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Self-Exertion | J. C. Ryle · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine walking into an emergency room on like the worst
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night of the year. Oh man, just absolute chaos.
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Right. Yeah, totally.
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The waiting area is just packed to the brim.
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You know, alarms are blaring all over the place.
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Doctors are sprinting down the hall.
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It is a scene of absolute visceral crisis.
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Life and death hanging in the balance, right in front of
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everyone. Right.
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And right in the middle of this chaos, someone walks up to the
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lead trauma surgeon, taps him on the shoulder, and asks this a
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highly theoretical, abstract question.
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Like what kind of question? Like doctor, what percentage of
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the global population holds a medical degree?
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Wow, that is jarring to even picture.
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It really is, isn't it? The disconnect from the reality
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of the situation unfolding around them is just staggering.
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You would expect the doctor to just look at them in total
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disbelief. For sure.
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I mean point to the bleeding patients and just refuse to
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entertain the distraction. There is a literal crisis
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happening and you know statistics offer zero help to a
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dying person. Well, you are listening to
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Reformed Thinking. I want to welcome you to our
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deep dive today. Our mission is to investigate a
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classic text that forces us to look at that precise kind of
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disconnect in our own lives. And we have a fantastic stack of
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notes. Today we are covering an excerpt
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from a book called Practical Religion by the 19th Century
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Minister JC Rile. Specifically, we were looking
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into a chapter he titled Self Exertion.
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Rile possessed this surgical precision when dealing with
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matters of theology and the human heart.
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He completely refused to waste time on fluff or, you know,
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philosophical speculation when the stakes were so high.
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Yeah, he treated the condition of the human soul with the
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urgency of that trauma surgeon we just talked about.
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He absolutely did. And that brings us right back to
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our emergency room scenario, which is actually the setup for
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the specific biblical text Ryle is analyzing.
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Right. The source text sets the scene
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based on an actual event recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
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Yeah, so a nameless man approaches Jesus with a highly
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theoretical, perhaps even idle question.
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He asks, Lord, are there few that be saved?
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What is so fascinating here is how Ryle dissects that specific
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moment. We do not know who this man was
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at all. No clue, and we do not know his
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true motive. Ryle suggests the man might have
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just been trying to gratify an idle curiosity or.
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Worse, he might have been looking for an excuse to avoid
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dealing with his own spiritual condition.
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Yes, people do this constantly. They use theological debates or,
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you know, statistical questions as a shield.
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It keeps them from looking at their own desperate need for
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rescue. If they can keep the
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conversation abstract, they never have to confront their own
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standing before a holy God. Spot on.
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OK, so let's unpack this a bit, because Jesus's response to the
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man is the pivot around which this entire chapter revolves.
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He does not give the man a percentage.
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Not at all. He does not pull out a pie chart
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or offer a demographic breakdown of heaven.
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He redirects the entire conversation to something far
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more urgent and personal. Right, Jesus answers him in Luke
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13, verse 24. Instead of satisfying that
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curiosity, Jesus shifts the focused, urgent personal
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accountability. The text says strive to enter in
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at the straight gate for many I say unto you, will seek to enter
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in, and shall not be able. So we are going to look into
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what that straight gate actually is and why serious exertion is
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required to get through it. And the chilling reality of a
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door that eventually shuts. But to really grasp the weight
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of what Jesus is saying here, and what Ryle is expanding upon,
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we have to start by understanding the problem.
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Right. Why is there a gate at all?
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Exactly why is entering it treated like a literal rescue
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operation? Ryle uses some very striking
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imagery to describe the separation between humanity and
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holy God. He refuses to soften the reality
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of the human condition. He describes sin using three
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massive, insurmountable obstacles.
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First, he calls sin a vast mountain between man and God,
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and he asks, how shall a man climb over it?
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Right then he says sin is a high wall, How shall man get through
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it? Finally, he says sin is a deep
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gulf. How shall man crossover it?
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I love how he uses three different types of geographical
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and structural barriers. I mean, a mountain implies A
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sheer vertical climb that just totally exhausts human strength.
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Absolutely. And a wall implies A deliberate
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constructed barrier that blocks all access and visibility.
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Yeah, and a gulf implies an abyss, like a space of
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nothingness where any attempt to jump across results in a fatal
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fall. These are not small hurdles.
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This is not like a pothole in the road of life.
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No, this is a complete severance.
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Ryle frames this theologically by contrasting the nature of God
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with the nature of humanity. How does he describe God in the
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text? He describes God as being in
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heaven, holy, pure, spiritual, undefiled.
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God is light without any darkness at all.
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He is a being who cannot bear that which is evil or a look
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upon iniquity. His Justice and His Holiness are
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absolute. And then Raoul describes man.
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He calls man a poor fallen worm crawling on Earth for a few
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years. That is quite the contrast.
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It really is, he says. We are sinful, corrupt, erring,
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and defective by nature. He references the biblical truth
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that our imagination is only evil from our youth and the
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heart is deceitful above all things.
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Well, we are not just making mistakes.
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Our very nature is opposed to the light.
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Right. If we connect this to the
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broader theological framework Ryle is operating from, you see
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a clear articulation of total depravity.
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He is starting with the total inability of mankind to fix the
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problem. The gap is just too wide, The
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wall is too thick. Yeah, if man and God are going
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to be brought together, if man is ever going to draw near to
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his maker without terror and shame, it cannot be by human
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effort bridging that gulf. No amount of good deeds can
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build a bridge over an infinite abyss.
