Just How Narrow is “The Gate” and Why Should We Care?
March 12, 2025
Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer
Guest: Dr. Carl Broggi
Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 3/12/25. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.
Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.
Sam Rohrer:
Hello and welcome to this Wednesday edition of Stand In the Gap Today. And it’s also our bimonthly emphasis on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. Today, Dr. Carl Broggi, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina will be with me again as we consider aspects of today biblical prophecy in a little different way than we normally do on this program, but you’ll see how it fits. There’s much we could discuss relative to Israel, well for instance the joint activities of Russia and China off the coast of Iran yesterday. There’s a lot happening, all coming up to the important celebration of Purim we talked about just briefly yesterday or on Monday rather, that will be accompanied that event of Purim accompanied by a blood moon tomorrow night into Friday where Jews, the world over will remember the miraculous delivery from the destruction designed by Haman but avoided due to the intercessory actions of Queen Esther and of course the mighty hand of God.
However, even with all these important things I’ve decided to dispense with these things for today, these headline issues, and actually go to a passage of prophetic scripture and consider it in context as to its meaning then and its prophetic meaning and its application now. So if you’re able to turn with me right now, please do the section of scripture we’re going to look at. It’s Matthew chapter seven sevens 10 verses there, 11 verses, verses 13 to 23. And I’m going to read for the sake of getting us on the page here, just the first two and the last two verses from this familiar and very critically important passage verses 13 and 14 in Matthew seven, say this, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.
And those who find it are few. And then the concluding verses 22 and 23 say this on that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I Jesus will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness were translated another way. Ye that work iniquity. So the title I’ve chosen for today’s program is this, just how narrow is the gate and why should we even care? And with that, Carl, thank you so much for being with me again today. Look forward to today’s program.
Carl Broggi:
Sam, what a topic you’ve chosen because what is so sad in our day is there are many who are convinced they’re born again and they’re really not. Paul says, test yourselves
To see if you be of the faith. And I suppose it’s possible that even some who’ve tuned in today who had called themselves Christians or not saved though I think it’s more probable since your audience is largely believers, is that they know people who they want to be saved want to be convinced in their mind that they’re saved, but they’re really not. And maybe today will be of help because they’ll be able to say, well, I’m not your judge, but the New Testament might give you a little assurance that you really do know the Lord and now’s the time to explore that whether we’re a sheep or a goat saved or lost wheat or tear because it’s too late in eternity. And Jesus, of course, when we think of Israel in the all of it discourse in Matthew 24, he predicts that at the end of time in the last of the days, he’s focusing largely on the tribulation and the time that leads up to it that this is going to be very, very prevalent, where you have people who are outwardly religious but inwardly deficient. They don’t really know the Lord in Paul’s words, they have a form of godliness, but they’ve denied its power. So it’s a critically important topic for Gentiles, for Jews, for all of us.
Sam Rohrer:
Well absolutely, and that’s why I thought let’s take this little different view here today, this preparatory view. We look at prophecy regularly, but we need to look at a relationship to the Lord’s. A lot of people, we think they are right where they need to be, but according to this chapter, they are not. So as you do when you go through books of the Bible and sections of scripture regularly with your church, which you’ve done for years and years and years, one of the first things important is to set the context. So would you do that, start us out today, this aspect. Who’s Jesus speaking to? What’s the audience and what’s his purpose in this section here in Matthew chapter seven?
Carl Broggi:
Well, the broad context is what we call the Sermon on the Mount. That’s not a title found in scripture, but it’s been used since the fifth century by believers. This great sermon that is found in 5, 6, 7, and eight in the theme of the sermon that he’s heading after is found in Matthew five in verse 20 where Jesus says, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you’ll not enter the kingdom of God. And so you have these Pharisees who had a righteousness that they thought could be earned. It was external. It never fundamentally changed their lives. And so he’s been addressing issues like, oh, you say you don’t commit adultery, but you go around lusting after women, you pray, you give and you fast publicly. And nothing wrong with that. There’s public expressions of all three, but they did it for show and they never did it privately.
