Strait Talk
(Matthew 7:7-14)
By
Note: The text below was prepared for oral delivery
rather than for publication in print. As
such, be aware that sentence fragments are intentionally used and that this
document has not been edited to correct the errors in grammar, sentence
structure, etc.
I.
Introduction
Today
we will be continuing our study on the Sermon on the Mount so turn again to
Matthew, chapter 7. Our text for today
is Matthew 7, verses 7-14. If you were
here last week, you may recall that we actually already looked at part of this
passage in some detail; however due to time constraints, the first part of this
morning’s message will be somewhat of a continuation of the study we began last
week.
As
always, today I hope to accurately point you to Christ as He is revealed in the
scriptures and I desire to be as clear as possible. I want to shoot straight with you. And I’ve titled today’s message “Strait
Talk.” But while I certainly desire to
talk clear and without ambiguity, this title is actually taken from verses 13
& 14 of our text which speaks of the “strait gate,” spelled S-T-R-A-I-T, not
referring to something linear but to a narrow way. As some of you know, I have used this play on
words before. But all of that aside, it
is my desire to talk strait (S-T-R-A-I-T) because I want to point you to Christ
who is the strait gate.
So,
picking up where we left off last week, look with me in Matthew 7:7 where
Christ continues in His Sermon on the Mount saying:
“Ask, and it shall
be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8For
every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened. 9Or what man is there of you, whom if
his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10Or if he ask a fish,
will he give him a serpent? 11If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask him?
12Therefore
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them: for this is the law and the prophets.
13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Last
week, I spent a great deal of time showing why I believe that Christ was
staying right on subject here in this portion of His sermon by emphasizing the
context in which He had been speaking and continued to speak. He’s sticking with the theme of His Sermon,
the Gospel of the kingdom, that dominion, rule, or reign – grace reigning
through righteousness (Romans
As
always, know that when I speak of this way of righteousness, the righteousness
of God, I’m referring to that which Christ alone accomplished in His life and
death by making perfect satisfaction to God’s justice (perfect obedience even
unto death – satisfying the law’s precepts (sinless obedience) as well as
paying the penalty for imputed sins – the sins of all those for whom He died
that were laid upon Him.
Now
we covered verses 7-11 last week; however, as I’ve indicated, I would like to
share some additional thoughts and related scriptures that I believe give us
even greater clarity, particularly with regards to Christ’s bold statements in
verses 7 and 8 that make it clear that “…every one that asketh receiveth; and he that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Here we can conclude that if we
understand of whom and for what we are to ask for, what we are to seek, and the
door upon which we are to knock, and act accordingly, we know that we shall
receive it, find it, and that the door shall be opened. And we saw how in verses 9 and 10, Christ put
God’s character as a loving Father on the line here in asserting that if you
sinners (“being evil”) know how to give good gifts to your children, “How much
more shall the heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him.” He obviously means it when He declares – seek
and find!
Much
of this was covered in last week’s message, the one titled, “Ask, Seek, &
Knock.” And if you weren’t here, I
encourage you to acquire a copy of that message, since today’s message will be
very complimentary to it and somewhat of a continuation of it.
Today,
I’d like to take a few minutes to elaborate some more on how these assertions
here in verses 7& 8 are to be understood.
Keep in mind from last week that we know from the immediate context, as
well as from the message of Christ and salvation by grace as set forth in all
the scriptures, that any sinner who does receive, find, and have the door of
God’s eternal blessings opened unto them, discovers God’s way of salvation – a
way that excludes the asking, seeking, and knocking as having any causal
role in receiving these blessings. While
it’s clear that all who find shall seek, they do not find, because they
seek.
Christ
teaches us in John 6:44 that apart from God’s intervention, we cannot come to
Him, proving that we will not of our own accord ask, seek, and knock
according to God’s way of salvation (conditioned on Christ alone. You see, the asking, seeking, and knocking
are the fruits and effects of what He accomplished for us – the gift of faith
and repentance that He procured for us.