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There has to be a way made for us from the other side.
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And Ryle bursts into this reality with incredible hope.
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He says blessed be God. There is a way, there is a road,
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there is a path, there is a door.
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He calls it the gate spoken of by Christ, the straight gate.
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The construction of this gate is arguably the most critical part
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of Rile's theology here. He points out that this
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impossible gap was bridged, and he outlines precisely how Jesus
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Christ covenanted from eternity past to build this gate.
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Let's pause on that specific phrase.
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Covenanted from eternity past. Yes, that means this was not a
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backup plan. This was not God reacting in a
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panic to things getting out of hand on earth in the Garden of
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Eden. Before the world even existed,
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the Son of God agreed in the Divine Council to be the one who
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would make this gate. This speaks to the eternal
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decree of God to rescue a people for Himself.
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And Ryle gets into the actual construction material, materials
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used for this gate. It was not built with timber or
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stone. The materials were his own
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atoning death on the cross. By that death, Christ made
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satisfaction for man's sin, paid man's debt to God, and bore
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man's punishment. Ryle says he built a great gate
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at the cost of his own body and blood.
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That is just staggering to think about.
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Here's an analogy I was thinking about while reading this
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section. Think of the gate as a massive,
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impenetrable blast door. OK, I am picturing it.
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Imagine you are outside and you are trapped in a lethal
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radiation zone. The air is entirely toxic
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inside. That door is the only safe
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environment. It is the only place where life
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can be sustained. But the lock in the blast door
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is completely unyielding from the outside.
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It is designed to keep the contamination out.
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You cannot pick it. You cannot blow it up.
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So you are just. Stuck.
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Exactly. The only way that blast door
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could ever be opened is if someone from the inside
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willingly stepped out into the radiation zone.
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Oh wow. They would have to manually
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override the lock mechanism and in doing so absorb the lethal
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dose of radiation so that the door would swing open and others
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could walk through safely. That analogy captures the
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mechanics of penal substitutionary atonement
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beautifully. The person stepping out absorbs
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the lethal consequence so the others do not have to.
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The justice of the locking mechanism is satisfied, but the
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mercy of the rescue is accomplished.
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That is what Ryle means when he says Christ made satisfaction
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for sin and paid the debt. He absorbed the punishment that
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our corruption demanded. He reared a ladder on earth,
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whose top reached to heaven. Right making a door by which the
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chief of sinners may enter the holy presence of God without
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fear. It totally reframes how you
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think about the concept of salvation.
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It is not just God waving A wand and saying I forgive you, let's
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forget the whole. Thing.
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Not at all. It required a physical agonizing
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transaction. It demands that you, the
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listener, consider how this entirely alters the view of your
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own rescue. It is not an accident of
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history. It is not a generic
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philosophical concept about being a good.
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Person No. It is a deliberate, incredibly
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costly rescue mission engineered by God Himself.
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When you realize the cost of the materials, the body and blood of
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the eternal Son of God, it demands a serious, sober
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response. You cannot look at a blast door
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opened by someone else's fatal sacrifice and just shrug it off.
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Absolutely not. But then we hit this specific
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word in the text straight. Jesus says strive to enter in at
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the straight gate. I want to clarify terms here for
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the listener because straight spelled Strait is not the same
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as straight like a line drawn with a ruler.
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Right. Not STRAIGHT.
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It does not just mean a direct path without curves.
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In this context, straight means narrow, exacting, difficult to
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pass through, and highly restrictive.
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Think of a straitjacket which binds the arms.
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Or the Strait of Gibraltar, you know, a narrow restricted
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passage of water connecting 2 massive bodies.
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Jesus is deliberately using a word that implies restriction,
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tightness, and difficulty. The gate is not a massive wide
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open highway that you can just drift through unnoticed.
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And Ryle is very clear that this gate is not narrow without
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'cause it is designed to exclude certain things.
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He provides a highly specific list of who this gate remains
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impassable to. This is where the text gets
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incredibly confrontational. Let's look at the group's Ryle
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identifies first, He says the gate is narrow to all who love
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their sin and are determined not to part with it.
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You cannot squeeze through this narrow turnstile while dragging
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bags of rebellion along with you.
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It simply will not fit. Ryle is talking about the
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psychology of the human heart here.
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If you cherish a specific sin, if you keep a pet idol hidden in
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your coat, the gate will not allow you through.
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Repentance requires dropping the bags.
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Yes. Second, he says, it is narrow to
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all who set their affection on this world, seeking its
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pleasures and rewards first. If your arms are full of the
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world. If your primary goal is the
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accumulation of wealth, status, and earthly comfort, you cannot
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get through. The dimensions of the gate do
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not accommodate earthly empires. Third, he mentions those who
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dislike trouble and are unwilling to take pains and make
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sacrifices for their souls. Spiritual laziness is an
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absolute barrier to entry. The person who wants salvation
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to be effortless, who wants a religion that requires no
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sacrifice, will find the gate completely impenetrable. 4th he
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mentions those who like company and want to keep in with the
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crowd. This is the fear of man.
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The gate is narrow. It is.
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You cannot March through it shoulder to shoulder with a
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prevailing culture. You have to be willing to break
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away from the herd, to face the mockery of the broad road and
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step through the narrow gate individually.