And so what Jesus is doing in this sermon is he’s unraveling their righteousness and he’s arguing for a different kind of righteousness that is not earned. It’s gifted, that changes one from the inside out. And so when you come to Matthew seven to this paragraph, you’ve chosen like every good preacher and teacher, he’s asking people to make a decision. They’ve heard the message and so now they must decide. And so he addresses these false teachers because that’s principally who we’re teaching in the day when he walked on the earth. And Matthew 24 indicates that there’ll be a great number of false teachers at the end of time who will be teaching. So this passage has relevance on both ends of the church age and certainly in the coming tribulation period.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay, so the audience here is Jewish. Clearly you’re referring to Matthew 24. It’s clarify again, is Matthew 24 as we’ve talked before, is that also primarily to a Jewish audience? If it is, what’s the application to us? Who are of the church age Gentiles perhaps in that context?
Carl Broggi:
Well, Matthew 24 is definitely Jewish because he said at the end of 23, I’m not coming again until the Jewish people say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And then in 24, he shows what God is going to use to bring the Jewish people to repentance. But all scripture is God breathed, all scripture is profitable. And while not every text of scripture is written for someone about someone, it’s written for us in some way. I didn’t go out and build an arc because God’s going to flood the world, but there’s a lesson I can learn and there’s timeless lessons we can learn that are critical through the old church age here in Matthew seven.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay, and with that, ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. Our theme today, this is our Israel Middle East and biblical prophecy focus we do every other Wednesday. Our theme today is this, just how narrow is the gate and why should we care? That’s referring to the narrow gate, the broad gate, the narrow way, the broad way that’s talked about Jesus is speaking about in Matthew chapter seven. So when we come back, we’re going to begin to look at this aspect and talk about the gate, the warning, and what’s that mean and how do we apply that to today? Well, if you’re just joining us today, thanks for being on board with us. Dr. Carl Broggi is with me again today as he is at least once a month, sometimes more. But he is a senior pastor, the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, and does a weekly program himself radio program called Search the scriptures.org, where he answers questions, a lot of other things, but that website has a lot of information on it.
I would encourage you to go there. I know from many of you contacting me across the just for when we are out and about and you come up, you will identify with how much you appreciate Dr. Broggi’s teaching, not just on this program, but as you’re able to tune in. So I encourage you to do that. I personally do. I listen to his sermons regularly and it helps as we, well, kind of like iron sharpening iron. We do that for each other. And anyways, I found that to be a good source, so I encourage you to do that. Search the scriptures.org. Alright, now let’s go into it a little bit further here in this Matthew seven passage. In the first few verses of this section, Carl, we read in the last segment, Jesus uses the illustration of gates and ways with people making choices clearly in life and what would appear to be a picture of moving, walking, or being on a journey.
This thing called life. He’s speaking to the disciples, a lot of people there in a sermon amount when he spoke this, but he says this, enter ye by the narrow gate for this gate is narrow the way is hard. Few find it, but this way leads to life. Now I’m condensing a couple of points that are in those verses. Then the other gate he says, is broad. The way is easy. Many are on that way, but it leads to destruction. Alright, so let’s go. Now some question and answers. We go through that for instance, Carl, what about this? What are these gates describing? The Lord always did such a wonderful job in bringing pictures and illustrating truth. He said, these are gates. What’s he describing and where are these gates located?
Carl Broggi:
That’s a great question. Obviously not a literal gate anymore. When he says, I am a door, I’m the bread of life, he doesn’t mean he’s a literal door, a literal loaf of bread. And he’s not speaking here of a literal gate. But what he does teach is to be literally believed and that he’s presenting here, I think Sam, two gates of two spiritual paths that somebody can take. And really God, the son is reminding us of something that God, the spirit taught centuries before in the earliest books of the Bible, Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 1330, when he comes to the end of his life, that famous verse I’ve set before you today, life and prosperity, death and adversity. There’s two ways in Psalm one, our children memorize it at C, B, C, they learn the way of righteousness versus the way of the wicked, the way of the righteous.
