Today we are continuing our sermon series we are calling, “That’s A Great Question.” By the way, if you have a great question we want you to share it with us. You can text your great question to ______.
This past week I read this excerpt from an article on Preaching Today’s website: “Buried within Pew's recent study on the American religious landscape was a startling find. Adults who identified with a specific religion were asked whether they see their religion as "the one, true faith leading to eternal life" or if, in their view, "many religions can lead to eternal life." In a stunning revelation, two-thirds of Christians believe that many religions can lead to eternal life and 50 percent of all Christians believe some non-Christian religions can lead to life everlasting. James Emery White concludes, "With such a mindset, one should not be surprised at tepid attempts at evangelism. And when attempted, poor results."
James Emery White, "I Like My Way of Doing It," Church & Culture blog (1-11-16)
When someone you know dies or even worse when someone you love dies, does it matter what they believe, or can’t we all hope that each of us will reunite someday in heaven no matter what we all believe or who we believe in? What does the Bible have to say about this big question?
In John 14:6 Jesus made this statement, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” These words have stirred up a lot of strong feelings from a lot of people over a lot of years. People have a hard time swallowing those words. " ... No one comes to the Father except through me." Did Jesus really mean that, or was He just trying to get their attention?
Is Jesus really saying that He, and only He, is the one means by which people have any hope of reaching heaven? Many believe that’s an awfully narrow mind -set, even egotistical. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, what have to be some of the most frightening words to religious people of anything he ever said.
This is what he said. Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven." What a statement. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven."
He goes on to say, verse 22, "Many will say to me on that day," (referring to the day of final judgment) "'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy or preach in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.'" The old spiritual song put it this way. "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't goin' there."
Proverbs 30:12 says, "There is a generation who is pure in their own eyes, yet is not washed from their filthiness."
In other words, there are, millions of people who feel religious, millions and even billions of people who believe in their religion, even millions of people who associate with Christianity, people who would say to Jesus, "Lord, Lord." Yet, according to this scripture these people will not enter heaven.
It is possible that many people who acknowledge that they believe in Jesus will never enter heaven? To say nothing of a world of people who are in religions other than Christianity.
So in answer to the question, Do all religions lead to God? The answer actually is NO, in fact No religions lead to God. Only through a relationship with Jesus can anyone see heaven.
Now don’t get the wrong idea. I like church. I love to get together with people who love God. I like people of all denominations. I have nothing against people who belong to one. But I’m not crazy about religion. I grew up in church. I was in church soon after leaving the hospital nursery and I was there almost every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night of my childhood. I went to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and almost every event the church held. So when I talk about being in church, I know what I am talking about. But I grew up missing something. And that something was a relationship with Jesus.
A “Relationship” is a hard thing to define. We all have a lot of relationships in our lives. But your relationship with your spouse is different than the one you have with your boss. Your relationship with a sibling is different than one with your parents. The closer the relationship is, the deeper the meaning behind it and its importance to you.
When my kids were younger, I used to play a little game with them when I tucked them into bed. I would kiss them on the forehead and then say “I love you”. Then they would say, “I love you.” Then I would say, “I love you more” and they would reply, “No, I love you more.” And we would go back and forth for quite a while.
The truth is they can’t love me as much as I love them. No child truly understands unconditional love until they have children themselves. I would give up my life for them without hesitation. If I had to give up a vital organ and die so that one of them could live, I would. So what does all of this have to do with religion? Simple. Religion is a man made organization.
Relationships are about interaction, about communication, unconditional love, and vibrant life.
Jesus did not come to Earth to establish religion. In fact, it was already here when He arrived. The Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, had rules upon rules upon rules. They called it “The Law”. It was so packed full of regulations and requirements that no one could keep it, not even them. Jesus was not a fan of religion.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” - John 10:10b
Jesus wanted people to know Him. When He came to a town, He went to where the people were. He would talk to them. He would listen. He would help them right where they were. Look at what the Bible has to say about how much Jesus wants to have a relationship with us:
“God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.” - Acts 17:27-28
“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” - Proverbs 18:24
“My command is this:Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:12-13
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” - John 3:16-17
God had a plan when He created everything. He made this planet so that He and we might live here together. Walking, talking, sharing, interacting together as Father and His children. But like most kids, we rebelled.
You know the story about Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. That act of rebellion made it very hard for God to have a relationship with us. You see, God is perfect and without any faults. In fact, He is so perfect that He cannot have a relationship with someone who is not.
So, Jesus came to this Earth born of a virgin named Mary. Then He lived a life that was without fault or problem. In fact, He fulfilled every law that the religious leaders of that day had made up. Then He freely gave Himself over to be put to death for crimes He did not commit.
