Which Road?
Notes
Transcript
Which Road Are You On?
Which Road Are You On?
Follow the King | Matthew 7:13–14
Main idea: Jesus commands us to enter the narrow gate because only his way leads to life; the broad road leads to destruction, however popular or religious it may appear.
Anchor phrase: ONLY JESUS LEADS TO LIFE.
Introduction
Introduction
You can become familiar with church without personally trusting Christ.
You know the songs.
You know when to stand.
You might know the answer before the leader finishes asking the question.
Those can be good things.
But you can know the right answers and still be relying on yourself instead of Jesus.
As Jesus reaches the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he calls his hearers to respond.
He has exposed sin in the heart, challenged outward religion, and taught what life under his rule looks like.
Now he commands them to enter.
Listen to Matthew 7:13–14:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
TWO GATES. TWO ROADS. TWO DESTINATIONS.
Jesus does not describe a third road where we can safely remain undecided.
These words press a personal question on every one of us: Which road are you on?
Before Jesus explains the roads, he tells us what to do.
1. Jesus Calls You to Enter Matthew 7:13a
1. Jesus Calls You to Enter Matthew 7:13a
“Enter through the narrow gate.
“Enter” is an imperative, a command.
Jesus calls for a definite response.
As John MacArthur puts it,
“The command is not to admire or to ponder the gate but to enter it.”
You can admire Jesus’ teaching without entrusting your life to him.
You can agree that his words are good while resisting his authority.
Respect for Jesus cannot substitute for receiving him as Savior and Lord.
That is a sobering warning for people who like being in church.
A person can praise Jesus, defend Christian values, and agree with much of the Sermon on the Mount while remaining outside his kingdom.
Admiration does not bring you through the gate. Religious agreement cannot do what saving faith does.
Jesus has not spent this sermon offering suggestions we can take or leave.
He speaks with the authority of the King. The question is whether we will respond to him.
And Jesus specifies the entrance: the narrow gate.
We do not get to invent a way to God and assume it will lead to the same place.
Where is that saving entrance? Listen to how Jesus describes himself in John 10:9:
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.
Here in Matthew, Jesus commands us to enter.
In John, he tells us that we are saved through him. He makes the same truth explicit in John 14:6: “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
ONLY JESUS LEADS TO LIFE.
Why do we need him?
Because we have sinned against a holy God.
Our problem is deeper than a few bad decisions.
We have wanted our own way, and we cannot erase that guilt by becoming more religious.
But Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father.
He went to the cross for sinners, bearing the judgment our sin deserves.
He rose from the grave.
Salvation rests on what he has done, not on what we can accomplish.
God calls us to repent and believe: turn from sin and self-reliance, and trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Repentance does not buy forgiveness.
Faith does not earn it.
We come empty-handed, relying on the Savior who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Faith is more than knowing those facts. It is depending on Christ.
You stop presenting your goodness as the reason God should accept you and rest your hope on the Son who gave himself for sinners.
This is why self-reliance has to go.
You cannot come to Christ while continuing to present yourself as your own savior.
The narrowness of the gate exposes our desire to bring our achievements as though they could help purchase admission.
MacArthur illustrates this with the image of arriving without baggage.
That is an illustration, not a detail Jesus gives about the gate.
The point is that our pride, self-righteousness, and determination to rule ourselves cannot become terms we demand that God accept.
The hymn MacArthur quotes expresses our dependence:
“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.”
We come needing mercy. We bring no spiritual résumé that puts God in our debt.
And that response must be personal.
MacArthur uses a turnstile as another illustration: each person must enter.
Others can come with you to hear the gospel, but no one can make the saving response for you.
Personal faith does not mean God leaves you alone; it means another person’s faith cannot take the place of yours.
Some of Jesus’ hearers relied on their ancestry, assuming that belonging to Abraham’s family meant they already belonged to God’s kingdom.
We can make a similar mistake with our Christian upbringing.
Your parents can teach you the gospel, pray for you, and bring you to church.
They cannot trust Christ in your place.
Your leaders can point you to Jesus.
We cannot believe for you.
Some people trust their family background.
Others assume church membership settles the matter.
Still others assume God’s kindness means everyone will be accepted regardless of their response to his Son.
But Jesus commands entry through a particular gate. Our assumptions cannot change his words.
