We'll say just quick words to all you ladies that are
presents. I know that this day can be
filled with or it can just be a mixture of joy.
All right, There's a lot of joy on Mother's Day.
There can be grief over ones who maybe you've lost your own
mother and you've lost a child, and there could be longing for
expectant mothers or mothers who really want to have a child or
young ladies who really want to have a child.
And so I want you to know that our hope for you is that
whatever your circumstances, that today would be a blessed
day of the Lord for you, all right, That the Lord would
comfort you, that he would be near to you.
He'd be gracious to you that he would fill you with all strength
and godliness today. And so God bless you this
Mother's Day. We love you.
We appreciate all of you very, very much.
So bad mind. Open your Bibles to Matthew
Chapter 7. Matthew Chapter 7.
We'll be in verses 12 through 14 today.
If you have your worship guide, you can grab it and be ready to
take some notes. It's not a three-point sermon
today. It's Mother's Day, so we had to
do something special. It's four points today.
All right. It's what everybody was hoping
for. I know it.
All right, don't worry, you'll get to lunch on time.
Before we read our texts, I do want you to remember where we
are, right? Jesus is bringing the Sermon on
the Mount to its conclusion. He's taught us throughout this
what life and his Kingdom looks like.
So as Kingdom citizens, we've seen what we should be like,
right? We should.
We've seen the kind of people we should expect to be, the kind of
people we should hope to be, strive to be.
Trust Him to make us. He's exposed the hearts a lot
right now. He's corrected false
righteousness. He he's called us to do things,
crazy things like love our enemies, right?
He he's taught us how to pray. He's warned US against earthly
treasures and anxious living. He's shown us how to live before
the Father who sees us, right. That idea of Corumdeo always
before the Father's face. And so in these final verses of
the sermon of the next few weeks, Jesus presses his hears
like a good preacher would. He presses his hears for a
response. All right, we don't want to just
hear all these things. We don't want them to just
become head knowledge that never meet the hearts, right?
So now he begins to invite the will of the man to trust him.
All right, so, so he presses for this response.
Now, what we're reading are not casual words.
Today he's going to offer a warning.
He's going to offer invitation and decision.
And at the end of it all, what you see is that he sets before
us two ways, one that leads to life and the other that leads to
destruction. Now, as we read, we need to pay
attention, right? We need to understand that these
words are not merely information from our King.
This is the voice of the King, and He's calling us to enter His
way, right? So if you're able, would you
please stand with me in honor of the reading of God's Word.
Matthew 7, verses 12 through 14. Jesus is speaking here.
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to
them. For this is the law, and the
prophets enter by the narrow gates.
For the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to
destruction. And those who enter by it are
many. For the gate is narrow and the
way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we open up
Matthew 7 and we look at these verses, there are instruction
here. There is warning and we know,
Father, that the way has been opened through Christ.
And so, Lord, as I preach this morning, as we read your word
and study it, may it be clear that Christ is inviting us into
a totally different kind of life, a different way of living.
And Lord, let us who believe see it as an encouragement.
Let it be a help to us. Let it let it strengthen our
pursuit of Christ. Let it strengthen us on our
journey here, Lord. And for those who don't believe,
Father, I pray that these warnings would ring clear for
them today, that they would see the destructive way of the wide
gate and the wide Rd. Lord, I pray that they would
heed the warning of Christ today, that they would trust Him
fully. Lord, we ask for your Spirit to
move among us as we read and study your word today as we as
we hear it proclaims, Oh my God, would you give us ears to hear,
eyes to see, hearts that believe.
We ask these things in the name of Christ, Amen.
And then you may be seated. So after reading this passage,
one image that that came to mind for me was from a little book
called The Pilgrims Progress. It's written by a man named John
Bunyan a long time ago, and it's one of the most brilliant works
you'll ever read. Bunyan begins the story with a
man named Christian. Christian resides in or lives in
the city of Destruction, but he has begun reading a book.
All right, here's your hint. All right, He's begun reading a
book. And in the book, it awakens him
to this danger that he has that he didn't know he had.
And so he begins to carry this heavy burden on his back.
It's like a literal sack on in the book, right?
A heavy burden. And he's deeply distressed
because he knows that judgment is coming, and yet he can't do
anything about it or he doesn't think he can.