He never argued with his captors. He never cursed them as they drove spikes through his wrists and feet. Then, while He was hanging on that wooden cross, He assumed all the responsibility for every bad and horrible act that anyone had ever done or would do. Then, Jesus died.
But that’s not the end. After being in a tomb for three days, God gave Jesus the power to come alive and walk out of that tomb. Jesus made a way that we could again be in relationship with God by assuming the responsibility for our actions. It was the death and sacrifice of the one perfect man, Jesus, the Son of God, that allows us to have a relationship with God. Jesus freely gave His life so that we might live.
In fact, that is what Easter is all about, celebrating what Jesus did for us. Jesus died and now we can go to heaven when we die..but there is even more!
Jesus died on the cross and provided us with a way to restore our relationship with God, but if we do not accept this free gift, then we still have a blockade to our relationship with God.
It is like gifts under the tree at Christmas. If you don’t accept them and open them, you will never get the gift. Receiving this gift of a restored relationship is what make us a “Christian”. Being part of a religion or certain denomination doesn’t make us a Christian. We go to church to be able to know how to improve our relationship with God. We go to church to help other people with their relationship with God. We go to church to use our gifts and abilities for God and for His kingdom. We do all this because we want to, not because we have to.
So, apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, no one will get to heaven. No one.
It was not religion the disciples were believing in when they said In Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other. There is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved."
John 3:16 reminds us that , "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
"Salvation comes to those who confess Jesus as Lord," Romans 10:9-10, "And believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead."
There is no hope of heaven for those who don’t believe the gospel. No gospel, no salvation. No Christ, no salvation.
Christianity separates itself from every other world religion in this simple fact, Only Christianity gives the assurance of salvation, not on what we do but on accepting what God has done for us through Jesus.
In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it."
At the conclusion of that sermon, Jesus gives a command.
The command is in verse 13. "Enter by the narrow gate." Every biblical call to the gospel is a command. Repent. Believe. Receive. Enter. These are all imperatives, commands, mandates which call for obedience or disobedience, compliance or rebellion.
So the Lord ends his sermon with a strong command. It is now “make up your mind time” on the mountain.
Jesus’ entire sermon on the Mount has been a sermon of contrast. The whole sermon has been a contrast between true religion and the religion of Judaism. And frankly, between true religion and all other religions.
See, there are only two possible ways to God - One involves your work, your effort, your righteousness, your goodness. The other acknowledges that you have nothing you can do to deserve or earn a spot in heaven. Only 2 possibilities; you can get there because of something you have done or you can do nothing to earn your way to heaven. There is no third alternative.
When you get right to it, there are only two kinds of religions. Either you can be good enough to get to heaven, or you can't be good enough to get to heaven.
Only two religions in the world, only two - the religion of surrender and acceptance, you can receive and live in the gift of eternal life, or, it all depends on you. ,
Romans 3:20 says, "By the deeds of the law, no one will be justified," The Jews of Jesus' day were part of the religion of human achievement. And Jesus discredited their religion.
They kept laws and rules but their hearts were far from God. Jesus knew they had the observance of laws down pat, but they did not have hearts that loved God. And this is where religion fails. Religion does not create love for God within the hearts of the religious.
Only as we begin to know God can we truly love God. And the more we know Him the more we are able to love Him. For instance, when we know how much He loves us and what that love for us brought Him to do for us, give His one and only son for us, only then can we begin to live lives of gratitude and only then does our worship come from our hearts!
The Sermon on the Mount, was meant to totally discredit the religion of human achievement. Jesus discredited their praying. He discredited their giving. He discredited their service at the temple. He discredited their worship. Jesus completely dismantles their confidence in the religion of human achievement.
No one gets to heaven by the religion of human achievement. The only way is through His accomplishment.
And so, Jesus contrasts all false religion with the truth. There are two gates, wide and narrow. There are two ways, broad and narrow. There are two destinies, life and destruction. There are two crowds, many and few.
There are two trees, good an corrupt, two fruits, good and bad. And then there are two behaviors, the “sayers” and the “doers”, two builders, the wise and the foolish, two foundations, rock and sand, and two houses, one stood, one fell.
It's a simple contrast that sums up all of religion. It would be hard to imagine a clearer way to depict the choice that everyone has. We either choose the narrow gate or the broad way. One is the path to heaven and the other, to hell.
Let’s look at those two gates.
First the narrow one.
Look at what Jesus said about the way to heaven. "Enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And many are those who enter by it. The gate is small; the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it."
Both roads are religious. Both promise God. Both promise heaven. Nobody is selling hell. Nobody. "Come join our group, we're all going to hell." Nobody is going into the bedroom and drinking poison to go immediately to hell. Nobody sells hell. Everybody sells heaven.
But the broad road, though marked heaven, is a straight line to hell. So the command comes very clearly. "Enter by the narrow gate."
