When I first began to prepare the message this week, I had a nice attention catching illustration that I was going to use to open the sermon. But the more that I worked on the message this week, the more I became convinced that this is such an important message that I don’t want to waste even a few minutes of our time on any “fluff”. In fact, I’m convinced that this is undoubtedly the most important message that I’ve shared with you in quite some time so I want to encourage you to stay with me this morning.
As I pointed out last week, Jesus ends His teaching in verse 12 of chapter 7 in Matthew’s gospel account. And then beginning in verse 13, Jesus issues an invitation to His followers. Actually “invitation” may not really be the right word – it is in fact a command that Jesus issues with these words. We’re going to take the next three weeks to wrap up our journey through the Sermon on the Mount as we consider these words of Jesus which still speak to us today. Although this morning, we’ll only focus on a few verses, let’s read the entire closing section of the sermon so that we can keep everything in its proper context.
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. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
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. 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?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:13-27 (ESV)
Jesus uses a teaching method here that was common both within Judaism and Greco-Roman philosophy as He uses a series of contrasting “twos”:
• Two gates
• Two ways
• Two destinations
• Two trees
• Two fruits
• Two professions
• Two destinies
• Two houses
• Two foundations
With these nine contrasts, Jesus is calling His followers to a decision. He is not leaving any middle ground. In doing so, Jesus is committing here what the modern world probably considers the very worst sin of all – that of being narrow minded. In our culture today, that is one of the worst things you could say about another person. In fact, we tend to cut other people down with sayings like these:
• He was so narrow minded that if he fell on a pin it would blind him in both eyes.
• He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.
• She was so narrow minded that her earrings knocked together when she walked.
While we may chuckle a bit at those clever sayings, the issue that we’re going to deal with this morning is no laughing matter. And I think the words of G.K. Chesterton help us to put all this in a proper perspective:
Merely having an open mind is nothing; the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.
That’s our goal this morning – to take our minds and shut them on something solid – the words of Jesus.
The greatest danger this morning is probably not for any who are here this morning who have never committed your lives to Jesus. Certainly the command that Jesus issues here is relevant to you because you do need to enter through the narrow gate. But at least it should be quite apparent to you that you haven’t yet done that.
The greater danger this morning is for those of us who claim that we have made the decision to commit our lives to Jesus. Because our tendency is to go ahead and just tune out what Jesus is saying here because we’re comfortable that we’ve “prayed the sinner’s prayer” or “walked down the aisle” and that therefore we’ve done everything we need to do in order to secure our salvation. But once again, let us remember that Jesus is speaking here primarily to His followers and He is calling them to a radical way of life that goes far beyond praying a simple prayer or making a public commitment.
Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been drawing a distinct contrast between the only two ways that we can attempt to approach God:
• The religion of human achievement. Other than genuine Biblical Christianity, every other religion in the world – even atheism – falls into this category. That is the kind of religion that the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day were pursuing. They thought that by their outward actions they could somehow earn favor with God and their fellow man.
• The relationship of divine accomplishment. Only genuine Biblical Christianity is based on the idea that God has done it all and that we can’t do anything on our own to merit or earn His favor. This is the relationship that Jesus has been describing in the Sermon on the Mount that is available only to those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
There has been a lot of political discussion lately in our country regarding immigration and what kind of a path to citizenship that we should provide for people who have come here from other countries. And there are many different viewpoints about what is appropriate. But when it comes to the path to citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus lays that path out very clearly in the verses that we’ll look at this morning.
THE PATH TO CITIZENSHIP IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
I must choose to enter…
Jesus begins in verse 13 with a command – enter! In the Greek, it is in a form that conveys a sense of urgency and calls for immediate action. Like all commands, it requires us to make a choice. And, as we’ve already seen, Jesus makes it clear with the nine sets of contrasting elements that everyone must make a choice to follow one of two paths.
One is the wide path of human achievement that is open-minded and tolerant to all viewpoints. It is by far the easiest path, so like running water that will follow the path of least resistance, it is the one that most people choose. But, although it is not apparent when one enters that gate, it is a path that leads to destruction.
The other is the narrow gate of divine accomplishment that is not easy to find. And once we enter that gate it leads to a narrow path that is not always easy to navigate. But it is the only path that leads to life.
There are only these two paths and everyone must choose one or the other. There is no middle ground.
We actually have a similar situation when it comes to people trying to enter into the United States. For those who want to become legal citizens the gate is narrow and there are some pretty rigorous and difficult conditions that must be met once someone enters through that narrow gate. But if that person perseveres through the difficult process, they can eventually become a citizen.
But others try to take the wide road, which in most respects is much easier. But in the end, that gate leads to destruction – some die in the desert, others are abused by those who promise to get them into our country and even the ones who are successful have to live in the shadows, constantly fearing that they may be discovered and deported.
The other thing we see here is that each person has to individually make the decision to enter the kingdom of heaven. Unlike citizenship in our country, citizenship in the kingdom of heaven is not bestowed upon anyone because of their heritage or because they were born into a Christian family.