Right. And then he meets a man named
Evangelist. All right, now Evangelist points
him away from the City of Destruction and tells him to
flee. Like run.
And Christian says, where do I go?
Right. Well, then Evangelist points to
this small gate in the distance. And Bunyan in the book calls it
the Wicked Gate. And it's the entrance to the way
of life. So Christian says OK, and he
begins to run. And as he runs, his family and
his neighbors cry out for him to come back.
Hey, come back. What are you doing?
You've gone mad. You're crazy, right?
They mock him. Some think he's lost his mind.
Others try to persuade him that he's taking this far too
seriously. And yet Christian keeps running
and he keeps crying out life, life, eternal life.
Right now that's the scene I think that Jesus sets before us.
It had to have been part of the inspiration for Bunyan's book.
There is a city of destruction that exists.
There is a wide gate and a wide road or an easy Rd.
Many people walk this way, many people find it, many people go
down it. But it's end is death, right?
And there's also this narrow gate, the wicked gate.
There's a hard way that's not popular.
It's not easy. It's not the road of self rule.
It's not the road of self righteousness or of worldly
comforts at all. But it leads to life, right?
Jesus is again, he's bringing the sermon, the mount to its
conclusion. And so he's not merely giving
advice here, right? None of his sermon has been just
good advice, all right? It's the words of the king
speaking. So we have to take it that way.
Now. He, he begins to press for a
decision. He, he's telling the crowd who's
been listening this whole time. You have heard the righteousness
of the Kingdom, right? You have heard what life under
my rain looks like. Now enter by way of the narrow
gates. He's encouraging them.
Don't just stand and admire the gate, right?
Don't linger with the crowd. Do Do not assume that you're
safe because you are near the road.
No, it says enter by the narrow gate.
I think it brings us to maybe what if?
I could summarize the main point of the passage.
I've tried to do it this way. Jesus calls us to a life of
costly love and narrow discipleship that leads to
eternal life. Jesus calls us to a life of
costly love and narrow discipleship that leads to
eternal life. You're going to see that in four
movements, all right. One, practice the love that
fulfills God's word. Secondly, we'll see enter the
narrow gate of repentance and faith.
Third, we'll see walk the hard way that leads to life.
And 4th, we'll see a warning. Beware the easy way that leads
to destruction. So before Jesus commands us to
enter the narrow gate, he first. And verse 12 summarizes the life
of Kingdom righteousness in one sweeping command.
All right, so point number one, practice the love that fulfills
God's word. Again, look at verse 12.
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to
them, for this is the law and the prophets.
Now learn this verse as a child, right?
I say I learned it. I learned it in the hard way,
right? So I was reminded of this verse
as I was picking on other kids and being ugly with my words.
You know, it was just something I was good at, not a spiritual
gift, just something I was good at.
And and I remember my dad coming to him and asking me, do you
remember the golden rule? I said, yes, do unto others
before they can do unto you. And I was dead serious, right?
That's like, no, all right, Whatever you wish others would
do to you, do also to them. And so I remember learning that
in that way. Well, Jesus begins this section
with this word. So he's tying verse 12 and the
word. So he's tying verse 12 to
everything that he has been teaching in the Sermon on the
Mounts, right? This is a summary statement.
He's drawing the sermon to its end.
He's not dropping a detached proverb, right?
So many times when you read the Sermon on the Mount, you come to
these little bits and I've tried to point them out where you just
think, man, it doesn't really fit in that section.
It's kind of odd, or it's awkward, or maybe it's just
something that the writer remembered in a moment, so he
wrote it down. No, like there's a purpose to
all of these. This is not a detached proverb.
He's gathering up the whole shape of Kingdom righteousness,
and he's summarizing it in a single sweeping command, right?
This is the righteousness of those who are poor in spirit.
This is the righteousness of those who are meek and merciful,
pure in heart and peacemakers, right?
This is the righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees. This is the righteousness that
rejects anger, lust, dishonesty, retaliation, hypocrisy, earthly
treasure, anxious unbelief, and self-righteous judgments.
And Jesus says whatever, whatever you wish that others
would do to you, do also to them.
You see how He's summarizing it all?
Now we often call this the Golden Rule, and rightly so.
But we don't need to just sweep it away as some fanciful
statement or some good nice thing, all right?
We need to feel the weight of what Christ is saying here.
