A Choice To Be Made 8-11-24 AM
A CHOICE TO BE MADE
(Matthew 7:13-14)
I. The declaration.
a. Enter by the strait gate.
b. This is not an invitation in the sense that Jesus is saying, Hey come on in.
c. This is a declarative statement and it implies that this is the only gate for good.
d. Throughout the sermon, Jesus has been letting people know of His power.
i. You have heard that it has been said. . ., but I say unto you.
ii. Jesus was making demands and stating facts.
iii. This is why when the sermon ended the people were astonished (Matt. 7:28-29).
e. Jesus is saying, “If you want in this kingdom, you have to come in through this gate.”
f. This also indicates the exclusive nature of the kingdom – there is only one kingdom and only one gate by which one can enter the kingdom.
g. Jesus is not making a polite suggestion here.
h. This is a declarative statement that is a command.
i. Jesus is showing His power and authority.
ii. At best, the Pharisees could make suggestions because they did not even agree on everything among themselves.
iii. Jesus had then, and still does now, the authority to make demands of us, and any who would enter the kingdom of heaven.
i. The people of that day were presented with choices in certain ways: Pharisee, Sadducee, Essene, Herodian, Zealot.
i. All were presented as viable options for having a relationship with God.
ii. All were thought to be different ways of getting to the same destination.
j. This idea is alive and well in today’s world.
i. All the denominations and religions of the world present themselves as different ways of having a relationship with God.
ii. All the denominations present themselves as viable options of the overall idea of Christianity that gets one to God.
k. There have been different phrases to express this idea.
i. We are all sailors on the same ship; we just wear different uniforms.
ii. Sayings like this are supposed to show how all the various denominations are all connected to God and lead to heaven.
l. That is not at all what Jesus is stating.
m. There is only one kingdom, the church which Jesus built and purchased (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28) and there is only one entryway into that one church.
II. The description.
a. Jesus then describes the two gates through which people travel spiritually in this life.
i. There is a wide gate that leads to a broad way on which many are traveling.
ii. There is a strait gate that leads to a narrow way on which few are traveling.
b. Throughout this entire sermon, Jesus has been presenting a choice that people would need to make.
c. This choice is laid out in Matt. 5:20 – be like the scribes and Pharisees or be better.
i. Everything that Jesus has been teaching is aimed at getting people to understand the choice they need to make for their salvation.
ii. In essence, Jesus has been presenting the Pharisaical way as a broad, easy way and His way as a strait, difficult way.
d. Jesus presents the broad way and wide gate as having ease of entry.
i. The Pharisees way of life was an easy way.
ii. It was all about self.
iii. Whatever they did or believed was designed to make their lives easier.
iv. It took little effort to be a Pharisee and none that was hard.
v. They required little of godliness or righteousness.
vi. The word for “broad” means “spacious” – you can carry whatever baggage you want on this way.
e. The same holds true today.
i. There is little required of people in most religious efforts.
ii. What is required of them is still easy to accomplish and requires little to no sacrifice on their part.
iii. What is easier than once saved always saved?
iv. What is easier than a direct operation of the Holy Spirit?
v. What is easier than being saved only by God’s grace?
vi. There is little to no change required or sacrifice demanded in today’s worldly brand of Christianity.
f. Some in the Lord’s church act like this as well.
i. Little more effort than attending a few services is given by many.
ii. Well, I’ve been baptized and I am a fairly moral person so I’m not on the broad path is the idea of a lot of us.
g. Jesus says His gate is strait and His way is narrow.
i. The word “strait” is translated “narrow” in newer translations and that is the meaning of the word.
ii. It indicates a difficulty in getting in through the gate – not everything fits through this gate – we have to get rid of some baggage.
iii. The word “narrow” is translated “difficult” in newer translations and as “trouble,” “afflicted,” and “tribulation” in other verses.
iv. It literally means “press hard upon” according to Thayer’s.
v. It is a compressed, tight, restrictive way.
h. This sounds like it is too hard to travel through this gate and on this way.
i. It is a life of sacrifice.
ii. It is a life of persecution as Jesus has already pointed out in the beatitudes.
iii. It is a life of understanding God’s word.
iv. It is a life of being spiritually minded and not worldly minded.
v. It is a life of self-examination and service to others.
vi. It is a life of treating others properly no matter how they treat you.
i. There is plenty of help going this way though.
i. There is Jesus waiting to help us (Matt. 11:28-30).
ii. There is the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3).
iii. There is the Holy Spirit working on our behalf (Rom. 8:26).
iv. There is the help of brethren (2 Cor. 1:4; Gal. 6:2).
v. There is a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on (Heb. 12:1-2).
j. It may be that you think the broad way still sounds better because it requires less of us.
k. This leads us to the last point that Jesus makes.
III. The destination.
a. When I was twelve, a song by Talking Heads became well known entitled “Road To Nowhere.”
b. These two roads, or ways, both lead to somewhere – destruction or life.
c. The path that many people are on leads to destruction.
i. Jesus does not mean that is what happens in this life – it may, but that is not what He means.
ii. Psalm 73 is about the psalmist looking around and seeing those on the broad way of that time prospering, but he concludes that God is going to take care of things later.
iii. The destruction about which Jesus is speaking is eternal punishment.
iv. Thayer’s says the word is a reference to “the destruction which consists in the loss of eternal life, eternal misery, perdition, the lot of those excluded from the kingdom of God.”
v. In another word, destruction means hell.
d. Again, many are headed that way.
i. There is not a specific number as some claim.
ii. This is not even the main point of what Jesus is saying here.
iii. Jesus is saying that His disciples can’t follow the crowd.
iv. The crowd chooses easy over difficult.
v. I believe this is why there are fewer professional athletes and fewer great musicians.
vi. The path to places of stardom in sports, medicine, music, and things like that are very difficult.
vii. It takes great sacrifice to achieve that type greatness.
viii. Most people don’t want to make those sacrifices.
ix. The same is true spiritually.
x. Hell will be so full because so many didn’t want to give up selfishness and ease for self-sacrifice and difficulty.
e. When Jesus says destruction, we need to understand what He means.
i. Hell will last as long as heaven will last (Matt. 25:46) – everlasting and eternal are the exact same Greek words.
ii. It is a place of agony (M. 9:44, 46, 48).
iii. It is a place of eternal separation from God (2 Th. 1:9).
iv. It is a place of torment (Re. 20:14-15).
f. The path that few choose is the one that leads to life.
i. Jesus is, of course, speaking about eternal life with God.
ii. Jesus is speaking about heaven.
iii.
g. Sadly, few choose this path.
i. Again, Jesus is not trying to give a number.
ii. He is saying that fewer will choose this path.
iii. The number of the saved will be less than the number of the lost.
h. This life is hard to comprehend because of the splendor that is there.
i. It is a place with plenty of room (John 14:2-3).
ii. It is a place of rest (Rev. 14:13).
iii. It is a place of no more suffering or death (Rev. 21:4).
i. Our human minds can’t comprehend the splendor of heaven and our human languages fail to adequately describe it.
j. These are the only two destinations.
k. Once you arrive in either of them, there is no leaving (Lu. 16:26).
i. You wouldn’t want to leave heaven if you could.
ii. You can’t leave hell if you would.