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.