Jesus does not merely say do not treat people badly or do not
harm others. He says do also to them.
That's active language. That's the kind of love that
moves you toward others, not away from them, right?
It's one thing to say, well, I didn't slander him, but it's a
totally another thing to protect his reputation when he's being
slandered, All right? It's one thing to say, I did not
mistreat her. It's another thing to serve her
with patience and care, right? Kingdom righteousness is not
measured only by the evil that you avoid.
Certainly we should strive to be holy in that sense, but it's
measured also by the kind of love that you pursue, right?
The kind of love you display. And so you notice like the scope
of the command. Whatever you wish that others
would do to you, right? That's a comprehensive
statement. Whatever you wish that others
would do to you in every situation, relationship,
interaction, the disciple of Christ is called to consider.
If I were in their place, how would I want to be treated?
All right, let's get a little more specific.
If I were weak, how would I want others to help me?
If I had sinned and repented, how would I want others to
restore me? If I were grieving, how would I
want others to comfort me? If I were being slandered, how
would I want others to protect my name?
Then Jesus says, do that, right? That's not sentimental niceness.
This is costly love. What he's laying out here is
costly. It takes initiative, but it
doesn't wait for others to deserve your love, right?
It doesn't merely respond when it's convenient.
It thinks carefully. It acts intentionally.
It treats others with the same concern that we naturally have
for ourselves, right? And Jesus says, for this is the
law and the prophets. He means that this command
summarizes the ethical demands of God's word in our
relationship with others, right? This is similar to what Jesus
says later in Matthew 22, which we'll get to in sometime, right?
Love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and love your
neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend
all the law and the prophets, all right.
Verse 12 is also tied to Leviticus 1918, where in the law
we read you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
So the point is not that man becomes the measure of morality.
No, it God's law teaches us to love our neighbor with the same
earnestness, care, patience, and concern that we naturally show
to ourselves. And that's kind of where the
verse begins to expose our hearts a little bit, right?
This is where it presses on us. Most people like the golden rule
when I get to use it against you, right?
You should treat me the way you want to be treated.
But the Golden Rule becomes a little less friendly to us when
we slow down enough to actually obey it, right?
We know how we want to be treated.
We want others to assume the best.
We want them to speak gently. We want them to forgive quickly,
to remember our burdens, to help when we're overwhelmed, to guard
our reputation, to be tender with our grief and so on and so
on. But how often do we actually
treat others that way, right? How often do we show that sort
of concern to someone else? Once again, the Sermon on the
Mount drives us here to our need for grace, right?
The, the Golden Rule does not flatter us.
It humbles us. It, it shows that we need more
than moral improvements. We, we need mercy.
We we need new hearts, we need the righteousness of Christ
credited to us and the Spirit of Christ at work within us if
we're going to uphold the Golden Rule.
Now that's important because the narrow way does not begin with
self powered moral effort. Nothing in the Sermon on the
Mount has been about self powered moral effort.
Everything that we've seen begins with repentance and
faith. We're not saved by perfectly
keeping verse 12, right? But when Christ saves a person,
he also teaches that person how to walk in love.
So think back to Christian in the Pilgrims Progress.
When he leaves the city of destruction, he does not
continue living the old life on a new road, right?
He becomes a Pilgrim. That's why it's called Pilgrims
Progress. It's about his way to the
Celestial City, his way to heaven.
He walks with a new Lord. He has new desires, He has a new
direction. And so it is with the disciple
of Jesus. The narrow way is marked by
costly, active Christ like love. So brothers and sisters in your
homes, do to others as you would have them do to you.
Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children in the Church,
as members of 1 body, Do to others what you would have them
do to you with your words. Do to others as you would have
them do to you. And when you fail, because you
will fail, and sometimes spectacularly when you fail, do
not soften Jesus's command or lower the standard of the Golden
Rule. Run to Christ, confess your
lovelessness. Receive mercy from the one who
has never failed to love God or neighbor.
Then rise up in his grace and walk again in the way of love.
See, the narrow way begins right here.
It doesn't begin with this bare religious profession.
It begins with Kingdom love that actively seeks others good
according to the word of God. But Jesus does not allow us to
simply admire King, admire the Kingdom from a distance.
