Matthew 7 - Narrow Gate

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

Spiritual Mirages and False Assurances

I don't know if you've ever seen a mirage, kind of an optical illusion. I did a little study on mirages this week. One source said a mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects.

You're out in the desert and you think it's an oasis, you think it's water and you say to yourself, oh I see something, it looks real, but in fact it's not real at all. I thought that's just like spiritual truth.

There are mirages, things that seem right. There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end isn't so right. It leads to death. Can you think of any spiritual mirages? Things that maybe people see in their minds, but they're not true at all.

You could probably come up with your own list, but here are a few spiritual mirages. Jesus is Savior, but he's not Lord. Seems maybe good on the outset, but it's a mirage. I think I'll wait to believe in Jesus when I'm older, or maybe on my deathbed I'll believe then.

Again, that is a spiritual mirage. Here's another one. God is only a God of love. He has no other attributes. He's not holy, just, or righteous. He just loves everybody all the time, kind of like a grandpa.

That's a mirage. There's not really a hell. How could a good God create hell? That's another mirage. Every religion's truths lead their followers to the same place. It's a mirage. If I only take the Eucharist and sacraments, baptism, catechism, confirmation, if I do those, then I can live the way I want to live for the rest of my life, and I'm still going to heaven.

That's a mirage. I'm a member of the church, and I go, so God must love me. That's a mirage. Today's message is going to be tough, and it's only going to be tough because it's tough from Jesus' words.

If you have a little child, and that little child needs to go to sleep, what do you do to that little child? When my kids were little, I'd sing them a little lullaby. I'd sing them, Jesus paid it all, maybe some hymn.

But if your child falls into the quick-moving river 200 feet before Niagara Falls, you don't sing that child a lullaby. You act. And you might talk with forcefulness, but you act, and if you'll turn your Bibles to Matthew 7, you're going to see that today.

If you are not a Christian today, first of all, I'm glad you're here, but second of all, you don't need a lullaby. And Jesus' words here in the Sermon on the Mount, as we've been marching through the Sermon on the Mount, he now calls for a commitment.

He says, I've taught you in chapter 5, 6, and part of 7, now what are you going to do about it? You must act. You must enter. Jesus has described the kingdom. Here's what a kingdom looks like. These are kingdom citizens.

Here is the king. Here's how you enter the kingdom. And now he says, enter. And it's not one of these kind of sweet lullabies where you go, that kind of sermon just made me feel good. If you thought I was tough during the baptismal, wait till you hear Jesus' words.

That was the lullaby compared to this. And when the Bible teaches us that God can comfort us like a father, and God is a very present help in time of comfort, I want to teach that. But when the Bible teaches this, I think you'll see even my demeanor will reflect Christ's message.

The Narrow Gate and the Wide Gate in Matthew 7:13-14

We're up to Matthew 7, verse 13, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, and now we come to the narrow gate and the wide gate. Jesus, the king, is on the scene. He says, don't follow the hypocrites. Don't follow the Sadducees.

Don't follow other false teachers that basically say, religion's external, it's not internal. Follow me, the king. God has not spoken through prophets since the Old Testament days, and now after 400 years, there have been some hints with John the Baptist, but now Jesus, God himself, is on the scene.

And he says, here's my sermon, and he said, it is to be obeyed. If you're a Christian today, you should be thinking these things as we go over this passage. I'm really glad I'm a Christian because if it's that hard to enter into heaven and I'm going, thank you, Lord, I could never do that on my own.

If you're a Christian, you should say something like this, I wonder if my evangelism matches up to Jesus' evangelism. When I preach the gospel to people who aren't Christians, do I mirror Jesus' evangelism or do I kind of find somebody who's a little maybe softer?

But if you're not a Christian today, I'm really wanting to talk to you. And as Jesus calls people to enter in the kingdom, that's what I'll be calling you to do. Let's read the passage and then let's take a look at it in depth.

Matthew 7, verse 13 and 14, about three quarters of the way into your Bible, you'll get a lot more out of the message if you have a Bible in front of you. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the gospel of Matthew 7 .13.

Listen to Jesus' words, enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it.