Christ bought this gift for His people – not the other way around.
If
you’ll think back to our study on the initial part of Christ’s Sermon in
chapter 5, the Beatitudes, the verses which all began, “Blessed are…”, you’ll
recall how we established that those various descriptions of the eternally
blessed were not conditions but rather evidences. For example, He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
and we established that they aren’t eternally blessed because they are
poor in spirit, but rather being poor in spirit is an evidence characteristic
of those who are eternally blessed – because they’ve been eternally
blessed. Likewise, and complementary to
our text today, we read, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness…” and we established that they aren’t eternally
blessed because they hunger and thirst after righteousness, but rather
that’s what one does who has been blessed of God – they earnestly ask,
diligently seek and persistently knock for nothing else will do – they’ve been
given a hunger and a thirst after righteousness.
To
support that further, consider Romans
Now
some accept the indisputable fact that God is sovereign in all things,
including salvation. Thereby, they rightly
conclude that their own efforts to seek God would have no causal role in the
finding. They recognize that God’s
purpose shall come to past. But some
react to this truth by choosing the path of fatalism in defiance to God’s
commands for us to ask, seek, and knock.
They deny man’s responsibility, reasoning, “If it’s really all of God,
why should I do anything?” That’s a
natural reaction but think about it. Isn’t
that mindset a reflection of the natural mind’s sinful, self-serving
determination that I will only act if my actions gain something for me? Such fatalistic reasoning is accompanied by
the sinful assumption that there is no valid motive for me to seek or do
anything beyond that which would be self-serving. And so they ignore His commands to seek
salvation God’s way in rebellion against God and in defiance of the clear
commands of scripture. Instead, in
recognition to God’s sovereignty, we should be encouraged to bow down and plead
for His mercy – and in the scriptures, that’s the description of all those who
ultimately will inhabit His kingdom.
In
Romans 9 we read how the Israelites of old sought after God but their efforts were
futile because they sought it “by the works of the law” as all of us do unless
and until the Holy Spirit gives us life. Once again we see that all religion fits
into one of two categories – the religion of works or the religion of
grace.
To
seek salvation conditioned on the merits of Christ alone, His righteousness is
the religion of grace. This is God’s way
of salvation. Any other way makes
salvation conditioned on the sinner, the religion of works, and is equivalent
to seeking after God “by the works of the law.”
It really is that simple. Seeking
God based upon grounds He has excluded shall prove to be a fruitless search. But seek ye first the
Now
I also wanted to speak some more about the sense we are to take from these
commands, the sinner’s responsibility to ask, seek, and knock. As we discussed last week, we’re to ask of God
in recognition that salvation is of the Lord, bowing to His sovereignty in
salvation. As such, this asking takes on
the connotation of an earnest plea for mercy.
Likewise, when He says to “seek,” I believe this indicates a diligent
determination that God places in our hearts.
It implies more than simply, I’ll ask God and then sit back and see if
it’s in the cards for me. That’s not how
God describes those that He’s already blessed in Christ. As I just mentioned, we learned from the
first part of Christ’s sermon in chapter 5 that God gives a hunger and thirst
for His righteousness that would be evidenced by a diligent seeking.
And lastly, He says “knock.” I believe this is descriptive of beggars who knock at the door and will not go away. They will not be denied. I think there’s a good illustration of this in Matthew 15 so be turning there. You almost get the sense that it is though the earnest asker and diligent seeker is now confronted by a closed door. God is not begging the sinner. Rather the sinner is the one reduced to begging, having been blessed to find He is among the “poor in spirit” with nothing to commend himself unto God. He needs mercy. And the sense of this is that it is if Christ is saying, “Even so, be not discouraged, continue your quest, knock – for it shall be opened.”
To
illustrate this, let’s consider the story in Matthew 15 of the Canaanite woman
who cried unto our Lord to help her daughter.
