A Choice of One Part 1

A choice. A decision. A fork in the road. In life we come to moments where we must make a decision. To not decide is in itself, a decision. Our popular culture is filled with stories of decision.

In the movie, the Matrix, Neo must chose if he’s going to take the blue pill or the red pill. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker must choose between the light side of the force and joining his Father on the dark side. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is on her way to Emerald City and comes upon a crossroads. A suspicious looking scarecrow tells her some people go that way. Some people go that way. And some people go both ways. And in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the intrepid Dr. Jones must choose which cup is the grail and drink from it to either life or death. The knight watching him tells him to choose wisely.

The famed poet Robert Frost wrote of a decision in The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Scripture is clear that we each also have a decision to make. If you are here today or watching online or can in anyway hear my voice, then God is putting a choice before you today. I don’t want to speed past this. Let’s sit with that a moment. God has you here for a reason and you are presented with a choice today.

The Bible is loaded with choices.

Joshua 24:15 ESV

15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Psalm 1 ESV

1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Proverbs 15:19 ESV

19 The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

Deuteronomy 30:19–20 ESV

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

So today we are going to see that in the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus begins the conclusion of the sermon, He makes clear that we must choose between the narrow and the wide gate, the good tree and the bad tree, and living lives that back up our words. We must each choose and my hope and prayer is that we would choose wisely.

Matthew 7:13–23 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. 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. 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.’

I am indebted to Dr. Danny Akin for his work in outlining this passage. There is a lot for us to cover today. Let’s ask for the Lord’s help.

Pray

The first choice we come to in our passage is the choice between two gates .

It is an inescapable choice.

I. The Wide Gate vs The Narrow Gate (v. 13-14)

Jesus begins by telling them to enter the narrow gate and then goes into a description of the wide gate and why they should not choose it. Then he goes back to talk about the narrow gate.

A. The wide gate leads to eternal death.

- The gate is wide, providing unrestricted access to hell. Hell is pretty inclusive. It is wide open for many people to wind up there.

- The way is easy. This easy way leads to destruction. The wide way is popular. The road to destruction is celebrated by those who are dancing their way to eternal death on it. The culture praises those who proudly march down the wide path and encourage others to join them on this easy way. They find that this path is even fun and pleasurable but in the end, this way of the world leads to an eternal separation from God. This path is the path of your own will instead of living according to God’s will. You can think all of the kind things you want about Jesus but if you are truly on the path to the wide gate, you’ll end up in Hell eternally apart from Jesus. Jesus tells His followers that those who enter by it are many. It is the way of disobedience.

John Stott wrote of this road:

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 1. The Inescapable Choice (13, 14)

There is plenty of room on it for diversity of opinions and laxity of morals. It is the road of tolerance and permissiveness. It has no curbs, no boundaries of either thought or conduct. Travellers on this road follow their own inclinations, that is, the desires of the human heart in its fallenness. Superficiality, self-love, hypocrisy, mechanical religion, false ambition, censoriousness—these things do not have to be learnt or cultivated. Effort is needed to resist them. No effort is required to practise them. That is why the broad road is easy.

B. The narrow gate leads to eternal life.

This narrow gate symbolizes the nature of Christ’s Kingdom.

Turnstyle style gate…entered one at a time.

This is not teaching a works or merit based salvation.

There are only two choices. The way of Jesus or the way of the world. There is no third choice. To not choose is to make a choice. There is no in-between.

Stott wrote:

The hard way, on the other hand, is narrow. Its boundaries are clearly marked. Its narrowness is due to something called ‘divine revelation’, which restricts pilgrims to the confines of what God has revealed in Scripture to be true and good.

The narrow path is not the easy path. Jesus says it’s hard. Many teachers have used the image of a road for the path of a teaching. The narrow path is hard because Jesus’s teaching was morally restrictive. This is a good thing. It shows us what a child of the kingdom of God’s life is supposed to look like. Obeying God’s commands is not legalism. Expecting Christians to obey God’s commands is also not legalism. The narrow path is not chosen by many. In fact, Jesus tells us that few take this path. In relation to the number of people on the path of destruction many fewer will find life in Jesus. The narrow path requires that we stick to God’s will over our own. We must die to our own desires and follow His. It is the path of obedience. It’s life with Jesus. He is the prize at the end. He’s the treasure. He’s the great thing awaiting us in eternity. It’s eternal life with Jesus.

John 10:7–11 ESV

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The only way to start down the path to life is to trust Jesus to save you. To repent of your sins and believe the good news of the gospel.

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Choosing the narrow gate. The hard way.

Sanctification and discipleship.

Rescuing those on the wide road to destruction. Urgency.

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A Choice of One Part 2

II. The Good Tree Vs. The Bad Tree

A. False teachers are deceptive.

B. False teachers can be detected.

C. False teachers will be destroyed.

III. Genuine Confession of the Obedient vs the False Profession of the Disobedient

A. We give evidence that we know Him by our obedience.

B. We give evidence that we do not know Him by our disobedience.

Conclusion, application, implications (Musicians)

Prayer