperous in this world. You have money
and all that money can command. You have honor, love, obedience,
troops of friends. But remember, riches are not
forever. You can't keep them longer than
a few years. It is appointed, and this is
from Proverbs, it is appointed unto people once to die, and
after this, the judgment. And then consider, shall you
be saved? It may be you're poor and needy.
You have scarcely enough to provide food and raiment for yourself
and family. You're often distressed for lack
of comforts, which you have no power to get. Like Lazarus, you
seem to have bad things only and not good. But nevertheless,
you take comfort in the thought that there will be an end of
all this. There's a world to come where poverty and need shall
be unknown. And yet consider for a moment,
shall you be saved? It may be you have a weak and
sickly body. You hardly know what it is to
be free from pain. You've so long parted company
with health that you have almost forgotten what it's like. You
often have said in the morning, would God it were evening. And
in the evening, would God it were morning. There's days when
you are tempted by very weariness to cry out with Jonah, it's better
for me to die than to live. But remember, Death is not all. There's something else beyond
the grave. And then consider, shall you be saved? If it was
an easy thing to be saved, I would not write as I do in this volume. But is it so? Let us see. If the common opinion
of people of the world as to the number of the saved was correct,
I would not trouble people with searching and hard questions.
But is it so? Let us see. If God had never
spoken plainly in the Bible about the number of the same, I might
well be silent, but is it so? Let us see. If experience and
facts left it doubtful whether many or few would be saved, I
might hold my peace, but is it so? Let us see. There's four
points which I propose to examine in considering the subject before
us. First, let me explain what it is to be saved. Second, let
me point out the mistakes which are common in the world about
the number of the saved. Third, let me show what the Bible
says about the number of the saved. And fourth, let me bring
forward some plain facts as to the number of the saved. A calm
examination of these four points in a day of widespread carelessness
about vital, that means living, or real religion, will be found
of vast importance to our souls. First of all, let me explain
what it is to be saved. This is a matter that must be
cleared up. Until we know this, we shall make no progress. By
being saved, I may mean one thing, and you may mean another. Let
me show you what the Bible says it is to be saved and then there'll
be no misunderstanding. To be saved is not merely to
profess and call ourselves Christians. We may have all the outward parts
of Christianity and yet be lost after all. We may be baptized
into Christ's church, go to Christ's table, have Christian knowledge,
be reckoned Christian, men and women. and yet be dead souls
all our lives, and at last in the judgment day be found on
Christ's left hand among the goats. No, this is not salvation. Salvation is something far higher
and deeper than this. Now what is it? To be saved is
to be delivered in this present life from the guilt of sin. by faith in Jesus Christ, the
Savior. It's to be pardoned, justified,
and freed from every charge of sin by faith in Christ's blood
and mediation. Whoever with his heart believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ is a saved soul. He shall not perish. He shall have eternal life. This
is the first part of salvation and the root of all the rest,
but this is not all. To be saved is to be delivered
in this present life from the power of sin by being born again
and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is to be freed from the hateful
dominion of sin, the world and the devil, by having a new nature
put in us by the Holy Spirit. Whoever is thus renewed in the
spirit of his mind and converted is a saved soul. He shall not
perish. He shall enter into the glorious
kingdom of God. This is the second part of salvation.
But he might say, still, this is not all. Before I read the
next section here, I wanted to read you two additional verses
that I wrote down here, because here in the next section, he's
going to talk about to be saved is to be delivered in the day
of judgment, from all the awful consequences of sin. I remember in one of the, in
R.C. Sproul's series, I don't remember which teaching series
it's in, but he was talking about this question, what is it to
be saved? And he put the question to him,
saved from what? He talked about how maybe this
happened to you before he said that a guy came up to him once
and said, are you saved? Are you saved? And he responded
to the guy, saved from what? What are you talking about? Saved
from what? Well, the answer that Sproul gave and that the Bible
gives, and you'll see in these two verses here, is to be saved
is to be saved from God. It's to be saved from the wrath
of a holy God. Romans 5 verse 9, since therefore
we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we
be saved by him from the wrath of God. First Thessalonians 1,
and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the
dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. And there
it is. Why do people need to be saved?
Saved from what? Saved from the wrath of God.
The day of his wrath is coming. And so here, Ryle presents it.
