The Narrow Path (Matthew 7:13-29)

Introduction

From the beginning, God created a people in his image and likeness for a mission. He created them to multiply and fill the earth and then to subdue it. This mission was then subverted by the fall of man and sin entering the world.

God’s rule over his people was thrown aside. Sin increased. But then God chose one man for himself, Abraham. And to Abraham came the promise to be a blessing to the nations. And from Abraham the promise spread to Isaac and then to Jacob and then to the tribes of Israel.

Israel would be saved in Egypt from famine, but then be enslaved. Following 400 years of being enslaved, the Lord delivered this people from the hand of Pharaoh by the hand of Moses.

The LORD saw to strike the Egyptians with 10 plagues, and then finally delivering them on dry ground through the Red Sea. The people praised God.

The people then arrived at Mount Sinai where they were given the law of God, not only the 10 commandments, but the whole of how they were to live together as the chosen people of God. They were called to agree to this covenant. But while Moses was up on the mountain the people rebelled, building a golden calf. Had Moses not interceded for them, the Lord would have struck all of Israel down.

As time went, the people doubted God and were left wandering for 40 years in the wilderness. After 40 years, prior to their entering the promised land, the law and instructions were re-read for the people of Israel. And they were warned that if they would hear and obey, they would be blessed. But if they refused to hear, they would be cursed.

We read this in Deut 30:15-20

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 ESV

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

The covenant of God was made clear, that God’s favor was to be shown to the people of Israel, and their covenant commitment was to be to hear and obey.

Of course, if we know our Bibles, then we know that this did not happen. The people in the days of the Judges did what was right in their own eyes. Then King Saul was chosen, and he lead the people poorly in the ways of the LORD.

Then came King David, and he was a man after God’s own heart. He likely the author of Psalm 1 again draws these lines. That the blessed are those who delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on it day and night, but cursed are those who walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of scoffers.

David lead the people to seek the LORD. But after David, it was not long before the people rejected to hear and obey God’s word. Solomon did for a short time, but that would not last for long. Then an ongoing pattern of many kings doing wrong or not according to their fathers, leading Israel further and further away from their God who had made a firm covenant promise with them. A covenant broken by their rebellion.

Fast forward, and this leads to the making of a new and better covenant, a covenant that Jesus has been teaching in the Sermon on the Mount which we will conclude this morning, along with this first part of our study of the gospel according to Matthew. We will pick back up its study, Lord willing this fall.

As Jesus has been teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, here are the blessed in the beatitudes, here is how you are to live in greater righteousness and enter the kingdom, here is how you are to trust the Lord and not be anxious along the way. But with all of this teaching being given, the time has come, how will those who hear respond. Will they hear and obey, entering into a faithful covenant with the LORD or will they not hear, proving they are unfaithful? That is what we are going to see this morning from our text of Matthew 7:13-29.

At this time I would like to invite you to open your copy of the Bible to Matthew 7:13-29. If you do not have a copy of the Bible, know you will be aided to take that Red book in front of you, our Pew Bible. You can find our passage on page #….

Keeping this open will help you as I am going to be pointing over and over again to these verses.

Let us then hear from the word of the LORD. We a going to read Matthew 7:13-8:1…

Here is what I think the main idea of Matthew 7:13-29 is, “In his great authority, King Jesus has drawn clear lines defining who is in and out of his kingdom. Therefore we must soberly and carefully examine ourselves in light of these lines.” We are going to unfold this in 4 points: (1) two paths, (2) two fruits, (3) two works, and (4) two foundations.

Point #1: Two Paths (Matthew 7:13-14)

There are two paths here for us to consider, one is broad and easy while the other is narrow and hard. But the two paths are not leading to the same place. One leads to life and the other to destruction. Matthew 7:13-14…

The gate that is wide is the popular way. It is the way that many will choose, for as Jesus says, it is the easy path. It is the easy path because it is the path where our hearts are not challenged, where we are left free to follow the desires of our heart. And our hearts desires are tainted by sin. So our hearts desire sinful things, sinful pleasures. And as one travels the wide path, they are encouraged along the way to continue following their heart. To continue living for self and self-glory. And though the masses take this path, though it is easy in that their is the least resistance, its end must be seen, for its end is destruction. Its end is that of eternal judgment and separation from God for all eternity.

The opposite gate, the narrow gate though, it is the hard path. It is hard because this path is a path few will take. It is the path that is mocked. It is the path that is hard, because it is doing a transforming work on us within along the way. It is doing a heart work to change our hearts from the inside out. For in it we are being sanctified through the fire to be shaped more and more into the image of Christ. It is a hard path, because we are called to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus, that is we are daily called to die to self.

These are the two paths put before us, and we must choose this day which path we will follow.

Will we choose the path of least resistance, the easy and popular path or will we choose the narrow and hard way?

It is important for Jesus to make this clear to us. For many we have missed the call of discipleship. We have made discipleship about Jesus making all things better in the here and now, and that is not how Jesus presents the path of following him.

He makes plain to us that to follow him is not an easy way, that it is hard. He also makes plain that the masses will reject this path, that few will follow it. Friends, we need to rethink the way we teach and preach the gospel. To quote a dear brother, “We need to share the gospel the way Jesus did. By making discipleship clear.”

For when we make discipleship clear as a hard road, we are not tempted to follow Jesus for the wrong reasons. For if Jesus is the means to greater prosperity, wealth, freedom, enjoyment, then we have made Jesus something he is not.

Jesus is the savior who has come to take away the sins of the world, and to give us life in himself. And therefore if we desire to live and be reconciled to our Heavenly Father, we must enter the narrow gate. And though it will be hard, seeing the end is life, life in Christ! Because he is a great Savior who brings those dead in sin to life!