They love the law, they bear fruit, they prosper the way of the wicked. They’re like chaff. They follow ungodly counsel and they ultimately perish. And that’s really what we have here. When he says enter through the gate because the gate is wide and the way is broad, that leads to destruction. And so the narrow road by contrast leads to life, namely heaven or the broad road leads to destruction, namely death and hell. And so he’s presenting here a choice at the end of this great sermon that there’s a gate, there’s a way, a road, a destination, and there’s a group of travelers and you have to decide. And of course he will identify himself in John’s gospel and in Matthew’s gospel as the only possible door is the only way I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through me. So in one sense, I suppose you could say the gate is located in your will, in your heart. And Jesus is calling people to make a decision. They have to choose which gate, which way to enter, what will they decide?
Sam Rohrer:
Okay, let’s go further onto that. Now again, most listening to this program are believers. I would think they are. And we would sense that in our life that there are more that are not necessarily with us than are. But that leads into this other question I have for you. Why is the path that leads to life, the believers, but the one that we are walking on, Carl, why is the path that leads to life hard and the gate narrow and evidently from this, and we know a minority number of human beings on that way. While on the other hand, the other path is very broad and most people are on that. And Jesus describes it himself as easy, broad, but ends in destruction. Just fill that out a little bit.
Carl Broggi:
Yeah. So why are so many people entering through the wide gate? And the answer is simple. There’s no obstructions. In fact, the word that’s translated wide is a Greek modifier that means spacious, roomy. It’s not crowded. It has no obstructions that it calls you to do something. Some translations called the easy gate. And so you can carry your sins, you can carry your self-centeredness with you. There’s no curves, there’s no boundaries, there’s no absolutes. And that’s what a lot of people want today. And you don’t really have to do anything because when you live in a life of sin, it’s not something that’s learned. It’s something we do by nature. It just comes naturally. You can follow the passions of your own fallen heart. And if we don’t want to respond to our conscience that God has given within, then it’s easy to stay on the wide and easy way.
And of course Jewish people who are listening that day would be quick to say, well wait a minute, Jesus, I’m a son of Abraham. I’m Jewish. I’m one of God’s chosen people. I’m counting on that. And again, he’s dismantling this pharisaical righteousness that was external only. It was full of ceremony. Wash your hands a certain you make the right formations, you say the right words. And there’s a lot of people like that today. They’re Christians, some who even go to Bible believing churches and they’re going through all the various motions. They’re religious, but they’re lost in, again, there’s two destinations. So he says the gate is small, the King James says straight the way is narrow that leads to life and fewer those who find it. So you’ve got this many few distinction. There’s this narrow way, this sin way, this restricted path. Why? Because God has absolutes and he has absolutes to show us what we’re like, to show us what he is like. That’s the function of the law, to lead us like a school master to faith in Christ, to show us really what we’re like. The old English I think captures it well, the King James says the straight in narrow way, few people are on it because they don’t like absolutes and there’s no room for deviation.
Sam Rohrer:
And that’s interesting that you mentioned that because I want to go onto the next part there. But the Jewish people at that point were chosen people, therefore it would’ve been somewhat logical that they thought they were chosen, therefore they had to be on the narrow way. But as you say, Jesus was dismantling that and say, no, that’s not what gets you to heaven. Anyways, we’ll pick up on more on that now. But going further into that passage right after Jesus foretells that only a few people will find this path to life. And it wasn’t by birth Jews chosen of God. If it wasn’t that something had to happen, he went right into a warning. Beware of false prophets, he said, and then he directly goes into talking about fruit. What you think, and I’d like you to combine it, he says this, wherefore by their fruits, you shall know them. Here’s my question, what truth is Jesus teaching here about the broad way false prophets and evil fruit that they bear? And what true sons and daughters of God should be aware about this?