To be saved is to be delivered in the day of judgment from all
the awful consequences of sin. It is to be declared blameless,
spotless, faultless, and complete in Christ. while others are found
guilty and condemned forever. It's to hear those comfortable
words, come you who are blessed, while others are hearing those
fearful words, depart you who are cursed. It is to be owned
and confessed by Christ as one of his dear children and servants,
while others are disowned and cast off forever. It's to be
pronounced free from the portion of the wicked, the worm which
never dies, the fire which is not quenched, the weeping, wailing,
and gnashing of teeth which never ends. And by the way, we should
comment there, because I know that maybe nobody that's listening
to this, as Ryle began, most people that are listening to
this are probably at least profess to be Christians. But you know
how the world will respond to terms like this. To be saved
is to be pronounced free from the portion of the wicked, the
worm which never dies, the fire which is not quenched, the weeping,
wailing, and gnashing of teeth which never ends. And people
will respond to that, oh, you Christians, you're always, whose
terms are those? Where do we get those terms?
It's the Lord Jesus. Those are his words that he is
using. To be saved is to receive the
reward prepared for the righteous in the day of Christ's second
coming, the glorious body, the kingdom that's incorruptible,
the crown that fades not away, and the joy that is forevermore.
This is complete salvation. This is the redemption for which
true Christians are bid to look and long. This is the heritage,
the right, the inheritance of all men and women who believe
and are born again. By faith, they're saved already.
In the eye of God, their final salvation is an absolutely certain
thing. Their names are in the book of
life. Their mansions in heaven are
even now prepared. But still, there's a fullness
of redemption and salvation, which they do not attain to while
they're in the body, while we're still in this world. They are
saved from the guilt and power of sin, but not yet from the
necessity of watching and praying against it. They're saved from
the fear and love of the world, but not from the necessity of
daily fighting it. They're saved from the service
of the devil, but they're not yet saved from being vexed by
his temptations. But when Christ comes, the salvation
of believers shall be complete. They possess it already in the
bud, they shall see it then in the flower. Such is salvation. It is to be saved from the guilt,
power, and consequences of sin. It is to believe and be sanctified
now and to be delivered from the wrath of God in the last
day. He who has the first part in the life that now is shall
undoubtedly have the second part in the life to come. Both parts
of it hang together. What God has joined together,
let no man dare put asunder. Let no one dream he shall ever
be saved at last if he is not born again first. Let no one
doubt if he is born again here, then he shall assuredly be saved
hereafter. Let it never be forgotten that
the chief object of a minister of the gospel is to set forward
the salvation of souls. I lay it down as a certain fact
that he is no true minister who does not feel this. Don't talk
of a man's ordination. All may have been done correctly
and according to rule. He may wear a black coat and
be called a reverend man. But if the saving of souls is
not the grand interest, the ruling passion, the absorbing thought
of his heart, he's no true minister of the gospel. He's a hireling.
and not a shepherd. Congregations may have called
him, but he's not called by the Holy Spirit. Bishops may have
ordained him, but not Christ. For what purpose do people suppose
that ministers are sent forth. If you'd like an education on
that topic sometime, you can find some of these on the internet.
Go to some of these sites where local churches put a request
for pastoral candidates to apply. They need a pastor, and so here
they are. And then inevitably, in those requests, they will
give a job description. And there's where the education
comes in, a job description. I remember years ago, it might
have been when I was candidating for this church, I don't remember,
but there was another small church somewhere in another state and
the job description was, unlock the church doors on Sunday and
light the furnace. Right. What does that tell you?
It tells you there's people in a church that haven't got a clue,
right? They need to hear your first
mission field to hear the gospel, you see. But you think of it.
What do local churches want in these job descriptions when they're
looking for a pastor? They want a psychologist. They
want a counselor. They want a chief financial officer. They want, you know, just add
those things to the list. Numbers of them won't even talk
about what Ryle is focusing on here. The preaching of the word
and with the goal of seeing people then saved and come to Christ,
you see. So here we go again with that
paragraph. For what purpose do people suppose that ministers
are sent forth? Is it merely to wear ecclesiastical
vestments and read the services and preach a certain number of
sermons? Is it merely to administer the sacraments and officiate
at weddings and funerals? Is it merely to get a comfortable
living and be in a respectable profession? No, indeed, we are
sent forth for other ends than these. We're sent to turn people
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.
We are sent to persuade people to flee from the wrath to come.