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And critically, the 5th category, it is narrow to all
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who are self-righteous, who think they are good people and
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deserve to be saved. This might be the most dangerous
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group of all. The gate requires you to bow
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your head. The self-righteous person
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refuses to bow. They want to walk through with
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their head held high, presenting their own good deeds as their
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ticket for admission. And the gate rejects them
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completely. What is terrifying about Ryle's
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criteria is that it entirely disqualifies the people who
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think they're doing everything right.
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The moralists, you know, the ones just trying to blend in and
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be decent citizens. But.
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Let me push back on this perceived exclusivity for a
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second. If the gate is this narrow and
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it is unyielding to so many different types of people,
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doesn't that make God seem unwilling to let people in?
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I can see how someone might think that.
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I can hear someone saying this sounds like a very rigid,
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unwelcoming system that actively tries to keep people out.
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That is a very common objection, and it raises A vital point
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about the nature of God's terms versus human terms.
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How does Ryle handle that? Ryle uses the source text to
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resolve this beautifully. He points out that the gate is
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not elastic. It will not stretch to
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accommodate alternative terms. For instance, it will not
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stretch to allow today's sorrow to wipe out yesterday's score.
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Right. It will not stretch to let
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someone's regular church attendance save them.
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Ryle boldly states that the best works any man can do are a
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little better than splendid sins in the eyes of a holy God.
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But he explicitly says God is not unwilling to receive.
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Them the issue is not a lack of mercy on God's part.
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The issue is that people want to be saved on their own terms, not
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God. 'S that is a massive
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distinction. Yeah, God is holding the door
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wide open, but he has set the dimensions of the doorway.
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We are the ones demanding He knocked down the walls so we can
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drive a truckload of our own pride and sin through it.
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We want to compromise, and God's holiness cannot compromise.
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People have spent centuries trying to widen the gateway or
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find lower terms. They invent new theologies.
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They water down the biblical text.
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They try to negotiate a settlement where they can keep
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their pride and still get to heaven.
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But the gate never alters, and yet Ryle gives the single
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irreducible condition for admission.
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The rule is simply this. You must feel your sins and
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desire to be saved by Christ in His own way.
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The gate flies open for anyone with a broken and contrite
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heart. The phrasing Rile uses is so
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comforting here, he says. The question is not whether you
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are a great Sinner or a little Sinner.
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The question is simply, do you feel your sins?
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Are you laboring and heavy laden?
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Are you willing to put your soul into Christ's hand?
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If so, the gate opens at once. The requirement is not
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perfection. The requirement is bankruptcy.
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You have to admit you have nothing to pay with.
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Which leads us into one of the most encouraging sections of
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Ryle's writing. He moves from the theoretical
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dimensions of the gate to the historical evidence of its
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availability. He brings out the biblical
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receipts to prove that this isn't just a nice theory.
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The gate actually works. This is where the text gets
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incredibly practical. Ryle pulls out these biblical
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case studies of the worst of the worst.
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To prove that the gate is always ready to open for repentance and
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sinners. These are not minor offenders.
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These are people who committed atrocities.
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Let's look at Manasseh. Manasseh was the king of Judah
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and his historical context is crucial here.
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He was the son of Hezekiah, one of the most godly kings in
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Israel's history. So Manasseh had the truth.
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He knew the law and he actively rebelled against it.
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He undid all his father's reforms.
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He built altars to false gods right inside the temple of the
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Lord. He practiced witchcraft.
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And most horrifyingly, he burned his own children as sacrifices,
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and in the Valley of Hinnom he filled the streets of Jerusalem
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with innocent blood. By any human metric of justice,
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this man is a monster. He is beyond rehabilitation.
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He deserves the darkest part of hell.
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But the biblical text records that when the Assyrians captured
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him, put a hook in his nose and dragged him to Babylon, he
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finally broke. In his affliction he humbled
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himself greatly before the God of his Father's.
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He prayed. And Ryle points out that as soon
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as his eyes were opened to his sins and he fled to the gate for
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pardon, the gate flew wide open and he was saved.
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God restored him. The blood of Christ was
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sufficient even for a child sacrificing tyrant.
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Then Ryle points to Saul the Pharisee.
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Before he was the Apostle Paul, he was a religious terrorist.
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He was a blasphemer. He was a violent persecutor of
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the early church. He breathed out threatenings and
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slaughter. He dragged men and women from
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their homes and threw them in prison.
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He stood by and approved of the stoning of Stephen.
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He labored hard to stop the gospel and destroy the name of
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Jesus. He was an enemy of the state of
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heaven. But on the road to Damascus,
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when the blinding light hits him and he falls to the ground, his
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heart is touched. He finds out his own guilt.
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He asks, Lord, what will you have me to do?
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He flees to the gate and it opens for him.
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The greatest enemy of the Church becomes its greatest missionary.
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What about the crucifiers? Ryle brings them up and the
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gravity of their crime is unmatched in human history.
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These are the very men who stood in the crowd, rejected their own
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maker in the flesh, asked for a murderer named Barabbas to be
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released, and demanded that Jesus be crucified.
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They mocked him while he bled. They chanted for his death.
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Yet in the book of Acts chapter 2, just weeks after the
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crucifixion, Peter preaches to that same crowd.
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He looks at them and says, You have taken, and by wicked hands
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have crucified and slain the Lord of glory.
