No Sitting on the Fence
Notes
Transcript
Pray
Narrow or Wide
Narrow or Wide
‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
Now that’s a statement that can get us into a lot of trouble in todays culture.
All are welcome, but not welcome on our own terms - welcome on the very narrow and specific terms of Jesus.
His way is entered into via a very narrow gate
- no width for personal views or wide ranging suitcases containing the whim of anyone who comes that way.
No - leave all that behind -the gate is narrow.
Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Agnostics, muslims, liberal Christians, atheists, Jews, Hindus - we could go on - you get the picture
- you have all missed the narrow gate - it is not wide, and it does not consist of many different varieties and entry points,
the Gate is narrow - there is only 1 - and the gate is repentance and faith in Jesus.
So what - our world, perhaps we say - does it matter if I miss the narrow gate.
Can’t we take the broad path and find God anyway.
Isn’t ok to choose your own journey,
do what’s right in your own view,
Surely we should be accepting and encouraging of all that this rich and diverse world of humanity brings to to the table -
as long as you are true to yourself?
You can yes, - but it’s a terrible idea.
That broad path leads to destruction.
Many entre that gate and travel that road.
But It’s the road that literally leads to hell.
Jesus regularly uses the illustration of fire to make the point about how terrible this destruction will be for those on that road.
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So terrible is this destination at the end of the broad and easy road that we are to do all we can to avoid it...
If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Most theologians consider the ‘fire’ to be illustrative not literal - but the illustration is there to make the point of how desperate it will be.
An eternal conscious punishment for rejecting God almighty in our hearts and attitudes, and for refusing to bow the knee to the ONE WAY of salvation. Jesus.
To think about hell, destruction, is hard to do without tears - and so we don’t think about it.
BUT says Jesus,
That is the road the world is on.
Many entre that wide gate and follow that broad road.
We call it
inclusivity,
freedom,
acceptance,
multi-faith,
generous.
Jesus calls it
the road to destruction.
Sin,
rebelion,
blindness,
dark.
But - also easy.
It is easy to follow the way of the world.
Take anything and everything on this journey - you’re free to be your own king.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
The true Christian life is entered into by the narrow gate - the Lord Jesus and his death and resurection - for you.
He paid the price of our destruction so that we don’t have to.
No other ‘way’ deals with the judgement of God on our behalf.
It’s narrow and exclusive - and few find this gate
- and even fewer are prepared to accept Jesus as their Lord, King, Ruler and therefore entre through the gate.
And it’s not a one time: cast of all worldly ways and views to entre
and then feel free to collect your baggage on the other-side - the way is narrow too.
There are narrow standards - it is an exclusive walk.
In
Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
We deny ourselves - our views and rights, and live now by a new and different code.
the Rule of the Lord God Almighty - the teachings of Jesus as all found in the bible.
We live to his standards and commands - no longer our own.
So narrow is the way that many a church has abandoned it
They say - ‘Jesus loves you whatever you do, so just believe and carry on as you are.
Churches that encourage
multi-faith gatherings and prayers,
same-sex marriages,
Sex outside of marriage,
calls to faith that mention nothing of the Lordship of Jesus,
or the humble repentance of ourselevs,
It’s just about love and your own journey.
The bible is helpful for a few moral, that’s all.
It’s the easy road - for society loves that those messages.
I say all these things to awaken us to the terrible fate of the world and much of the so called ‘church’ around us - they are on the road to destruction.
And if we ourselves have not entered the narrow gate of Jesus,
and do not submit ourselves to the Word of God in the bible (not perfectly - but in repentant humble and joyful striving) -
then we too are on that broad road to hell.
pause,
We need to be careful, and we need to be careful who we listen to as well.
Sheep or Wolves
Sheep or Wolves
‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
We often think of treacherous, dangerous people as ‘obvious’.
Scary, there’s a look about them.
They are powerful or impressive.
But the most dangerous people - the people that can lead us to destruction not life - look like mild mannered sheep.
We are to imagine the gentle, meek, unassuming.
They are leading they say, like an OT prophet would - people to God - but inwardly they are wolves.
It’s the minister who everyone loves, but who never calls for repentance and belief in Jesus as the only way.
Who visits everyone at their hospital beds but by failing to teach the word of God on Sundays is leading them all to an eternity in hell.
They look like sheep - but inwardly they are ferocious wolves for they tear away the life giving blood of Jesus.
They blind us to the narrow gate of Jesus, and attract us to the road much travelled by the many.
In Jesus’ day it may have been the Pharisees - the very religious leaders everyone went to for guidance,
- but rather than being pointed to the heart of God
- they were directed away to hypocrisy and the wide roads of self-love.
So how do we spot them?
How do you sitting here today know that I am not one of them...
By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.
The illustration is clear - bananas don’t grow on a gooseberry bush and visa versa,
and a bad tree doesn’t miraculously produce good fruit and visa verse.
The question then is what is good, or the right fruit.
Jesus has been preaching about what good fruit is through his sermon on the mount - and it’s a common NT illustrtaion.