We're sent to draw people from the service of the world to the
service of God, to awaken the sleeping, to arouse the careless,
and by all means, to save some. Think not that all is done when
we've set up regular services and persuaded people to attend
them. Think not that all is done when full congregations are gathered
and the Lord's table is crowded and the parish school is filled.
We want to see manifest work of the spirit among the people,
an evident sense of sin, a lively faith in Christ, a decided change
of heart. a distinct separation from the
world, a holy walk with God. In one word, we want to see souls
saved, and we are fools and impostors, blind leaders of the blind, if
we rest satisfied with anything else. After all, the grand object
of having a religion, and he means Christianity, is to be
saved. This is the greatest question that we have to settle with our
consciences. The matter for our consideration is not whether
we go to church or chapel, whether we go through certain forms and
ceremonies, whether we observe certain days and perform a certain
number of religious duties. The matter is whether, after
all, we shall be saved. Without this, all our religious
doings are weariness and labor in vain. Never, never let us
be content with anything short of a saving religion. Surely,
to be satisfied with a religion which neither gives peace in
life, nor hope in death, nor glory in the world to come, is
childish folly." Now, here is his second major point. And I
suppose that to a degree, this is my favorite part. of his sermon
because it rings so true. Second, let me in the second
place point out the mistakes which are common in the world
about the number of people who will be saved. What is the world? How does the world answer this
question? I need not go far from evidence on this subject I'll
speak of things which every man may see with his own eyes and
hear with his own ears. I'll try to show that there is
a widespread delusion abroad about this matter, and that this
very delusion is one of the greatest dangers to which our souls are
exposed. First then, what then do people
generally think about the spiritual state of others while they are
alive? All right, so you think of in
the community, people out there, what are they thinking about
one another when it comes to this question of, while they're
still living, everybody's still living, your neighbor and so
forth, what do they generally think of one another spiritually? What do they think of the souls
of their relatives and friends and neighbors and acquaintances?
Let's just see how that question can be answered. They know And
it's true, they really do know. They know that all, everyone
around them are going to die and be judged. Romans 1, people
know that. They know that they have souls
to be lost or saved. And what to all appearance do
they consider their end is likely to be. Do they think those around
them are in danger of hell? There's nothing whatever to show
they think so. They eat and drink together.
They laugh and talk and walk and work together. They seldom
or never speak to one another of God and eternity, of heaven
and of hell. I ask anyone who knows the world
as in the sight of God, is it not so? Now to bring it a little
closer to home, We can see, that's in the world. But in many local
churches, the very same atmosphere prevails. Because here's somebody
over here that clearly, they claim to be a Christian, maybe
they're a member of the church and so forth, but they're walking
in sin. Unrepentantly, it just characterizes
them. But nobody really thinks that
Oh, that person's in danger of hell, you know. No, what happens
is, well, they just, you know, week after week, eat and drink
together, laugh and talk and walk, work together, and let
it go, you see. Will they allow that anybody
is wicked or ungodly? Never. Hardly. Whatever may be
his way of life, he may be a breaker of the Sabbath. He may be a neglecter
of the Bible. He may be utterly without evidence
of true religion. His friends will often tell you,
it doesn't matter. He has a good heart at the bottom.
He's not a grossly wicked man. I ask anyone who knows the world
as in God's sight, is it not so? And what does this all prove?