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The text says they were pricked. In their heart, they realized
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the magnitude of what they had done.
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They asked what they must do. They flee to the gate and the
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gate flies open. 3000 of them are saved in one day.
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The very men who drove the nails into the builder of the gate
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were allowed to walk through it. That is the ultimate proof of
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the gates availability and the infinite value of Christ's
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sacrifice. Ryle adds one more specific
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example from the ancient world, the Philippian jailer.
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He represents the brutal, godless machinery of the Roman
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Empire. He was a cruel man.
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He took Paul and Silas, who had been beaten severely, 3 of them
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in the darkest inner prison, and locked their feet in the stocks.
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He went to sleep without a second thought for their
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suffering. But when a massive earthquake
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shakes the prison foundations and wakes him up, his conscience
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is suddenly aroused. He is about to kill himself,
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thinking the prisoners escaped, but Paul stops him.
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He falls down trembling, and asks the most critical question
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a human can ask. Sirs, what must I do to be
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saved? Paul points him to the gate, he
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believes, and the gate opens. He watches their stripes and
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rejoices with his whole house. Ryle does not just leave it in
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ancient history, he extends this to all classes in modern times.
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He talks about the multitudes who have gone through this
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straight gate since the days of the apostles.
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Noblemen and commoners, wealthy merchants and poor laborers,
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soldiers on the battlefield and sailors at sea, farmers and
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tradesmen, the. Cross levels all of humanity.
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The gate is not restricted by class, profession or background.
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It requires the exact same posture from a king as it does
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from a peasant. A broken heart.
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Think about the absolute privilege of your position right
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now compared to historical generations.
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Ryle is trying to show the reader the massive advantage
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they possess simply by holding a Bible or hearing the gospel
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preached. He points out that the angels
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who fell from heaven had no door of a Skype ever open to them.
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God did not provide a Savior for fallen angels.
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Their judgement was immediate and final.
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Old Testament Jews only saw this gate dimly through the shadows
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of the first Tabernacle. Through the blood of bulls and
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goats that pointed forward to a sacrifice they could not fully
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see. Heathen populations lived and
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died without ever hearing the clear preaching of the gospel.
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They walked in darkness. But you, the listener, have the
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gate set plainly before you. The work is finished, the
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history is recorded, The invitation is public.
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Full salvation is offered freely without money or price.
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You have a privilege that fallen angels and ancient kings did not
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have. The light is shining directly on
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the path. And that privilege brings an
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enormous weight of accountability.
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The clearer the light, the greater the responsibility to
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walk in it. This shifts our attention to the
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tension of responsibility, Jesus said.
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Strive to enter in. Here's a massive theological
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question that naturally comes up based on Protestant theology and
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specifically Reformed theology, which Ryle adhered to.
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We just talked about how salvation is completely the work
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of God. Jesus built the gate.
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Jesus paid the debt. Human effort cannot bridge the
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Gulf. The wall is too high.
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If salvation from first to last is entirely the work of God's
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grace, why does Jesus command us to strive?
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Doesn't the word strive imply a works based religion?
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It does sound like we are earning our way in by our own
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sweat and effort, doesn't it? Yeah, How does Ryle handle that
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tension? This raises a very serious point
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of theology regarding the relationship between divine
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sovereignty and human responsibility.
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Ryle unpacks this careful balance masterfully, staying
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completely faithful to the scriptural witness.
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He explicitly rejects a specific kind of fatalistic theology.
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He calls it a miserable religion which teaches people to be
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content with saying we can do nothing of ourselves and then
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makes them continue in sin, sitting still waiting for God to
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force them to change. It is the attitude that says,
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well, God does the saving. He elected who he will save from
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before the foundation of the world.
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So I will just sit here on my couch and wait for a lightning
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bolt of grace to. Exactly like if I am meant to be
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saved, God will do it without me.
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Ryall says that attitude is as bad as teaching people that it
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is not their fault if they are not converted and that God only
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is to blame if they are lost. Ryall finds no such fatalism in
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the New Testament. The biblical authors synthesize
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2 massive truths without apologizing for either.
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While salvation is entirely of God, human ruin is entirely our
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own doing. God treats humans as free agents
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and accountable beings. He bids us to come, repent,
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believe, labor, ask, seek, knock.
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God ordains the ends, but he also ordains the means.
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So how does he reconcile the effort with the grace?
21:38
What does striving actually look like if it's not earning the
21:41
right to be saved? Ryle details the practical
21:43
application striving means using the appointed means of grace.
21:47
God has set up specific channels through which He works to awaken
21:50
the dead heart and build faith. Public worship, reading the
21:53
Bible, hearing the gospel preached, engaging in prayer,
21:56
Ryle says. These things lie, as it were, in
21:58
the middle between man and God. No man can change his own heart
22:02
or wipe away his own sins, but if man could do nothing but sit
22:06
still, Christ would never have given the command to strive.
22:09
You put yourself in the path of the means of grace.
22:13
I think of a farmer. A farmer cannot command the rain
22:16
to fall, and he cannot force the seed to germinate.
22:19
The growth is entirely A biological miracle outside his
22:22
control. But he can go stand in the
22:24
field, he can plow the soil, he can plant the seed, and he can
22:28
pull the weeds. He strides in the means,
22:32
trusting the Creator for the growth.
22:33
That is a phenomenal way to picture it.
