 If we've got this simple passage, enter in. Okay, and that's that's all we have to do. Let's compare this with another passage in the Bible that people would twist and abuse to make salvation seem like it's difficult. You can't just enter in and be saved. It's more difficult than that. Okay. Well, Matthew 7 would be an obvious go-to passage. This is the passage that they would, one of their first go-tos, to prove that salvation is a difficult path, not an instantaneous step. Okay, so it's Matthew 7, 13 to 14. Jesus says, enter you in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads on to life, and few there be that find it. Okay. So some modern translations say that the way leading to life is hard or difficult rather than narrow, which further fuels the idea that salvation is a difficult road rather than a narrow road. Or some people would say that that's a difference without distinction. So the ESV says hard is the way, the new King James says difficult is the way, the new living translation says difficult as well. So I don't speak Greek. This is second hand information, but a concordance check would reveal that this the reason these translations differ is that the underlying Greek word can mean some kind of affliction or oppression or tribulation or like pressing upon. So you can kind of understand why it's narrow or why it's difficult. Okay. A close exact English translation, you might say, we use the word constricting or tight, which kind of those words combine narrow and difficult together if you like. So from a translational point of view, you can understand why this is ambiguous between narrow or difficult, even though these are not ambiguous terms in the English language. So then we must decide then, is the road or the way or the path to life difficult, hard to walk down, or is it narrow, tight to fit in? Okay. Which one is true? Well, all we have to do is just look what it says. Look at the context. We don't need to understand the complexities of the Greek language, even in English, the context of the first proves that the King James translation is correct to say narrow, because Jesus didn't say few there be that walk down it. That's not what he said. He didn't say few there be that make it to the end. He didn't say few there be that fight through all the thorns and thistles. He didn't say few there be that won't turn back the other way. He didn't say few there be that leave the road and take the easier path, the wide path. He didn't say few there be that won't be killed by a wolf on the way. Jesus didn't say anything like that. What did Jesus say? Well, it's perfectly simple. Few there be that find it. So the issue is that people won't find it, not that they won't make it. Okay. So, you know, this is not that so few sheep will stay in the flock or walk with the shepherd down the rocky, thorny, difficult road all the way home. The issue is that so few people, according to John 10, that if we match John 10 with Matthew seven, so few people will find this door into the pasture and enter in. Very few people, sorry, I missed out the word for you there, but very few people will find the true way in. That's what the issue is. Now, once you found it, well, you found it. That's simple. Those that find it enter into the door by the shepherd and they find pasture. So really simple to understand the difficult, the reason why it's difficult to obtain eternal life isn't because it's hard to work for. It's not because it's hard to achieve. It's because so few people find it. They can't find it. That's the difficulty. It's fine. Once you found it, you enter in, you found it. Perfectly simple. It's finding it that's the problem for most people. That's where most people stumble. So we've, you know, we've got very simple, easy language here. So it comes as no surprise that so few people do find this way into life. All throughout John's Gospel, all the Jews and the Pharisees were told to do is believe on him, but they just wouldn't believe on him. Okay. He only told them to do one thing and they just wouldn't do it no matter how many times he told them. Today we haven't seen Jesus' healings before our eyes, but the Jews and the Pharisees saw the healings, they saw the work that he did, and yet they still wanted to stone him for claiming to be the Son of God and we'll see that later in this very chapter. Jesus said simply, the truth shall make you free. Very simple statement, but the Jews denied ever being in bondage to sin. They could not even convince Jesus of sin when challenged to do so, yet they accused him of being demon possessed anyway. So this same problem pretty much continues much today just in a different flavor. The Gospel is really not that complicated. It's very simple. It's just that for most people, this idea that eternal life is a free gift, it's just it's too good to be true for most people. They just can't believe it. So most people will not find the road to life, even when it's right there in front of them. Okay. So let's just look at some examples of many people that can't find the way to life. So the narrow way says that talking about John the Baptist's repentance, when he said repent, Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance saying on to the people that they should believe on him, which should come after him. That's on Christ Jesus, that's Acts 19.4. Matthew 21.32 says, for John came on to you in the way of righteousness and you believed him not, but the publicans and harlots believed him. And you, when you had seen it, repented not afterward that you might believe him. And then Mark 1.15 says, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent to you and believe the Gospel. So the Bible says that repentance, at least for salvation anyway, is to believe the Gospel. Now it can mean turning from sin in other contexts, but not for salvation. And Acts 19 and Matthew 21.32 proved that the repentance that John the Baptist was preaching was to believe on the Christ that should come after him. Now the many says, the people like Ray Comfort will say, well, to be safe, the first thing that you have to do, repent is to turn away from your sins. You have to say to God that you're sorry, you're not going to sin anymore. And then John MacArthur says that the predominant no-lordship of your repentance is to simply define repentance as a change of mind, not to turning from sin or a change of purpose. The no-lordship definition of repentance explicitly denies the emotional and volitional elements of Burkhoff's description of repentance. So we see here that the Bible says repentance is to believe the Gospel. But the many here, they won't allow the Bible to define repentance for salvation. They've created their own definition, what it means to turn from sin, so that they can justify their own obedience to get to heaven. And then this guy, John MacArthur, he's trying to use Burkhoff's description of repentance as if that somehow qualifies that the no-lordship is denying its true definition. But the Bible tells you what the definition is. The definition is, believe on Christ. He's made it turning from sin. And then he acts like everybody else has redefined it. This is the problem. This is the many going into the wide road to destruction. They've redefined repentance for salvation. Here's another example. The narrow way says, This is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all that he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And then the Bible goes on to say, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. We'll see that later in the chapter. The Bible says that the Father