It proves, and here's a punchline sentence, it proves that people
flatter themselves that there's no great difficulty in getting
to heaven. It proves plainly that people
are of the opinion that most people will be saved. And you
want to see proof of that? Go to the funeral of an unsaved
person. They're in a better place. He'll
talk about that in a moment here, right? So what then do people
generally think about the spiritual state of others after they're
dead? Let's just see how this question
can be answered. People allow, if they're not
infidel, unbelievers, pagans, that all who die have gone to
a place of happiness or misery, heaven or hell, okay? And to
which of these two places do they seem to think the greater
part of people go when they leave this world? I say without fear
of contradiction that there is an unhappily common fashion of
speaking well of the condition of all who have departed this
life. It matters little, apparently,
how a man has behaved while he lived. He may have given no signs
of repentance or faith in Christ. He may have been ignorant of
the plan of salvation set forth in the gospel. He may have shown
no evidence whatever of conversion or sanctification. He may have
lived and died like a creature without a soul. And yet, as soon
as this man is dead, people will dare to say that he's probably
happier than ever he was in this life. Is that not true? That's exactly what people say. He's happier. Many who profess
to be Christians will say that about such a person because they
want it to be true for themselves. They will tell you complacently
that he's gone to a better world. They will shake their heads gravely
and say they hope he's in heaven. They will follow him to the grave,
all right, from the funeral chapel then out to the cemetery. They
will follow him to the grave without fear and trembling and
speak of his death afterwards as a blessed change for him. They may have disliked him. This
is classic. They may have disliked him and
thought him a bad man while he was alive, but the moment he's
dead, They turn around their opinions and say they trust he's
gone to heaven. I have no wish to hurt anyone's
feelings. I only ask anyone who knows the
world, is it not true? And what does it all prove? It
just supplies one more awful proof that people who are determined
to believe it's an easy business to get to heaven, people will
have it that most people are saved. In the sense that salvation
in Christ is by faith in Christ alone. It's a free gift offered
by grace to us, right? In that sense, there's an easiness,
but a better word is that there's a freeness, a graciousness of
salvation in Christ. But salvation in Christ, is not
an easy thing. And the Lord Jesus Christ often,
you can read about it yourselves in the gospels, often talked
about this. That's why he talked about the
narrow way. The narrow way, it's hard. Few
people find it, it's hard. If a person won't take up their
cross, deny themselves and follow Christ, they cannot be saved,
you see. And in that sense, in this world,
following Christ is not an easy thing. It's to be hated and persecuted
by an evil world. We're seeing that, as Case mentioned
earlier, seeing that pick up its momentum increasingly. Now it's become, maybe it's been
this way more covertly, but now in these days, it's not become
so much a matter of politics in the sense of here's one party,
a political party, here's another political party. The battle lines
are being drawn between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. And that's a good thing, but
at the same time, At the same time, we see that to follow Christ,
to follow his righteousness, is to be hated and persecuted
by the world. By the way, we need to keep those
battle lines clear between those who follow Christ and those who
don't. Because a person can stand for
righteous things, and yet not follow Christ, you see. And so
you don't want to equate necessarily the two. Well, he goes on. Again, what do people generally
think of ministers who preach fully the doctrines of the New
Testament? Let's see how this question can
be answered. Send a clergyman into a parish who shall declare
all the counsel of God and keep back nothing that's profitable.
Let him be one who shall clearly proclaim justification by faith,
regeneration by the Spirit, and holiness of life. Let him be
one who shall draw the line distinctly between the converted and the
unconverted, and give both to sinners and to saints their due
portion. Let him frequently produce out
of the New Testament a plain, unanswerable description of the
true Christian's character. Let him show that no man who
does not possess that character can have any reasonable hope
of being saved. Let him constantly press that
description on the consciences of his hearers and urge upon
them repeatedly that every soul who dies without that character,
the character of Christ, the fruit that demonstrates that
we're in Christ, anyone who dies without that character will be
lost. Let him do this ably and affectionately and after all,
what will the result be? The result will be that while
some few repent and are saved, the great majority of his hearers
will not receive and believe his doctrine. They may not oppose
him publicly, they may even esteem him and respect him as an earnest,
sincere, kind-hearted man who means well, but they will go
no further. He may show them the express
words of Christ and his apostles. He may quote text upon text and
passage upon passage. It will be to no purpose. The
great majority of his hearers, and what he's talking about here
is people who claim to be Christians, right? The great majority of
his hearers will think him too strict and too close and too
particular. They will say among themselves
that the world is not so bad as the minister seems to think.
and that people cannot be so good as the minister wants them
to be. And after all, they hope they shall be all right at the
last. I appeal to any minister of the
gospel who has been at any length of time in the ministry whether
I'm not stating the truth. Are these things so? And what does it prove? It makes
one more proof that people generally are resolved to think that salvation
is not a very hard business, and that after all, most people
will be saved. That is the reason the ranks
have thinned here in this church. There's no doubt about it, that
this place years ago, you know you were here, filled. It was
filled. with people who were resolved
to think that salvation is not a very hard business, and that
most people will be saved. It's interesting. I hadn't been
here very long, and people's true colors start to reveal themselves. And I remember one guy, he took
me aside after a service, and we had this lady here who was
in some leadership position, whatever. Anyway, he came. He said, now, you know, Jeff,
I know my mother is a bitter and mean person. I know that. But we all here just love her
as she is, right? And I told him that she's not
saved. And he hated me from that point
on. And so did she. Now, what solid reason can people
show us for these common opinions? That salvation's an easy matter,
that most people, in the end, the majority of people will be
saved. What solid reason can people
show us for these common opinions? Upon what scripture do they build
this notion that salvation is an easy business and that most
people will be saved? What revelation of God can they
show us to satisfy us that these opinions are sound and true.