He now commands us to enter the narrow gate through which
Kingdom life begins. Point #2 enter the narrow gate
of repentance and faith. We're going to look at part of
13, part of 14 here. So Jesus moves from a summary
statements to a summons. Right after saying whatever you
wish that others would do to you, do also to them, He now
gives a direct command. Enter the narrow gate.
Now Jesus is not merely asking you here to think about the
gate. He's not calling you to admire
the gate. Look how beautiful it is.
Look how lovely it is. He's not inviting us to stand
near the gates. He's not inviting you to study
it or even to appreciate its beauty, which may be why John
Bunyan made it a wicked gate. It's not very beautiful.
He commands us to enter the gates because here Jesus is
pressing for a response. Again, the Sermon on the Mount
is not a collection of moral teachings to be respected.
It is the word of King of the King demanding repentance, faith
and allegiance. Jesus has been showing us what
life in His Kingdom looks like and now he says enter right?
And notice verse 14 which says for the gate is narrow.
It is narrow because there is only one way into the Kingdom of
heaven. We do not enter by our morality.
We do not enter by our family background.
We don't enter because our grandma almost went to church.
We don't enter by church attendance.
We don't enter through religious knowledge or baptism or good
works or outward association with Christian people, right?
We enter through Christ alone. And Jesus will later say, as
Alan read earlier in John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. Peter will preach in Acts 412.
And there is salvation in no one else.
That is the narrowness of this gate.
Salvation is not found in many saviors.
It's not found in many gospels. It's not found in many
religions. I don't care what the world
tells you. I don't care what all the
religions say, right? We believe the one true God of
heaven and earth. It's not found in many paths.
We're not universalist. We don't believe there's many
paths leading to heaven, that everyone's going to find their
way there somehow. Salvation is found in Jesus
Christ alone. But the gate is also narrow,
right? Because entering it requires
repentance. You cannot enter the narrow gate
while clinging to self rule. You cannot remain the God of
your life and make God the God of your life.
You cannot enter while insisting on your sin or on your desire to
be your own Lord. The narrow gate is not wide
enough for Christ and our idols to enter.
We must come empty handed, turning from sin and trusting
Him fully. Now what I'm not saying is that
you have to clean yourself up so that Jesus will receive you
right. No, we, we come as sinners, it's
all that we can bring to Christ is our sin.
We come needy, we come guilty, we come burdened, but we do not
come to negotiate the terms. We don't come to say we want to
have it this way, Lord, We come surrendering to the King of
kings. This again is where the pilgrims
progress is insightful. Christian is told to flee the
city of destruction, the head toward the wicked gate.
He's burdened, he's afraid, he's desperate for life.
When others call him back, he puts his fingers in his ears and
he runs crying. Life, life, eternal life.
That's the urgency that Jesus presses here.
He's saying do not linger on the road to destruction.
Do not stand still under your conviction.
Do not merely agree that the narrow gate exists.
Enter it. Right.
So the question is simple. Have you entered the narrow
gate? Not, Not have you heard about
the gate? Not not even have you grown up
near the gate? Not do you admire those who walk
through the gate, Not do you believe the gate is important,
But have you entered by repentance and faith in Jesus
Christ? I think this is especially
sobering for those who have spent years around the things of
God. You, You can hear sermons, you
can sing hymns, you can sit under scripture, you can know
Christianese, right? You can agree with Christian
doctrine, and you can still remain outside the gate.
Being near the Kingdom is not the same as entering the
Kingdom. But I think this is also very
gracious of Christ. Notice what Christ isn't doing.
Christ is not hiding the gate. He's not sending you on a hide
and seek mission, all right? He doesn't leave sinners
guessing. What are we supposed to do now
that we've heard all this? He tells us plainly.
Enter by the narrow gate. Come to Christ.
Turn from your sin. Lay down your excuses.
Stop trusting yourself. Stop assuming that there will be
another day or another chance. Enter the gate today.
All right. And believers, we shouldn't lose
wonder at this, right? We should be All in all of this.
You, you entered the gates not because you were worthy, not
because you were strong, right? Not because you were wise.
You had big brains, right? You or because you're righteous.
No, you, you entered because Christ opened the way for you,
right? He fulfilled the righteousness
that you lacked, that you can never have.
He bore the judgment that you deserved but could never pay.