22:35
And the reason you have to strive, the reason you have to
22:37
plow, is because the path is contested.
22:40
There is a fierce battle going on.
22:42
The natural state of the field is to produce thorns and
22:46
thistles. I vividly remember reading Riles
22:48
description of the adversaries here.
22:51
He states plainly that there are no gains without pains in
22:54
spiritual things. If you were going to seek the
22:56
prosperity of your soul, you have to fight for it.
22:59
It will not happen by accident. He outlines 3 three main
23:02
adversaries that every person must fight against.
23:05
First, he calls out the devil. The roaring lion who goes about
23:08
seeking whom he may devour. The enemy of souls will never
23:12
let a captive escape without a struggle.
23:14
He will throw every distraction, every doubt, and every
23:16
temptation in the path to keep someone from the gate.
23:19
Second, he identifies the naturally earthly and sensual
23:23
heart of man. We fight against our own fallen
23:26
nature. Our default setting is to love
23:28
the darkness and hate the light. The flesh wants comfort, it
23:32
wants sin, it wants autonomy. We have to fight our own
23:36
desires. Third, he points to the
23:38
opposition and temptations of the world.
23:41
The world system is set up to draw your affections away from
23:44
God. It offers false promises of
23:46
happiness. It mocks those who take religion
23:48
seriously and provides endless entertainment to keep you from
23:51
thinking about eternity. Ryle makes this great comparison
23:54
to everyday life. He says wheat does not grow
23:57
without plowing and sowing. Riches are not obtained without
24:00
care and attention. Success in business or academia
24:03
is not one without hardships and toil.
24:05
We accept that good earthly things require immense work, so
24:09
why would we expect heavenly peace, the forgiveness of sins,
24:12
and eternal life to require anything less than a battle?
24:15
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says the violent take the
24:17
Kingdom by force. You have to be aggressive about
24:20
your own soul. You have to fight for it.
24:23
Which makes Ryle's subsequent observations so heartbreaking.
24:27
He shifts his tone from theological instruction to a
24:30
very raw pastoral grief. He looks around at the society
24:33
he lives in and he sees an epidemic of spiritual sloth.
24:36
He reflects on 37 years of ministry.
24:39
Think about that. Nearly 4 decades of watching
24:42
people, counseling them, standing in pulpits, visiting
24:45
the sick, burying the dead. And he observes A tragic,
24:49
consistent pattern in human behavior.
24:51
He notes that earnestness about temporal matters is everywhere.
24:55
People work exhaustingly hard for money.
24:57
They take immense pains for their businesses.
24:59
They stay up late studying for exams.
25:01
They obsess over politics. They dedicate thousands of hours
25:05
to mastering the arts. They stress over rent and wages.
25:08
But when it comes to the one thing needful, the eternal
25:11
destiny of their souls, he observes A profound spirit of
25:15
slumber. They are wide awake to the
25:17
world, but comatose to God. And he makes a striking
25:20
theological argument here that totally reframes how we tend to
25:24
think about laziness. Usually we think of laziness as
25:27
a lack of action. It is a neutral state.
25:29
Maybe it is a misfortune, A psychological flaw or something
25:33
to be pitied. We say, oh, they just lack
25:35
motivation. But Ryle says laziness and
25:38
religion is a direct, active sin.
25:41
That is a harsh but necessary truth.
25:43
Laziness is not just an omission, it is a transgression
25:47
of a positive command. Jesus, the King of Kings, gave a
25:50
direct order. He literally said the word
25:52
strive. So when a person sits still and
25:55
does nothing about their soul, they are not just being passive.
25:59
They are looking directly at a command of God and say no, I
26:02
refuse to exert myself. That is rebellion.
26:05
It is quiet, polite rebellion, but it is rebellion nonetheless.
26:08
Ryle breaks down the categories of people who are guilty of
26:11
this. He talks about the nominal
26:12
Christian. These are the people who profess
26:14
to be Christians, who might even identify as such on a census,
26:18
but who are not striving at all. They are entirely asleep.
26:21
Let's examine his list because it is painfully relevant to the
26:24
modern church. First, he talks about irregular
26:27
attenders. People who, if the weather is
26:30
nice and they feel disposed, might go to a religious service,
26:34
but often they prefer to stay home, read the Sunday paper,
26:37
idle about or seek amusement. They treat gathering with the
26:41
Saints as an optional hobby. Ryle asks the piercing question.
26:46
Is this striving? Second, he addresses formal
26:49
worshippers. These are people who attend
26:52
regularly but entirely out of habit or for respectability in
26:55
the community. They sit in the Pew.
26:57
Their bodies are present, but their minds are 1000 miles away.
27:01
They remember nothing of what was preached, they experienced
27:04
no conviction, and they put off their religion with their Sunday
27:07
clothes, returning to the world by Monday morning as if nothing
27:10
happened. The third category is people who
27:12
never read the Bible. They know it is the book that
27:14
claims to teach how to live and die.
27:16
They might even defend its historical accuracy, but they
27:19
never actually open it to find nourishment for their souls.
27:22
They have plenty of time for newspapers, reviews, novels and
27:26
today we would add endless doom scrolling on social media or
27:29
binge watching television. They can consume hours of
27:31
content daily, but they have absolutely no time for
27:34
scripture. And fourth, he points to people
27:37
who never pray. They wake up in the morning and
27:40
rush into their day without a thought of God.