They have none, literally none at all. They have not a text
of scripture which, fairly interpreted, supports their views. And as
Mac and some of the others that were here will tell you, as we've
seen the ranks thin here and so forth, not a single time There's
no exaggeration, not a single time in all these years has any
one such person opened up their Bible and come and said, look
at this, you're wrong, you're wrong. Because they can't, and
that's what he's saying. They have none, literally none
at all. They have not a reason which
will bear examination. They speak smooth things about
one another's spiritual state just because they don't like
to admit that there's a danger. They build up one another into
an easy, self-satisfied state of soul in order to soothe their
consciences and make things pleasant. They cry, peace, peace over one
another's graves because they want it to be so and would gladly
persuade themselves that so it is. Surely against such hollow,
foundationless opinions as these, a minister of the gospel may
well protest. The plain truth is that the world's
opinion is worth nothing in matters of religion. about the price
of an ox or a horse or a farm or the value of labor, about
wages and work, about money, cotton, coals, iron and corn,
arts and sciences and business, railways and commerce and trade
and politics, about all such things, the people of the world
may give a correct opinion. But we must beware. If we love
life of being guided by man's judgment in the things that concern
salvation. The natural man receives not
the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. I've made that mistake and I
think probably maybe most of you have too at one time or another. And here's the mistake, here's
how it works. This is what he's describing. You have somebody
come and they profess to be a Christian. And in addition to that, they
are respected in the world, in their career, in their business. As he says here, well, this guy
really knows I won't hammer on the farming because we've got
a farmer here, but he won't care. It's like, oh, this guy's a really
good farmer, okay? Man, that guy knows cows and
he's successful. But here's the danger. If you
then transfer that person's abilities over into the spiritual realm
so that they, and you know, many churches do this. They go, well,
who should we make an elder? Who should we put in as a deacon? Well, here's this guy. He's really
a good businessman. And he knows how things operate. And he's wise there. So we'll
put him in. Don't do that. That's what Ryle
is saying here. The person must be born. He may
be very good in those kinds of things. But if he's not born
again, the gospel is foolishness to him. Let us remember above
all that it will never do to think as others do if we want
to get to heaven. No doubt it's easy work to go
with the crowd in religious matters. It will save us much trouble
to swim with the stream and tide. We shall be spared much ridicule. We shall be freed from much unpleasantness. But let us remember, once for
all, that the world's mistakes about salvation are many and
dangerous. Unless we're on guard against
them, we shall never be saved. Let me show in the third place
what the Bible says about the number of the saved. There's
only one standard of truth and error to which we ought to appeal.
That standard is the Holy Scripture. Whatever is there written, we
must receive and believe. Whatever cannot be proved by
scripture, we ought to refuse. We must refuse. Can any reader
of this paper subscribe to this? If he cannot, there's little
chance of his being moved by any words of mine. If he can,
let him give me his attention for a few moments, and I'll tell
him some solemn things. Let's look then for one thing.
at one single text of scripture and examine it well. We shall
find it in Matthew 7, 13, and 14. Enter in by the narrow gate,
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and many are those who enter by it. How narrow is the gate
and restricted is the way that leads to life. Few are those
who find it. Now, these are the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ. They are the words of him who
was very, truly God, and whose words shall never pass away.
They are the words of him who knew what was in man, who knew
things to come and things past, who knew that he should judge
all people at the last day. What do those words mean? Are
they words which no man can understand without a knowledge of Hebrew
or Greek? No, they're not. Are they a deep, mysterious saying
which no human intellect can fathom? No, they are not. The words are clear, plain, and
unmistakable. Ask any laboring man who can
read, and he'll tell you so. There's only one meaning which
can be attached to them. Their meaning is that many people
will be lost and few will be saved. Let's look in the next
place at the whole history of mankind as respects religion
as we have it given in the Bible. Let's go through the whole 4,000
years over which the history of the Bible reaches. Let's find
if we can one single period of time in history in which godly
people were many and ungodly people are few. How was it in
the days of Noah? The earth, we're told expressly,
was filled with violence. The imagination of man's heart
was only evil continually. All flesh had corrupted his way.
