Do You Know Where You’re Going?
Matthew 7:13-14
13- Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14- Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Introduction:
Have you ever started out thinking you were headed one place, and then when you got there you discovered that where you’d wound up was someplace else? I know that’s kind of hard to follow, but just imagine that you started out on a trip from Toronto, and you planned on winding up in, let’s say, Saint John, New Brunswick. How hard can it be? That’s a road trip you could make with your eyes closed...and from the way some drivers do it, I’d say they do have their eyes closed.
You don’t think you need a map, and if you’re a guy you certainly don’t need to ask for directions. After all, you know where you’re going, and you know that the Trans Canada goes completely across the country, so it only stands to reason that if you hit the Trans Canada and point east you’ll wind up in Saint John. So then...how’d you end up in a place called Brattleboro, Vermont?
Have you heard about the British couple who made their vacation plans for Sydney? Planned on enjoying the surf, the sun, the culture, the friendly locals...booked their airline tickets and got on the plane. They thought they had things all looked after. How hard could it be to go from London to Sydney? Wellll...when the plane landed in Sydney nine and a half hours later, they discovered to their surprise that they were in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Where had they planned on going? The other Sydney...Sydney, Australia.
The differences between the two Sydney’s couldn’t be greater. Sydney, Australia is a sunny, thriving metropolis with a population of four million that recently hosted the Olympics. Sydney, Nova Scotia is a community of 26,000 that’s plagued by high unemployment, and is home to one of Canada’s worst industrial waste sites. The good Cape Breton’ers did their best to make the mistaken Brits feel welcome. But truthfully, on it’s best day Sydney, Nova Scotia is a poor substitute when you are anticipating Sydney, Australia. I wonder what clued them in? Maybe the utter lack of Australians...
Just because you think you know where you’re going doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get there. After all, you could start out for Paris...and when you got there, discover to your chagrin that you were in Paris, Maine...not Paris, France. Of course, you probably understood that you’d taken the wrong road when you asked to see the tower and they took you to the water tower instead of the Eifel Tower. You could take a taxi to London, Ontario and wind up in London, England. But you’d probably figure out that you weren’t where you’d wanted to be when the taxi fare was around $28,000.
Look, you might laugh and think, “Now that’s a little foolish!” But it happens more often than you’d think. Now it’s true that most folks headed to Sydney, Australia don’t wind up in Sydney, Nova Scotia. And probably no one has ever mistaken Paris, Maine for Paris, France. And I’m doubtful that large numbers of people heading for London, Ontario have ever wound up in London, England. Yet it’s also true that people do often get lost and wind up someplace other than they intended. You can start out with full intentions of going one place and wind up someplace completely unexpected. It’s all a matter of getting on the right road. You see, the wrong road, in spite of intentions, will never get you to the right place.
You can’t start out wrong and wind up right. The best of intentions won’t get you to the right destination if you take the wrong road. Or, as the old saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
I. Intentions
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who started out on a journey for the purpose of winding up lost. And I’ve never known anyone who started life with the intentions of going to hell. I’ve known some hard cases, some tough guys, some wicked people who revel in their sin, yet, none of them started out intending to be that way.
I’ve never talked to a child who wanted to go to prison. I’ve never talked to a young person who wanted to be an alcoholic. I’ve never talked with a couple who married with the intentions of divorce. At some point in everyone’s life there is nothing but the best of intentions! So then how do cute little tykes grow up and go to prison? How do able young people wind up alcoholics? How do starry eyed couples wind up divorced? It’s a matter of being on the wrong road.
If you’re on the wrong road, your destination may surprise you...unpleasantly. All of the most careful planning and the purest of motives won’t get you to the right place if you’re on the wrong road. That’s why it’s important to not only know where you want to wind up, but you’d better make sure of the path you take to get you there.
I’ve never known anyone who really wanted to be lost and without God. I’ve never known anyone who admitted the possibility of hell who really wanted to go there. Underneath all of the mocking bravado of, “Well that’s where all my friends are,” they all wanted to be right, to be safe. I’ve never known anyone who started life with their own eternal destruction as their goal. I think it’s safe to say that there’s a lot of people very surprised to close their eyes in sleep and open them in hell. How do people wind up lost and without God? How do they wind up in hell? It’s all a matter of being on the wrong road.
II. Only Two Roads
Jesus said, there’s a road that leads to life, and there’s a road that leads to destruction. Jesus was saying that there’s only two roads; the right one and the wrong one. Your intentions or my intentions don’t have any impact on the eventual destination. No, Jesus taught that your destination is determined by the road you choose...and you only have two choices. Remember, Jesus said that.
I know there’s a lot of people telling you things like, “All roads lead to Rome.” But the truth is, they don’t. “All paths lead to the same destination,” they say. But really, they don’t. “All faiths take you to God.” No...sorry. “We’re all going to the same place.” No, we’re most certainly not. And it’s not because I say so, but because Jesus said that there were only two roads; the road to life, and the road to destruction.
A. The Broad Way
Jesus said, ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.’