Once I make the decision to enter into the kingdom of heaven, I find that the only way to enter is to do so…
according to God’s plan…
There is only one way to enter into the kingdom of heaven – by the narrow gate. And that gate is none other than Jesus Himself. When Thomas asked Jesus how he and his fellow disciples could know the way to where Jesus was going, Jesus responded with these familiar words:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 (ESV)
Once again we find Jesus to be very narrow-minded. Jesus didn’t just say that He was a way or a truth or a life. He is the way and the truth and the life. The underlying Greek is very clear here - Jesus did not even leave open the possibility that there was another way or truth or life.
Earlier in His ministry Jesus expanded on this truth in a manner that links it even more directly to His words in the Sermon on the Mount:
So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:7-11 (ESV)
Jesus is the door. He is the narrow gate – the only way by which we are able to enter into that relationship with God that He desires for us.
Recent studies confirm that faith in Jesus alone as a means of salvation is indeed a narrow gate. A 2009 study performed by the Barna group found that only 28% of adults in the United States believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. And that is in a nation where somewhere around 75-80% of people claim to be Christians.
What is even more frightening is that only about 50% of those who claim to be born-again believers reject the possibility of earning our salvation through our own works.
In that same survey, only 40% believed that Jesus lived a sinless life here on earth even though the Bible clearly teaches that was the case:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15 (ESV)
If Jesus did not live a sinless life while here on earth, then His death on the cross was in vain since He could not have been an acceptable sacrifice for our sins.
I would like to think that here at TFC that we are somehow immune to being deceived by the wide gate in our culture that claims that there are many ways to God. But I know that is not the case. Perhaps there are some of you here this morning who would honestly have to say, “I want to choose Jesus, but I’ve tried to do it in some other way than 100% based on my faith in Jesus and what He has done for me.” I’m here this morning to lovingly, but emphatically, tell you, based on the words of Jesus, that if you’ve tried to come to Jesus in any way other that the way He has prescribed then you are on that wide road that leads to destruction. But the good news is that it’s not too late to get off that road and enter the narrow gate that relies completely on what Jesus has done for you.
I must choose to enter according to God’s plan…
into a life full of pressure…
In verse 14, Jesus describes the way that leads to life as “hard”. The word He uses there is a verbal form of a noun that we encountered frequently during our study of Revelation. This word comes from the same word that is translated “tribulation” elsewhere in the New Testament. And hopefully you’ll remember that the Greek word for “tribulation” comes from a word that indicates something that is under pressure.
We can easily picture how that describes trying to make our way through life on the narrow path. Several years ago, Mary and I hiked a narrow path along the Na Pali coast in Kauai. And sometimes the path was so narrow that we were hemmed in by the steep cliff going down to the ocean on one side and some obstacle on the other.
Living the life of a Christ follower is often like that. When we decide to enter through the narrow gate prescribed by Jesus, we find ourselves living a life that is often full of pressures from every side. Certainly Jesus warned His followers that they could expect that kind of life on the narrow path with these familiar words:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 (ESV)
There it is – Jesus warned that in this world we would have what? That’s right – tribulation, pressure.
Just before that, Jesus had shared another similar warning with His disciples:
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
John 15:18-19 (ESV)
Know this – if you choose to be a Christ follower, you will experience pressure in this world. There are people who hate Jesus and if you identify yourself with Him they are going to hate you, too.
Unfortunately, one of the greatest disservices that the church has done to the cause of Jesus is to often peddle “cheap grace” that promises people that if they just “come to Jesus” all their problems are going to go away. But according to the words of Jesus, just the opposite will occur.
Once we align ourselves with Him, the pressure is going to come. But the good news is this – it is only temporary. Jesus has promised that He has overcome the world and that even in the midst of tremendous pressure, He will give us peace.
I must choose to enter according to God’s plan, into a life of pressure…
leaving behind my baggage…
One of the implications of the narrow gate and the narrow path is that the only way we can travel that path is to leave all of our baggage behind. Entering through that gate is kind of like trying to go through a turnstile. All my baggage just won’t fit through that narrow opening with me.
When I choose to enter that gate, the first thing that I need to leave behind is my human pride – the idea that I have something worthy to offer to God.
Sometimes entering through the narrow gate means that I have to leave behind people – maybe even family and friends. Becoming a Christ follower is not some social club that we’re born into or that we enter into with our friends so that we can hang out together. That turnstile only admits one at a time and each person has to choose to enter on his or her own. Jesus certainly confirmed that idea with these words:
Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
Mark 10:28-30 (ESV)
As a side note, Jesus again confirms the idea that His followers will suffer persecution here on this earth. But Jesus also points out here the high cost of becoming His follower. It often requires that we leave behind people and things that will weigh us down and keep us from being able to enter the narrow gate or make our way along the narrow path.
I think the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, summarize this idea quite accurately and succinctly:
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
A dead man doesn’t have anything – he must leave it all behind. And when we enter that narrow gate we must be willing to do the same. But when we do that, it is amazing how often that God, in His infinite grace, returns to us that which we have left behind and makes it even better.
I must choose to enter according to God’s plan, into a life of pressure, leaving behind my baggage…
so that I can know Jesus.
