The Two Gates

Matthew 7:13-14

a. One gate leads to destruction (7:13)

b. Other gate leads to life (7:14)

1. INTRODUCTION

a. Living for Jesus is the most difficult yet joyous life we can live. We know from living this life, it can become very difficult to follow Him. Yet, the calling is that we must follow Him. We must obey Him. Well in this passage, Jesus explains to us the two gates. There are only two roads in life.

b. I think about it through traffic. If you see traffic forming, and you see two paths, one road that allows for many cars to go through or one road that leads to one car at a time, which path will we choose? We will choose the broad road, the road that allows for more than one car to go. Why? Because we don’t want to struggle and lose our time. This is common human understanding and human knowledge. We want and will do whatever is more comfortable for us.

c. With that said, Jesus explains these two paths. One leads to destruction and one leads to life. We will examine what this means.

2. BODY

a. One gate leads to destruction (7:13)

i. Jesus concludes Kingdom ethics from 6:1-7:12. Now Jesus is preparing to close the Sermon on the Mount with the topic of discipleship (제자도). This is an important topic due to the fact that this is the requirement for all believers in Christ. The reality is, when we become believers in Christ, we become disciples. As we become disciples, the mission is to make more disciples.

ii. This is why it makes sense that Jesus speaks of treating others the way you want to be treated in 7:12 because if you are to make disciples, you must be fair to them. You must treat them with respect and love them, the way you want to be loved.

iii. Verse 13 starts with Jesus’s command to enter. We might not think much of this command here, but the main point of Jesus’s teaching is that, all teaching leads to action. All true saving faith goes from knowledge to action. True saving faith is not idle. It does not sit and watch. True saving faith works.

iv. This is why immediately starting the section of discipleship, the first command is you enter. All of you who are disciples of mine, you must enter through the narrow gate. We will come back to the narrow gate because immediately after calling His disciples to come through the narrow gate, He speaks of the wide gate.

v. Jesus explains here that the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. One thing we must consider is what Jesus says at the end of verse 14. He talks about there are few who find it. Why is this significant? Because this idea of entering through the narrow gate or wide gate speaks of life. As we walk through life, what is everyone doing? We are searching for meaning and purpose. Everyone seeks for this, and as a Christian, what becomes our life’s purpose? Our life’s purpose is to live for the glory of God. It is to worship God through every moment of our lives. It is to bring joy to God through our worship in the midst of life’s trials.

vi. When we think about this, Jesus makes it clear that despite everyone searching in these two gates, ways, there are few who find it. The reality is, although everyone searches, there are only a few who find it.

vii. So with that said, there are only two gates. There are only two ways. Now we can say a lot about the two gates because we know that it is dealing with salvation. The narrow gate is the road to life which deals with a fellowship with God and the wide gate is the road to destruction which deals with separation from God.

viii. The narrow gate is the road through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, while the broad road is the road through all the other religions and teachings of the world. There are only two families in the world. The children of God and the children of Satan.

ix. We understand this, but I believe the thrust, the purpose of Jesus’s closing message here is what will you do? Jesus starts this section with action. Enter through the gate. Don’t just believe the words I tell you and do nothing. Rather, enter and search and find. This whole section from 7:13-29 is dealing with discipleship. What does it mean to be a true follower of Jesus Christ?

x. I believe a true follower of Jesus Christ will follow Jesus. A true believer of Jesus Christ will not stay idle, but seek to serve. A true follower of Jesus Christ will seek to obey above all else. This is the essence of Jesus’s message here. What will you do? What will you decide to do with your life? Will you live your life for your greed or will you live for God?

xi. So going back to verse 13, Jesus tells us that there is a wide gate and following the gate, there is a path that is broad, a spacious road. It can also mean that this road means a comfortable life, an unbothered life. When we read this, this road seems preferable. We can see clearly from this scene in the movie, that people don’t like the narrow road, or the small gate. People want comfort. They want their space. They want to live a comfortable life. The sad reality is, although this life is comfortable, it still leads to vanity. It still leads to emptiness and loneliness.

xii. Why is this important for us to understand? Because again, the calling is, now that you understood what I have been preaching to you, what will you do? Did you understand anything I have been preaching to you? What has Jesus been preaching to us? The message we must never forget is 5:20. Your righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees or you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. This statement helps us to realize how bankrupt we are and impossible it is to enter the kingdom of God. In the same vein, the expectation of all those who have been redeemed is a changed lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that treats others with respect (7:12). Why? Because of the gracious treatment of the Lord. Even when we have done nothing to deserve His grace, He has given us grace.

