Two Ways, Choose Today

Introduction

Many of us are familiar with Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken. It opens with these lines, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both”

A decision has to be made. And the path the speaker in the poem takes determines the course of his life. In the same way, the sermon on the mount brings us to a fork in the road. A decision has to be made. Are we going to obey Jesus’s teaching in th

Matthew 7:13-29

Two Roads

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

13 “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. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

The road one takes determines the destination

The picture here is that of a walled city with a small gate. When all the other main gates are closed for protection at night, only the people familiar with the city know where to go. This walled city is representative of eternal life. The only way to get to this gate is by the narrow path.

Paths or roads are often representative of one’s style of life, or how they behave. The narrow path is representative of the person who has commited to living the life spelled out in the Sermon on the Mount. The broad road, on the other hand, this person has freedom to live and behave in many ways.

The two gates are representative of end times judgement. One gate leads to eternal life. The other gate leads to destruction. There are only two options. This is the staggering authority with which Jesus teaches: either obey me and live and do not obey me and suffer destruction. What other teacher could claim such things on his own authority? The only way I could make such statements is on the authority of Scripture. The only way I would want to persuade you to apply the sermon, to walk a narrow path, would be insomuch as it flows from God’s Word. And I would hope you would see how it does. Jesus, however, teaching from his own authority as the Son of God.

When I was younger I faced a big problem with there only being two paths. When I was in 6th and 7th grade I attempted considering different career paths to run from my pastoral calling. In 8th grade I had the opportunity to go to a Christian school and I finally decided to stop running from my calling and pursuing it again. I went to the Christian school.

My peers at this school were well versed in the Bible and claimed to be Christian. However, I felt alone in that I had a passion for God and doing his will. I certainly did not do it perfect by any means (nor do I today). But from what I observed from my peers, the majority of them claimed to be on the narrow path while behaving as if they were on the broad path. I made it my mission to move them from the broad road to the narrow road.

Fruit and Root

Matthew 7:15–20 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

We know the roots by the fruit.

Jesus opens this section discussing the false prophet. The issue with the false prophet is hypocrisy. Remember the prophet’s role was to be God’s mouthpiece. So this is someone who claims to speak on God’s behalf and yet truly does not. But, as we know, people’s motivations for doing things, even speaking on God’s behalf, are often hidden from us.

However, what’s not hidden from us are people’s actions. Thus, the fruit in this passage is like the path in the previous passage. We can see how someone lives. Do they live according to the precepts in the Sermon on the Mount? Because what sort of fruit is being produced shows what’s at the heart. The behavior betrays the motivation. Notice the end of the tree with bad fruit: destruction. Again, this is similar to the broad path and wide gate. I think this forces us back to the issue, not only of what path we will take, but the problem of our heart.

Given the sinful condition of our hearts, no matter how much we may think we are on the narrow path, we cannot get there on our own. We need a new heart. We need new roots. If the vine is bad it will only produce bad fruit. We cannot be on the narrow path unless we have a new vine. How is that possible? Through regeneration. John 3:3 “3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.””

I never got this fact when I was in high school. I saw my peers producing bad fruit but believing themselves to be Christians. As I sat through the Bible lessons and most chapel services, I found them to be dated, dull, and mostly irrelevant. This was in stark contrast to the large church I attended which sought to make everything relevant.

I believed that if I could just make Christianity seem cool enough, that people would change their path. I preached some of my first sermons in chapel at that school. One was entitled “super love” (complete with superman logo) which discussed four Greek words for love. The other sermon I preached was called “transformers” (with the transformers logo, of course) which I preached on Romans 12:1-2. I was trying to make them transform by showing how cool it was. Of course, I look back on it now and see how much of a joke I was.

The call to follow Christ, I have learned, is not a call to see how cool or relevant it is. It is a call to die. Luke 9:23 “23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus was certainly not going for the cool or relevant factor here.

And so, what should mark us, what we should be after, is not relevance, but rebirth. Relevance dresses up the broad road to appear like the narrow path. People think the are on the right path, but still headed for destruction. Rebirth, new life, regeneration, being born from above, this is what lands someone on the narrow path, this is was gives them good roots.

How can we make someone be born again? We are not in control of another person’s rebirth. But we are called to be faithful in the means to rebirth. The means to rebirth is a clear proclamation of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1:21 “21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”

There is a lot of crossless Christianity floating around nowadays. And this is the Christianity I presented to my peers. I thought, “They all know this already, they are already Christian, they’ve got the gospel, now they need to see how it’s cool.” But I was ignorant to the fact that they actually did not have Christ. I was naive to the fact that they could be making false professions.