The loss of paradise was forgotten. The warnings of God by Noah's
mouth were despised. And at length, when the flood
came on the world and drowned every living thing, there were
but eight people who had faith enough to flee for refuge to
the ark. And were there many saved in those days? Let any
honest reader of the Bible give an answer to that question. There
can be no doubt what the answer must be. How was it in the days
of Abraham, Isaac, and Lot? It's evident that in the matter
of religion they stood very much alone. The family from which
they were taken was a family of idolaters. The nations among
whom they lived were sunk in gross darkness and sin. When
Sodom and Gomorrah were burned, there were not five righteous
people to be found in the four cities of the plain. When Abraham
and Isaac desired to find wives for their sons, there was not
a woman in the land where they sojourned to whom they could
wish to see them married. And were there many saved in
those days? Let any honest reader of the
Bible give an answer to that question. There can be no doubt
what the answer must be. How was it in Israel in the days
of the judges? No one can read the book of Judges
and not be struck with the sad examples of man's corruption
which it affords. Time after time we are told of
the people forsaking God and following idols, in spite of
the plainest warnings They joined affinity with the Canaanites
and learned their works. Time after time, we read of their
being oppressed by foreign kings because of their sins and then
miraculously delivered. Time after time, we read of the
deliverance being forgotten and of the people returning to their
former sins like the sow that's washed through her wallowing
in the mire. And were there many saved in those days? Let any
honest reader of the Bible give an answer to that question. There
can be no doubt what the answer must be. How was it with Israel
in the days of the kings? From Saul, the first king, down
to Zedekiah, the last king, their history is a melancholy account
of backsliding and declension and idolatry with a few bright
exceptional periods, even under the best kings. There seems to
have been a vast amount of unbelief and ungodliness which only lay
hid for a season and burst out at the first favorable opportunity. Over and over again, we find
that under the most zealous kings, the high places were not taken
away. Have you ever noticed that? You'd be reading along and maybe
there'd be some revivals going on in Israel, but it'll always
had, nevertheless, he did not remove the high places, right? Mark how even David speaks of
the state of things around him. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children of men,
Psalm 12. Note how Isaiah describes the condition of Judah and Jerusalem. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot, even
under the crown of the head, there's no soundness in it. except
the Lord of armies had left unto us a very small remnant, we would
have been a Sodom and would have been like Gomorrah. And mark
how Jeremiah describes his time, run to and fro through the streets
of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places
thereof. If you can find a man, if there
be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth, and I will
pardon him. And Jeremiah couldn't, not even
one. Note how Ezekiel speaks of the
people of his times. The word of the Lord came unto
me saying, son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross. All they are brass and iron and
tin and lead in the midst of the furnace. They're even the
dross of silver. And mark what he says in the
16th and 23rd chapters of his prophecy about the kingdom, this
is Ezekiel, about the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Were there
many saved in those days? Let any honest reader of the
Bible give an answer to that question. There can be no doubt
what the answer must be. How was it with the Jews? when
our Lord Jesus Christ was on earth. The words of St. John
are the best account of their spiritual state. He came unto
his own, and his own received him not. He lived as no one born
of woman had ever lived before, a blameless, harmless, holy life.
He went about doing good. He preached as no one ever preached
before. Even the officers of his enemies
confessed, never a man spoke like this man. He did miracles
to confirm his ministry, which at first sight we might have
fancied would have convinced the most hardened. But notwithstanding
all this, the vast majority of the Jews refused to believe him.
Follow our Lord in all his travels over Palestine, and you will
always find the same story. Follow him into the city. Follow him into the wilderness.
Follow him to Capernaum and Nazareth, and follow him to Jerusalem.
Follow him among the Scribes and Pharisees, and follow him
among Sadducees and Herodians. Everywhere you will arrive at
the same result." They were amazed. They were silenced. They were
astonished. They wondered. But very few became
disciples. The immense proportion of the
nation would have none of his doctrine. crowned all their wickedness
by putting him to death. And were there many saved in
those days? Let any honest reader of the
Bible give an answer to that question. There can be no doubt
what the answer must be. How was it with the world in
the days of the apostles? If ever there was a period when
true religion flourished, it was then. Never did the Holy
Spirit call into the fold of Christ so many souls in the same
space of time. Never were there so many conversions
under the preaching of the gospel as when Paul and his fellow laborers
were the preachers. But still, it is plain from the
acts of the apostles that true Christianity was everywhere spoken
against. It's evident that in every city,
even in Jerusalem itself, true Christians were a small minority.