Let's break that down a little bit and understand the true way to heaven, it's spelled out so clearly here.
1.First of all, you must enter. It is a command. Enter is in the imperative form in the Greek, it is a command it is NOT an invitation, it is a call for an immediate response. It is a command that must be obeyed and if it is not obeyed, it is then a defiance of the will of God.
Hell is full of people, by the way, who admire the Sermon on the Mount, who misinterpret the Sermon on the Mount, think it's some kind of an ethical standard. Hell is full of people who admire Jesus. Hell is full of people who admire the idea that Jesus came and even admire that he died and that he rose again. They don't even deny that.
Hell is full of people who admire the things concerning the gospel, but never enter. You must enter. The verb is enter. Doesn't do any good to stand on the outside and admire it.
It is a command to enter and not to enter is disobedience. That is why judgment falls on those, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, "The retribution of God comes to those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
We must obey because the gospel is a command. When we share the gospel, we command people to believe. We command people to repent so that it is crystal clear that what they have done is obey or disobey.
2.We must enter the correct gate.
Enter by the narrow gate. This gate and this gate alone - this is a way of saying that there is no other way except through him. "I am the door," he says in John 10. "I am the way. I am the truth. No man comes to the father but by me," John 1:12.
There is no other gate. There is no other redeemer. There is no other savior. There is no other sacrifice for sin. To get to heaven, you must enter the correct gate.
3. You must enter this gate alone. The crowd is left behind. This is not a collective experience. We're not saying, "Join a religion." It's not something you're born into or something you join along with other people. This is not a collective experience like joining a religion or joining a church. You come all alone.
The gate is like a small turnstile. It only admits one at a time. It is intensely personal. In fact, you will have to break with friends and family and the crowd once you arrive at the gate.
Jesus said on a number of occasions, you have to be willing to let go of the world, to stop loving the world and all the things that are in the world.
All human relationships have to be set aside no matter how important they are, no matter how critical they are, no matter how normal and natural they are.
The Jews thought they were all on the road to heaven because they were Abraham's children, collectively. They thought that because they were Jews and they had this heritage and they had this mark of circumcision and they had received the law of God and were respectful of that law and had collectively followed the testimony of the Old Testament to some degree and carried on the worship of God, that they were fine.
Jesus said, essentially what Paul said. It's all manure. It's all manure, rubbish, garbage, filth, meaningless. All that family and heritage and their keeping the laws, added up to nothing. Paul said, "I had all of that, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, zealous for the law, following all of the traditions. It's all rubbish."
Jesus says, "You must enter. You must enter this gate. You must enter this gate alone."
4. You must enter this gate alone with difficulty. So many people try to make this easy. Notice what it says in verse 14, end of the verse. "The gate that's narrow and small, that leads to life, is found by few. Few are those who find it."
The implication here is that it's hard to find. It's hard to find this gate.
How many churches would you have to go into if you just started at one end of this valley and stopped at all the churches along the way to the other end of the valley? How many religious buildings would you have to go in? How many religious teachers would you have to listen to before you found somebody who told you the truth about the way into the kingdom of God, the way to heaven?
I know of people who have grown up in certain churches in certain denominations. Since they were children they attended every Sunday and into adulthood and never really heard about how to be saved.
Satan has created so many false systems of religion filled the world with so many false teachers and false gospels that it's hard to find the truth. And then, even when you've found the Bible, if you're holding that Bible and you're under the influence of a false teacher, they'll teach you something that is not true about that very Bible which you hold. Truth can be hard to find.
And it’s not only difficult because it's hard to find. But it's difficult because when you've found it, it's very hard to go through. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 13:24, "Strive to enter by the narrow door."
What an amazing statement. Strive is agonize. Agonize to enter by the narrow door. You say, "Wait a minute. If this is the way to heaven, if the sign says heaven, why is it so hard? Why do I have to agonize?"
Matthew 11:12 says this. "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." What an amazing statement. It's for people who seize it. It's not for the passive or the indifferent.
Luke 16:16 says, when it comes to entering through the narrow door, we must press into it. It's the picture of effort, of agonizing.
Because it means you leave the old self behind. That's hard. All your self-determination, all your ambition, all your self-will, all your sovereignty over your own life, all your sense of your own goodness, all your own dreams and ambitions.
It's exactly what Jesus said in Luke 9:23 when he said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself."
It's “I'm done, I die from now on, Christ lives.”
Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart."
There's an agonizing. As your flesh hangs onto your sin, and pride. The rich ruler comes to Jesus, "What do I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus said, "Take all your assets, sell them, get the cash, give it all to the poor." What? Why did he tell him that? Jesus was establishing whether or not this man was ready to seize it, to agonize into it, to do the struggle that needed to be done to enter. And he walked away and said, "Not on your life. I want my money. I want my self-determination. I want to do with what's mine what I want to do. And I'm not submitting to you."