27:42
And they go to sleep at night without thanking him for their
27:44
breath. They are dying creatures
27:47
entirely dependent on God's sustaining hand.
27:50
Yet they are not even on speaking terms with their maker
27:53
and their judge. They live as functional
27:55
atheists. I was struck by an analogy while
27:58
processing this section. It feels like Satan's strategy
28:01
operates precisely like a modern subscription service.
28:05
Oh, that is an interesting thought.
28:07
How so? You know how those monthly gym
28:09
memberships or streaming apps work?
28:11
Their entire business model relies on you signing up and
28:13
then just forgetting about it. Right, they do not want you to
28:16
cancel, but they also do not want you to use the facility.
28:19
They just want you to stay comfortable, pay your small fee,
28:21
and do nothing. Satan does not need you to
28:24
commit headline grabbing sins like murder, bank robbery, or
28:28
treason. He does not need you to become a
28:30
Satanist. He is perfectly happy for you to
28:32
be a highly respectable member of society.
28:35
Pay your taxes, volunteer at the local school, be a good
28:37
neighbor, sit comfortably in a Pew on Easter and Christmas.
28:40
Satan has no objection to any of that.
28:43
Satan has no objection to you being a respectable moral
28:46
citizen as long as you do not strive.
28:48
As long as you never actually drop your pride, confess your
28:51
sin and push through the narrow gates.
28:53
Because spiritual sloth is a quiet, comfortable, well paved
28:57
road to destruction. You do not have to walk in the
29:00
rebellious steps of Judas Iscariot or Pharaoh to be lost
29:03
forever. You only have to sit still, fold
29:05
your hands and do nothing. That is a terrifying reality,
29:08
and it sets up the awful prophecy in the second-half of
29:11
Luke 13.24. Jesus, said Many, I say unto
29:15
you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
29:18
That phrase shall not be able has a chilling finality to it.
29:22
It introduces a hard deadline. There is a day coming when
29:26
striving will be completely useless.
29:28
The time for exertion will be over.
29:30
Ryle explains that the time foretold by our Lord here is the
29:33
time of his second coming to judge the world.
29:36
There is a period known as the Day of Grace, and that period is
29:39
open right now. The door is unlocked.
29:42
But the long-suffering of God will eventually reach its limit.
29:45
Ryle describes this as the moment when the throne of grace
29:48
is taken down. And the great White Throne of
29:50
Judgement is erected in its place.
29:52
The straight gate will be barred and bolted from the inside.
29:55
To anyone who doubts that this day will actually come, who
29:58
thinks the world will just keep spinning like this forever, Ryle
30:02
points to the absolute certainty of biblical prophecy.
30:04
He shows God's track record. God does not make empty threats
30:08
or broken promises. When God speaks a decree into
30:11
history, it happens. He brings up historical proofs
30:14
to validate the future, warning God promised Abraham and Sarah
30:18
they would have a son when she was decades past bearing age.
30:21
It seemed biologically impossible, but it happened.
30:24
God promised the Jews would return from their total
30:27
captivity in exile and Babylon after exactly 70 years.
30:31
It happened. And it is not just the good
30:33
promises. Ryle lists the severe judgements
30:36
God pronounced judgments on the great empire of Egypt, declaring
30:40
it would be reduced to a base Kingdom.
30:42
He said the impenetrable fortress of Edom would be a
30:45
wilderness. He said the wealthy maritime
30:48
superpower of Tyre would be scraped bare and become a rock
30:52
for fishermen drying their Nets. He declared the massive
30:55
fortified cities of Nineveh and Babylon would be laid waste and
30:59
buried in the sand. Every single one of these
31:01
prophecies seemed ridiculous to the people living in those
31:04
empires at the time. They thought they were
31:05
invincible. But the judgments happened down
31:08
to the letter. So when Jesus Christ says the
31:11
door will be shut, you can stake your eternal soul on the fact
31:14
that it'll happen. Which leads to what Ryle
31:15
describes as the tragedy of Too Late.
31:17
He outlines the horrific reality that people will experience on
31:20
that day when the door shuts. They will finally gain
31:23
everything they lacked during their lifetime, but it will do
31:26
them absolutely no good. This part of the text really
31:29
shook me, Ryle says. People will finally gain true
31:32
knowledge. While they lived, they thought
31:34
theology was boring. They thought sermons were
31:36
wasting of time. But on that day, their eyes will
31:39
be opened. They will see the infinite value
31:42
of an immortal soul. They will understand the
31:44
blinding holiness of God. They will see the hideous nature
31:47
of sin, but they will know it too late to be saved by that
31:51
knowledge. They will gain bitter repentance
31:53
in life. They refuse to apologize to God.
31:56
They justified their actions. But when the door shuts, they
32:00
will be full of regret, discovering their own
32:02
wickedness, and being thoroughly ashamed of their past folly.
32:05
They will weep over the time they wasted, but like Esau who
32:08
wept for his birthright, or Judas who threw the silver back
32:11
into the temple, they will repent too late.
32:14
The sorrow will not lead to salvation, it will only lead to
32:16
despair. They will even gain undeniable
32:18
faith. Atheism, skepticism, and all
32:22
forms of infidelity will vanish instantly from the universe.
32:25
Every knee will bow. They will see with their own
32:27
eyes that the things the ministers preached about, the
32:30
things the Bible warned about, were 100% real.
