Two Roads, One Choice
The Narrow Path • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 8 viewsBig Idea of the Message: We should seek the narrow path and take it when we find it. Application Point: Evaluate whether you are following the narrow or wide path.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
As we celebrated the death and resurrection of our Lord last weekend we addressed some very specific things that that resurrection accomplished for believers.
As we examined the first 9 verses of 1 Peter, we discovered that the empty tomb granted us hope, a living hope to be more precise.
That living hope grounded in the living Christ is the assurance that His resurrection secured for us an inheritance that is kept for us in heaven.
An incorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance that baffles the mind because there is nothing like it in this fallen age of decay and death.
But, we must face the other side of that truth. Because although that message was preached to everyone in this room and everyone listening on line it does not follow that it applied to everyone.
Not everyone who calls themselves a believer is a believer. Not everyone that professes faith possess faith, which is the crux of Christ’s sobering words to us this morning.
In our passage He lays out two roads one less travel because its narrow and difficult, leading to life and another that is easy, crowded leading to destruction
In essence we need to talk about that which looks like a duck, walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, perhaps even believes its a duck, but its no duck at all.
I am talking about the danger of being a nominal Christians a Christian in name only.
Because the label Christian cannot save you, any more that the label Jew or Pharisee could save in Jesus’ day
I. Understanding Context
I. Understanding Context
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14 “For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Our passage signals a turning point in all that Jesus has been saying since chapter 5. Here he is starting his concluding arguments.
His sermon begins in chapter five with the beatitudes in which he describes the thoughts and attitudes of those who are citizens of the kingdom of God.
He explains the true meaning of righteousness which is the character of the kingdom and how it contrast with what the pharisees called righteousness
His sermon continues in his descriptions and teachings on giving, praying, and fasting. He teaches what it means to trust in God and exercising right judgment as opposed to hypocritical judgement.
But then the explanations and the descriptions of the kingdom with its characteristics, its righteousness stop and now it is decision time.
Beginning with our passage Jesus moves into a series of four contrasts, all demanding a response:
Two gates / two paths (7:13-14)
Two trees / two fruits (7:15-20)
Two claims (7:21-23)
Two foundations (7:24-27)
Jesus is pressing in. “I have described for you what eternal life looks like, now make a decision”
II. Understanding the Wide Gate/Path
II. Understanding the Wide Gate/Path
Jesus’ audience would have understood Jesus’ metaphor of a path and a gate. Large cities would have different entrances.
A wide gate would by necessity be attached to a wide path. Crowds would enter through that gate with all of their belongings. This would be the popular entrance
It was spacious, it was easier to maneuver. You could bring with you whatever you could or wanted to carry.
The wide gate and path metaphor stood for all of the diverse ways in which people think. With all of their philosophies, all of their different religions
All of their opinions, self righteousness, their merit systems, their “I was born this way…” posture. And all of this looks right in their own sight:
12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
This reality is so deeply entrenched in the human experience as a result of sin that proverbs addresses twice:
25 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
In Jesus’ metaphor, this is an easier more comfortable way to travel and enter, but it actually leads somewhere else.
It does not lead to the kingdom of God at all. You think you are on your way to eternal life, to prosperity, to glory but the destination is altogether different. This is why He says,
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
But why would the thousands, the millions, and the billions of people still chose that path and that gate when it does not lead to life but to death?
19 “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed.
You are so enamored with your sin, with your way of living, with the darkness of your life that you would rather continue in it even unto death.
It is easier to follow the impulses of your own heart than to submit to the piercing sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.
III. Understanding the Narrow Gate / Road
III. Understanding the Narrow Gate / Road
Jesus’ audience would have also understood the meaning behind the narrow gate/road metaphor.
14 “For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
A city, a kingdom would have deliberate narrow gates to control who and what enters the city. A small entrance and passage way would make it impossible to smuggle things into the city.
Things that do not fit, you would have to make the decision to leave them behind, if you wanted to enter because the entrance was so constricted.
It is difficult to get through this gate, it requires effort. You have to take off so much in order to fit through that gate.
Think about the decision making effort that is required of you when traveling by plane.
Your’s will be a long stay, yet you know your bag cannot weigh more than 50lbs. I have seen that image many times at the airport
People with their bags open and their belongings on the floor trying so hard to bring the weight of their bags down to 50lbs.
This metaphor stands for you to have to deny yourself what you think you deserve. Deny yourself that which you think you have earned.
This is hard, this is the narrow way. Yet Jesus commands,
24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Listen, this is not works based salvation. It is actually the complete opposite. The narrow gate is not effort that leads to salvation it is repentance that abandons the broad road.
The striving is not trying to deserve grace, it is fighting unbelief, rejecting self-righteousness, it is giving up your perceived rights to yourself.
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
IV. What It All Means
IV. What It All Means
Every human being in some way or another is confronted with this choice. It is either Christ or death. Not making a choice already puts you on a road
The natural road with your impulses, desires, and pride already has you on the road to perdition.
In counseling I hear this sentiment from both men and women. “I do not deserve…” or “I deserve...”
And those who do not exactly utter those words, their posture, their pattern of behavior indicate that mindset. Those are elements of the broad road. That is why Scripture commands,
5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The narrow gate is the letting go of you and all that you think you are and living for him
20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
You cannot choose the narrow gate without traveling on the constricted difficult path. And you cannot choose to travel the constricted difficult path without going through the narrow gate.
This means, to chose Christ means to choose not just His name but all that He is, all that He stands for, and all that He commands. That is why he says:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Walking around invoking His name without all that His name represents does nothing for you:
13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
The Scripture states that the evil spirit proceeded to physically assault them to the point of having them run through the streets naked like lunatics.
I have seen this, men and women in and out of the church, they are seasonal Christians following their flesh and using Christ like a good luck charm.
Having a form of godliness when they believe others are watching but their is no manifestation of the Spirit transformative power in their lived
Likewise I have seen people embrace Christ’s teachings while rejecting Christ himself. Remember the rich young ruler that asked Jesus what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus gave him a sample of the law,
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
22 And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack: sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
In other words, I will embrace all of the biblical principles that serve to make my business successful. I will embrace your teachings on marriage because they to help make marriage tolerable
I will use all of your moral teachings because they are extremely helpful in sustaining civilizations, encouraging hard work, that value of human life.
Your teaching bring about a more healthy and productive society. But I do not want you. You cannot have the way without its gate not the gate without its way.
9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
Conclusion
What will you do with this Jesus because your decision is either that He is Lord, or He is nothing. Choose Jesus and all that He is and live. Your decision involved submission.
Why should you perish when He is calling you to Himself. Let go of yourself and embrace Him:
16 Thus says Yahweh, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Do not be one of those many who refuse to walk in His ways. He is calling you:
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Salvation is not found in choosing a better life, but in surrendering to the only Savior, and that surrender changes the road you walk.
