“God’s Highway”
Matthew 7:13-14
David P. Nolte
Sometimes it is refreshing to get off the major highways and onto the back roads which, many times, in the past, were the major highways. Going to Eugene via Hwy 99 may be slower but once in a while, it’s fun.
Life is in many ways like a highway. On it we take a trip from one point to another. The highway runs through valleys and crosses mountains. The road sometimes is smooth and sometimes a little rough. There are long, straight sections and there are curves to navigate. Sometimes the trip is uneventful and sometimes there is tragedy. It may be a sunny trip or it might be inclement weather. Usually we can travel at a good rate, but there are factors like accidents, slow traffic and construction that hinder more rapid progress.
Hopefully we can travel safely, happily, and to our desired destination. Even more importantly we are traveling on a highway that leads to eternity. There are two such highways: Satan’s route or God’s – both ending in eternity – but not the same place.
Jesus said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (NLT2).
Solomon wrote, “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; He who watches his way preserves his life.” Proverbs 16:17 (NASB).
Norm and Norma brought a great song about God’s Highway – not
a multi-lane autobahn with virtually no speed limit, but that narrow and difficult way that ends in glory.
“Highways here, highways there, on the land, and in the air. Roads that lead near and far to the fields of war; But there’s one Highway where no armies meet, a golden Highway were no war drums beat. God’s Highway is that golden Highway, and it’s safe, and straight and sure; God’s Highway is the only Highway that forever must endure.”
Consider some traits of that Highway:
I. GOD’S HIGHWAY IS THE NARROW WAY
A. Now some will react negatively to that concept. Well, take that up with Jesus, the One Who said it. I like to say it like this:
1. The way to Heaven is as narrow as Jesus makes it: He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 (NASB).
2. The way to Heaven is as wide as Jesus makes it: He said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. . . . . For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:37 and 40 (NASB).
3. God’s Highway is as narrow as Jesus and as wide as whosoever will.
B. Many things in life are narrow and we are thankful it is so.
1. When the doctor prescribes, we want him to include only appropriate and correct meds 100% of the time; 99.44% is not good enough!
2. When we pay for groceries we want accuracy when the register tallies our cost. An amount with an error allowance of $10 or $12 is not acceptable.
3. Driving the wrong way on a road is not allowable.
C. So, just as the sun invariably rises in the East; and 2 + 2 = 4 every time; and truth is truth regardless of our opinion; even more surely, Jesus is the only Savior!
D. Here’s the Bible on that:
1. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 (NASB)
2. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 (NASB).
3. “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:12-13 (NASB).
E. One woman wrote, “I left the narrow road and wandered far off for a long ten-year period. That broad road that everyone else was on looked so good to me. I was deceived by the broad road. I honestly thought that to go God’s way would lead to a dreary life. Now, I didn’t actually think that thought, and no doubt I would have denied it had someone pointed it out to me at the time. But the truth is, I wanted control of my life because I thought my plan for my life was the only way I would find happiness. It was all about me—and let me tell you, the years I spent on that broad road that looked so good were, for the most part, miserable.
I shake my head now as I see how foolish I was to waste all those years on that broad road, because I can tell you that it did not deliver what it promised. The Devil never does, you know. He makes sin look attractive and then once we’re snared, he lays all kinds of guilt and misery on us! He is a master liar and we are prone to believe that his lies about the broad road are true. .... the truth is that the narrow road is about dying to our own selfish, self-centered lifestyle, and changing the ‘it’s all about me’ attitude to ‘it’s all about Jesus.’ On the narrow road, it’s all about Jesus – loving Him, serving Him, giving Him control, and obeying His commands. And that’s the road that leads to life.”
God’s Highway is narrow.
II. GOD’S HIGHWAY IS OFTEN THE ROUGH WAY:
A. “The road is difficult.” Nobody with authority, God included, promised smooth road all the way. A few “feel-good” authors and speakers might make such an unfounded claim, though.
B. But here’s the truth:
1. “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NASB).
2. Paul and Barnabas “returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.’” Acts 14:21-22 (NASB).
3. “We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 (NLT2).
C. That truth is mitigated by these truths:
1. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB).
2. “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” 1 Peter 5:10 (NASB).
3. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NASB).
D. Annie Johnson Flint put it like this:
God has not promised skies always blue;
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through.
God has not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain!
God has not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He has not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care!
But God has promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
E. The way can be difficult sometimes as Chippie the parakeet learned. He never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said “hello” when “ssssopp!” Chippie got sucked in.
The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie – still alive, but stunned.
Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. “Well,” she replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore -- he just sits and stares.”
It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.
God’s Highway is sometimes rough.
III. GOD’S HIGHWAY IS THE RIGHT WAY:
A. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate.” And Solomon said, “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; He who watches his way preserves his life.” Proverbs 16:17 (NASB).
B. There is, after all, a right way and a wrong way! And there’s no right way to go the wrong way.
1. If you want to go to Eugene from here, taking I-5 north would br the wrong way – unless, of course, you circumnavigated the globe and approached Eugene from the south.
2. If you want to build a house but you disregard the need for a solid foundation and put pudding under the structure – well, that just is not the right way, unless, of course you build the house out of soap bubbles or marshmallows.
C. Listen to God’s word:
1. Isaiah, referring to God’s Kingdom, said, “A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.” Isaiah 35:8 (NASB).
2. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:5 (NASB).
D. The Lord desires greatly that everyone find and follow this right way.
1. “Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, He will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.’” Isaiah 30:20-21 (NLT2).
2. He wants us all to find the right way; He has not camouflaged it or mislabeled it or set up a detour
3. He gives us two reliable guides onto the right way:
a. The first is His Word: “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105 (NLT2).
b. The other One is His Spirit: Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future.” John 16:13 (NLT2).
4. So pray with the Psalmist, “Lead me in the right path, O LORD, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow.” Psalm 5:8 (NLT2).
E. Speaking of being led onto the right way, let me tell you about “The Pigeon Man.” It is said that a certain guide lived in the deserts of Arabia who never lost his way. He carried with him a homing pigeon with a very fine cord attached to one of its legs. When in doubt as to which path to take, he threw the bird into the air. The pigeon quickly strained at the cord to fly in the direction of home, and thus led the guide accurately to his goal. Because of this unique practice he was known as “the pigeon man.”
So, too, the Holy Spirit, the Heavenly Dove, is willing and able to direct us in the right way that leads to the life if we submit to His unerring guidance.
You can’t go the wrong way and come out at the right place; to end up in eternity with Jesus you must travel God’s highway, the NARROW, ROUGH, RIGHT WAY.
While we get to choose the road we travel, we do not choose where it goes.
One road leads to eternal life in heaven and the other in eternal death in hell. WHICH ROAD HAVE YOU CHOSEN? WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE? Pray. Decide or reconfirm which highway as we sing.