There it reads beginning in verse 22:
“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried
unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and
besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24But
he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. 25Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26But he answered and said, It is not meet (or a good or proper thing) to take the children’s bread,
and to cast it to dogs. 27And
she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their
masters’ table. 28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman,
great is thy faith: be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Now
this doesn’t present a picture of a pleading Savior, anxiously waiting to enter
your heart as (regrettably) I and so many others used to sing in that popular
invitational song. Notice that initially
our Lord didn’t even answer her and when He finally did He repeated words similar
to what He said in the text we looked at last week, Matthew 7:5, where He instructed
them not to give that which is holy unto the dogs.
But
this Canaanite woman had no other option.
She knew she needed the crumbs.
God irresistibly calls His people and they beg for mercy at His feet. They discover they have no other hope but
that God be merciful to them, the sinner.
God’s not the beggar. Instead,
the blessed of God are brought to fall at His feet and plead for the mercy
found in Christ alone, and worship Him.
And there, in Christ, they find their relief – their need is met.
I
believe this is an excellent picture of one who is knocking at the door of
Christ, so convinced by God’s Spirit of their need for Christ and the
imputation of the righteousness He produced, that they have no where else to go
– and so they knock with determination as one who will not be deterred from
entering in this one, sure way.
Now,
picking up where we left off from last week, direct your attention to verse 12
of Matthew 7. I want us to see the sense in which this verse,
commonly known as the Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12, fits in the context of this
passage, since at the first reading, it would seem to be a one verse diversion
away from the flow of this passage.
There in verse 12 we read, “Therefore all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law
and the prophets.” Notice the verse begins with
“therefore…” and I believe it’s there in this context for a purpose.
If
you’ll remember the flow of this section of Christ’s sermon, He had begun in
verses 1-5 speaking of matters of eternal judgment – of the standard of
judgment and He mentions of the analogy of the “beam” in the eye of
understanding which must be removed if one is to be qualified to deal with the
“motes” in the eyes of others. That is,
until one is blessed by God to see the necessity of the righteousness of God established
by Christ alone and adopt that, God’s standard of judgment, as their own – they
are not qualified to relate to others the remedy for their sin problems. And then in verse 6, He says, as if to those
who have been so blessed, don’t cast your pearls before swine – don’t share
this blessed truth with those who you know want nothing to do with it. And then, beginning in verse 7, as if to
those who might be thinking, “but what if I’m interested,” He says, Ask, seek, and knock and it shall be
given, found, and opened. And He
supports that in verses 9-11, bringing us to this verse 12 which begins
“therefore…”
Now Christ makes clear
that this is a broad, sweeping command when He says “…for this is the law and the
prophets.” Remember that in
Matthew 22, Christ summarized the law by stating that we are to love God
perfectly and, secondly, to love our neighbor as ourselves and He says, “On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” So, we know that His referral here in Matthew 7 to
that portion of the law that pertains to dealing with our fellow man is to be
applied broadly. But in this context, I
believe the specific application pertains to treating others how we would want
to be treated with regards to the ministry of the Gospel, speaking again of the
wisdom we’re to use. Whereas, in verse 6
He instructed them to not share this valuable truth with one who shows
animosity towards it, He then encourages those who are interested beginning in
Matthew 7 to seek Him.
So I believe here that
the application in its immediate context is that we should treat others how we
would want to be treated in witnessing and sharing this most precious truth – the
Gospel of the kingdom. If you don’t want
something, wouldn’t you prefer to be left alone and not have it pushed on
you? And likewise, if you’re seeking
something, wouldn’t you want others who have already discovered the truth to be
ready to give an answer? Why of course
and if God’s gospel of sovereign grace has been revealed to you, you’re
grateful for those used by God to communicate His way of salvation to you. I know I am!
I believe this application
of Christ’s words here in verse 12 helps us to see how it fits in the context
of this section of Christ’s sermon.
