Power in the Pulpit | Matthew 7:13–20

Intro: Good evening I hope you all are doing well. I know i said several weeks ago that our Annie Armstrong offering would be tonight, but we are going to wait until next week to collect it so that we could use this week to serve as a reminder. If you have a Bible with you tonight, we are going to be looking at Matthew 7:13-20. It’s been almost a month since we had The Walk, so let’s do a quick recap. What is the name of the sermon Jesus is giving that we have been looking at over the course of the last few months. Good job. We only have two more weeks left in the SOTM. After next, week, will be moving on to something else. As Jesus ends the message, he begins to turn his attention to eternity, to one’s salvation. Several years ago, there was a very well known, “pastor” and I use that term loosely, that was doing an interview with the Washington Post, one of the most well known newspapers in the country. He was asked by the reporter about whether or not those who were not believers in Jesus Christ could go to heaven. He replied, “I don’t claim to understand who’s all going to Heaven. I just believe and I teach in all my messages that when you have a relationship with Christ — that’s the reason why He came, to have a relationship with him that is the guarantee from Heaven. People don’t all believe like me; they see it bigger. I believe God’s mercy is very big. I thank God I’m not the judge of who gets to come.” The church that this man is pastors has about 45,000 attendees each week and is broadcast in 100 countries. With this incredible platform, he could not answer about what happens to those who don’t believe in Christ. I suggest to you tonight that when we look at Jesus’ words, he is very clear. The main idea of tonight’s text is that there is one difficult road to Christ and we must beware of anybody that teaches otherwise. Tonight we will look at the two paths, those who teach falsely, and the destination for those that do. As we do every Sunday night, please stand as we honor the reading of God’s Word.

Verses 13-14

Exposition: Jesus starts out by saying in verses 13 and 14 Matthew 7:13–14 ““Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” He tells us that their are two gates. You see Jesus is very clear here. There are no other options, and the two options that exist are known. You see, there is no ambiguity or confusion about this. Jesus doesn’t say that nobody knows how many options there are. No, there are two. He also shows that there is great contrast in the two gates and where they lead based on the descriptions he gives of them and the destinations to which they lead. There is one narrow gate and one wide gate. He then goes and tells us even greater descriptions of these two gates. The first is that of the wide gate. Not only is the wide gate easy, but the path is easy. Jesus even says that a lot of people that enter it are many.

Illustration: How many of you like to hike? I really like to hike. If you have ever been to a state park that has a lot of hiking. You usually see on the trail maps a grade for how difficult the hike is. When you find hikes that are easy, the path you walk on is usually flat and wide. Anybody that can walk, can walk on these paths. And they usually attract the largest crowd, which makes sense. But another thing that is true about those hikes, they don’t usually go anywhere worth seeing. Maybe they come to a creek or something like that, but usually they just end up right back to where they started. And the same is true here.

Exposition: Jesus says the gate is wide, that means there is nothing you have to leave behind. It means there is nothing you have to change because the path is easy. But what is the destination? The destination is destruction. Now, Jesus does not give us more than that right here about what he is talking about. But I think we get the point. If you were at a state park and you walked up on a trail and you asked a park ranger where that trail went, if he told you destruction, you probably wouldn’t say, “that sounds interesting, let’s go check that out.” No, you would know that whatever was coming was not good.

Application: Wide is the gate, easy is the path that leads to destruction and those who enter it are many. This is a scary verse. It is scary to think that when compared to the amount of people that will find life, the amount who find destruction is many. But this shouldn’t surprise us. We know we are in the minority. In fact, you feel it when you are in school every day. And what keeps most people on that path, well, it’s an easier life.