Carl Broggi:
Yeah. So how do we know if I’m on the narrow way, that fear on or from the Broadway that many are on? And so he said, you’ll know them by their fruit. And when you let scripture interpret scripture, there are fruit tests and it’s not superficial. Sometimes you can look at fruit and it takes time to grow and ripen and some people die as babies in Christ and their fruit was not all that impressive. And then other fruit from a distance it looks great, but when you get up close and you look at it carefully, there’s disease, maybe there’s the presence of a worm. And so it can’t be a superficial observation is what I’m trying to say. But in Matthew 12, I’ve just flipped over there. Jesus says to the Pharisees, either make the tree good in its fruit good or make the tree bad in its fruit, bad for the tree is known its fruit.
And then he goes on to say that the first tests are the things they say or they teach such that he can say in Matthew 1237, for by your words you’ll be justified and by your words you’ll be condemned. And so the Pharisees condemned themselves because their own words revealed what was in their heart. And one of the fruit tests often of a false prophet is they have this amoral optimism that God’s a God of love. He’s a God of mercy, he’s a God of grace, he’s a God of tolerance and he’s all that. But they forget He’s also a god of justice and a God of wrath and a God of holiness. And so even Pope Francis, we discussed in the last broadcast, and I brought it up today here, he said, all religions are a path to reach God. They are to make a comparison like different languages, different dialects to get there.
But God is a God for everyone. If you start fighting, say, well, my religion is more important than yours, mine is true, and your assistant, where will that lead us? There’s only one God. And each of us has a language to arrive at God. That’s heresy, that’s broadening the way. That’s what a false teacher does. And there’s salvation and no one else for, there’s no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so Jeremiah warns of such bad teaching. And so there’s that test and there is the test of what does the teaching do to a person? Does it change their lives? Does it move them and drive them to holiness? And when you look at the Benny Hins and the Joyce Meyers and the Crefflo Dollars and the Joel Osteins and the NAR movement, it doesn’t do that. It allows people to hold onto their sin without ever following Christ as evidence of a new birth.
Sam Rohrer:
And ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. We’ll come back. We’re going to move from this because it’s all tied together. Narrow way, broad way, false prophets, evil fruit, good fruit, and walks us right into Jesus saying, depart from me. I never knew you. Wow. We’ll consider that Dr. Carl Broggi. Let’s continue in this evaluation as we look at the section here, Matthew chapter seven, if you’re just turning into us, we’re looking at a segment today, Matthew chapter seven, and specifically verses 13 to 23. It’s a part of the Sermon on the Mount. It’s the section of scripture where the Lord Jesus is teaching a mostly Jewish audience and he’s instructing them that it’s not sufficient to be born a Jew though chosen as they were. That’s not what gets you into heaven. And the reality that those who do find life eternal, he describes as a narrow gate, a narrow way, a difficult way, but it’s a way that leads to life everlasting.
But the broad way meaning most people on it, and he says most people are on that way, put it in my own word, is the default position in life. If we do nothing, if no change in our relationship, in our heart and our mind to the Lord Jesus, we will find ourself in destruction. The end goal of this broad way in destruction. And then last segment, Dr. Broggi laid out and talked a bit more about the false prophets that Jesus says warn about them. They’re there but you can see them, you can judge them by their fruit. Their fruit is evil. Then he moves into a passage here that is to me perhaps one of the most sobering in all of scripture. And it’s Matthew chapter seven, verse 21 and 23 where he ends up saying, depart from me, you worker of lawlessness because I never knew you.
And these are people who are standing before him. So Carl, let’s go into this. This is either not considered purposely ignored but it’s serious and it’s this, what, when and where is this event? Jesus is describing where many people he says will stand before him. I’m going to say claim they are Christians because they will have said, we’re doing all these things in your name and they’re speaking to Jesus. So it’s in Jesus’ name. But then they have hearing that depart from me, I never knew you, you worker of iniquity. It’s not like you slightly missed. This is a powerful passage. You explain it
Carl Broggi:
Well, the what, where and when. This is the final judgment of all judgments. There’s four future judgments. I did a whole series on them earlier this year. The next judgment is in heaven. It’s for believers only. It’s called the Bema seat or the judgment seat of Christ. Then there’s two on earth that take place at the second coming where believing in unbelieving Jews are separated and then believing gentiles, the sheep goat judgment from unbelieving goats are separated, that takes place on earth. And then the final judgment of all judgments takes place between heaven and earth. It’s called the great white throne judgment. And the only people who are present are lost people. And God has the books. And the books give display that they have false fruit, that it’s not true fruit. And so on the one hand they may try to defend themselves, Hey look, I did this in your name and that in your name.
