Life’s Two Choices
Matt. 7:13-23
Prayer
Introduction
A Squirrel in the road:
This week as I was thinking about roads and signposts and choices,
I was on our road right out here and as I turned the corner, I saw a squirrel
He was halfway across when he noticed me
I didn’t have room to stop
He froze in the middle, he started across, started back, totally freaked out
And didn’t know which way to go
He doesn’t have a clue which way is best or safest
Have you ever felt like that Squirrel?
You don’t know which way to turn, you feel confused, scared, in danger
We have something the squirrel doesn’t – the Word of GOD
We have God’s word that tells us to take the road less traveled
We have God’s word that tells us that the law cannot save us,
That we will never be able to live up to the standard of perfection required by the law
We have the Word of God that tells us that the way to gain acceptance from GOD
The way to have a right standing before God – to gain righteousness
Is by Faith alone, in Jesus alone, by the grace of God alone – He has marked out the path for us with his blood, with the cross point us to HIM
We All have to make choices in life from what we are wearing to what type jobs we are going to work at to who we are going to marry. This decision will have an effect on our lives. But, once you stop and really think about these choices may affect us now but are they really important. The choices we have in life are only two. All the other choices we make are directly impacted by which of the two choices we make. Everyone of us have to choice either one of other. We can not choice part of one and a part of the other. One choice leads to the fallen world and what it holds and finally death. The other leads to heaven and eternal life. Which would you rather have, maybe wealth and some fleeting moments of pleasure or eternal treasure and happiness. That is your choice this morning.
I. The decision we make will affect us for all eternity. What exactly are the choices we have to make?
A. The first choice we have is to choice the wide gate or in other words the world and its ways.
a. This gate like all leads to something and that is destruction.
1. Understand we are not talking about only the physical destruction of this body but we are talking about the destruction of your soul.
i. Our soul will be cut off from God for all eternity.
ii. Hell is a real place crated by God for Satan and his fallen angels. It is not the desire of God that any human spend eternity there. But many will because they will choose hell over heaven. They will believe all the lies about there is no God, there are other ways to heaven besides Jesus, a loving God would not send anyone to hell and all the other lies. But God does not send anyone to hell we make the choice to go. People make that choice by refusing to accept God’s authority and thereby His gift of salvation.
2. The wide gate is sin. It is against the will of God and many pefer it over God’s mercy, love, and grace.
a. We need to ask the question why is sin so bad? And why can’t I be good enougg to sastify God?
i. Answer is sin is man’s way and mans way is not God’s way is opposite of God’s commands.
ii. In life we work for wages and our choice has wages also. It’s wage is death.
iii. This death is not only a physical death but a spiritual death also.
iv. Those who follow the wide path will spend eternity in hell.
*It is a place of torment
*It is place of fire
*Is a place of darkness because God is not present.
c. This is where the Wide Gate is leading you and many people. Understand Hellvis full of good people who rejected Him.
B. But because of His Love, Grace, and Mercy He has provided the narrow gate.
a. This gate is salvation.
1. It is provided by Jesus Christ.
2. All we have to do is ask for it.
3. Then we are plucked from this world and placed in God’s hand where nothing can remove us from.
4. This is where the narrow gate leads. Jesus promises use eternal life with Him in Heaven. What more can you want but God gives us so much more.
5. Those who choose the narrow gate recieve blessigs, peace,joy, trials, and tribulations.
i. The blessing, peace, and joy are what make the trail and tribulations bearable.
ii. And at the end of this physical life we start our eternal life with God in Heaven where there is no more pain, no sorrows, and no tears. Just so much joy, love, and peace that we can not imagine it.
4. This is the path that God wants you to follo and the one Satan wants to keep from.
II. But we must be careful because there are many who would try to decieve us.
A. There are false teacher and prachers everywhere.
1. They only teach what the people want to hear.
2. They want only to tickle the ear and make everyone feel good about themselves.
a. don’t worry be happy
b. everything you are doing is alright God forgives you.
c. There is really no wrong just somethings are more wrong than others.
d. All religions lead to God
e. We can’t believe everything in the Bible, it was written long ago, it does not pertain to us.
B. Beware of those teachers and judge by there fruit.
a. are they producing fruit for the Kingdom.
b. is the spirit with them
c. do they walk the path of the narrow gate.
III. Not everyone who says they believe on Jesus enter heaven.
A. The reason is because they never really surrendered to Jesus.
B. They never put their trust in Him.
a. they depend on ritual or tradition not on Christ.
b. they depend on church membership.
c. They are depepending on their good works
d. they are depending on something else besides Jesus.
C. On that day Jesus will say to them "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity"
a. the saddest words ever spoken
b. The saddest words ever to be heard
c. But that does not have to be heard. Come and let me show you how to find the narrow gate.
It involves a TX Dot employee, who I said would remain nameless, but I was told that in TX Dot fashion I was permitted to use his initials "Randy".
Randy was apparently asked to change his password on the computer, and the computer even promoted him to do so three times. On the third time he entered the new password, then the computer prompted him to re-enter the password, which he did. He then received the message "You are about to change your password, is this what you want to do?" Randy was confronted with the choice. He chose "No", because he didn’t want to change his password, this then locked up the computer, because he was suppossed to be changing his password, and when given a choice, he chose "no". It is said that the other employees have learned from his mistake.
I asked Randy if I could share his story, because it was right along the lines of what I wanted to talk about today. God gives us a choice! We sometimes call it free will. He shows us the right choices to make, prompts us to change our passwords and our lives, and yet so often we simply choose to excercise our free wills to make choices that follow our own desires, often even chosing and saying "no" to a relationship with God.