These 48 English words weigh 48 tons when it comes to spiritual gravity and spiritual weight. Jesus now says, I'm calling you, I'm commanding you for you to respond, commitment, decision. When I was a kid, I liked to audit classes, didn't you?

You just show up, huh, I'll learn, I'll do what I want, I'll kind of play with my Blackberry during class, I'll kind of, you know, take my computer and I'll alt tab over when I need to and I'm just going to sit here and listen.

I feel like I'm doing something, but it's a strict audit. I can just listen. Now Jesus is going to say, don't miss it. You can't audit his sermons. You can't just say, that was nice, that was wonderful.

In this last section, verses 13 to the end of the chapter, Jesus gives four kind of red alert warnings. You can almost, I imagine when I love submarines, when I take tours of submarines and go down into the submarines, when I go on the ones that are, you know, decommissioned, the Nautilus, you walk down and you see these kind of lights and you can imagine even from the movies you've seen when there's trouble, when there's a leak, something's going on, impending battle, you just see these lights and they're red and they're flashing and they're to let everyone know with their eyes, with their senses, there's trouble, stand ready, be ready to act.

Don't just, the light is not saying, now would be a good time to find a nice cot. And Jesus says in verse 13 and 14, the way is narrow, warning. Next week we'll see in verses 15 through 20, the way isn't just narrow, but there are false teachers standing by the road who go, oh, you'll make it, you're good, change things around.

The problem of salvation is compounded because false prophets say the opposite of Jesus. He gives another warning and we'll see in several weeks, verses 21 through 23, you say you're a Christian is not the same as you are a Christian.

Profession is not the same as what? Possession. And then he says in verses 24 and following, in about a month we'll get there, you cannot overestimate the importance of Jesus's words. Everything is based on Jesus's words.

So today we're just going to look at that first warning found in verses 13 through 14 or 13 and 14, enter the narrow way. This is the concluding section of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is going to root out fake Christians, fake believers.

Lemonster is the home of what? Plastics. I mean, when I came out from California and you see some kind of brown or blue sign next to the side of the road where it says, you know, this is a tourist area.

And then it's like, Lemonster, home of plastics. Wow. I got to go there. This is amazing. Home of Johnny Appleseed, the home of plastic. What does the word plastic mean? It's a Greek word, plastoi, means fake.

That's not a dish, it's plastic, fake dish. And there are lots of people in this room today, many, who I don't think have entered through the narrow gate, who aren't Christians. I'm not mean for telling you that.

I'm just saying, if James says, one of the best places to evangelize lost people is in the local church, I think he's probably right. We hear things, we have associations. Maybe it's just for our children who sit here week in and week out.

We can't just come to this sermon, Jesus says, and think it's kind of a nice philosophy. It's kind of an intellectual deal where we just go, oh, that's very fascinating how he do that. And he had those kind of antithetical statements there in chapter 5.

That was a good way. He has kind of a nice rhetorical device about it. He asks these questions and he gives these answers, and he's just wonderful how he does that. He talks in groups of eight, he talks in groups of three.

He's just a master speaker. Well, of course, he's a master speaker, but there's something else that's going on here. He basically kind of sticks his arms out with his words and grabs you by the shoulders firmly and says, what are you going to do with the words of Jesus?

Or if I could put it a little more crassly, you say you believe in Jesus, prove it. That's James chapter 1, prove it. Don't turn there, but just listen. Verse Kings 22, Jehoshaphat said, is there not yet a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of him?

We've got a problem. What will God say? The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. Yeah, there's a guy, he's a preacher, he speaks for God, but I hate that guy.

Well, why? Because he does not prophesy good things concerning me, but evil. He is Micaiah, the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. I need a prophet. I need instruction from God.

I'd like to know how to live my life. Oh yeah, there's a preacher, he'll tell you, but you're going to get convicted. Yeah, don't bring that guy. We don't want to act like that. These are hard words, but they're our Savior's words, and we want to listen.

Let me give you a series of commands. If you want an outline today, a series of commands that all focus upon the one key word in these two verses, and that word is enter, a series of commands to enter God's kingdom, to become a Christian.

And again, if you're not a Christian, you just look back and say, this is how God saved me. Thank you. This is how Jesus evangelizes. Maybe I ought to do something like that. But if you're not a Christian, these are the 10 commands for you to enter Christ's kingdom.