We’ll discuss that in a second. But Paul, when he gives an analysis of it in Romans three, he said it won’t stand. In fact, every mouth will be stopped. That means whatever they say, there’ll be no legitimate defense in what they are trying to say of themselves. So where is between having an earth at the great white throne judgment? When is after this earth is dissolved right before he creates a new heaven and a new earth? And what is unbelievers who are going to find themselves declared eternally lost in the place called the lake of fire?
Sam Rohrer:
Alright, that’s excellent, very clear. Alright, so let’s go here. Now this question he says and uses the word many will say in that day, so many will call Jesus Lord. And it says that Lord, they’ll say and they’ll cite these many good things you just talked about. So here’s the question. Who are these people? Do we have any idea of how many is many as an example? And then this question because it follows the passage on false prophets. Are we just talking here? Jesus is talking here about this category of false teachers or is this in reference to all people on the Broadway who think they are doing just fine but are really not?
Carl Broggi:
Yeah. So I think contextually Sam, he’s underscoring largely these false prophets, but he illustrates with them because if this can be true of a false prophet, because obviously the average person has never preached in the name of Jesus, fewer called to preach their whole life. The average person has never done a miracle in the name of Christ or cast out a demon in the name of Christ. But if a false teacher, if this can be true of a false teacher where they have a profession that is outward only but it’s empty on the inside, then it can be true of anyone. And so he’s going to, when he concludes the sermon, apply it to every single person when he gives the parable of the two foundations. And so here we’re teachers of the day who made an outward confession. And I would say as a general rule, that’s what a true believer will do.
Jesus said, everyone who shall confess me before men, I’ll confess him before my father who’s in heaven. You’re not saved by a confession of faith, say like Church of Christ teaches. But if inwardly you possess salvation, then outwardly you will confess salvation. It’s a fruit of salvation. So here are these people who have a false orthodoxy, a false profession. And to me what’s so interesting is he doesn’t go for some ho hum kind of profession of faith. He goes for the most dramatic example. And Jesus often used hyperbole to drive home his point. If someone preached in the name of Jesus, they cast out demons in his name, they did miracles in his name. Today we say, oh, that’s a man of God. He has a spirit filled ministry and yet Jesus is going to say, I will declare to them I never knew you your name, not in his omniscience, he knew their name but in a saving way because the eternal life is that they might know you.
The only true God in Christ whom is you never had a personal relationship with me. And that’s why you had a lifestyle of lawlessness. A lawlessness can express itself in many ways engrossed immorality, but sometimes in religious acts that are done for self to glorify self, to build a name for oneself rather than for the glory of God. And so they make this spectacular profession of faith. And then Jesus makes his profession his solemn profession. I’ll declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practiced right lawlessness because your name was never written in the lamb’s book of life.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay? So this is clearly, I mean here we’re going to do some more application in the next segment, but there are a lot of people clearly in this category compared it to where we are right now. There are an awful lot of people we know by the statistics Carl, that I think it was in the last standing gap minute, it was in the break I think I referred to it. But there are over in America right now, 70 some percent of people who say when they’re asked what religion are you or the question they say, well I am a Christian. But then when you start to narrow it down a little bit, they clearly are not. Should people who are, maybe they’re professing, maybe they’re going to church, should they take this passage to heart and what should they be considering themselves to make sure that they are not among this number? I would suppose that some of these people when I read this passage, I can’t believe at that point they would be surprised. But they appear to be trying to justify themselves as if they still think they’re right.
