The Road less Traveled
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
TEXT: Matthew 7:13‑14
INTRODUCTION: Are most people going to heaven? Well, most people think they are. According to researcher, George Barna, 98% of Americans believe they are going to heaven. When read the statement, "When you die you will not go to heaven," only two out of a hundred agreed.
The Lord Jesus disagreed. He said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Mt. 7:13‑14)
There are two road you can travel in this world. One road leads to destruction, the other road leads to life. There are two groups who can travel one road or the other. There are the many and there are the few; there is the majority and there is the minority. Jesus said the majority take the road to destruction, while the minority takes the road to life.
Most people take the low road to hell, while few people take the high road to heaven. The reason why heaven is the road less traveled, is because only the "few" make the decision to take that road. Jesus explains why the Highway to Heaven is the road less traveled.
I. THERE IS A DECEPTION THAT APPEALS TO MOST PEOPLE
A. There is a road that is both big and broad.
1. It is easy to travel and it has plenty of room.
2. Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." (v.13)
3. The vast majority of people in this world stay on the road and they love it.
B. It is an easy road to travel.
1. It has few rules, few requirements, few restrictions.
a) It is an inclusive road.
b) The homosexual travels this road. The adulterer travels this road. The pornographer travels this road. The drunkard travels this road. The fornicator travels this road.
C. It is an indulgent road.
1. Anything goes and anyone is welcome.
2. Sin is tolerated, truth is moderated, acceptance is elevated.
D. This is the road for people who believe in anything, or believe in nothing.
1. They believe one way of life is just as good as another.
2. They believe that one religion is just as equally valuable as another.
3. They believe that all roads lead to God if there is a God.
E. It would surprise you who is included in the crowd called "many."
1. Atheists, agnostics, humanists, communists, Jews, Gentiles, blacks, whites now the list may get very surprising not only bad people, but also good people:
2. Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics, Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and anyone else who has never been born again and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord.
3. Remember Jesus is talking about the majority.
a) The majority doesn't rule, the majority ruins.
b) If you go the way of the crowd, you won't go to heaven.
c) Because most people are not going to heaven.
d) The strange thing is that most people think they are on the High Road to Heaven when really they are on the Low Road to Hell.
One of the most fascinating creatures in the animal kingdom is the Lemming. A Lemming is a rodent, a little animal, and they have a habit that is very strange. Lemmings begin to go on a journey. They start traveling in a certain direction headed toward the sea. They go over mountains, they swim across rivers, they go through marshes, they go through woods and valleys and dales, until finally they get to the ocean. Do you know what they do when they get to the sea? They jump into that water, swim as far as they can, and drown.
e) The vast majority of people in this world are just like the Lemmings.
f) They are doing everything they can to get to the good life; building, battling, and buying, trying to get ahead, and all the while they are headed for a sea of death.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
F. Jesus was telling the truth. He was giving a warning, just as I'm giving a warning right now. If you are not on the road marked Grace, and you are not driving in the vehicle called Faith in Jesus Christ, you are on the wrong road headed away from God.
An agnostic made an appointment one time to see a pastor. He walked into the pastor's office and said, "I have a deep philosophical question." The pastor said, "What is it?" He said, "Where is hell?" Expecting a long theological dissertation, the pastor simply said, "At the end of a Christless life." If you don't believe that, you are following the same deception that appeals to most people.
II. THERE IS A DIRECTION THAT ATTRACTS SOME PEOPLE "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (v.14)
A. Jesus said that the gate that leads to life is "narrow."
1. The Greek word is stenos which literally means, "to groan" because of being under tremendous pressure.
2. It was a word that was used to represent a constriction.
B. Because the gate is so narrow, you can only get through it empty‑handed.
1. You can't bring anything with you.
2. If you're going to enter into this gate, you've got to leave your pride, your prestige, and your position behind.
3. In effect, you've got to go through this gate stark naked. Why? Because the gate is Jesus.
C. The question is not "What is the way to heaven?" The question is "Who is the way to heaven?"
John 10:9, I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved
1. Jesus doesn't need anything that you can bring, whether it is money or morals, in order to put you on the Highway to Heaven.
2. On the other hand, He wants everything you've got.
3. That is why Jesus goes on to say that not only is the gate "narrow" but "the way is difficult."
a) Christianity is simple, but it is not easy.
b) You don't have to pay anything for salvation, but on the other hand, salvation will cost you everything that you have.
D. In salvation we give Jesus all that we are, and He then gives us all that He is.
1. He gives us far more and far better than we give Him.
a) We give Him our sin, He gives us salvation;
b) We give Him our rags, He gives us a robe;
c) We give Him our problems, He gives us peace;
d) We give Him failure, He gives us forgiveness;
e) We give Him losses, He gives us love.