How can you tell if you’re on the wrong road? There are no sign posts saying, “This way to destruction!” Or, “Hell, 120 kilometers” How then can you figure out what road you’re on? Well, there are some characteristics of the wrong road.
First of all, the road to destruction is the route of least resistance, the direction that’s easiest for you to go in. Jesus said that they gate was wide and the road was broad, which means that it is easiest to walk on. But it’s important to remember that the route of least resistance is usually a downhill slope, and that “ease” doesn’t mean “safety.”
If being on the road you’re on didn’t require thought, decision, or a choice, then you’re probably on the wrong road. The gate is wide; you slipped through it without even noticing. It’s not like you’ve had to search or anything. It’s not like you’ve had to find the wrong road. But if you haven’t found the right one, you’re on the wrong one.
If it seems like everyone else in the world is headed in the same direction as you are, you’re probably on the wrong road. Jesus said that many traveled on the broad road to destruction, but only few journeyed on the road to life. I know it seems like there’s safety in numbers, and it sure makes for interesting traveling to be surrounded by so many fascinating people, and I know that lots of people believe that the journey and not the destination is what’s important. But nobody believes that in hell.
If you weren’t challenged to change, you’re probably on the wrong road. Jesus said that the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction. That means you can carry all of the baggage you want when you’re on the wrong road. You can carry your load of sin, you can bring all the shame of your past, you can drag along all of your guilt; there’s plenty of room for it all on the broad road. That’s right! You don’t have to change one thing to travel to destruction!
Destruction. In the original language of the Bible, that word illustrates the destruction of vessels of clay when they were past their usefulness. Break them, destroy them, and throw the pieces away. The word also describes the devaluation of money, a loss of confidence in its value, considering it to be valueless.
There is no better word that describes the effects of the broad road of sin than the word ‘destruction’. Sin uses you until there is nothing left worth using, and then breaks you in pieces. Sin spends you and exploits you then tells you that you are worthless and hopeless.
B. The Narrow Way
But there is another way! Jesus said that there was a strait way. Strait meaning narrow, close, confined...yet it’s this way that leads to life!
The right way isn’t always the most obvious; you’ll have to find it. Unlike the broad road, it does require a decision to enter through the narrow gate. It does require thought and it does require a choice.
Some people find it by accident. They’re blindly moving along toward destruction and some event transpires that shakes them to the core. Then, in their time of pain and desperation, they see it! Another gate! Just off to the right! Just a narrow door...but it seems to hold the promise of a better life than the one they’re living. Yes, some find it by accident, but they enter it by choice.
Some find it by searching. There must be a better way, there must be more to life...looking to one side and then the other...even trying to move against the tide, trying to go against the flow. And then they find it; the way to life.
Others have found it and walked by unconcerned. After all, it is such a narrow gate, and it isn’t as popular as the road they’re on...but later on they somehow realize that it’s the pathway they should be traveling and they return to enter in.
There are some wonderful advantages to the right road, some wonderful benefits of walking the narrow way. You need to understand this morning that a narrow gate means lighter burdens, for there are some burdens that won’t fit through the narrow gate. You’ll be able to leave your burden of sin at the entrance to the narrow way...you won’t have to carry that load any longer. You’ll be able to leave the weight of your shame at the entrance to the narrow way...it won’t fit through the door, and you won’t have to bear it any more. You’ll be able to leave the heaviness of your guilt at the entrance to the narrow way...you can walk a new way in a new life without that load!
That’s what Jesus was talking about when He said, “Come unto Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you’ll find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
The narrow way means less distractions, for your companions can’t enter beside you…each must pass through by their own choice. This means that the opinions of others can’t keep you from eternal life. This means that someone else’s decision to choose destruction can’t keep you from eternal life. Moms, Dads, brothers, sisters, friends, extended family, co-workers, fellow students; there’s no one with the ability to turn you aside if you choose life.
III. How You Enter In
If destruction is not the end you had in mind for your life...
If you are tired of being broken in pieces, if you’re tired of being exploited and squandered...
If hell has never been your goal...
You need to know that you do have an option. You can choose life. You can choose to walk another way. But how? How can a whole direction in life be altered? How can I enter the narrow gate? How can I lay these heavy burdens down?
A long time ago, people asked the Apostle Peter the same thing. And he replied, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
You need to understand this simple truth; the narrow way is a way of repentance. To enter into life you must repent of your sins. Repentance is being sorrowful for your sin, asking God’s forgiveness, and then turning your back on your sin to walk in a new pathway.
And the Bible says that after repenting, you need to be baptized in water in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. Remission! Now there’s a fancy word that simply means ‘forgiveness’. He washes the guilt and shame of your sin from you, and breaks the power of sin in your life. You can be free! You can be clean! You can live without guilt! You can live without shame! Your past doesn’t have to hold you!
Then He promises to fill you with the precious gift of the Holy Ghost...His Spirit coming to live in your heart! His Spirit will provide power to live! His Spirit will give you peace! His Spirit will give you joy!
Take a look a the narrow gate! Go ahead! Enter in! And find what Jesus called abundant life!
