Christ's Invitation to the Kingdom

Matthew 7:13-14

As Jesus approaches the end of His sermon He puts forth an invitation to His hearers to enter the kingdom. He has set the standards for kingdom people very high. However, He does not make it impossible to enter in. After He compels the people to enter into the kingdom, He follows with a warning that extends through the rest of the sermon. He warns against false prophets in verses 15-20, false professions in verses 21-23 and false foundations in 24-29. Christ’s intent is that His listeners sincerely take His words to heart and enter into the kingdom. In these two verses He gives us a declaration to enter in at the narrow gate, a description of the two gates & roads and the destination of the two as well.

Christ’s declaration to enter the narrow gate

Let us draw some truths from Christ’s declaration:

* His hearers were not yet in the kingdom. Despite the fact that they had been the recipients of miraculous works (4:23-25) and wonderful preaching, they were still outside the kingdom. Many of them had been baptized by John and were living moral lives, yet they were not in the kingdom. In order for them to be in the kingdom, a choice had to be made. The Bible is full of invitations for us to make a decision to serve the Lord. Deut. 30:19 says “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life…”. We all remember Joshua’s famous challenge in Joshua 24:15 “Choose you this day whom ye will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Elijah called on Israel to make a choice in 1 Kings 18:21 when he said “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow Him…” The Lord says in Jeremiah 21:8 “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death”. That is exactly what Jesus is doing here. He is letting everyone know that they needed to make a decision to enter into the kingdom.

* Christ commands His hearers. It’s important to note that this is not a suggestion. It is a command. Jesus began His ministry with the command in Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel.” Paul told the philosophers in Athens in Acts 17:30 “God commands all men everywhere to repent”. Jesus boldly commands His hearers to enter into the kingdom because it is such a serious matter. Their choice will determine where they spend eternity.

* Christ commands His hearers to enter the kingdom. There are many people who admire Christ. His words are often quoted by those who are not a part of the kingdom. The principles of His teachings are used by people outside the kingdom. His passion and sacrifice are held up as a great example of love and devotion by people who are not a part of the kingdom. However, Christ does not tell us here to quote Him, admire Him or teach His principles. He tells us to enter the kingdom. It does a person no good to admire Christ, His teachings and His sacrifice if they do not enter into the kingdom. We are to recognize our own unworthiness, repent of our sin and place our faith in Him. That is what Christ wants from His hearers. We enter the kingdom through repentance and faith. Anything short of that will shut us off from the blessings of the kingdom.

A Description of the Two Gates and the Two Roads

The gates are entry points to the two roads. Let’s look at each gate beginning with broad gate and road first.

The broad gate. This would be a gate to a city that opened up into a broad road. The gate is the point of entry. The narrow gate is the entry point into the kingdom of God. In John 10:9 Jesus said “I am the Door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved”. The broad gate is anything other than Christ. It could be false gospels, philosophies, world views, etc. When we choose to reject Christ as Lord we prove that we have entered in at the broad gate. The broad gate opens up to the broad road. It’s important to remember that we are by nature on the broad road. There is nothing we have to do to get on it. We are born sinners and therefore we are already there.

The broad road describes a very wide road. It has no boundaries. A person can wander back and forth on the road without making any progress. It is symbolic of the modern mindset. Let’s consider some application from the broad road:

*There are no absolutes. Truth is relative on the broad road. There are some who are moral and some that are not. Some believe in God some do not. Their belief that everyone is right, even if they contradict one another is what they have in common.

* There are many religions on the broad road. To many of these people, there are absolutes. The problem is that their faith is in the wrong god. They are convinced they are going to heaven. They believe Allah, Buddha, or some philosophy will get them there. There are also people who believe they have faith in Christ that are on the broad road (7:22-23). These are no different than the Pharisees f Jesus day. They have orthodox doctrine but no genuine relationship with Christ.

* The broad road is full of immorality. Many people on the broad road indulge in sin with no apology at all. The drunk, fornicator, adulterer, hateful, the murderer, the pornographer and a host of others travel on this road together. Their passion is to fulfill their own lusts.

