May 20, 2001
Sand Flat Baptist Church
David Yarbrough
“Everybody is Going Somewhere”
Matthew 7:13-14
As a boy one of my favorite pass times was fishing. I grew up between two lakes that provided an abundance of opportunity for me to fish. My favorite lure was a little spinner bait called an H&H. My mother worked in Tyler and if my brother and me would do all our cores through the week Mom would get us a weeks supply of H&Hs. I had to have several to make it through the week because I was constantly loosing mine in brush and what not. Mom also as an added bonus would buy us a large crank bait type lure every week. These special lures always looked so good. I would always tie then on first and give them a try, but I noticed a funny thing would often occur. I would catch some of the smallest fish with the largest lures. Sometimes the fish would not be much bigger than the lure. Then with my little H&H I would catch bigger fish and then the really big fish somehow always got away.
The devil is a fisherman also and it doesn’t matter to him how big of a lure he uses as long as he catches his fish. He is constantly throwing his lures of temptation before us trying to lure us away from living for God. These temptations are not necessarily evil things sometimes he uses “good” things to tempt us. Because the devil knows if he can get us involved with too much good stuff it will keep us from the best. When our schedule is swamped with “good” things many times there is no room left for God.
Jesus also said that we as Christians are to be fishers of men. But our method of fishing involves no deceptions or hooks. It much like fishing for crawdads. All you use is a string with a piece of meat tied on to the end. You lower the meat in the water and wait for the crawdad to grab the piece of meat then you slowly raise him out of the water. The crawdad grabs the meat of his own free will, he’s not hooked, he merely chooses to grab the meat and hold on even though he is getting pulled out of his underwater world. Christianity is a choice also, all we do is present the gospel to the lost, and it’s their choice to receive it or reject it. Then once we take hold of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit He pulls us out of our underwater sea of sin we are destine to drown in, and places our feet on the rock of His eternal salvation.
1. God desire is for all to find the small gate.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
a). What does God want? He wants you to find the small gate and the narrow path. God is at work right now leading us all either to the small gate or down the narrow path.
Illustration: Have you ever wondered why Jesus came when He did? With thousands of years of Biblical history preceding His birth, have you ever wondered why He didn’t come earlier? The time of Jesus’ birth was the perfect time for the gospel to effectively spread throughout the entire world. Before His birth God was using pagans to prepare the world so that the gospel could spread rapidly through the world. The Romans had taken over and made it difficult for anyone who didn’t speak Greek to function in their society. So when the disciples go to write and spread the gospel they use the Greek language that people everywhere can read and understand. What does every Empire strive for? Money and Power! And Rome was no exception, so for them to be more effect in spreading their commerce they built paved roads throughout their Empire. As a result travel for everyone was faster, including those carrying the gospel. The Jewish nation had been spread out all throughout the world due to their rebellion to God. So everywhere you found Jewish people you found a Jewish Synagogue, that provided Jesus and His disciples a place where God fearing people who where already reading the Old Testament would be gathered together. So as we look at this we can see that it was the perfect time for Jesus to live and spread the gospel rapidly.
Today God through our past and other people has built Roman Roads to lead us to Him. To lead us to the small gate and down the narrow road. God has provided us with His Word which the full revelation of all we need to know of Him and His salvation. His Church right here in your town and your community to worship Him. These are all to turn our attention to the small gate.
2. The small gate is a choice.
Deuteronomy 30:19
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
Illustration: When I was a teenager my older brother took on a vacation to New Orleans. I remember walking down Bourbon Street seeing the places of sin that lined that street. As we walked along the street men stood outside the bars swinging the doors open inviting everyone to take a look inside, saying; “come on in and enjoy yourself”. The devil is doing the same thing today, he’s standing outside the wide gate swinging open the door inviting everyone to go in and have the time of there life. He says, “you work hard all week your too tired to be involved with a church - you’ve been hurt before by church their all just a bunch of hypocrites – it’s all just harmless fun, besides everybody is doing it – look at what all the world has to offer you”. And when we stop and listen, he hooks us and drags us in before we ever even know what happened.