The Holy Spirit must work in us; this is not something we manufacture through religious surroundings.
Every person who is saved depends on God’s grace and personally trusts Christ.
So ask yourself:
Am I trusting Jesus, or am I trusting the fact that I have always been around people who do?
Jesus says, “Enter.”
Why is that command so urgent?
Because the other road leads to destruction, even when the people on it feel secure.
2. The Broad Road Leads to Destruction Matthew 7:13b
2. The Broad Road Leads to Destruction Matthew 7:13b
There Is Room for Self-Rule
There Is Room for Self-Rule
For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
There is room on the broad road for people who want to live on their own terms, even when they approach God.
Some do that openly: “I do not care what God says. I will live however I want.”
Others do it religiously: “I am a good person. I go to church. I am better than plenty of people I know. Surely God will accept me.”
Those attitudes look different.
One rejects God’s authority openly; the other trusts personal goodness. Both refuse to depend on Christ.
That is why the broad road includes people who know Christian language.
The warnings that follow these verses include people who call Jesus “Lord” while their lives contradict that claim.
They admire his standards without submitting to him.
They want the comfort of religious identity while protecting the right to rule themselves. The broad road accommodates that contradiction.
MacArthur describes the problem this way:
“Sin is tolerated, truth is moderated, and humility is ignored.”
He adds, “God’s Word is praised but not studied, and His standards are admired but not followed.”
The wide and broad gate is religion arranged around what we are willing to accept.
We welcome the parts that reassure us and resist the parts that expose us.
We want forgiveness without having our self-rule challenged.
That does not mean every unbeliever lives without discipline or sacrifice.
People can work very hard at a religion of their own making.
The issue is whether their confidence rests in Christ or in themselves.
The broad road has room for many forms of self-reliance.
Proverbs 14:12 describes a way that appears right but ends in death.
There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death.
A road can feel reasonable to us while leading somewhere terrible. Our sincerity cannot correct its destination.
Jesus has been exposing this throughout the Sermon on the Mount.
He began with “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, people who recognize their need before God.
In Matthew 5:20, he said that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was not enough for entrance into the kingdom.
Outward obedience could not conceal what was happening in the heart.
That is why religious achievement can leave someone on the broad road.
It cannot remove guilt or make self-reliance into saving faith.
Church attendance is good.
Serving is good.
Learning Scripture is good.
But if you rely on those things to make you acceptable to God, you are asking them to do something only Jesus can do.
What are you counting on to make you right with God?
Think beyond the answer you know to give in Bible study. What actually gives you confidence?
If your answer is mainly a list of what you have done, hear the warning. Your good works cannot remove your guilt. You need Christ.
The Crowd Cannot Make It Safe
The Crowd Cannot Make It Safe
leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
The road’s appeal cannot change its destination.
Jesus says it “leads to destruction.”
The word translated “destruction,” apōleia, speaks of ruin and loss.
In the judgment passages MacArthur connects with this text, destruction is not simply ceasing to exist.
Jesus warns of eternal punishment, as he makes explicit in Matthew 25:46.
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
This is more serious than a disappointing life or the consequences of poor decisions. It is final judgment before God.
MacArthur describes destruction as “not the complete loss of being, but the complete loss of well-being.”
His point is that Jesus warns of ruin under judgment, not merely an end to existence.
The warning applies to everyone outside Christ.
A religious label cannot protect us, and rejecting religion altogether cannot excuse us.
Different ways of refusing God’s saving provision lead to the same end.
That is why a message about this passage must speak about judgment.
If we tell people that any road is safe as long as they feel sincere, we contradict the Savior who knows where these roads lead.
None of us should hear this and feel superior.
We need the mercy Jesus offers as much as anyone else.
Then notice who is on this road: “many.”
There is no safety in numbers when the road itself leads to destruction.
You can have friends who reassure you, a culture that approves of you, and people who admire how religious you are. None of them can change where that road ends.
[OPTIONAL EXPANSION. Skip directly to “Jesus does not tell us…” if omitted.]