This man wasn't about to deny himself. He wasn't about to submit himself fully to Christ.
So this gate is only entered by the wholehearted and the passionate and the eager and the desperate.
5. You must enter, you must enter this gate, you must enter this gate alone, you must enter this gate with difficulty and you must enter this gate naked.
I use that “naked” to mean you can't go through a turnstile with your luggage. The narrow turnstile will not accommodate you and your baggage. This is a gate for those who have dropped everything.
Self-denial, this is what Jesus was talking about in John 12:25 when he said, "The one who comes to be his disciple must hate his own life or he can't be my disciple."
What do you mean hate his own life? Well, there's a big cost involved here. That's why in Luke 14, Jesus essentially said you have to understand what you're getting into here. This isn't just about raising your hand and praying a little prayer and now you're on your way to heaven. This costs you everything.
So, you've got a lot at stake here. Your life and your eternal destiny is at stake. Count the cost. And this is the cost. If you decide to hold onto your life, Luke 9 says, you'll lose it forever. If you decide to lose it, you'll find it forever.
This is the narrow gate. Contrast with that the wide gate. "For the gate is wide." That's all it says. "The gate is wide." Easy to find. Marked “heaven” with a big sign. Easy to enter, you can come on in with everybody else. It's a collective experience. Join their religion. All the religious are getting in. You can bring all your baggage with you, you don't have to drop anything, no self-denial. Bring your pride, bring your sin, bring your self-righteousness. No call for repentance. No commitment to a life of obedience to Christ. Easy. Sign here, raise your hand. This way is marked “heaven”. It just doesn't get you there.
So there are two gates. two ways. Look again at verse 13, "The way is broad through the wide gate." And verse 14 says, "The way is narrow through the small gate."
The broad way. Plenty of room for tolerance, tolerance of this view, that view, any view. Why, after all, who knows what the Bible means? You can all have your own opinion of interpreting it. Plenty of tolerance for sin. No curbs, no boundaries, no fences, no walls.
There is that broad way, but also the narrow way. "The way is narrow," it says in verse 14. It means pressed, constricted, confining. It's like the gate . It is a life of obedience to the word of God. That's why you count the cost. You come through the narrow gate stripped and bare and you continue to walk this very confined, compressed, narrow way, calling for complete obedience to the word of God.
Finally there are two destinations. The broad road leads to destruction. The narrow leads to life. Destruction refers to everlasting torment, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever and ever and ever. The entrance to hell is from a road marked heaven.
That's Satan's great lie. But the narrow road leads to life. Life in the fullest sense, eternal life, heavenly life, eternal everlasting joy and bliss.
This passage reminds us that there are two crowds, the many and the few. Most of the people are on the broad road. The broad road encompasses all religions, the narrow only those who trust Christ.
Matthew 22:14, "Many are called but few chosen." There's just a few. Verse 22. "Many are those who are on the broad way," says verse 13. Then verse 22, "Many, will say to me on that day.” Here are the many who show up at the great white thrown judgment. Many. And they're gonna say, "Wait a minute. We call you Lord. We did preaching in your name and casting out demons in your name and miracles in your name." Here are the many.
The many and the few are characterized by two behaviors, look at verse 21. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father who's in heaven," it's the difference between the sayers and the doers.
The sayers speak empty words spoken out of empty hearts. They represent no true repentance, no true faith, no true love for the Lord, no interest in obedience. But it sounds good, "Lord, Lord." They say it twice for effect, expressing a measure of zeal. "Lord," in the sense that it's polite, respectful.
Three times in verse 22, "In your name," and emphasis on the word your, "In your name," We, we're in your group, to which he says, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness."
See, it's not what you say, it's what you do. If you do the will of the Father as revealed in the Word, if you practice righteousness, then you give evidence of belonging to him and knowing him.
So everybody's eternal destiny is gonna be based on not what they say, but what they do - not on what you claim, but on whether or not your claim is supported by a life of obedience and love toward God and Christ. "
Jeff O'Hara, wrote this. "Why call me, Lord, Lord and do not the things I say? You call me the way and walk in me not? You call me the life and live me not? You call me master and obey me not? You call me truth and believe me not? You call me Lord and serve me not? If I condemn you, blame me not."
So, maybe you‘re thinking, "I'm not sure where I am. I'm not sure." Can I take you back to verse 7? You've shown me the narrow door. What do I do to get through? Verse 7, Jesus said this, "Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it shall be opened."
That's it. Ask, seek, knock. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Give me the repentance, the regeneration, the conversion, the spiritual power to come through that narrow gate and enter the true and only path to heaven.”
Closing prayer