And these series of commands should give us all the nuances found in these verses. Number one, the first command is enter even though you know salvation from sin is difficult. You must enter even though it is difficult.

Look at verse 13. Enter through the, what, narrow gate. The difficult to be entered gate, the pent up gate, the constricted gate. It is a difficult thing. Jesus doesn't say, oh, you know, it's an easy thing.

If Jesus said, you know what, by the way, I want you to enter, and it's just by getting baptized. It'd be easy. Enter by just saying a prayer. That would be easy. Enter by just giving some money. That would be easy.

Enter by just being better than your neighbor. That would be easy. But Jesus is saying, I want you to enter even though it is very, very, very difficult. It's not easy. The gate, you see the text in verse 13, is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.

And there are many who enter through it. The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And there are few who find it. Salvation is what God does to the person. Yet in conversion, there is a response.

God does not believe for you, repent for you, follow for you. God does all the saving in salvation. We believe salvation is from God alone. He made us alive. But there is a response in conversion that says, I believe, I trust, I follow, I forsake.

And that's what Jesus is after here. That response. And you say, this is hard. Listen to what he says in Matthew 10, three short chapters later. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it.

It's difficult. Matthew 16, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What profit, what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? It is difficult. And so Jesus says, enter. It's a difficult way, but I want you to enter it. Why is it difficult?

Self-denial, we're born rebellious. Friends, if I could get you saved by having you walk an aisle, it would be easy. It wouldn't be difficult and narrow and pent up. Why don't people evangelize like Jesus does?

Everything's so easy. I had a friend give me a book 18 years ago, The Easy Way of Salvation. And here's the easy way. ABCs, admit, believe, confess. It's easy. Well, I like admission. I like belief. I like confession.

Salvation isn't, according to Jesus' words, easy. He's saying it's going to be hard. It's going to be like some doors that are smashing in and you've got to go through there and there's only room for you.

Lloyd-Jones talked about it's like a turnstile. There's no room for you and your sin and Satan and your friends. It's for you. It squeezes you. Never forget the time when I first took Haley as a little baby to the car wash.

And we went in there and you pay the extra $4, dial your number, and you pull up and you're supposed to put it in neutral. And then it takes you along the conveyor belt and the things start coming down.

There are these big blue rollers. I told Kim she should have rolled her window up, but that was another story. I'm just kidding. They're all going like this spray. You're thinking, what is going on? You're just compressed.

It feels like everything's caving in on you. She hated it after that, by the way. I had to give her candy every time we went there. It was a Reese's peanut butter cup, and I used to give her so many of those, they were now and forever affectionately known as car wash candy.

This is the exact opposite of how people evangelize today. It's easy. Here are the four spiritual laws. You just, one, two, three, four, you believe these things? Yes. And then you're a Christian. I am?

Yeah, it's easy. Jesus said it's hard, it's narrow. It's kind of self-styled revivalists. Don't talk about obedience like they should so many times. Self-denial, constriction, confining. Sometimes evangelists don't make it so hard for the people that they realize they need God's help to be saved.

Putting up hurdles so high that you can't hurdle them without the grace of God. Jesus says enter, and it's going to be very, very difficult. It's not like one of these highways. If you're traveling down a highway and you go, it's the width of ten lengths, and ten lengths wide, no lane markers, no speed limits, no policemen.

You just do as you want. Just everybody can go down that road as fast as they want, the direction they want. You want to go this way, you can. Oh, you're a pro-abortion Christian? Welcome. Gay rights Christian activists?

Welcome. Feministic Christian? Welcome. Christians who don't believe the Bible? Welcome. Universalist Christians? Welcome. Liberal Christians? Welcome. Christians who see truth in other religions? Welcome.

Come one, come all. There's room on the road for you. Back in those days, public roads were, by law, up to 16 cubits broad. Private roads, only four. So who knows? Maybe Jesus is by a private road, there's a public road over there, and he says, it's a small road here, and it's a larger road there.

It's not easy according to Jesus. Why? Because people are self-deceived. They think it's easy. I'm not as bad as I think I was. I am. I'm not as sinful as the Bible says I am. God's not as holy as the Bible says he is.