MacArthur quotes a letter to a Melbourne newspaper from someone responding to Billy Graham’s preaching. Listen to how clearly it expresses the desire for religion without the admission that we need saving:
“After hearing Dr. Billy Graham on the air, viewing him on television and reading reports and letters concerning him and his mission, I am heartily sick of the type of religion that insists my soul (and everyone else’s) needs saving—whatever that means. I have never felt that I was lost. Nor do I feel that I daily wallow in the mire of sin, although repetitive preaching insists that I do. Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers the aged and teaches children of goodness and not sin. If in order to save my soul I must accept such a philosophy as I have recently heard preached, I prefer to remain forever damned.”
Teaching kindness is good. But kindness cannot replace reconciliation with God. The question is whether we will hear Jesus when his diagnosis contradicts our opinion of ourselves.
[END OPTIONAL EXPANSION]
Jesus does not tell us to count the travelers before deciding whether the road is safe. He tells us its destination.
Popularity cannot establish that you are right with God. Neither can belonging to a small group. What matters is whether you have come to Christ.
And Jesus does not leave us with a warning about destruction. He points us to the way that leads to life.
3. The Narrow Road Leads to Life Matthew 7:14
3. The Narrow Road Leads to Life Matthew 7:14
Following Jesus Means Surrender
Following Jesus Means Surrender
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
We come through the Savior God has provided, and we follow him under his authority.
Trusting Jesus as Lord means giving up the claim that we get the final word over our lives.
That is why the narrow gate demands repentance.
We turn from sin toward God.
We cannot ask Jesus to forgive us while insisting that he has no right to change us.
This call runs throughout the preaching of the gospel.
John the Baptist called people to repentance.
Jesus called people to repent and believe the good news.
Paul described his message in Acts 20:21 as repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
Repentance is more than regretting consequences or feeling embarrassed when someone discovers our sin.
It means agreeing with God about our sin and turning to him.
We stop defending our own way as though Jesus were the one who needed to change.
Think about the rich ruler in Luke 18.
He came asking about eternal life and claimed that he had kept the commandments.
Outwardly, he looked like someone who had done everything right.
But Jesus exposed what ruled his heart.
He told him to sell his possessions, give to the poor, and follow him. The man became very sad because he was very wealthy.
His wealth was not a payment Jesus needed.
The command exposed an allegiance the man would not surrender.
He wanted eternal life, but when Jesus confronted his attachment to wealth, he would not let it go.
His response also exposed the weakness in his claim to have kept God’s commands.
The greatest commandment calls us to love God with everything we are.
Yet when Jesus confronted his wealth, the man’s response showed what he was unwilling to put beneath God’s authority.
Jesus was not impressed by his moral résumé.
He brought the conversation to the place where outward religion and actual allegiance parted company.
The man wanted the blessing of eternal life while retaining control of what mattered most to him.
The issue was Christ’s authority.
Would he follow Jesus when Jesus challenged what he loved most?
That question reaches us, too.
Where are you saying, “Jesus, you can have my religious words, but you cannot have authority over this part of my life”?
For one person, it may be money.
For another, it is a relationship, a reputation, or a private practice they intend to protect.
The object differs; the issue is the same. Do we receive Jesus as Lord, or insist that he leave our chosen area untouched?
To surrender is to give up our claim to rule ourselves. Christ is already sovereign. We are yielding to the authority he already possesses, not granting him authority he previously lacked.
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus calls those who follow him to deny themselves and take up their cross.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Following him may cost approval, relationships, or plans we wanted to keep. We come to the King on his terms.
The narrow road is therefore a demanding way.
It brings us into conflict with our pride and sometimes with the people around us.
Jesus has already spoken in the Beatitudes about persecution for righteousness.
Difficulty is not evidence that his promises have failed.
[OPTIONAL EXPANSION: Luke 13 and the seriousness of entering. Skip directly to “But hear this clearly…” if omitted.]
In Luke 13, someone asks Jesus whether only a few people will be saved.
Jesus directs the question toward the hearer’s own response: make every effort to enter through the narrow door.
MacArthur discusses the Greek word agōnizomai, translated “strive” in the version he cites. It communicates earnest effort.
Jesus’ summons is too serious for casual interest or indefinite delay.
But that effort does not mean accumulating enough good deeds to purchase forgiveness.
Pride resists confessing our need. Self-will resists surrendering control. Jesus calls us to stop protecting that resistance and respond to him.
We should not turn his warning into speculation about everyone else while postponing our own response. Hear the command personally: enter.