He rose from the dead, and by his grace he brought you in to
the wicked gate. So let us not be ashamed as
believers about the narrowness of this gate, because Christ is
not ashamed of it, right? In a world that prizes
broadness, Jesus says the gate is narrow.
In a world that claims all roads lead to God, Jesus says there is
one way that leads to life, right?
In a world that urges us to soften hard truths And maybe
just don't say it like that. Like, you know, you can cover it
up with some roses or something, right?
Put a little sugar on top of it. No, Jesus commands us here to
speak plainly and lovingly. Sinners must come to God through
Christ alone. So the narrow gate is exclusive.
But it's not cruel, right? It is narrow, yet it is open.
Every Sinner who comes to Christ in repentance and faith will be
received. Jesus doesn't only speak about a
gate to enter. He speaks of a way to walk point
#3 walk the hard way that leads to life, walk the hard way that
leads to life. Again, verse 14 he says for the
gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and
those who find it are few. The gate is narrow.
The way is hard. And what this means is true
discipleship is not merely a moment of decision, right?
It's it's a life of following Christ.
We enter the narrow gate by repentance and faith, and then
we walk the narrow way in repentance and faith.
You never, ever outgrow the gospel.
You never, ever outgrow repentance and faith.
Amen. That's not enough.
Amen. So I got to know you believe,
right? Try it again.
All right, All right, We're there, right?
And, and Jesus tells us plainly, like this way is hard and all
the believers said Amen, right? The the word conveys that you're
being pressed against, right? That that you're constricted,
afflicted, or it's difficult, right?
This is not the broad Rd. of ease of comfort, of self rule
and popularity. This is the way of discipleship.
This is the way of self denial. This is the way of obedience to
Christ. This is the way of taking up
your cross and following Christ. I love the way that Eugene
Peterson described it. He described as a long obedience
in the same direction, right? That's what we're describing
here. Now, we need to be careful here
because I don't want you to misunderstand what Christ is
saying or what I'm saying. Jesus is not saying His way is
miserable, right? None of us can look back across
our Christian life and say this is so miserable.
Why would I do this? No, because you know that Psalm
1611, He's made known to you the path of life and had his right
hand or these pleasures forever more that he just drops down
these blessings, these goodnesses of God, right?
You know that it's good even when it's difficult.
He's also not saying that his yoke is cruel, right?
Later in Matthew 11, one of my favorite scriptures in all the
Bible, Jesus says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light. So we have to reconcile 2
truths. We've got to be able to hold
these two truths together. Christ's yoke is easy, and we
can say it's easy because God is gracious.
God is gentle. He's sufficient in every way.
But the way is hard because following him means that you are
called to die to your sins. You're called to resist the
world, you're called to deny yourself.
You're called to walk against the current age, right?
And if we've been listening to the Sermon on the Mount, we
already know that the way is hard, right?
It's hard to be poor in spirit when the world tells you to be
proud and self-sufficient. It's hard to mourn over sin when
the world urges you to excuse your sins.
It's hard to be meek when the world celebrates self assertion.
It's hard to hunger and thirst for righteousness when the world
tells you to hunger for comfort, success and approval.
It's hard to make peace with your anger when it feels
justified. It's hard to love your enemies
when revenge really feels most natural.
It's It's hard to give and to pray and to fast and secret when
your flesh wants to be noticed. But it's hard to seek first the
Kingdom when earthly treasures look so secure.
It's hard to trust the Father when anxiety feels like you're
being responsible. It's hard to treat others the
way you would want to be treated when selfishness comes so easily
to us. And what's so G When Jesus says
the way is hard, He's not hiding the cost.
The narrow way requires the death of our pride, the death of
our idols, the death of our excuses, the death of self rule,
right? It presses against the flesh.
It exposes false professors. It separates true discipleship
from casual religious admiration.
But I don't want you to miss the promise that Christ lays out
here. This hard way, Christ says,
leads to life. That's encouragement.
The way is hard, yet not hopeless.
You really are almost home, but the way is narrow, yet it's not
empty. The way is costly, yet it is not
wasted, right? It leads to life.
When I say it leads to life, we're talking about eternal life
with God. We're talking about the fullness
of joy and the obedience of Christ.
We're talking about the hope of future resurrection.
We're talking about a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
You can think back to Christian in the pilgrims progress.
If you're familiar with the story.
After he enters the gate, his journey isn't over.
Like that's where the story really kicks off.