Remember earlier that we said there are really only two ways we can attempt to approach God – human achievement or divine accomplishment. But the only one that works is the narrow path – the relationship built on divine accomplishment.
Jesus further emphasizes that truth in verses 21-23. He says that there will be many who try to earn God’s favor by doing all kinds of what they consider to be “mighty works”. And they will even claim that they are doing them in the name of Jesus. In fact, these people will even call Jesus “Lord.” But in reality, He is not really their Lord since these people have not yielded control of their lives to Jesus.
With His response to these people Jesus reveals the real issue that prevents these people from being citizens of the kingdom of heaven. When Jesus says “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” He makes it clear that these people were never really citizens of His kingdom in the first place. This is confirmed by Jesus Himself:
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
John 10:14 (ESV)
You’ll notice here that there is a connection between being known by Jesus and knowing Him. Obviously, because He is fully God, there is a sense in which Jesus knows everything about everyone. But the word that Jesus uses in both Matthew and John for “know” is a word that indicates intimate knowledge that is gained through experience. So the implication here is that Jesus only knows in that way those who seek to know Him like that.
The clear implication here is that true citizens of the kingdom of heaven desire to know Jesus, not just know about Him. They spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer, not out of some sense of obligation or duty, but so that they can develop an intimate relationship with Him. And as they do that, Jesus develops in them the character that we have been studying about for the last couple of months that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount.
Not surprisingly, the Bible provides us with a very simple test that we can use to examine our own lives to see if we really know Jesus and are citizens of His kingdom:
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 2:4-6 (ESV)
It’s pretty simple isn’t it? Those who truly know Jesus will keep His commandments and will live their lives in a manner that is consistent with the way that Jesus lived His life while He was here on this earth. Obviously, none of us can do that perfectly, but that needs to at least be the sincere desire of our heart and our hearts should be broken when we fail to live up to that standard.
It’s actually pretty easy to know about Jesus. It’s not too hard to call Him “Lord” or even to do what we consider to be great works and say that we are doing them in His name. And unfortunately our churches are filled with people just like that who have entered through the wide gate and chosen to take the easy way.
As John MacArthur insightfully observes:
The way that is broad is the easy, attractive, inclusive, indulgent, permissive, and self-oriented way of the world. There are few rules, few restrictions, and few requirements. All you need do is profess Jesus, or at least be religious, and you are readily accepted in that large and diverse group. Sin is tolerated, truth is moderated, and humility is ignored. God’s Word is praised but not studied, and His standards are admired but not followed. This way requires no spiritual maturity, no moral character, no commitment, and no sacrifice.
The words of Jesus that we’ve looked at this morning call all of us to make an honest examination of our lives and then to make some decisions based on what we find.
First, there may be some of you here this morning who have never attempted to enter the narrow gate. You’ve been living your life on the wide road, holding to the religion of human achievement. You have never genuinely committed your lives to Jesus and to the relationship of divine accomplishment. If that describes your life, you are on the road that leads to destruction and you need to get off that road today and commit your life to Jesus.
Second, there may be some of you here this morning who have tried to enter through the narrow gate. Perhaps you have even committed your life to Jesus and called Him your Lord. Maybe you’ve even been baptized and joined this church. Perhaps you’ve been doing good works in His name. But if you’re really honest you would have to admit that you aren’t really committed to knowing Jesus. And your life really doesn’t bear evidence that you know Him because you’re not following His commands and living your life in a manner that is consistent with the one He lived.
If that describes your life, then you, too, are on the wide road that leads to destruction and you need to get off that road today. You need to confess to God that you haven’t been pursuing a love relationship with Jesus and ask Him to help you get back on the narrow path that leads to life.
Third, some of you can honestly say that you have entered through the narrow gate and are living your life on the narrow path. You earnestly desire to know Jesus better and you consistently spend time in His Word and in prayer. Your life bears evidence that you know Jesus because you obey His commands and live as He lived. And when you fall short of that standard, you genuinely mourn.
Because this is so important, I’m going to ask all of us to do something very practical this morning to encourage us all to make that self-evaluation. Go ahead and tear off the Care Card on the flap of your bulletin. In a moment I’m going to give you time to pray and ask to reveal which of those three groups you fit into. After that I want you to go down to the place on the card under “My Decision Today” and go down to the fourth line that reads “Other” and then just put the number 1, 2, or 3 there:
• #1 – you have never committed your life to Jesus
• #2 – you have made a decision to commit your life to Jesus but you would have to honestly say that you are not consistently seeking to know Him
• #3 – you have committed your life to Jesus and are consistently seeking to know Him better through time in His Word and prayer.
If you put a 1 or a 2 there and would like to be able to get to the point where you can be a 3, then put your name and contact information on the other side of the Care Card and one of our elders will contact you this week to set up a time so that we can assist you in that process.
Jesus was certainly narrow-minded. And if we are to be his genuine followers, we need to follow His example and be narrow-minded as well. That’s the only way we’ll get off the wide road that leads to destruction and get on the narrow path that leads to life.