[END OPTIONAL EXPANSION]
But hear this clearly:
THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS IS NOT A PAYMENT FOR YOUR SALVATION.
THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS IS NOT A PAYMENT FOR YOUR SALVATION.
Christ saves by grace, and obedience grows out of that grace.
The God who saves you also works in you, teaching you to turn from sin and obey.
That is why MacArthur connects entrance with the dependence of a child in Matthew 18:3 and the tax collector’s plea in Luke 18:13:
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We come relying on mercy, not congratulating ourselves on the strength of our surrender.
That produces a changed life.
First John describes believers who confess their sins, seek to obey God, and love his people.
These are signs of his work in them; they do not purchase his acceptance.
Notice how those marks belong together.
Confession means a Christian still has sin to acknowledge.
Obedience means the Christian no longer treats God’s commands as irrelevant.
Love means new life reaches beyond religious claims into how we treat other people.
Jesus says in John 15:8 that bearing fruit demonstrates discipleship.
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
James 2:19 reminds us that even demons possess correct knowledge about God.
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Knowing true statements is not the same as trusting and following the Savior.
So we must not offer a gospel that promises heaven while telling people their settled rejection of Christ’s authority does not matter.
The Lord who forgives also changes his people.
MacArthur quotes Spurgeon’s warning:
“You and your sins must separate or you and your God will never come together.”
That is a call to repent, not a demand that you make yourself sinless before coming to Christ.
You come to him for forgiveness and deliverance from the sin you can no longer defend.
That does not mean Christians become immediately sinless.
A believer may resist correction and fall badly.
But following Christ does not mean making peace with sin.
When his word exposes it, we are called to confess it, seek his help, and turn from it.
If you are discouraged by your struggle tonight, struggling against sin is different from deciding it no longer matters.
You may need to ask forgiveness, tell the truth to someone you have deceived, or seek help from a trusted leader.
Take those steps while depending on Christ to change you.
Following Christ may cost you something now. But look at where this road leads.
Jesus Brings His People to Life
Jesus Brings His People to Life
leads to life, and only a few find it.
Jesus promises far more than a comfortable week or a life without problems. This road leads to eternal life with God.
Through Christ, sinners are forgiven and welcomed into fellowship with the God they have offended.
The future of his people is not condemnation but life with him.
Jesus speaks in John 14 of preparing a place for his people so that they may be with him.
The One who saves you does not merely point down the road and leave you to manage alone. Your future is life in his presence.
That is why the narrow road is worth following even when it is difficult.
Its difficulty does not mean Jesus has abandoned you.
Your present circumstances do not overturn his promise.
Yet Jesus also says, “only a few find it.”
That should challenge our assumption that everyone around us must be spiritually safe.
We cannot assume we belong to Christ simply because the people around us share our beliefs.
But “few” does not mean there is no room for you.
It does not mean Jesus will refuse you because too many others have already come.
Listen to his promise in John 6:37:
All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
The warning is real, and so is the welcome. There is only one saving way, but Christ receives everyone who comes to him.
Jesus’ warning should move us to respond; his promise gives us confidence to come.
Conclusion: Which Road Are You On?
Conclusion: Which Road Are You On?
So which road are you on?
What are you relying on: your upbringing, your goodness, a religious moment you remember, or the Savior himself?
If your confidence has been in yourself, turn to Christ.
If you think your sin puts you beyond his mercy, hear his promise: whoever comes to him will not be driven away.
You do not have to improve yourself until you deserve to enter.
You need the Savior who died for sinners and rose again.
Turn from your sin and trust him.
You can call on him now.
Prayer can express that faith, but the words of a prayer are not what save you.
Christ saves. Ask him for mercy, relying on what he has done.
If you want to talk about that, come speak with me or one of our leaders.
We want to listen and help you understand the gospel.
And if you belong to Christ, keep following him. His grace will sustain you, and his way leads to life, even when obedience is costly.
We began with the difference between being familiar with church and personally trusting Christ.
Knowing about the gate is not the same as entering.
Jesus commands you to enter, and he promises to receive those who come.
Turn to him. Trust him.
ONLY JESUS LEADS TO LIFE.
ONLY JESUS LEADS TO LIFE.
As you think about next week, pray for a friend who needs to hear the gospel and personally invite them. Let what Jesus has said move us toward people with love.