* The broad road is full of people. Jesus says “many go in” at the broad gate. You will not be lonely on the broad road. There is plenty of company for you. You will not get bored. There is always someone new to meet and socialize with. It is true that the majority of people in this world are not saved. There are more on the broad road to destruction than there are on the narrow road to life.

The narrow gate. As we mentioned earlier, Christ is the gate that leads to the narrow road. The word for “strait” in Greek is “stenos”. It means “narrow, constricted”. Let’s consider some truths about the narrow gate:

* Christ’s words cut against the grain of our culture. It is considered an insult to be called narrow minded in our culture. Yet that is exactly what Christ is calling us to here. The gate is narrow because there is only one way to enter into the narrow road that leads to life. That way is Christ. For a group or an individual to make that claim in our culture can be dangerous. The truth is, however, that Jesus wants us to be narrow minded when it comes to salvation. He said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me”.

*The gate must be entered individually. We could liken it to a turnstile that we see at modern amusement parks. We must enter the kingdom alone. We do not enter with groups. Our parents, nationality, church, etc. can not bring us in. We have to enter into the gate individually. We must come to Christ Himself in repentance and faith.

* The gate is small. We cannot bring our sins in with us. We must come in humble repentance willing to forsake our old sinful lifestyle. We are to leave it lying at the gate. When we say “Yes” to Christ we are saying “No” to many other things. We are forsaking old mindsets and lifestyle patterns.

The narrow road. This is the lifestyle of those on their way to heaven. The narrow road is not broad. It is restrictive to a large degree. Our actions are governed by a new heart. We no longer follow after our old passions and lust. We understand what God requires and we seek to please Him in our actions. There are places we do not go; things we do not look at, conversations we do not have because we have entered into life through Christ.

Jesus says that there are few that find the way to life.

*This implies that there is no one on the narrow road by accident. It takes a conscious decision to be on the narrow road. In order for something to be found, it must be searched for. They way to life must be sought out. We must desire it. The people on the narrow road are there because they want to be there and they did what they could to enter the narrow gate. The gate can easily be missed in our world. There are a lot of things that demand our attention and are attractive to our sinful nature. Those on the narrow road however, saw their need and came to Christ.

*There are few people on the narrow road. The reason is simple, the gate is narrow. Our world wants to live its life apart from Christ. They do not want to enter in through Him. It is not that they do not want to go to heaven. They simply don’t want to come in through the gate. The narrow road can be lonely. To many it is not appealing at all. Those on the narrow road have one thing in common. They love Christ who is the door to heaven.

The Two Destinations

Both roads have a beginning and an end. The roads end at either death or the coming of Christ. The broad road ends at destruction. We should note that there is not a sign on the gate of the broad road that says “Destruction”. If that were true it would not be as popular a road as it is. The sign on the broad road says “Freedom, fun, friends, fame, and fortune”. Nevertheless it ends in destruction.

The word “destruction” is “apoleia”. It means “ruin or loss”. It is used to describe the suffering of a person who dies without Christ. The person that dies on the broad road loses everything. They lose their life, their hope and even their own soul. The broad road comes to an end, but the people who travel it do not. The lost will live eternally in the judgment of God. In Matthew 25:46 Jesus said “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment”. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 of people who do not obey the gospel “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power”. The great masses of people who traveled the broad road will spend eternity in hell. They sought for nothing but pleasure in this world but they shall get nothing but pain in the next. Christ’s warning is real. He compels us to leave the broad road. If we do not we will experience everlasting destruction.

The narrow road ends in life. The believer will die. However, at death he will simply open his eyes in life. The narrow road was full of trials and temptations, but its destination is free from both. Suffering will be no more, sin will be no more. Life is all there will be. It is eternal life. Jesus said in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”. The life we have in heaven will be far greater than the life we have here. Paul said in 1 Cor. 2:9 “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him”.

There are two gates, two roads, two groups of people and two destinations. We need to consider which gate we have entered, which road we are on, which group we are surrounded by and which destination are we heading to.