32:33
They will believe in God and like the demons in the book of
32:36
James, they will tremble, but the faith will arrive too late
32:39
to justify them. They will gain an intense desire
32:42
for salvation. They will long for pardon and
32:45
peace. They will hammer on the bolted
32:47
door, crying. Lord, Lord, open to us, but the
32:50
desire will come when grace can no longer be had.
32:53
The master of the house will have risen up and shut the door,
32:56
As Ryle notes in a very memorable phrase quoting an
32:59
older divine hell. Is truth known too late?
33:02
Hell is truth known too late. That is a phrase that sinks into
33:06
your bones. It summarizes the ultimate
33:08
tragedy of human existence. And it brings up the great
33:11
economic reversal that Ryle talks about as the text reaches
33:14
its climax. He presents this massive shift
33:17
in how the universe values things.
33:19
He analyzes the world's current valuation system.
33:23
Look at what commands a high price in our society right now.
33:25
Gold, silver, real estate, stock portfolios, designer clothes,
33:30
luxury cars, social influence. These things are fiercely
33:34
guarded. They are highly sought after.
33:37
People sacrifice their marriages, their health and
33:39
their morals to acquire them. If you possess a lot of them,
33:42
the world considers you successful and wise.
33:45
And meanwhile, look at the cheap things, the free salvation of
33:48
the Gospel, the indwelling grace of the Holy Ghost.
33:52
The title to eternal life. The forgiveness of sins.
33:57
No one values them. They are offered freely in the
34:00
public square, without money and without price, and they
34:03
basically go begging. The world scarcely looks at
34:05
them. They are considered the domain
34:07
of the weak or the foolish. But Ryle describes a coming
34:10
market crash of cosmic proportions, a total
34:14
instantaneous reversal of values on the day of the Lord's return.
34:18
The entire economic system of human pride will collapse in a
34:21
single moment. Think of it like a sudden
34:23
apocalyptic currency collapse. Imagine waking up tomorrow
34:26
morning, checking your bank app and seeing that the billions of
34:29
dollars you spent your whole life accumulating are suddenly
34:32
worth less than a single bottle of clean water.
34:35
The currency you traded your soul for is obsolete overnight.
34:38
It cannot buy you a second of life or a drop of relief.
34:42
That is the spiritual shock awaiting those who value the
34:45
world over the gospel. Ryle says banknotes will become
34:48
as useless as rags and gold is worthless as dust in the
34:51
streets. The palaces and mansions people
34:53
built will be forgotten because people will desperately desire a
34:57
house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
34:59
All those fine silks and velvets, the expensive brands
35:03
people wear to signal their status will mean absolutely
35:06
nothing if they do not possess the imputed robe of Christ's
35:09
righteousness to cover their shame.
35:11
It is a total vindication of the faithful.
35:14
Right now, sincere believers often face mockery.
35:17
They get slandered in the culture.
35:19
They are called bigots, fools or weaklings for taking religion so
35:22
seriously. For striving so hard against
35:25
sin. For reading their Bibles and
35:27
praying while the rest of the world parties.
35:29
But Ryle offers immense comfort to those battered believers.
35:32
On that day of judgement, the mockers will come begging for
35:35
help. He compares it to the parable of
35:37
the foolish virgins in Matthew 25, who begged the wise virgins
35:41
for oil when their lamps went out and the bridegroom arrived.
35:44
The people who laughed at believers will suddenly admit
35:47
they were wrong all along. They will see the believer
35:50
standing safe inside the gate and say you were the truly wise
35:54
and we were the foolish. But the believer will not be
35:57
able to transfer their grace to the mockers.
36:00
The vindication will be absolute, but the separation
36:03
will be permanent. Knowing all of this, knowing the
36:06
massive architecture of the gate built by Christ's blood, the
36:10
requirement to strive against the world in the flesh, the
36:13
quiet, dangerous spiritual sloth, and the absolute
36:16
certainty of the door shutting. Ryle turns directly to the
36:19
reader, he delivers his parting directives, and he starts with a
36:22
blunt, unavoidable question. He asks us without any padding,
36:26
have you entered in at the straight gate?
36:28
Notice the phrasing. He does not ask if you have
36:30
heard of the gate. He does not ask if you believe a
36:33
gate exists historically. He does not ask if you have
36:35
looked at it from a distance and admired its theological
36:38
construction, or if you hope to casually wander through it
36:41
someday before you die. He asks A definitive question of
36:44
action. Have you actually gone through?
36:47
Have you bowed your head, confessed your sin, and cast
36:50
yourself on Christ? It demands A rigorously honest
36:53
assessment of your own soul, because if you are not inside,
36:56
he points out the stark, terrifying reality.
36:59
You are currently not pardoned. You are not reconciled to God.
37:02
The wrath of God abides on you. And your life is but a vapor.
37:06
He reminds the reader that a few short years at most and you are
37:10
gone from this earth. Your place in the world, your
37:13
job, your house will be filled by another person.
37:16
The sun will keep shining. The business of the city will
37:18
continue. The daisies will grow over your
37:20
grave. But your eternal state will be
37:22
fixed forever. That is a sobering reality
37:24
check. But Ryle does not leave the
37:26
outsider in despair. He is a pastor.
37:29
He wants to see souls rescued. He gives incredibly practical,
37:32
urgent advice to anyone who realizes they are still standing
37:36
outside the gate. His advice is urgent.