Nevertheless, as I’ve said, this verse does reference the summary of the
law and as such, it again amplifies how we are absolutely unable to abide by it
with the strict perfection required before a holy God. And of course, the broader context is also consistent
with the overall message – with that which Christ was conveying earlier in the
sermon when in Matthew 5:17 when He said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: (see the same phrase) I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil.” We’re reminded even
here, that there is no merit in our very best efforts. We should strive to act in accordance with
this, God’s revealed will, but not in order to gain or maintain favor with God
thereby – that’s the work Christ came to do – He came to fulfill the law and
the prophets. We dare not assign any
merit to our very best efforts to follow this golden rule for that would place
our own self-righteousness in rivalry with the only righteousness which
satisfies God, that of the Lord our righteousness.
Turn
with me now to Luke 13 before we move onto verses 13 and 14 in our text
today. I believe this discourse with
Christ will help us see the connection between the “seeking” described in
verses 7 and 8 and the command of verse 13 to enter in at the “strait
gate.” Look at verse 23 of Luke 13. There our Lord was asked, “Lord,
are there few that be saved? (Here we see that He is discussing
salvation itself). And he said unto them
<in vs. 24>, 24Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say
unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” How does this square with “Seek and find” as
set forth here in today’s text? It is
true that many seek after eternal life yet fail to find it. Can one actually seek to enter into
fellowship with God yet not be able? Our
Lord’s own words in Luke 13 say just that.
Yet
we have a command and an encouragement to “strive” to enter in God’s way (“the
strait gate”) while making it clear that many will seek to enter in yet not be
able. From other passages we learn that
this inability is derived from a refusal to seek salvation God’s way. Paul told Timothy concerning religious men
that “…the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;…”
See they were religious – but they will not endure sound doctrine – God’s truth
– His way of salvation. They want in,
but not God’s way.
Simply
desiring salvation and fellowship with God, in and of itself, will not insure
an effectual search for the truth. That’s
not the same as searching for Christ – the way. We must seek the truth—salvation God’s
way, to the exclusion of any other. Who
then seeks to enter into fellowship with God but is unable? Answer:
The sinner who seeks salvation or strives to gain favor with God based
upon anything other than the only basis upon which a holy God is reconciled—the
righteousness of God wrought out by Christ on the cross and freely imputed or
reckoned to the account of all those for whom He died. To strive enter into fellowship with God
based upon anything else is to be as Christ described in Luke 13 – to be unable. It is to fail to find eternal life and favor
with God.
Now with that backdrop, let’s go back to Matthew 7 and
look at verses 13 and 14. There Christ
continues saying, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because
strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it.”
Notice
here He is talking about a “gate” and a “way,” the gate being the entry into
the way. And He speaks of only 2
options. One way leads to destruction,
and the other way leads to life. Now we
know from Luke 13, that He is speaking of eternal life and eternal
destruction. Recall that His command for
them to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” was in response to
their question, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” He’s talking about the “way” of
salvation.
Now
since there are only two destinations, heaven and hell, all shall ultimately
arrive in one or the other. And we know
that even people who are indifferent regarding spiritual or religious things
are proceeding down the road to destruction.
But in this context, I believe Christ is speaking more to religious
folks – those who are consciously choosing a “way” – a way that they believe
shall lead to life eternal. We see this
in the context if you consider the words that follow in verse 15 where He
begins to warn of false prophets and then down in verse 21 He starts to speak
of religious folks who presumed to be on the road to eternal life, but of whom
it is said they shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. We’ll examine those verses in more detail in
future sessions, but for now, I simply want you to see that this further proves
that simply desiring heaven, proceeding down a “way,” does not ensure that
it is God’s way that leads to eternal life.
Now
multitudes of religious people seem to believe that simply being on a road,
being religious and sincerely desiring eternal life puts them on the road to
heaven. But think how foolish! Do you go to the bus station or the airport
and conclude that boarding just any bus or plane will take you to your desired
destination? Oh they may have a few distinctions
that use to describe their “way.” They
may say well you have to believe in God, perhaps even the Bible and Jesus
Christ, but beyond that, most are not seeking after something contrary to their
natural persuasions – not a strait gate or a narrow way.