Like, it gets really exciting in many ways.
It's only just begun. As he enters the gates, he but
along the way, he still faces difficulty.
He faces temptation, right? He, he, he faces this town
called Vanity Fair, right? Sounds like a magazine we have
around today, right? And he goes into the town.
He's tempted to enjoy all the things of it, right?
He faces opposition, literally fights a demon on the road.
Like, this is a great story. If you haven't read it, it's
awesome, right? He gets tired, he's weary, he
finds danger, right? And yet he keeps going because
he's headed toward the Celestial City.
He's headed to heaven. The the road is hard, but he
knows that the destination is life.
That is the Christian life. We, we don't walk the narrow way
because it's easy, brothers and sisters, we, we walk it because
Christ is worthy and because this way leads to life.
So brothers and sisters, I don't want you to be surprised when
your obedience to God is costly to you.
It will be costly. It ought to be costly.
Don't be shocked when fighting for holiness feels like you're
in a war with yourself. Do not assume that you're doing
something wrong simply because following Jesus is difficult,
right? It's it.
It is those refining fires of trials that purify us.
According to First Peter, Jesus has told us the way would be
hard. He's not hiding that there will
be sins that you must fight when your flesh wants to hold on to
them. There will be relationships you
must pursue when pride wants to withdraw.
There will be forgiveness you must extend when bitterness just
quite honestly seems easier. But there will be truth that you
must speak when silence would cost you a whole lot less.
There will be comforts that you must surrender when Christ calls
you to seek first his Kingdom. You see, the narrow way will not
always be popular. It's rarely popular.
It will not always be applauded. Other than in the congregation
of the Saints where we can cheer for one another along the way.
It will not always make sense to the crowd.
But the question is not, is this way easy?
No, the question is where does this way lead?
And Christ says it leads to life.
Leads to life. Someone encourage you, brothers
and sisters. Keep walking.
Keep repenting.
Keep believing. Keep obeying.
Keep looking to Christ. He's not merely the gate through
which you enter. He's the shepherd of Psalm 23
who keeps us on the way. He's the Savior and the Gospels
who strengthens weary pilgrims. He's the King of Kings who
brings his people home safely. You got to notice the reason
that Jesus urges us to walk the hard way is that there's another
Rd. An easier, wider, more crowded,
more deadly Rd. point #4 beware the easy way that leads to
destruction. So Jesus first gives the command
enter by the narrow gate. He even explains why this
command is so urgent. For the gate is wide and the way
is easy. That leads to destruction.
And those who enter by it are many.
So Jesus warns us that there's another gate and another way.
It's wide, it's easy, it's crowded, and it ends in
destruction. Now the wide gate is appealing
because it requires no repentance.
Let's just be honest. It's appealing because there's
requires no repentance, right? It allows a person to keep his
sin, it allows a person to keep his pride.
It allows him to keep his self righteousness, bitterness, his
love for the world, his desire to be his own Lord.
It's wide enough for every idol that he wants to possess and
it'll encourage idle possession. It's broad enough for every
excuse. I'm this way because my father
was this way or that way, or I'm this way because my mom did this
or that, or I'm this because of those people over there and what
they did right. The the wide way, the wide gate
does not press the conscience. It doesn't deny the flesh.
It doesn't demand allegiance to Christ.
And Jesus says this way is easy. Now, what he's not saying is
that it's pleasant, right? It doesn't mean life on that
road is always going to be sunshine and rainbows.
Sin still brings misery. The world still brings sorrow,
right? But it's easy in this sense.
It is the road of least resistance.
It's the natural path of a fallen man.
You do not have to be converted to walk this road.
You don't have to be born again. You don't have to fight the
flesh, resist the world, or take up your cross.
You just simply follow the current, right?
And that's why many enter through it.
Many go through it because the crowd is there, popularity is
there, the culture is there, false religion is there, open
rebellion is there, Polished morality without Christ is
there. The person who wants to know God
is there, and the person who wants a God on his own terms is
there. That was.
That's what makes this warning so sobering.
I think that the wide Rd. is not only filled with the openly
immoral. It's also filled with the
comfortably religious. It includes those who reject
Jesus outright and those who admire Jesus from a distance,
but never through repentance and faith.
So we must not assume safety because the road is crowded.
We can't look around at the numbers, say, well, this must be
a good Rd. There's a lot of people here.