As we made our way through the rest of New Orleans there was this old Catholic Cathedral. No one was standing outside, swinging the doors open inviting us to come in. No lights were flashing, no music was playing, and large crowds weren’t making their way in and out. It just silently stood there with a few people slowly making their way in and out. Isn’t that the way the church is today? The pull of the world is so loud and overwhelming to everyone, while the church sites silently off to the side. “...and only a few find it.”
3. The wide path is a way of deception.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
a). For the rich young ruler to go down through the small gate meant that he would have to leave everything he had lived for. His riches were his identity, security, self respect, and respect of others were all wrapped up. The wide gate was telling him, “why turn away from everything you know, all your wealth, security, your way of life?” It wasn’t worth it for the rich young ruler, he had too much invested in this world.
b). All roads lead to heaven, as long as a person is true to their convictions, as long as you’re a good person God will not send you to hell. This is what seems right to a man. But the end of the wide path is destruction.
Illustration: The wide path is like a river flowing downstream with fish swimming with the current. A fish swimming with the current can travel so much easier than it can going against the current. Traveling down the wide path is like swimming with the current, and traveling down the narrow path is like swimming against the current. We as Christians we are going against the current of this world all the while the world is flying by us in the opposite direction saying, “look at all the head way we’re making, your going the wrong way, why are you struggling so hard?” Don’t make the mistake of thinking this wide path and narrow path go side by side because they don’t, they go in opposite directions. When we travel upstream it’s a daily battle going against our natural inclinations. We have to die to our flesh daily and stay focused on the Lord and our purpose for going against the world. The whole time the devil is running up and down the river casting lures before us tempting us with everything in the world. The people that are flying down this river don’t realize that this wide river empties into an eternal lake of fire. They’re swimming as fast as they can going faster than they ever went before then they die and boom, everything they lived their whole life for is gone and they face eternity without God in hell.
4. The small gate is a restrictive gate.
a). The King James version uses the word striate. Straite - A position of difficulty, perplexity, distress, or need. This gate is a gate of restriction. When I came to this gate I had luggage in both hands. One set of bags was my good works, the other set was my sins. I knew right away that me and my sins couldn’t fit through this restrictive gate so I put them down. But I thought my good works and me would go through. But I discovered that this gate only provided room for me with no luggage. I had to put my entire luggage down and go through just as I was because Jesus had paid the price for my sins and did the work of salvation. So my baggage was not only useless but also offensive to God because it said Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t good enough for me.
John 3:3
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
b). Tom Landry former coach of the Dallas Cowboys was a good man. I remember when he died his friends talked about his conversion experience. They said before his conversion they didn’t know anything was wrong with him because he was such a man of character. Coach Landry talked about it and said he believed in God but he always felt something was missing in his life. Then one night he was on the road in his hotel room with a Christian friend who witnessed to him about being born again. That night Tom Landry went from believing in God to trusting Jesus as his Lord and Savior. That night as Coach Landry referred to it was when he was born again that was when he entered the small gate.
Conclusion:
I wonder how many people after they die and face the judgment seat of God say well I was going to get saved but I was just putting it off till a convenient time in my life. I would have been saved but some people in the church hurt my families feels and we stopped going when I was a kid and I never got back in the swing of things. I made it to the small gate and didn’t go in because I was a good person and didn’t think I needed all those restrictions in my life.
God has brought us all to this point in our lives so we can see the small gate. None of us here this morning will ever be able to say we didn’t know Jesus was the only way to be saved that we had to be born again. We are all blessed here today because we can see the small gate, and not only can we see it, but also we can see that it is open for whosoever will. We’ve stopped here in our life, this place where God has brought us to, and we consider our eternal destination. Is it up stream to heaven, or is it down steam to hell?