Carl Broggi:
That’s true. And that’s why I think Peter says in Second Peter one, make sure that your election and calling is certain. That’s why Paul says in two Corinthians 13, test yourself to see if you truly be in the faith. And again, there is room and latitude for failure in the New Testament church, we’re not speaking here of perfection, but fundamentally the New Testament teaches that if you’re born again, your life takes a new direction. And so when John says in one John five 13, these things I’ve written to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life, he’s not writing to people who were questioning like, oh, am I really saved? He is writing to people who had a false assurance of salvation because they were following the false teachers who were prognostics.
And so he walks through a number of tests when he says these things I’ve written what things he goes through five tests for instance. By this you know that you’ve passed out of life, out of death into life. You love the brethren. So a mark that you by which you can know that you have the genuine item and not the false teaching of the prognostics is that you love God’s people. So yes, 72% by one survey say they’re born again. And now we’re reading only about 20% or even in church are on any given Sunday. And one study by which they used cell phones and they admitted, well maybe the Amish and some Mennonite people don’t have them won’t fit into this. But that shows only about 8% of people are in church on any given Sunday based on cell service location. All I’m saying is there’s a lot of people who say they’re saved and they don’t give the marks of conversion. So these are important things to consider in these days of false profession and apostasy.
Sam Rohrer:
So ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. We’ll try to make some further application because as Dr. Broggi said, whenever we are confronted by the truth of God’s word, it demands a response. How has our life changed if it’s not changed? That’s one evidence that there’s no life. So when we come back, we’re going to look at this and say, why should we care about this passage and how then should we apply? Well, before we go into our final segment, I’d like to share just a piece of information from a listener. I also ask that if God is blessing you through these programs that you would write and let us know that you would commit to partnering with us and prayer. So very, very important that if led of the Lord and not ask you to consider that even in these days when our funds are getting tighter and tighter that you would partner with us even a little financially.
That’s all critical. But often, as I say, if you’re blessed by the program, you can go back and you can listen to it again. You can pick up a transcript from the program and always if you’re being blessed, share it with your friends because no doubt they will also be blessed as you were. Now here’s just one note from a Sunday school teacher, an adult Sunday school teacher, and a comment to a program last week he said, I just wanted to let you know that this morning in doing research for an adult Sunday school class, I was teaching, I was reading from a transcript from a program here we did on July 31st, 2024, a year ago that we entitled things we must not ignore. And he cited a quote that was made on that program and then he concluded by saying, it’s amazing how much of this has been exposed over the last several weeks.
He’s talking about that. And then the program here always on cutting edge, another individual says that it’s incredible as he works on materials for another Sunday school class and all that things that are shared on the program seem to be delivered at just the right moment to help in preparation. Well I think that is a wonderful thing and those kinds of things are very important. And so anyways, I share that to be an encouragement to you and to be an encouragement to you to communicate with us as well. Alright, Carl, let’s go into this. Why should we care? You made a statement at the beginning, which is very clear. When we come in contract with the truth, we should not leave the same way. And you said, Jesus made out this teaching here in Matthew seven and he called for response here first, let’s go this way. What would the Lord Jesus desire? Because there’s this two categories. One, you got the false prophet category, those who are on the Broadway, but they think they’re on the narrow way possibly. And then you have those that are on the narrow way us you referred to it, John refers to ’em who are true believers. So here’s the question, what would the Lord Jesus desire? God fearing true disciples in true children of God to not only know from this passage but to do as a result of this emphasis?
Carl Broggi:
Well in verse 24, the very first word is therefore, and I always say to my people, whenever you see the word, therefore ask, what is the word? Therefore it’s there in light of what he just taught. He just spoke here to us about two ways, the broad and narrow, two teachers false and true, two professions real and spurious. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And everyone in verse 26 who hears these same words and does not act, he’s like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And really everyone listening today, they’re either building their house on the solid rock of Christ or it’s on the sand. Now both houses look similar in the description that he gives. They both have four walls, they have a roof.