We must not assume truth because the road is easy.
We we can't assume life because the road feels peaceful.
Jesus says very clearly this road leads to destruction.
When he talks about destruction, he is talking about final
judgments. He's talking about eternal loss,
eternal separation from God. He's he's telling us of the ruin
of those who refuse the King. He's not trying to frighten you
with exaggeration, right? He's loving us with the truth.
Here you can think of Christian again in the pilgrims progress,
right? He fled the city of destruction
because he believed the warning. Others laughed, they delayed,
they argued, they stayed behind. Even his own wife.
But Christian ran because he understood that the danger was
real. And that is the mercy of a
warning. Brothers and sisters, when
Christ offers a warning, he is offering you mercy.
A warning sounds severe only to the person who doesn't believe
the danger. So here Jesus's warning plainly
this morning. Do not follow the crowd to
destruction. Do not confuse ease with life.
Do not mistake religious familiarity for saving faith.
Do not remain on the wide Rd. simply because it feels normal
or respectable or comfortable. There are only two ways Christ
does not lay out a third Rd. for you.
That there is no neutral ground here.
There is the narrow way that leads to life and there is the
wide way that leads to destruction.
So here is the call of Christ this morning.
Jesus calls us to a life of costly love and narrow
discipleship that leads to eternal life.
He has shown us the love of the Kingdom do to others as you
would have them do to you. He has shown us the gate of the
Kingdom enter by repentance and faith in Christ alone.
He's shown us the way of the Kingdom walk, the hard Rd. of
discipleship, because this way leads to life.
And He has warned us about the way of destruction, the wide,
easy and crowded Rd. that ends in judgment.
So do not merely admire the Sermon on the Mount, my friends.
Do not merely agree with Jesus's words.
Do not merely stand at the narrow gate.
Enter the narrow gate today. Come to Christ.
Turn from your sin. Lay down yourself.
Righteousness. Leave the wide Rd.
Trust the Savior who fulfilled all righteousness, who died for
sinners, who rose from the dead, and who now calls you to follow
him. And if you belong to Christ this
morning, keep walking. The way may be hard and it will
be, but it leads to life. But the road may be narrow, Yet
the Savior is good, and everyone who enters through him will be
brought safely home. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning.
We thank you, Lord, for your kindness toward us that Christ
came and he preached repents for the Kingdom of heaven is at
hand. And then he went on to preach
what we know as the Sermon on the Mount in which he described
Kingdom citizens. He calls us to give up self
love, to give up self approval, to give up being gods ourselves,
being the Lord of our own life, and to come to him, to enter the
narrow gate, to walk the narrow way that leads to life.
And so Lord, I have two requests this morning. 1 is for my
brothers and sisters in Christ. That you would keep them,
Father, that they would continue walking in strength.
That they would know Your grace each day, That they would know
new mercies each morning. That they would have the power
of the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the flesh, and that
they would walk before you with holiness, with gratitude, and
with your help. Father, would you be near to
them? Would you be their shepherd to
strengthen them? And Father, my second request is
for those who do not know you this morning, whether they're
young or they're old, whether they've lived a lot of life or
lived very little or they've committed a lot of sins or
they're just getting started. Oh, Lord, I pray that you would
reveal to them the beauty of Christ and salvation in Him this
morning, that you would help them to see the ugliness, the
stain of their own sins. That you would put a burden on
their back, just like Christian had, and that they would come to
the narrow gate, they would seek the Lord.
That they would find mercy at the cross, That they would find
grace and salvation. That you would give them a new
life, a new heart, and a right spirit.
Father, I'll give you a moment now to pray there in your seat,
to seek the Lord to respond to Christ today as He leads you.
Then I'll conclude in prayer in a moment.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for mercy and grace and our time
of need. We thank you, Christ, that you
have told us. Come to you all who are weary
and heavy laden, and the promise that you will give us rest.
Lord, would you help us to take that yoke of yours upon us, to
walk with it, to walk in it, to bear it and all of life?
God, may we live a life that glorifies your great name, but
we live a life that's truly good for those around us, good for
our own souls. May we live as pilgrims on the
way home. Lord, would you keep us each
day? Strengthen us by your grace,
your mercy, Help us to walk with you in every way.
It's in the name of Christ I pray today.
Amen.