gives those to Jesus, who will give you them eternal life. And no man is able to pluck them from Jesus' hand, and Jesus will lose nothing. Okay. Now I've done some work exposing this guy, and how he interprets the Bible. And there was a video where he said, Well, my logical thought process read these verses. And it was thinking, Well, well, this said nothing about me walking away. And we have all these warnings in the Bible about not falling away and persevering to the end. Well, here's the problem. Those verses are not necessarily dealing with the same thing for a start that he's deflecting to. But the fact that it says, Well, these verses say nothing about me walking away. Well, that's precisely the point. Why would they? Jesus will lose nothing. And so this is the narrow way. But the many, they won't trust Jesus to faithfully fulfill what he said he would fulfill. They trust in their own perseverance. They see Jesus' commitment to lose nothing through the lens of their own perseverance rather than seeing their own perseverance through the lens of Jesus' commitment. Okay. Here's another example. So the narrow way for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And that's Ephesians 2. And then Romans 4 says, But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is countered for righteousness. Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto home God imputes righteousness without works. So the Bible says salvation is by grace through faith without works, because justification unto righteousness is by faith without works. Now the many, all these false religions and denominations, they all say salvation is by faith plus works. Now they won't always admit it to your face. The Catholics and the Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, they'll try to pretend they believe it's a free gift, but they really don't. They just pretend that they do. And here's another famous person. It's always the famous people, John Piper, the pathway that leads to salvation is the performance of works. The battle for obedience is absolutely necessary for salvation because it's the fight of faith. Well, the many will insist that their obedience will pave their way to heaven. They will not accept the free gift of God, but the free gift of God is the narrow way. They'd rather follow down the broad path. So one more example. So the narrow way says that we haven't read this verse in John 10 yet, but we will get onto it in a few verses that Jesus says, I lay my life down for the sheep. The Bible says elsewhere, hereby we perceive the love of God because he laid his life down for us. God commends his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Bible is very clear. Christ laid his life down for us. Okay, that's basic. That's one of the basic premises of the gospel. Now, there's this false prophet on YouTube called Michaela Cooper. And I found this description in one of her videos that she basically says that all you need to do to be saved, essentially, well, repent and believe on Jesus by fully surrendering your life to him. Then we get baptized, be filled with the Holy Spirit and continuing Christ. Regeneration is the work of God. And if something that happens in an instant, if a person fully surrenders to Jesus, the key is full surrender. Okay. So the many do not accept Christ laid his life down for us. They think they have to surrender their life down for him, but that's replacing him as the Messiah. Okay. This is really strange when you think about it because the Bible says that we are we were dead in our trespasses. So if we were dead in our sins, how can we lay our life down? That doesn't even make any sense. So this fully surrendering your life is such bizarre terminology to me. And all you have to do is search a concordance and look for the word surrender. And you'll notice that the lack of mentions of this word in the concordance. Okay, this is not biblical terminology that keeps being repeated over and over again. And so the many that follow the broad path, they emphasize something that the Bible doesn't emphasize and they deemphasize what the Bible emphasizes. The Bible does not say you surrender your life to Christ to be saved. The gospel is that Christ laid his life down for you. Okay, that's what the true gospel is. With that in mind, then, as we return to our study of John chapter 10, we will see this very easy to understand the voice of the shepherd or the narrowway in Matthew's gospel versus the voice of the stranger or the broadway in Matthew's gospel. The shepherd said, whosoever believeth in him and few there be that find it. But the voice of a stranger says, repent of your sins to be saved, or you must surrender your life to Christ to be saved, or few there be that make it to the end. Well, that's not what the shepherd said. This is what the shepherd said right here. So when the shepherd says, my sheep hear my voice, it becomes very easy to see which ones are hearing his voice and which ones aren't. Okay. And so with all that said and done, then, we start to see who the thieves and the robbers are in this parable. Okay, they won't enter the door by the shepherd. They want to break into the pasture some other way, trusting in their own righteousness and their own perseverance to hop the fence, so to speak, metaphorically speaking, rather than just entering the door by the shepherd. Now, very often in verse 10, when it says, the thief comes not but to steal and to kill and to destroy. This verse is often quoted as referring to Satan. And to an extent, you can understand this because he deceives those who believe not and he tries to sow the seeds of doubt into prospective converts. But verse eight makes it very clear that there are multiple thieves and robbers. Okay, there's not one. So there's no clear proof here that Satan is relevant to the conversation here. And so when it says the thief comes not but to kill the steal, kill and destroy, it's not really obvious here that that's even referring to Satan. It's referring to all the thieves and robbers that are trying to break into this pasture or break into this place of eternal life rather than just entering in by the shepherd. So let's just look at that in illustration. Okay. So he that enters into the door into the sheep fold, or sorry, he that does not enter the door, he's him that climbs in some other way, the thief and the robber. So he he that enters in the door is the shepherd of the sheep. So Jesus enters the door, his sheep are following him into the entrance. Jesus said, whosoever believes in me shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. For I came to save that which was lost. That's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is entering into the door, and the sheep that hear him and follow that voice, they're going in the door by the shepherd. Okay, that's how they're entering in. And if they enter in, they shall be saved and find a pasture. All the thieves and robbers, while they're trying to break into some other way, you know, they say things like you need to repent of your sins to be saved or it's not enough to believe. Otherwise, we could just sin and get away with it. We can't let the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before us. You know, we need to turn from our sins. Or this, you know, you need to surrender your life to Jesus to be safe business, or you need to be walking in obedience every day to get your final salvation. These are all thieves and robbers trying to break in their own way, instead of just following the voice of the shepherd and what he said to enter into the door. Okay.