In
Proverbs
Now
as we consider verses 13 and 14 together, as a point of interest, notice that
verse 14 begins with the word “because.”
And this could be understood in 2 ways.
I think either interpretation is consistent with the truth but since I’m
not convinced one way or the other, I’ll bring them both to your
attention. First, verse 14 may be
understood as amplifying what Christ had said in verse 13. In other words, there are 2 reasons to be
considered why we should enter at the strait gate:
1)
(in vs. 13) – “for”
the other gate (the wide one) and its broad way leads to destruction and
2)
(in vs. 14) – “because”
this strait gate and its narrow way leads to life.
Secondly,
verse 14 may be understood as an explanation of the end of verse 13. That is, that many go in the wide gate “because”
the gate to eternal life is strait (narrow) and few find it. Both of these interpretations are consistent
with the truth being conveyed but since I wasn’t sure of the original intent, I
thought I’d bring both possibilities to your attention.
In
any event, let’s consider these 2 alternative paths: (1) The
wide gate and the broad way that leads to destruction versus (2) The strait
gate and narrow way that leads to life. Often
we hear religious people speak of walking the “straight and narrow” and by this
they mean the way of morality, religious sincerity, reformation, etc. But sadly, in reality more often than not
they are describing the broad way that leads to destruction, not the narrow way
that leads to eternal life, for they imagine these things to merit some favor
before God.
Look
at the adjectives describing this way that leads to destruction. Its entry is called a “wide” gate and the way
is called a “broad” way. And these
descriptions are exact opposites of how Christ describes the way that leads to
everlasting life. So, you would think that
this would make it easy to recognize one from the other, but remember that by
nature “…men loved darkness rather than light,…” (John 3:19).
As
I quoted from Proverbs 16, this way which leads to destruction is the way that
“seemeth right” unto men. So it is wide
and broad in that it is in every way agreeable to the flesh – to our natural
predispositions. It is easy to enter
into. It requires no work of grace in
the heart of the sinner to proceed down this road. It is the religion of works – of salvation
conditioned in some way, to some degree on the sinner – based upon some
requirement that we presume to satisfy.
It is the path we all begin our religious journey on as we mistakenly
presume that our eternal destiny is in our own hands, ultimately a result of
something that we can do or that we are enabled to do.
Isn’t
the first interest in spiritual things accompanied by an inquiry into, “What
must I do in order to be saved?” This
broad road is comprised of travelers who assume that their salvation is
conditioned on something other than, or in addition to, that which Christ alone
merited in His perfect satisfaction to God’s justice. And if we imagine that this, the
righteousness of God in Christ, becomes ours because of (or by means of) any
other way than by God’s merciful, judicial reckoning of it to our account – by the
free imputation of it – then we’re still in league with the religion of works
and on this path to destruction.
This
religious pursuit, called a broad way, is the course of this world. In Ephesians 2:1 we read, “And
you hath he quickened, (given
spiritual life to) who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world, …” So we all begin on this course. You see, it’s a wide gate because it’s easy
to enter – no miraculous quickening needs to take place to enter this wide gate. A dead fish can float with the water down
stream, but only a living one can swim against the current. This broad way is easy because it doesn’t
require a new birth and the resulting radical change to see that the way which
seemed right couldn’t be more wrong. There’s
no real repentance or radical change of heart and mind necessary. This way doesn’t upset your apple cart so to
speak. It’s all downhill. Meet the requirement, do your little part,
and go to heaven – or so we imagine.
We
can see something of just how broad this road to destruction is when we
consider the one common characteristic that is found to be true of every religion
known to man, with only one solitary exception.
You name it, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and – yes – most of so-called
“Christianity” have this one thing in common.