E. The reason few people enter this gate is not because the gate is too small, but people are too big.
1. Jesus one time said that in order to enter into the kingdom of God, you must "come as a little child." .
2. When you come to God as a sinner, He receives you as a saint. But if you come to God as a saint, He will reject you as a sinner.
F. The gate to eternal life is Jesus, and He is the only gate that leads to heaven.
When a pilot is approaching an airfield, there are ground lights that tell that pilot where the runway is. Now that pilot can approach that runway from 360║ all the way around the horizon. He can approach that runway from any direction he wants to. But only one direction and one angle of approach is the right one. It is the pilot's business to bring that aircraft in the right direction on the right angle.
G. Likewise, there is only one road that leads to heaven.
1. It is a narrow road; we could call it "Lover's Lane" because it is for people who love the Lord. This road runs from earth to heaven.
2. There is also a broad road; we could call it "Route 666." It is a four‑lane highway that runs from earth to hell, and the broad road that leads to hell intersects the narrow road that leads to heaven at just one place; at the cross of Jesus Christ.
III. THERE IS A DECISION THAT AWAITS ALL PEOPLE
A. Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate." (v.13)
1. A gate, just like a door, is meant to be opened and meant to be entered.
2. For that to happen you must decide to open it, and then you must decide to enter it.
B. Life is filled with decisions.
1. Every day is basically one decision after another.
2. We decide what to wear, what to eat, where to go, what to do, what to say, what to buy.
3. Many of the decisions we make are monotonous, but one decision we make is momentous.
4. The most monumental, and the only decision with an eternal consequence, is the decision that you make about Jesus Christ.
C. Jesus said everyone is headed for one of two destinies either eternal life or eternal death.
1. The important point to understand is this: Destiny is determined by decision.
2. The reason that is true is because decision determines direction, and direction determines destiny.
a) If you decide to go the broad road, you will wind up in destruction.
b) If you decide to go the narrow road, you wind up in life. But either way, you will spend eternity where you decide to spend eternity.
Proverbs 15:24, The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below.
D. The decision is yours to make.
1. There are two ways to walk, two roads to travel; one leads up and one leads down.
2. God has provided a way of life that leads upward to heaven. But you must choose to take that way if you're going to turn away from hell below. The decision is up to you.
E. Why would a loving God send anyone to hell
1. The answer is God sends no one to hell, but He will allow you to go there if that's what you decide to do. The choice is up to you.
F. The number of people who travel the right road are not few because there's not enough room.
1. Because God's grace has no limits and God's heaven has no boundaries.
2. The reason why there are few people as compared to the many is because few people willingly make the choice to follow Jesus Christ.
!! G. According to Jesus there are only two gates narrow and wide there is no other gate.
1. There are only two ways easy and difficulty there is no middle way.
2. There are only two crowds the many and the few there is no neutral group.
3. There are only two destinations destruction and life there is no third alternative.
4. I know we wish there were.
Gertrude Stin, the famous American writer, owned two Picassos. Each painting was worth a fortune. She told a friend of hers one time, "If this house ever catches on fire, and I can only take one picture that I own, it would be those two." But you can only choose one.
CONCLUSION: So the question is:
Which road are you on?
Which crowd are you in?
Which gate have you entered?
You have entered one of two gates.
You are walking one of two ways.
You have joined one of two crowds.
I want you to ask yourself this last question. If I stay on the road I am on right now, where am I going to be when it ends?
Max Lucado is one of the best‑selling Christian authors in the world. He tells the story of how dangerous it can be to follow the crowd. He arrived at the airport for an early morning flight and made his way to the gate. The hour was early, he was tired, and he soon found himself dozing off while waiting to board the plane.
He was aroused from his sleep by the noise of a crowd moving toward the jet ramp. Lucado gathered his belongings, found his seat on the aircraft. As soon as he sat down he slipped off into another catnap. When he awakened to the bright morning sun that was pouring through his window, he heard a strange message.
A flight attendant said, "Raise your seats to their upright position, and make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened as we make our final approach to Houston, Texas." There was only one problem. Lucado was headed to Denver, Colorado. What had happened? Because he was asleep at the gate, he missed one flight and it caused him to join the wrong crowd of passengers, and he boarded a plane that was headed in the wrong direction.
Following the crowd that seems to be going in the right direction will take you to the wrong place.
Following Jesus, who is going in the right direction, will take you to the right place.
Robert Frost, the great poet uttered the words most of us have heard and will never forget: "Two roads two roads diverged in a wood, and I‑ ‑ ‑ I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." If you take the road less traveled by, marked Jesus Christ, it will make an eternal difference.