So it's kind of a nice meeting. God's not so holy, I'm not so sinful, and there's kind of a bridge to gap, and I can bridge that gap myself. I know the right language. I can say Christian words. I can say koinonia.

I can say agape. And there's no internal change that's ever happened. Jesus is saying, enter, and it's hard. You need to read John MacArthur's book, Hard to Believe. Number two, second command to enter.

Not only must you enter, even though it's difficult, you must enter today. Do not delay. Enter today, point two. Enter today. The text is, in the original, an imperative. It's called an aorist imperative.

There's just a sense of urgency. There's just a sense of right now. It's not do it later, you know, maybe another day. Jesus says, you have to make that decision today. It's like this. You say, well, this is just all pressure.

This is all psychological manipulation. Whatever you want to dismiss it as is fine. You're going to die someday, but you might die during the sermon. And if you're not a Christian, you're going straight to hell while you listen to the sermon if you die.

You drive on the way home. I know people that won't get in airplanes. If you won't get in an airplane because you're afraid to die, you ought not to get in that car. You could die any second, and then what?

People go, well, you know, I don't like all that fire and brimstone stuff. Well, I never thought you would like it. Nobody does, but truth is truth. Joseph Elaine said, remember when you lie down, that for all you know, you may awake in flames.

And when you rise up, that by the next night you may make your bed in hell. It's true. So what does Jesus say in verse 13? Enter right now is what the idea is. Today is the day of salvation according to Acts chapter 4.

Today, for the gate is wide and ways broadly is destruction. There are many who enter through eternal misery, eternal bliss. Enter. It's not admire Jesus. It's not applaud Jesus. It's enter into the kingdom.

You must believe. Follow Christ. Spurgeon said it this way. Be up and on your journey. Enter in at the gate at the head of the way and do not stand hesitating. It's the only place you can go to be rescued.

Listen to what one man said. To know that God is your enemy. Where will you go? Where will you shelter yourself? There is no hope for you unless you lay down your weapons and sue out your pardon and get Christ to stand as your friend and make your peace.

Enter. If you're not a Christian, why are you waiting? It might not be today and you can count that up to the grace of God, but it could be today. Why will you not enter? Jesus says today is the day of forgiveness.

Today is the day to do with those baptismal candidates did right there. I realized I was a sinner, couldn't save myself and I cried out to God. Lord have mercy on me, the sinner. Number three. Third command to enter.

Number one, enter although it's difficult. Number two, enter today. Don't put it off. Number three, enter because there are no other options for heaven. There are no other options for heaven. Listen, if there were other ways to get to heaven, then it wouldn't be such a big deal.

Enter through Jesus's gate. Enter according to Jesus's words. Hey, if you could get to heaven through Mary, through Moses, through Buddha, through Muhammad, through being good, through L. Ron Hubbard, through anybody else, then it wouldn't be that big a deal.

Just take your time. Pick one of those. Dealer's choice, no big deal. But when there's no purgatory, no middle ground, no annihilation, when there's either heaven or hell, eternal heaven or eternal destruction, the joys of heaven or the eternal misery of hell, then today better be a good day that you make that decision.

There's no other way. Reincarnation, second chances, middle ground. Joseph Elaine said, oh, were it better for you to die in jail, in a ditch, or in a dungeon than die in your sins? There were five ways to get to heaven, no big deal.

There's one way, Jesus says, enter. Now what he does here is very interesting. What the Jews would do is they would put two options out before people and say, here's a good way to try to motivate people to say there's two options, one or two.

Lots of twos. Even in our passage, two gates, two ways, two groups, two destinations. In verse 15 and following, there are two trees and two fruits. In verses 21 through 23, two professions of Christ, two destinies.

Verses 24 and following, two builders, two houses, two foundations. So he says before the audience, with Jews and some Hellenistic Greeks, there are the two ways. Here, pick one. One says eternal life, one says eternal death.

This is very common. Listen to Deuteronomy 30. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and the curse. So choose life. How about Joshua?

And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you'll serve.

You've been listening to pastor and author Dr. Mike Abendroth of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Thanks for tuning in. Please visit us on the web at www .nocompromiseradio .com.

Please join us next time when we'll look into God's word verse by verse with no compromise.