We read of perils of all kinds which the apostles had to go
through. Not only perils from without, but perils from within.
Not only perils from the heathen, but perils from false brethren.
We hardly read of a single city visited by Paul where he was
not in danger from open violence and persecution. We see plainly
by some of his epistles that the professing churches were
mixed bodies in which there were many rotten members. We find
him telling the Philippians, a painful part of his experience,
many walk of whom I tell you even weeping, that they're enemies
of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mine earthly
things. Were there many saved in those
days? Let any honest reader of the
Bible give an answer to this question. There can be no doubt
what that answer must be. I ask any honest-minded, unprejudiced
reader of the volume to weigh well the lessons of the Bible
which I have just brought forward. Surely they are weighty and solemn
and deserve serious attention. Let no one think to evade their
force by saying that the Bible just tells the story of the Jews.
Think not to comfort yourself by saying that perhaps the Jews
were more wicked than other nations, and many people were probably
saved among other nations, though few were saved among the Jews.
You forget that this argument goes against you. You forget
that the Jews had light and privileges which the Gentiles had not. With
all their sins and faults, we're probably the holiest and most
moral nation upon earth. As to the moral state of the
people among the Assyrians and Egyptians and Greeks and Romans,
it's fearful to think what it must have been. But this we may
be sure of, that if many were ungodly among the Jews, the number
was far greater among the Gentiles. If few were saved in the green
tree, alas, how much fewer must have been saved in the dry. The
sum of the whole matter is this. The Bible and the people of the
world speak very differently about the number of the saved.
According to the Bible, few will be saved. According to the people
of the world, many. According to the people of the
world, few are going to hell. According to the Bible, few are
going to heaven. According to the people of the
world, salvation is an easy business. According to the Bible, the way
is narrow. And the gate is straight, difficult. According to the people
of the world, few will be found at last seeking admission into
heaven when too late. According to the Bible, many
will be in that sad condition and will cry in vain, Lord, Lord,
open to us. Yet the Bible was never wrong
yet. The most unlikely and improbable
prophecies about Tyre, Egypt, Babylon, and Nineveh have all
come true to the letter. And as in other matters, so it
will be about the number of the saved. The Bible will prove quite
right, and the people of the world quite wrong. We will plan
to continue there. Next time, that is plenty for
us to digest and look over and dwell upon then this coming week. I hope that you found this sobering
and yet encouraging at the same time, because one of the ways
that it's encouraging is that if I had realized these things
years and years ago when I was a new Christian, or even before,
and even in our early years as I was a pastor, it would have
helped me a lot and it'll help you a lot. And it simply comes
down to this, most people who say they are Christians aren't. That's how you can follow, just
as he traced it through scripture, that's how it still is today.
And if you don't realize that, if you've been taught that, oh
sure, most everybody, you go to church on Sunday, surely most
everybody there is born again, and they're saved, but then you
get involved in the church, you become a member of the church,
and you're there over time, and you get to know people, get treated
pretty badly, pretty badly. And you see sin continuing, unrepentant. And you see all of these things,
but you begin to think, well, that's Christianity, I guess. And it can lead you to despair. At minimum, it will cause you
to embrace a false gospel. It will, you will embrace a false
gospel that says a person can be saved but still habitually
walk in sin and then you just excuse it and so on. So these
are extremely valuable truths that J.C. Ryle has bringing to
our attention here, and I hope that you do find it an encouragement. Father, we thank you for your
word. Thank you for its clarity. Thank you for your truth. We
pray, Father, that you would increase and strengthen our faith,
that we might cling to you, that we might believe all of your
promises, and threatenings and doctrines and teachings, and
that we would grow in Christ as a result. And we pray these
things all in Christ's name, amen.
Few Saved by J.C. Ryle (Part 1)
Series J.C. Ryle Sermons
J.C. Ryle demonstrates from Scripture that the idea that most people will make it to heaven is false. In fact, it is few who find the Narrow Way, as Jesus said. (This is part one, we will conclude the second half next week)
| Sermon ID | 624222237122894 |
| Duration | 58:42 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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