37:38
Enter without a single day's delay.
37:41
Do not wait to make yourself better.
37:43
Do not try to clean yourself up first.
37:45
There is no alternative route. You cannot climb the mountain.
37:48
You cannot break the wall, you cannot jump the gulf.
37:51
You must go to Christ. He uses this beautiful old
37:55
fashioned word unbosom. Unbosom yourself to Christ.
37:58
That means pouring out your heart, confessing your guilt and
38:01
wickedness, openly hiding nothing.
38:04
Tell him you are casting your soul completely into his hands.
38:07
Keep nothing back in the shadows.
38:08
Ask Him to put His Holy Spirit within you to change your
38:11
affections. He reiterates that immediate
38:13
radical change is possible today.
38:15
He points back to the biblical examples.
38:17
The Samaritan woman came to the well as an ignorant, immoral
38:20
Sinner and went home a new creature, an evangelist, to her
38:23
town. The Philippian jailer woke up a
38:25
brutal Pagan and went to sleep a baptized, rejoicing child of
38:29
God. There is no reason someone
38:31
listening to this audio right now cannot give up their sins,
38:34
lay hold of Christ and pass from death to life today.
38:37
The gate is open right now. And for those who have already
38:40
passed through, those who are inside the gate, Ryle has a
38:44
heavy request for them too. He asks them to become
38:47
missionaries in their own circles.
38:49
You do not have to travel to a foreign land, cross an ocean, or
38:53
learn a new language to be a missionary.
38:55
You need a missionary spirit right where you sit in your
38:58
office, in your neighborhood, at your family dinner table.
39:01
He pulls examples from the Gospel of John to show how this
39:04
naturally happens. When someone truly discovers
39:07
grace, it spreads organically. When Andrew was converted, his
39:11
first instinct was to go and find his brother Peter and say
39:14
we have found the Messiah. When Philip was converted, he
39:18
immediately went and found Nathaniel.
39:20
When the Samaritan woman was converted, she left her water
39:23
pot, went back into the city and brought everyone out to meet
39:26
Jesus. Grace is in apparently
39:28
commutative. I love the mathematical
39:30
calculation Raul shares to close out his thoughts.
39:33
It is a fascinating thought experiment.
39:35
He says he heard it calculated that if every living believer
39:38
brought just one single soul to Christ each year, just one
39:41
person, the entire human race, would be converted in less than
39:45
20 years through geometric progression.
39:48
Whether the math accounts for population growth or geographic
39:52
isolation is completely beside the point.
39:54
The thought experiment proves a massive spiritual truth.
39:57
How much more could be accomplished if Christians
40:00
worked while it was still day? It highlights the massive,
40:03
untapped potential of a church full of people who are zealous
40:07
to do good, who actually believe the door is going to shut, and
40:10
who warn their neighbors with tears.
40:12
It changes how you view the people you interact with
40:14
everyday. Your Co workers, your family
40:16
members, the person pouring your coffee.
40:18
You realize you were interacting with immortal souls who are
40:21
either resting inside the safety of the gate or standing outside,
40:24
completely exposed in the path of the coming judgement.
40:28
It demands A deeper sense of responsibility from the
40:30
believer. Ryle urges believers to watch
40:33
for opportunities to speak a word in due season.
40:36
He asks who can tell what a word spoken in faith and prayer might
40:40
do? It might seem small to you, but
40:43
the Holy Spirit can use it as the turning point in someone's
40:46
eternal history. We have covered a massive amount
40:49
of theological ground today. We looked at the vast chasm
40:52
created by total depravity and the incredible, costly
40:56
architecture of the straight gate built by Christ's own
40:59
blood. We examine why the gate is
41:01
narrow, permanently excluding the proud, the lazy, and the
41:04
lovers of the world. We face the absolute necessity
41:07
of self exertion, the command to use the means of grace to strive
41:11
against our own fallen nature. And the terrifying danger of
41:14
nominal lazy Christianity that acts like a spiritual
41:18
subscription service. We confronted the awful reality
41:21
that one day the door will shut, the arrow of grace will end, and
41:24
the values of this world will crash entirely.
41:27
I want to leave you with a final thought drawn directly from
41:29
Rile's text, a detail we touched on, but that man's your full
41:33
attention as we close. Rile notes an incredible fact
41:36
about the threshold of this straight gate.
41:38
He says the footsteps on the threshold of the gate all point
41:41
in One Direction. Think about the gravity of that
41:43
observation. Millions have passed through it,
41:46
kings and peasants, murderers and moralists.
41:49
What? No one has ever entered that
41:50
gate, met Christ, experienced the forgiveness of their sins,
41:55
and then decided to walk back out because they regretted the
41:58
decision. No one regrets taking up His
42:01
cross when they see the beauty of the Savior.
42:04
The footsteps only go in. Look at your own schedule.
42:07
Look at your habits, your bank statements, your Internet
42:09
history. Look at your daily routine
42:12
tomorrow morning. Which way are your footsteps
42:14
pointing? Are you walking the broad,
42:16
comfortable Rd. toward a door that will soon shut forever?
42:19
Or are you actively striving, fighting your own flesh to cross
42:22
the only threshold that guarantees life?
42:25
Are you inside or are you outside?
42:27
That is the ultimate question of self exertion.
42:29
Keep thinking, keep striving, and keep your eyes on the gate.