Friend, if you are here this morning and you are one who sits dead in your sin, hear this, Jesus is inviting even you to consider the path you are on and change course. He is inviting you to see the narrow gate and enter it, to stop following the crowds, and come to him. Come to Jesus this morning and live.

And Christian, this too is a warning for us. A warning to not be mislead in thinking the way of Christianity will ever be the popular path.

R.T. France in his commentary puts it this way:

The Gospel of Matthew a. Scene 1: The Broad and Narrow Roads (7:13–14)

Matthew’s Jesus does not seem to envisage the general conversion of society; those on the road to life are only those few who have “found” it.

This should not discourage us then as we find ourselves in the minority. This is the norm that our King Jesus has taught us. Therefore let us not grow weary in sharing the gospel. Let us keep pressing on and sharing it, calling people to enter in the narrow gate that leads to life, life that can only come through Jesus!

Point #2: Two Fruits (Matthew 7:15-20)

Because the way of Christ is hard, there will be those who will enter into our midst as those of old. Those who would seek to enter in and cry peace, peace, when there is no peace. They seek to enter in and pervert justice and righteousness. They seek to pervert the way, trying to persuade us that the way of Christ can be a wider and easier way.

They enter trying to persuade us that we can be of Christ and the world. That we can follow our hearts, Christ wants us to be happy in whatever way we think right.

And they do this by entering our midst, dressed like us. But in reality, they are not of us. For they are ravenous wolves seeking to devour and destroy us. Verse 15…

We as Christians are as sheep under the care of the Great Shepherd, Jesus. And the reality is there are enemies that love to prey on sheep. They love to hunt them down and isolate them and devour them.

These ravenous wolves love to try and disguise themselves and enter our midst to lead astray until they are able to trap us and destroy us in our pursuit of the narrow way. But our great Shepherd here in the Sermon calls us to beware and gives us the way to recognize the imposter, by their fruit. Verse 16…

The expected answers to the question of are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles is of course not, its impossible. And the same is being then said here about these false prophets that we are to beware. For if we examine the fruit of those prophesying or teaching, then it will become absolutely clear if they are true or false. Verses 17-18…

A healthy tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree will bear bad fruit. Its simple as that. And so a false prophet will not bear good fruit in his life. He may for a time deceive, give off a false impression, but overtime he will not habitually be able to keep up the deception. His fruit will be exposed.

These false prophets, these bad trees are not good for anything and they are to be tossed out quickly once exposed. Verses 19-20…

Beloved, we must beware the false prophets that are among us in the day. We must not give them an audience. They are to be cast out and avoided.

Church, we are in a day when often we are more persuaded by teachers who have charisma in their teaching, able to captivate and keep a large following, who love to give pep talks, but lack Godly character. They lack the fruit of the Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

And even more, we follow teachers that fail to meet the Biblical Qualifications of an elder/teacher/preach as laid out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:4-9.

We, the church, must then learn to guard the gospel from false teachers. We must labor to ensure that we are not persuaded by these false prophets, these ravenous wolves. We must examine their fruit and no if one is true or false.

But it must be added, false prophets don’t simply come as those as preachers and teachers. These false prophets can come as those who declare to have a word from the LORD and be mislead themselves. Those who declare they are workers for God’s kingdom while bearing bad fruit in their own lives. Let us beware of giving attention to such people proclaiming to speak on behalf of our King. For our King has cared for us in calling us to examine the fruit of such prophets to know if they are good or bad. For we will know them by their fruits.

Point #3: Two Works (Matthew 7:21-23)

Verse 21…

Where the false prophets knowingly labored to deceive, there are many who are deceived into thinking themselves to be right with the LORD who on the last day will find out that they are not. These are those who even rightly acknowledge Jesus as Lord. But because they fail to do the will of the Father, they will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. They will not enter the narrow gate and live.

There are many who would declare themselves to be Christian, to do many religious activities and think themselves to be right with Jesus. But here the continued warning here, verses 22-23…

We can prophesy in Jesus name, we can do many mighty acts in Jesus name, but unless we are known by Jesus and doing the will of his Father, we will be told to depart from Jesus in final judgment.

Religiosity does not save. We may attend church, do many good works, be kind, generous, but if we fail to truly repent of our sins and believe in Christ, and live holy and humble lives, we have not yet been born again in Christ. And are in great need of being awakened by this warning that not everyone who says Lord will be saved.

This should cause all of us to tremble and to seek to examine ourselves carefully at what our salvation rests in. It must not be in an empty profession in Jesus, but a deep seated, life transforming belief in Jesus that changes everything.

Point #4: Two Foundations (Matthew 7:24-27)

The final part of Jesus drawing clear lines comes in hearing and obey, much like that back in Deuteronomy. Will we hear and obey the commands of our Triune God? Will we hear and obey tells us on what foundation we build our house. Verse 24…

The one who hears and obeys is like the blessed man of Psalm 1 who delights in the law of the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night, who does the law, allowing it to work within.

This call to hear and obey is not a call to perfect obedience, but a regular pattern of obedience. And a pattern of repentance when we become aware of disobedience in our lives. It are those who live in such a pattern have chosen the wise path, the wise way of life. For they have built the foundation of their house on the foundation of Christ, the solid rock. The foundation of Christ as King and they his servants.

For while Jesus is friend of sinners, while he is compassionate and kind, we must remember that he is King, he is the one we are to hear and obey in these commands. For if we will hear and obey, we shall not be moved by false prophets, by trials, by tribulations, we will stand firm until the end. Verse 25…

Conclusion (Matthew 7:28-8:1)