xiii. Go back with me to Chapter 4 where Jesus begins His ministry in 4:12 and immediately after calling people to repent (4:17), He calls His first disciples and calls them to follow Him (4:18-19). Thinking about this, what did these disciples do that they earned this command to follow Him? What did they do to be called by Him? Nothing. This is the grace of God. We have done nothing, and yet, He has called us to be His disciples and now that we have been called His disciples, what will you do with this? This is why He preaches the Sermon on the Mount because He teaches His followers, what kingdom citizens, what followers of Christ must do and how they must live.

xiv. Basically His sermon comes to a close in 7:12 and now in 7:13, Jesus asks, what and how will you live? Will you walk down the broad road, the spacious road that leads to destruction? The road that many will enter because it’s comfortable, or will you enter the narrow gate as Jesus commands?

b. Other gate leads to life (7:14)

i. Now going back to the other gate that leads to life, Jesus refers to this gate as the narrow gate. He starts verse 13, you, enter through the narrow gate. Don’t go to the wide gate with the broad road, but rather, enter through the narrow gate, where the road itself becomes narrow as well.

ii. The first thing we must say about the narrow road is that this road is difficult. We must never teach that the Christian life is an easy one. It is a difficult one. Yet, through this difficulty, because of God’s presence, it becomes a joyful one. Knowing that God is with me, knowing that God is watching over me and keeping me, is what makes this road sweet. If we go back to Chapter 5 and we read 5:21-48, this is the Christian life. As we read these commands, it shows us how difficult the Christian life is. Love your enemies as you love yourself. That’s difficult. This is the stress of Jesus’s statement here. He is calling us to live a life of obedience.

iii. As we saw from the movie clip, we saw that the small room was difficult. People were struggling because they didn’t have enough room to walk around and they were bumping into each other. What that reminds us is that the small gate is a difficult road. This is why Jesus says a few find it. You see, the reason why people don’t prefer going down the narrow gate is because it is difficult. We’d rather have comfort. When we think about this, following Jesus, living for Jesus is difficult. Just think about what Matthew said in 6:25-33. When we think about the idea of not worrying and seeking God and His kingdom first, this is hard to do. It’s hard not to worry. It’s hard to trust. But again, what is Jesus’s command? Jesus calls us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek first and trust God first. This is what it means to go down the narrow road.

iv. What this verse brings to life is that we can’t take Jesus’s teaching lightly. It helps us to understand what it means to follow Jesus. Simply, if we look at 7:7-11, this helps us to understand simply what it means to follow Jesus. What is the road that leads to life? It is to pray. Why does this road lead to life? Because this life invests in spending time with Him. This life is focused in trusting in Him. This life is focused on seeking to obey Him. Why do not many people walk this road? Because this road is difficult. Praying is difficult. Spending time with God is difficult. Why?

v. Because we love ourselves and the only thing important to us is ourselves. This is why the broad road has many people who enter it. Why? Because it’s more convenient. It’s easier and we like easy. We don’t like difficulty. This is why this roads to destruction because the more we choose ourselves over God, it becomes harder to go to Him. If we fill our heart with the love of ourselves, there is no room for anything else. This is why Jesus says that if we are to follow Him, we must drop everything, pick up our cross and follow Him. We must rid ourselves of the things of life. We must rid ourselves of the love we have for ourselves. Only then, can we follow Him.

vi. This is the picture that Jesus speaks of here in verse 14. We must be those who love Jesus and obey Jesus over everything else. We must decide every day to follow Jesus. We must read our Bibles and pray every day so that we can decide every day that we will follow Him. This is why entering the narrow gate is hard. It takes work. It takes effort and it takes commitment. We must decide to follow Him every day, to desire to please Him every day. This is different than the road that leads to destruction because that road is just about me.

vii. What will you do today? Jesus calls you to follow Him today. Not tomorrow, but today. Enter today through the narrow gate. Enter today to the small gate and the narrow road. Continue to walk down this road, and seek first His kingdom. What is the promise? And everything else will be added unto you.

viii. Now you might say this is too hard and I don’t see the benefit in it. I’d rather just go back to the comfortable road. Please think about where the roads lead. The comfortable life leads to destruction while the difficult road leads to life.

ix. Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

x. May we seek to lose our life for His sake that we might find it. May we learn to trust Him in the hard times that we might be able to live for Him.

3. CONCLUSION