False Confessions

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Beware false confessions of faith

This is one of the most frightening warnings in all of Scripture. The phrase, “Lord, Lord” at the beginning is an emphatic confession that Jesus is God. This is the person who confesses with fervency that he or she knows Jesus. The person who stands up in church and waves their hands crying out, “I know that I know him!”

But how much is that confession worth?

Nothing

If this person is not on the right path, if he is not producing good fruit, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Notice v. 22, “On that day” refers to the day of the Lord, the day of judgment. This false convert pleads his cause. I would argue he’s probably not even lying with this testimony. Perhaps he did testify in Jesus’s name, cast out demon, and did mighty works. But the measuring rod for Christian living is not success in mighty deeds, but instead is found in the sermon on the mount.

Notice the end result: Jesus declares “I never knew you.” When it comes on that judgement day, it does not matter how much we claim to know Christ, but does Christ know us? If I were to go up to the white house and demand entrance because I know the president, will they let me in? No, everyone knows the president. What would matter is if the president knew me and came out there and said to let him in. The question for the assurance of our salvation is not “Do you know Jesus” but “does Jesus know you?”

Then Jesus says depart from me you worker of lawlessness. Lawlessness is though this person lived as if Jesus never gave a command to follow.

I want to submit to you that the majority of evangelism services over the last century have produces these types of confessions. We present an emotional message to manipulate. We get people to say a prayer. We tell them they are saved and march them through the baptismal pools to assure their false conversion. Motivated by money and success, american churches have produced more false converts than imaginable. What’s the fruit of that today? The irrelevancy of the church. People live like Christ has not given them a command to follow and still believe themselves to be good with God. Countless people are walking down the broad path believing they will find life because one day in one of our churches they prayed a prayer and some preacher told them they were good to go.

Oh, the blood on that preacher’s hands when Jesus says to their supposed convert, “Depart from me you worker of lawlessness for I never knew you.”

Do you want assurance of your salvation? Don’t look to a past decision. Look to where you stand now. Read and meditate on the Sermon on the Mount. How does your fruit look in comparison to it? Is it good?

It wasn’t until I was in college until I understood that my peers, though claiming to be Christian already, simply were making false confessions. I tried to convince them to live like a Christian by making it seem like Christianity was cool. Then I tried to do so by using apologetics. But what they needed was the gospel and an invitation to accept Christ as the Lord of their life for real.

Still Standing

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The righteous man will continue to stand

In this passage there are two different hearers which are compared to two different builders. One hearer does as Christ says and builds on the rock. The other hearer does not do and builds his house on the sand. Each house is his own house. We can think of this house imagery as similar to the path, the fruit, the confession: the outward signs of an inward reality. The foundation is that inward reality.

The storm and flood is representative of end times judgment. Heb. 12:26-29

Hebrews 12:26–29 ESV

26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

The things destroyed in this deluge will be removed. But some things will remain.

Sermon On The Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church D. Two Hearers and Builders (Matt 7:24–27)

The point of the parable is clear. Just as confessions of faith without expressions of obedience do not guarantee salvation (

The question for us of course is are we building our house on this rock? We’ve been studying the sermon on the mount for months now. Are we obeying what Jesus has said? Are we living in light of the truth that Christ has given? This does not demand us to be perfect. The Lord’s prayer in the center of the sermon has us asking for forgiveness. But this does mean that the overall style of our life, the building we build, should be in the direction of obedience to the things we have looked at in Matt. 5-7.

Matthew 7:28–29 ESV

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Notice that Jesus does not fluff this up. He is not giving emotional appeals. He is not trying to make Christianity seem cool. He is not giving evidence to defend his views as superior. The call is clear: obey Christ and live or disobey and face judgment. This makes Christ himself the door to God. John 10:7 “7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Notice that there is no other way: there are two paths.

Many of you in here are on that narrow path already. You know the dangers that are there, but also the joys that it brings. I pray that you will see in Jesus’s warnings a further prodding to remain faithful on this narrow path.

There may some in here on the broad path that leads to destruction. I want you to take time to examine your faith. Do you produce good fruit? Is your confession of Christ based on obedience to him? Are you building your house on the rock? If you cannot answer yes to any of these questions, today is the day for you to make that decision to follow the narrow path. You cannot have Christ as your savior without having him as your Lord. Turn to Christ today.