In fact, they’re built in the same general location because they face the same storm. But the storms of life really show among other things whether or not I have a true faith or not. And sometimes some tragedy comes on a person and all of a sudden I hate God, I hate the church, I hate the Bible, I want nothing to do with him. Well, that shows a spurious faith. And there are some who build on the San Luke in his account says they have no foundation at all and it may look more impressive their house. If you don’t build a foundation, you can spend more money in shutters and a porch and gingerbread trim and all the rest than if you have to put some serious money into a foundation. And think about who’s present on this day. There’s a guy by the name of Judas who preached in the name of Jesus who cast out demons in the name of Jesus who did miracles in the name of Jesus.
Because when Jesus sent out the 12, he gave power to all of those men to do those. And then there’s Peter who’s on this day. Well, when the storm came, Judas house was wiped out. It was gone. But when the storm came on Peter’s life, and Jesus said, I’m going to pray for you because there’s a coming storm and contrary to the prosperity theologians of our day who say, well, there’s really shouldn’t be storms. And if there are, it’s your lack of faith. No, God uses storms and there are storms all across the planet. 70 believers in Africa last month were beheaded in Syria. There’s a bunch of believers who are being executed in northern India last Sunday, there was a decree to kill every Christian in two provinces. Fortunately, the government stepped in. So there are storms and they come in different ways, trials and tribulation and the like.
But Peter, when the storm said, oh, maybe there’s a few shingles missing, maybe a broken window here or there, but he was still standing. And so God wants us to one first by our example, to build our house and the foundation by receiving Jesus’s Lord. And then to teach that to others because again, someone has a son or a daughter and oh, they made a profession of faith, but they’ve been living with their girlfriend for five years and well, he’s saved. And I’m claiming Proverbs that when he’s old, he’ll come back and they’ve got all these mismatched messages and false beliefs that aren’t rooted in scripture when they would be far more loving to that son or daughter to say, maybe you don’t really know Christ, I’m not your judge. But the New Testament would give you little assurance because your life has not fundamentally changed. So we need to learn from it as believers and we need to help those who are lost, even false prophets.
Sam Rohrer:
So evaluate our lives, ladies and gentlemen, and be fervent about instruction and being caring for and communicating the gospel to others. Now with this conclude, Carl, what does Jesus want? The false prophet and the person who does not have good fruit to know about this passage and then to do about it?
Carl Broggi:
Well, the fact that Jesus even warned a false prophet and he said to them, either cut down the bad tree or keep the good tree. Who is he speaking to? He’s speaking to false prophets. He’s letting them know that there are fruit shows that they have a rotten heart. Why does he tell them? Why does he warn them? Because he loves them. He loved even Judas. He washed Judas feet in the upper room that night as he was teaching a spiritual lesson, not just about servanthood, but about cleansing that he was bathed. Doesn’t need another bath. He only needs to have his feet washed because once bathed, always bathed, once saved, always saved. But when you walk through this life, sometimes as a believer you get your feet dirty. But he was still appealing to Judas. But Judas sadly had already made his decision. But he loved Judas and God loves the false teacher.
And there are false teachers who come to faith and who are converted, who are dramatically changed. I don’t have freedom to give his name over the air, I’ll have to ask him. But he worked for a leading false prophet in the nation. It was his uncle. And he was one of those false teachers with his uncle, but was gloriously saved as he heard the words of Jesus and did some personal analysis. So we should never see anyone beyond the realm of hope. Only God knows that we should pray for them with a sense of compassion. I’m praying for the Pope. The Pope is towards the end of his life at 88. But look, he taught that Jesus is not the only way He denied basic, fundamental truth. Do I hate the Pope? No. I care about him and God cares about him and would like to have his soul saved. And so we should think of false teachers in that way.
Sam Rohrer:
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much Dr. Carl Broggi, his website and so much information there. Search the scriptures.org. And ladies and gentlemen, I hope that regardless of where you are, if you’re on the broad way, but think you’re on the narrow way, evaluate in light of this. If you’re on the narrow way, make sure we make our election sure and let others around us know of the good news of Jesus Christ.
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