One of the elements of a sermon is the invitation. A sermon is more than information preached. In the invitation there is a call to action. What are you going to do with what you heard? How will you respond to how God has spoken to you?
Jesus has just preached the greatest sermon in all of history in Matthew 5-6. It is known as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew Chapter 7 is the greatest invitation of all times that concludes Jesus’ sermon. What will you do about what Jesus has said? This is the call to commitment. This is the time for responding to Jesus’s message and committing to action.
There are two ways to respond. Which will it be.
The narrow gate or the broad road?
The good fruit or the evil fruit?
Follow a religion or have a relationship with God?
Have a foundation of rocks or a foundation of sand?
Jesus did not pull any punches. The Christian life is not easy. Part of sharing the gospel is telling it like it is. Following Christ is the difficult way. Jesus is asking you to come and die to self. We don’t need to gloss over this part of becoming a Christian.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
What will it be? Only a few find the narrow gate. The road is narrow, and the path is difficult to follow. It will mean following Christ even when persecution comes for being a faithful follower of Jesus. It means staying faithful when it requires sacrifice.
This kind of faithfulness doesn’t just happen. There is a deliberate act of the will to die to self and live for Christ. The way is narrow to enter, but the invitation extends to all. We enter into God’s kingdom, the kingdom of God through Jesus. Only a few find this way. But for those who do this path leads to life.
Christian life may be hard, but worth it. There is eternal life, heaven, a crown of righteousness. These are what lay waiting for the one who finds the narrow way. This is what is in store for the ones that run the race with endurance.
Then there is the broad road that is the easy way to find. It is the path of least resistance. It is the road you will end up on if you are drifting along. This road has a wide entry gate. It is the road that is for the many. The destruction on this road is separation from God.
Think about how an animal trap works. The animal is lured in with bait and enters a wide easily accessible entry. But it can’t get out. Nothing is left for the animal but to wait for destruction. You stand at a crossroad of the wide and narrow road and Jesus calls for a decision.
There are two gates. There are two roads. There are two destinations. The narrow way is only found by a few, and the broad road is traveled by many.
There are two trees with two kinds of fruit. There is the bad tree with bad fruit. Then there is the good tree with good fruit.
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:15-20)
How do you know if someone is a prophet or a pretender? You know by their fruit. By their fruit is how you recognize who they really are. You can find the worst-case situations where a false prophet led people to do horrible things. How come people did not know? False prophets appear as lambs when they are really wolves in sheep’s clothes.
It is not good to have a wolf in charge of feeding the sheep. Because these false prophets are bad by nature, they can only produce bad fruit. You don’t get grapes from a thornbush. False prophets speak wonderful words, but their lives do not match up with their words.
In contrast to a false prophet a true prophet will produce good spiritual fruit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
So, Jesus said that it is by their fruit you will know who a false prophet is and who is a true prophet. A bad prophet cannot produce good fruit.
There are two kinds of followers. There is a contrast between those who have religion and those who have a relationship with God.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:22-23)
Simply claiming allegiance to Jesus doesn’t gain entrance to heaven. It is about more than words. Jesus tells us that on the day of judgement something shocking is going to happen. There will be those who call Jesus Lord, who did flashy miracles and cast out demons and yet Jesus will say, away from me, I never knew you.
There are those who a producing a religious sham and not a relationship with God. As an example, you could hire someone to do a job for you. One of them flatters you and tells you have wonderful you are but does not do the work. The other says little but gets the work done. The words are not enough. This is the fluff. This is the chaff. The work is the wheat. That is why our worship must be accompanied by our obedience.
On that day, the day of the Lord, the judgement day many may find they expected salvation and merely had a religion and not a relationship with God.
There are two builders of a house. There is a wise builder and a foolish builder.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:24-29)
The book of James is considered the book of practical Christianity. James’s message is that we are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. James was the younger brother of Jesus. His brother, or half-brother, Jesus was the first to give the practical message repeated by James. Don’t be hearers only but be doers of the Word of God. We must do what the Bible says.
There are two builders. One built their house upon a rock and has a solid foundation. The other builder built their house on the sand and has no real foundation at all. The house build on the sand will not withstand a storm.
If you hear and obey the word, then you have built your house on the rock. It is going to stand. If all you do is hear the word and you never apply what you hear then you are going to crumble under the storms that come.
God told Noah to build an ark. Suppose that Noa says OK sure thing Amen preach it. Then he never actually builds the ark. When it rains, he will get washed away. He needed to do more than hear. If he does not build it he sinks. He needed to obey the word of God. Since he built the ark, he and his family survived the storm. Do we just hear of do we hear and obey?
Noah stood at the crossroads and chose obedience-based action. What about you. How will you respond to the invitation of Jesus?
Will it be the narrow road or the broad road? You need to put your faith in Christ to be on this narrow road that leads to life.
Will you have religion or a relationship with God? Trusting in Christ and asking God that Jesus death on the cross be the payment for your sin is the beginning of the relationship with God. That is what it means to be born again. The gate is your salvation in Christ. That is the road to life.