Exposition: Why is it an easier path, because we know that the path to life is not easy. Jesus says in verse 14 Matthew 7:14 “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” The gate is narrow. John Stott, whose commentary on the Sermon On the Mount I have leaned on heavily as we have been going through it. He writes, “"The gate leading to the hard way, on the other hand, is narrow. One has to look for it to find it. It is easy to miss....Further, in order to enter it, we must leave everything behind-sin, selfish ambition, covetousness, even if necessary family and friends. For no-one can follow Christ who has not first denied himself. The entry is also a turnpike gate: it has to be entered one by one. How can we find it? It is Jesus Christ himself. 'I am the door,' he said, 'if any one enters by me, he will be saved.' We can’t save ourselves. There’s not enough good things we can do to make ourselves right with God. But we have to surrender our lives to Christ. And that’s not an easy thing to do. Just the belief that we aren’t good enough is a lot. People try so hard to make themselves righteous. They can’t leave their pride behind long enough to confess their need for Jesus so they can’t do it, so they aren’t able to enter through the narrow gate. Others don’t want to leave certain sins or ways of life behind. Maybe they can’t bring themselves to follow Jesus because they are carrying around the need to please family or friends, so they can’t enter through the gate. Jesus also tells us that the way is hard. This word that in our translations is translated as hard, can also mean afflicted. If you were not at church this morning or if you weren’t in the service for some reason, I would encourage you to go back and listen to Pastor Matthew’s sermon. I thought it was really really good. But one of the things that he talked about is that being a witness for Christ will bring suffering. And he’s 100% right. Scripture is very clear that following Christ will bring trials. There will be friends and family who don’t understand you. There are going to be times where God asks you to do something that ‘s really hard. Maybe you have to leave behind old relationships. Maybe God calls you away from home as a missionary. Maybe God calls you to be close to somebody walking through brokenness, or maybe the enemy puts you through spiritual warfare to try and break you. Whatever the case may be, it won’y be easy. But it will be worth it because it does not lead to destruction, but it leads to life. The end of the path is eternal life with Christ Jesus. That is worth everything you will endure. But few will find it because the only way is through Christ Jesus and so many people will not walk that path.

Illustration: In August 2022, Morgan Amelia and I went with Morgan’s parents to Hawaii. We had booked flights to Italy right before COVID hit and ended up having to get flight vouchers. The price to Italy was too high after that and we went to Hawaii instead. Our first day there, we took our jet lagged selves to Hike what is called the Nepali Coast. We were so tired, that we didn’t even bother to go get the amount of water we needed to do this hike. And as we were on the bus ride there, they told us that we were going to need like a gallon of water each to be able to make this hike. We had one bottle to share. And let me tell you, this hike was hard. The hike was four miles one way. But that wasn’t the worst part. It starts at the bottom of the mountain, and goes up 800 feet to the top of the mountain. Then it starts descending again and takes you to this bitty beach. But, the only way back, was to go where we came from. So we did the exact same thing again. The hike is literally up hill both ways. But here are some of the pictures from it. It was hard, but this is what it led to. The path to Jesus is hard, but it leads to life.

Transition: What Jesus says here should be pretty clear. The gate to destruction is wide and crowded. It’s an easy trip. The way to life comes with affliction and is narrow. Not as many people will be there. But Jesus goes on and warns that there will be some that say this is not so.

Verses 15-18

Verse 15

Exposition: Jesus says in verse 15 Matthew 7:15 ““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” False prophets were not something new to the people of God. If you read the Old Testament, they were common. What they typically did, is that when the people of God had turned away and God’s judgement was coming, they would refute God’s faithful prophets by saying not to worry, they could keep doing what they were doing and God’s judgement was not coming. But it was false. The people who were false prophets were not from a far away land who knew nothing about Israel’s God. No, they were people that everyone assumed knew what they were talking about. You see, the people that are false prophets today and pose the most risk to young people like yourself are those who act like they are speaking a message from God, but in reality they are not. Maybe they preach in a way to get many listeners so they can gain a following and benefit financially. Maybe they do it so that they can get the ear of politicians and benefit in that way. For whatever reason, they are saying something that is not true for their benefit and at the expense of all who follow them. It is for this reason that Jesus calls them wolves in sheep's. clothing. What they preach is something other than what brings life. What they are preaching is something other than the true message of Christ.

Verses 16-18

Verse 16: Jesus goes on to point out how we can know that somebody is a false prophet. He says in verses 16-18, Matthew 7:16–18 “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” He says that we can recognize a tree by it’s fruit. No matter what a tree or plant looks like, we can tell a lot about it by what kind of fruit it puts out. We can know if it is what it says it is or if it is truly healthy.

Illustration: There is a movie that came out before any of you were born, which kills me every time to say. It’s called Second Hand Lion. In the movie, there is this boy who has a mom who is

What are the fruits

Teaching

Character

Transition: But what is at stake? I mean, isn’t it better to speak this way than to be rude? Well, Jesus has something to say about that.

Verses 19-20

False teachers will get the punishment they deserve

We will see then how false their teachings were.

Conclusion: On Wednesday nights when we do Bible Study, the guys are use to hearing me ask a question. Everybody gets to hear it when I do Sunday school. I ask, “Does anybody have any questions, comments rebuttals?” People always get a laugh when I ask if anybody has any rebuttals. But the reason I ask is because I want students to understand they have a right to rebut anything I say that is not based on scripture. But folks, is your knowledge of Scripture good enough to rebut a false teaching? Have you considered scripture enough to know what you believe? If you have never given your life to Christ because you have never thought more about the two roads, I encourage you to do that tonight. If you are not spending regular time in God’s Word, in encourage you tonight to begin that process. Begin to study God’s Word.