They all seek and expect to attain their concept of eternal bliss based
at least in part upon something done by, in, or through them, the sinner. And that’s the religion of works and as we
learn from Ephesians
Now
note that Christ says of this broad way, “…many there be which go in thereat:” It’s
a crowded road and being wide, it’s attractive to us. We love company and there’s plenty of it on
this road because there’s room for all and all mankind are in it by
nature. And unless and until a miracle
of grace takes place in the sinner’s heart, he has absolutely no desire to be
diverted. But it’s a deceptive
road. As I’ve indicated, those traveling
this broad way have no idea where the road is taking them. It seems right but it leads to
death. It’s an eternally fatal road.
But
what about the strait gate and narrow way that leads to life? Well it is exactly the opposite of the way
that naturally seems right. Strait here does
not mean linear as in a straight line but rather it means a narrow passage
way. A sinner cannot and will not find
this gate unless a miraculous work of grace takes place – unless God draws the
sinner to look to Christ and Him alone for all of their salvation.
This
strait gate is Christ. As we read from
John 10 last week, Christ said He is “…the door of the sheep…” He is the
way.
And
this narrow way is the way of the religion of grace which sets forth that all
of salvation is conditioned on Christ alone with no contribution whatsoever
from the sinner. It is narrow because
there is only one truth and there is no room for any other. This narrow way is the way of righteousness
through another, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, it is narrow for it is the only way that God can be both a just
God and a Savior – not clearing the guilty or dispensing with His justice
in order to save sinners, but rather showing mercy to sinners based upon
satisfaction to justice by the sinner’s substitute – Christ Himself. As Christ said in John 14, “…no man
cometh to the Father, but by me.”
His righteousness must have been charged to my account, just as
my sins must have been laid to His account so that He might put them away and
that I might be found righteous in Him – accepted in the beloved. And nothing else will do. Such is the case for all who travel this
narrow road. And in the death of Christ,
He procured for all those He represented all grace here and glory hereafter –
including the grace of the new birth and the spiritual gift of faith and
repentance that would cause me to enter in at this strait gate.
The
way leading to eternal life is narrow and few find it, but not because sinners
lack the mental capacity to comprehend this way. This way isn’t conditioned on the
sinner. The scriptures declare that God
justifies the ungodly so there is no sinner too sinful to be saved. He declared, “…seek, and ye shall find...” But He also told us what to seek – to
seek the
Christ
does say of this way that leads to life, “…few there be that find it.” There’s not a lot of company on this
road. We prefer large gates, broad ways,
and a lot of company. It’s not a popular
way and so, sinners will not choose it of their own accord. Those who do choose it, have been confronted
with their own sinfulness and therefore their own helplessness to save
themselves. Their world is turned upside
down. They are humbled and brought in spiritually
destitute with nothing to plead but for mercy before this just and holy God –
based upon the satisfaction to His justice made by Christ, the mercy seat.
It
is indeed a narrow way. So why should we strive to enter in that strait
gate? Well for one, we should be
encouraged because of its sure, certain, and exclusive destination – eternal life. In Jeremiah 21:8 we read, “…
Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of
death.” And this is precisely
what our Lord has done here in Matthew 7.
There are but two destinations.
And He began in verse 13 with a command to “Enter ye in at the strait gate...” It must be entered into. In Matthew 18:3, Christ said, “…Verily
I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
And if we’re to enter into this strait or narrow gate, then we have to
jettison all our preconceived ideas and notions and receive the truth as a
little child. And it’s my prayer that
God will so richly bless all who hear this message.
As
we saw back in verse 8 of our text, “…every one that asketh receiveth; and he
that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” So,
strive to enter in at the strait gate!
Footnote from the author: While this sermon was prepared and delivered
by me, I often utilize the commentaries, study helps, and teachings of others
to supplement my own prayerful study of the scriptures. Since this document was not originally
prepared for publication in print, please excuse and recognize that it was
unfeasible to properly identify and credit all of the various original sources
used to develop the content herein.
Ultimately, it is my sincere and foremost objective to accurately
present the gospel of God’s grace found in the only infallible source, God’s
word itself – the Bible.