Good fruit is a character that reflects the Beatitudes of chapter 5,
And a teaching sound doctrine according to the full word of God - the bible.
Poor in spirit,
Mournful over sin,
meek,
hunger and thirsting after righteousness
merciful
pure
peacemakers,
And their teaching is to be faithful to the bible as Jesus commands in 5v17
Jesus has fulfilled the law in himself in his life, death and resurection,
is now our call to Christlikeness - it is the narrow way.
And He says simply in
‘If you love me, keep my commands.
Of course this is a dangerous thing to preach for myself
- it is right for you to ask - is Sam a Sheep or a wolf in sheeps clothing.
I can obviously say that’s I’m a sheep - but so would a wolf
- And becasue a wolf is blind to the truth of Jesus I doubt half the time they even realise they are wolves!
My point is don’t believe everything someone tells you - asses them by their fruit.
Are they poor in Spirit - trusting only in Jesus alone for salvation,
And do they teach the the truth of God’s Word alone - the narrow path - in opposition to the ways of the world.
(No-one will do this perfectly - we will all continue to make many mistakes before God - that is part of the point of being poor in spirit,)
But a striving to be Christlike and to teach and obey God’s word is the fruit to look for in those you listen to as they teach and guide you in life.
Some of us are not carful enough in our wider reading and listening to other Christian teachers, authors and pastors
- we live in a very digitally small world and these windows of podcasts, sermons, tweets do not show us enough fruit.
‘Watch OUt - says Jesus - be careful. You do not want to find you have missed the narrow way.
And when you find a church or a youtube channel with a wolf at the helm - who fails to teach the bible and fails to proclaim the exclusive way of Jesus alone,
flee - and warn others as you go - before it is too late. - they are ferocious wolves.
True or False Disciples
True or False Disciples
The logic continues, if there are false prophets or teachers, are there false Christians - false believers?
Could you or I be one here today?
‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
The point is simple -
Simply saying Lord Lord - or even ‘believing Jesus is Lord’ - does not make you a true disciple.
Satan believes that - he just doesn’t like it!
If you have prayed a prayer of confession, repentance and belief that is not proof of anything says Jesus.
If we are truly converted by the grace of God - then our moral lives will change to seek obedience to the will of God.
We once went to a church that believed it was wrong to call Christians to obey God.
A kind of - you are saved by grace alone, so teaching anything on obedicene now is just legalism
- it shows that we are trying to earn salvation.
We are free they would say - freed from sin and the law.
It all sounds plausible,
others (perhaps some here) don’t even justify not obeying Jesus theologically - they just say they believe and carry on living however they like,
- it is like we’ve tried to slip through the narrow gate to get back to the comfortable broad and wide road!
No says Jesus - proof that you have entred freely through the narrow gate is that you now live seekign to do the will of God the Father.
How sad that they will be the people of which v 22 will be tragically true..
Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
They say a lot about Jesus
- and use his name to perform all sorts of amazing things
- but if there is no moral life change
- not to perfection
- and not for salvation,
but if there is no seeking obedience under the rule of Jesus in our lives - there is no salvation!
This is an important issue to think about.
Have we accepted Jesus’ forgiveness but not his lordship!
Paul writes in
2 Timothy 2:19 (NIV (Anglicised, 2011))
‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’
Perhaps some here need to repent again - and submit ourselves wholly to Jesus’ loving and gracious rule
- in all areas of our lives, submitting to His Word the bible in totality - not in part.
It is a narrow difficult path, yes - but it is the one that leads to life!
Finally
Wise or Foolish
Wise or Foolish
‘Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.’
Therefore - always an important word in the bible,
Therefore - based on the narrow gate, and path, the wolves, the ‘Lord lord’ ‘sayers ‘who don’t obey,
therefore - only a fool would ignore Jesus as Lord.
Make the effort says Jesus.
Dig down to the rock, find that firm foundation,
put in some hard sweat and effort,
dig for the wonderful way of life in the word of God,
submit yourself to His teaching
It wont sit comfortably for the world around
- it is the narrow way and the world, the many, are on the broad road!
Build those foundations - sacrifice much,
let it be the bedrock of all you live for and on.
Entre freely through the narrow gate of salvation in Jesus - and live with him as your Lord.
Otherwise - feel free - build your fancy and easy house/lives on the broad road, on the sand - cheap, fast, easy, comfortable, live for yourself - say the odd Lord Lord,
kid yourself you’re a true believers,
revel in the teaching of wolves who make you feel good about life,
But - when the rain comes,
Jesus returns, the floods come up,
God’s judgement rises upon you,
it is destruction and fire that awaits.
It will all come down with a great crash.
We have some thinking to do.
We have a world to warn of this terrifying truth.
We have the Lordship of Christ to submit ourselevs to - for he has offered us free salvation.
We have a life to deny, and obedience to seek.
And we have a Saviour who as the crowds listening glimpsed - is amazing and holds all authority.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Come to Jesus - poor in sprit - empty handed,
offer your life, full obedience and joy to him.
For He - is the narrow gate that leads to life.
Pray
